Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Doom and Gloom
So it appears the IPCC has hit a grand slam home run. The whole world is solidly up in arms over global warming. Every two bit whore politician is lining up at the trough for the pork fiesta.
The thing that cracks me up the most is the scientific community battling itself. Yes it's warming. No it's not. Yeah to biofuels. Nay to biofuels. Just like the prostate cancer "experts" who can't even agree if PSA screening is worthwhile. At some level, every one seems to have an agenda. We'll know it's really out of control when Pons and Fleischmann get another grant.
Just for fun, let's assume the whole global warming thing is for real. Now look at the earth from a complex system viewpoint - long time constants, non-linear feedback mechanisms. Case in point, the February 2002 rapid breakup of the Larsen B ice shelf. Attributed in part to melt water accelerating the breakup process. Now that the ice shelf is gone, the glacier which fed it is expected to accelerate. So now the glacier will disappear quicker than expected. Turns out ice shelves acts like a dam & impedes a glaciers flow. Bottom line - we're getting started on global warming about 20-30 years too late.
How are we going to make significant cuts in greenhouse gases without drastically impacting someone's lifestyle? We aren't! Time to face the music folks. I say let the culling begin. I just can't decide if I'd prefer to select based upon IQ or BMI.
It's a pretty safe bet the whole green energy thing is going to continue growing. All the bullshit ideas like biofuels are going to be short lived (at least in the current context). Solar, wind and the like will continue to make strides. Eventually they will become significant players. Even nuclear will be re-invigorated - stuff like pebble bed gas reactors with recycled fuel. And some day we might even get to real fusion. One thing is for sure, their will be no shortage of "experts".
Some way, some how we will get through it all. Let's just hope it doesn't lead us into WW III. Not an unlikely scenario when push comes to shove. ¶ 12.2.08
The thing that cracks me up the most is the scientific community battling itself. Yes it's warming. No it's not. Yeah to biofuels. Nay to biofuels. Just like the prostate cancer "experts" who can't even agree if PSA screening is worthwhile. At some level, every one seems to have an agenda. We'll know it's really out of control when Pons and Fleischmann get another grant.
Just for fun, let's assume the whole global warming thing is for real. Now look at the earth from a complex system viewpoint - long time constants, non-linear feedback mechanisms. Case in point, the February 2002 rapid breakup of the Larsen B ice shelf. Attributed in part to melt water accelerating the breakup process. Now that the ice shelf is gone, the glacier which fed it is expected to accelerate. So now the glacier will disappear quicker than expected. Turns out ice shelves acts like a dam & impedes a glaciers flow. Bottom line - we're getting started on global warming about 20-30 years too late.
How are we going to make significant cuts in greenhouse gases without drastically impacting someone's lifestyle? We aren't! Time to face the music folks. I say let the culling begin. I just can't decide if I'd prefer to select based upon IQ or BMI.
It's a pretty safe bet the whole green energy thing is going to continue growing. All the bullshit ideas like biofuels are going to be short lived (at least in the current context). Solar, wind and the like will continue to make strides. Eventually they will become significant players. Even nuclear will be re-invigorated - stuff like pebble bed gas reactors with recycled fuel. And some day we might even get to real fusion. One thing is for sure, their will be no shortage of "experts".
Some way, some how we will get through it all. Let's just hope it doesn't lead us into WW III. Not an unlikely scenario when push comes to shove. ¶ 12.2.08
