Comments on: Rare, Potent Greenhouse Gas Is Rising “Quasi-Exponentially” http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/10/24/rare-potent-greenhouse-gas-is-rising-quasi-exponentially/ 80beats is DISCOVER's news aggregator, weaving together the choicest tidbits from the best articles covering the day\'s most compelling topics. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:30:03 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Chris http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/10/24/rare-potent-greenhouse-gas-is-rising-quasi-exponentially/comment-page-1/#comment-11374 Chris Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:42:27 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/10/24/rare-potent-greenhouse-gas-is-rising-quasi-exponentially/#comment-11374 Eric, I don't think that we should actually want the earth to go through its natural cycles. Those cycles that you speak of have caused massive extinctions in the past. Just because a process is natural, does not mean that it will proceed in our favor. I think we should strive to control our environment as we will need to in order to support our growing population. That said, dispensing gasses into the air without 2nd thought is ludicrously stupid. Eric, I don’t think that we should actually want the earth to go through its natural cycles.

Those cycles that you speak of have caused massive extinctions in the past. Just because a process is natural, does not mean that it will proceed in our favor. I think we should strive to control our environment as we will need to in order to support our growing population.

That said, dispensing gasses into the air without 2nd thought is ludicrously stupid.

]]> By: Eric http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/10/24/rare-potent-greenhouse-gas-is-rising-quasi-exponentially/comment-page-1/#comment-11361 Eric Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:39:34 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/10/24/rare-potent-greenhouse-gas-is-rising-quasi-exponentially/#comment-11361 You're half right. The climate cycle does include warming and cooling outside of human control, but to say that we shouldn't regulate the release of manmade substances into the atmosphere is just stupid. That's like saying that it doesn't matter if we tear down the rainforests and fill the oceans with plastic garbage. The ground under all those trees is still dirt and rock, and all those plastics were made from things found on earth, so they too must be natural. If you truly love the earth, then you want it to follow it's own natural cycles. the earth's natural cycles do not involve increases in these gases that were are pumping into the atmosphere (nor plastic in the oceans). Loving the earth does not mean saying that it's ok to destroy it without regard, saying that no matter what we do to it, it'll still be the earth. You’re half right. The climate cycle does include warming and cooling outside of human control, but to say that we shouldn’t regulate the release of manmade substances into the atmosphere is just stupid. That’s like saying that it doesn’t matter if we tear down the rainforests and fill the oceans with plastic garbage. The ground under all those trees is still dirt and rock, and all those plastics were made from things found on earth, so they too must be natural.
If you truly love the earth, then you want it to follow it’s own natural cycles. the earth’s natural cycles do not involve increases in these gases that were are pumping into the atmosphere (nor plastic in the oceans). Loving the earth does not mean saying that it’s ok to destroy it without regard, saying that no matter what we do to it, it’ll still be the earth.

]]> By: Josh http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/10/24/rare-potent-greenhouse-gas-is-rising-quasi-exponentially/comment-page-1/#comment-11313 Josh Mon, 27 Oct 2008 05:18:24 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/10/24/rare-potent-greenhouse-gas-is-rising-quasi-exponentially/#comment-11313 CO2 is causing so much warming that it's getting colder. Governments better "regulate" (tax) nitrogen triflouride too, or else we might cause an ice age! This is just another attempt by the anthropogenic global warming propaganda machine to spread fear. True science, using the empirical method, not computer models, has proven that man's CO2 emissions have had a negligible effect on climate and will not cause armegeddon as the global warming alarmists pray for. I doubt nitrogen triflouride is a threat. In the real world, the Earth is experiencing a global cooling trend and all the warming (0.6 degrees Celsius) from the late 70s to the late 90s has disappeared. This cooling happens to coincide with a shift in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) to its cool (Negative) mode. Interestingly, the PDO was in its warm (Positive) mode from the late 70s to the late 90s. A positive PDO results in more frequent El Nino years, and El Nino increases global average temperatures. A negative PDO results in frequent La Nina years, and La Nina decreases global average temperatures. The year 1998, a year the media frequently trumpets as one of the warmest "on record" featured a very potent El Nino. CO2 doesn't cause El Nino, La Nina or the PDO. Natural cycles do. Additionally, the media fixates on the last 30 years of climate, as if climate change didn't exist before satellites and computer models. Going back in time, the slight rise in temperatures during the late 20th century is merely a tiny bump in the perpetually fluctuating climate of our planet. The famous "hockey stick" temperature graph only shows the rise in temperatures over the past century. The timescale is compacted and thus the rise looks very dramatic. But when long-term temperatures are graphed and "stretched out" it becomes obvious that the hockey stick graph is entirely misleading and bogus. We live in an interglacial period meaning an ice age preceeded this period and another will follow. It's only a matter of time, and neither nitrogen triflouride or carbon dioxide will stop it. We can't accept any legislation that imposes taxes on greenhouse gases or any type of greenhouse gases cap and trade profit-generating scheme. I'm not a republican, a liberal, a conservative, or a democrat, and I love nature. I'm an independent free thinker who believes anthropogenic global warming is the biggest hoax in history. CO2 is causing so much warming that it’s getting colder. Governments better “regulate” (tax) nitrogen triflouride too, or else we might cause an ice age! This is just another attempt by the anthropogenic global warming propaganda machine to spread fear. True science, using the empirical method, not computer models, has proven that man’s CO2 emissions have had a negligible effect on climate and will not cause armegeddon as the global warming alarmists pray for. I doubt nitrogen triflouride is a threat. In the real world, the Earth is experiencing a global cooling trend and all the warming (0.6 degrees Celsius) from the late 70s to the late 90s has disappeared. This cooling happens to coincide with a shift in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) to its cool (Negative) mode. Interestingly, the PDO was in its warm (Positive) mode from the late 70s to the late 90s. A positive PDO results in more frequent El Nino years, and El Nino increases global average temperatures. A negative PDO results in frequent La Nina years, and La Nina decreases global average temperatures. The year 1998, a year the media frequently trumpets as one of the warmest “on record” featured a very potent El Nino. CO2 doesn’t cause El Nino, La Nina or the PDO. Natural cycles do. Additionally, the media fixates on the last 30 years of climate, as if climate change didn’t exist before satellites and computer models. Going back in time, the slight rise in temperatures during the late 20th century is merely a tiny bump in the perpetually fluctuating climate of our planet. The famous “hockey stick” temperature graph only shows the rise in temperatures over the past century. The timescale is compacted and thus the rise looks very dramatic. But when long-term temperatures are graphed and “stretched out” it becomes obvious that the hockey stick graph is entirely misleading and bogus. We live in an interglacial period meaning an ice age preceeded this period and another will follow. It’s only a matter of time, and neither nitrogen triflouride or carbon dioxide will stop it. We can’t accept any legislation that imposes taxes on greenhouse gases or any type of greenhouse gases cap and trade profit-generating scheme. I’m not a republican, a liberal, a conservative, or a democrat, and I love nature. I’m an independent free thinker who believes anthropogenic global warming is the biggest hoax in history.

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