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Monday, January 23, 2006
A few emails in response to The Lovelock Shriek From Michael Phillips (earthmapping@yahoo.no), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Medway School of Science University of Greenwich UK: In the article on James Lovelock from The Independent, the author writes: "Thirty years ago, the scientist James Lovelock worked out that the Earth possessed a planetary-scale control system which kept the environment fit for life. He called it Gaia, and the theory has become widely accepted" As far as I am aware, the theory has not become 'widely accepted', certainly not in the world of Biologists and Neo-Darwinists (see Unweaving the Rainbow, Richard Dawkins). I understand also that Lovelock himself always felt he was mis-represented by interpretation of Gaia theory, an idea that is usually misinterpreted by Eco Warrior Fundamentalists and proponents of a living 'Mother Earth'. That was never Lovelock's intention. From Roy Spencer (spencer@nsstc.uah.edu), The University of Alabama in Huntsville: "The world has already passed the point of no return for climate change, and civilisation as we know it is now unlikely to survive, according to James Lovelock, the scientist and green guru who conceived the idea of Gaia." FINALLY! Now we can quit arguing about what should be done, since we are "past the point of no return" anyway! From Michael Henlon (Michael.Hanlon@dailymail.co.uk) of the Daily Mail: It strikes me that something should be done about Lovelock. I have read his book, and even I, as a humble f***wit, can pull it to pieces. He is so fundamentally wrong about so many things it is hard to know where to start. From Allan MacRae (firsst@shaw.ca): I was ready to dismiss James Lovelock as just another eco-nut/flake but decided to visit his website at http://www.ecolo.org/lovelock/index.htm. Lovelock is on the right track about a few things: 1. Lovelock is correct about wind power - it is a mere enviro-token and is not a viable alternative means of generating significant amounts of electricity. The best proof is the excellent German report (see Fig.7 - Falling Substitution Capacity): "E.On Netz Wind Power Report 2005, Germany" http://www.eon-netz.com/EONNETZ_eng.jsp 2. Lovelock is also correct about nuclear power, but with qualifications - IF you accept that greenhouse gases are causing catastrophic global warming, then one of the few viable current solutions is nuclear. However, the science of global warming suggests that a doubling of atmospheric CO2 will not cause catastrophic global warming, but rather a warming of less than one degree C. An examination of Lower Troposphere (LT) temperature trends as measured since December 1978 by satellites shows no warming trend in LT from 12/1978 to 04/1997, just oscillation around zero - then the huge 1997-98 El Nino spike peaking in 04/1998 which quickly reversed itself; possibly 0.2 degree C warming from 2000 to 2005. The pattern of this data does not support CO2 as a significant driver of warming. LT temperatures are available at: http://vortex.nsstc.uah.edu/data/msu/t2lt/tltglhmam_5.2 So Lovelock's "end of life as we know it by humanmade global warming" scenario seems a bit farfetched. A more probable scenario is another ice age within 5000 years. The following paragraphs are extracted from: http://www.apegga.org/whatsnew/peggs/WEB11_02/kyoto_pt.htm "During the past two million years, the Earth has been as ice-age cold as it has ever been, experiencing more than 30 glaciations. In the past 800,000 years, the pattern has been approximately 100,000 years of extensive glaciation, interspersed with warmer interglacials of around 15,000 years. By studying climate changes through these previous cycles, we surmise that the next ice age is less than 5,000 years ahead. At that time, large portions of North America will be buried under kilometres of ice." A final note on the relatively minor role that CO2 plays in global warming, also from the above apegga.org report: "Through most of the last 500 million years atmospheric CO2 content has been higher - up to 18 times higher - than at present. Strikingly, the atmospheric concentration of CO2 was more than 10 times higher than today's value during the Ordovician glaciation, around 440 million years ago. CO2 is simply a minor driver in the many factors that influence climate." (For more postings from me, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM) Blogger News Network is advertiser-supported, and your visits to our advertisers help BNN to meet its expenses. Help keep us afloat! posted by JR at 7:01 AM |
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1 Comments:
Another prominent longtime enviormentalist, Stewart Brand (founder of The Whole Earth Catalog) has also called for another look at nuclear power. He has also endorsed “Rad Decision,” a techno-thriller novel about the American nuclear power industry, available at no cost on the net. Written by a longtime nuclear engineer, the book provides an entertaining and accurate portrait of a nuclear power plant and how an accident might be handled. “Rad Decision” is at RadDecision.blogspot.com.
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