Paragraphs are the key to someone reading beyond the fifth line.

Regards, PLMerite


"gregpresley" wrote in message
...
Bill, there is no doubt that the climate of the earth has changed very
often
over its history. The concern of ecofundamentalists, as you like to call
them , in addition to many climatologists who have nothing to do with the
environmental movement, is the pace of change, which has clearly been very
rapid - and which is accelerating - at least by the date we have available
to us. One given is that large amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
produce a greenhouse effect. That's not a theory, that's something based
upon physical laws of gases and how they interact with sunlight. A big
question mark, still unanswered, is whether or not there are mechanisms in
nature to counterbalance that effect. Maybe the melting of arctic ice will
cool the oceans, which might alter the growth rate of algae and balance
something out. Maybe the increase in land temperatures will rapidly
increase
the number of hurricanes, which basically take heat and moisture from the
tropics and transport it northward to temperate climates. But in EVERY
rapid
change of climate that can be documented by fossil remnants, carbon dating
and so forth, there have been mass extinctions of species - species which
weren't replace by others overnight, but over the course of millions of
years (a span much longer than homo sapiens has existed as a species).
IF,
(and I realize it's a big IF), we are contributing to this rapid climatic
change, we could be jeopardizing our own future. Human beings evolved in
an
ice-age environment (we are only in a slight-lull of that - during
non-ice-age times, there was no permanent ice-cap at the poles), and we
are
very dependent upon certain plant species for our survival. For instance,
if
the grain family of plants became susceptible to some disease or insect
predators because of climate change and we no longer had rice, wheat,
corn,
barley, rye, oats, etc., the majority of human beings would quickly perish
too, because we have no other widely available source of storable
calories.
Therefore, it's important that research continue into this area. To
pretend
it's a matter of no importance whatsoever is just burying one's head in
the
sand.
"Bill Oliver" wrote in message
If there is anything that "nature" tells us, it's that things will
change. The world will warm up, in spite of what ecofundamentalists
want. The world will cool down, in spite of what ecofundamentalists
want. Species will come, in spite of what ecofundamentalists want.
Species will go, in spite of ecofundamentalists want.