the_planet wrote:I believe in global warming!
I grew up in Alaska. I remember snow falling in October, now it falls in late November. I remember being able to make tunnels in my front yard because it was 4-5 feet high some winters. Now it's shitty wet snow. I also remember being able to snowboard a LOT more and in much, much better conditions. There's nothing quite like a heavy snowfall one night, and a crisp, cold, sunny, bluebird sky with fluffy powder everywhere the next day.
Shit, I also don't remember there being forest fires blanketing Anchorage with smoke at all. Every season for the last 5-7 years there has been a forest fire. It's super hot right now, about 80 degrees, and quite humid. This made thunder and lightning, which I also don't remember very much of growing up. Finally, where the fuck are all the bees?! I've seen maybe TWO bumblebees this summer, and a total of zero yellowjacket nests. This is very unusual, as I work in the garden during the day, and actively patrol the eaves of the house for any nesting activity.
Whether it's global warming, climate change, or just my own perception, I don't know. But some things definitely appear to be changing.
thing is what you remember in your whole lifetime is not really significant as there have been changes just as significant throughout history - such as the medieval warm period:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_warm_period
and the little ice age:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age
(although ironically in that MWP link there is a graph showing temperatures in 2004 higher than the MWP! - but even still it's not up to the level that will be most worrying)
the thing that scares me about global warming is we will not REALLY start seeing the results until it is too late for anyone to do anything about it
I remember reading somewhere or seeing on telly that the Georgw W. presidency will go down in history eventually not so much for all the fuck ups elsewhere, but because of the terrible waste of 8 years not doing something about global warming - the time he should have been doing something he was deliberately going the opposite way and making it worse at possibly the most crucial time where there could have been a turning point
and it's a real shame when you think the guy who should have been president is the one doing the global warming videos
but I saw something recently that was talking about the normal climates of earth and it was saying that effectively we are still in a kind of mini Ice age because throughout the earth's history at many points there was no ice at all on the caps as the earth was always hotter - hence the reason big fuck off Lizards made it their home
nah the temperatures we are seeing now are no where near what the scientists are worried about - a slightly hotter than normal heatwave is just a discussion point - the kinds of changes they are worried about are more along the lines of stagnant oceans covered in toxic algae (the kind that eventually sank to the bottom to become oil) that was last seen before life even started getting on to land - the kind of conditions humans really wont cope too well with
although saying that ocean levels are already rising significantly enough that island people north of bougainville have had to leave the atoll they have inhabited for generations because it has been swallowed by the ocean
the only thing we know for sure is the world our great grand children live in will be mostly unrecognisable to us
