Rumble in the Jungle - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Botnst · #31 01-06-2007, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeus

Global warming will not be accepted as 'fact' by many until we're ankle deep in water, so to speak. If one bothers to do a little research into apolitical data and research, the conclusions of many diverse symposiums and researcher collectives all say the same thing - the warming trend we're already seeing and to come is, in part, anthropogenic.

Reminds me of the US 'Monkey Trial' - I wonder if teaching evolution is still banned in certain areas?

That said - amidst the doom and gloom, there is an aspect I wonder about that rarely makes the news.

Speciation.

There's plenty of talk of things dying, becoming extinct, etc. Mother Nature calls this opportunity. It'll be interesting to see what species adapt - and evolve - if environmental conditions continue to change at a significant level.

The time scales are assymetrical. Extinction doesn't take much time while speciation does.

On a related phenomenon, there is documented migration of tropical and subtropical species moving northward, including diseases. Again, that causality thing rears it's ugly head -- I don't think it is possible to prove that those species area advancing northward due to warming alone. However, the northward migration, at least in the western hemisphere, coincides rather nicely with the reduced frequencies and duration of sub-freezing temperatures.

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Zeus · #32 01-06-2007, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

However, lets say they are right and the earth is warming up. Is it something we did or is this part of the trend? Is it something that can be undone? Too many questions are loose.

aklim - there is a lot of well-published research and web sites by scientific organisations world-wide that address those very questions. Top scientists from countries like China, US, Canada, Britain, Japan, Norway, Australis, etc. have all met, compared results, and have come to the same conclusions.

Humans ARE having a direct effect - and we are already witnessing some of that effect. It's simple chemistry really. You have a closed environment - the earth's atmosphere. It exists in a heterogeneous mixture of gases that have evolved over millions of years and has produced a mixture that supports the life we currently see on the planet. We've already seen how sensitive some species are to even tiny changes in temperature. Like krill, for instance.

Then you inject massive quantities of a specific gas - say CO - at levels never produced before by any geological event ever recorded for millions of years (forget the volcano arguments, they're too small and acute) and what will happen to this giant closed environment that is our atmosphere? Change will happen. It is inevitable.

How much, how long, and is it reversible no one can really put a concrete answer to.

However, the wise question really is - Do we even want to try and find out?

Zeus · #33 01-06-2007, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Botnst

The time scales are assymetrical. Extinction doesn't take much time while speciation does.
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True - the end result of speciation requires time, but the process is more or less constant and a catalyst like this can certainly drive things forward, can it not?

mplafleur · #34 01-06-2007, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeus

Reminds me of the US 'Monkey Trial' - I wonder if teaching evolution is still banned in certain areas?

As well it should be.