One thing I've never understood about the "greenhouse gas" debates is the complete lack of discussion regarding nature versus mankind.

Take a look at the following URL and consider what it shows.
[URL]http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/Gases/man.html[/URL]

The entire issues seems rather confusing without clear answers. However there is a bigger issue that appears to be completely ignored.

The odds of a Malthusian catastrophy seems of much more concern to me, yet how many times does that issue appear in headlines?
[URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusian_catastrophe[/URL]

Oh well. It seems people have an urge to run in circles, screaming and shouting. I suppose greenhouse gases is as good a reason as any.

[QUOTE]One NYT Reader has a [URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/opinion/lweb09consume.html"]followup[/URL] on the "global terrorism" angle in Diamond's article:[/QUOTE]

I do think that one could imagine how terrorism is a complex beast and it isn't just a question of 19 people deciding to die and taking as many as possible with them. They were convinced to become "martyrs" to the "cause" through a complex ideology. And I daresay that the roots of that ideology lie in the consumption difference. Think foundation of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

In general poorer people are more likely to turn to terrorism and the fact that there were 15 counter-examples doesn't disprove the theory.

U.S. Administration: Major Policy Reversal on CO2
 

[url=http://www.theonion.com/content/news/bush_acknowledges_existence_of]Bush Acknowledges Existence Of Carbon Dioxide[/url]

[QUOTE=petrw1;120522]Reminds me of an interesting tongue-in-cheek assertion I heard a few years back:

"As the population of the earth continues to increase to sum total IQ remains constant." :devil:[/QUOTE]


It reminds me of an Aggie joke I heard a long time ago.

A Yale student transferred to Texas A&M.
It doubled the average IQ of both schools.

[QUOTE=R.D. Silverman;123035]It reminds me of an Aggie joke I heard a long time ago.

A Yale student transferred to Texas A&M.
It doubled the average IQ of both schools.[/QUOTE]The old ones are the best.

A variant I've heard, which undoubtedly predates Texas A&M and possibly Yale, concerns the emigration of a Scotchman to England.


Paul

[QUOTE=xilman;123057]A variant I've heard, which undoubtedly predates Texas A&M and possibly Yale, concerns the emigration of a Scotchman to England.[/QUOTE]
Also attributed to the NZ PM about those moving to Australia.

Cost of the Chinese "economic miracle"
 

Interesting article in the [i]Wall Street Examiner[/i] Blog about the environmental costs of the Chinese "economic miracle":

[url]http://wallstreetexaminer.com/blogs/winter/?p=1389[/url]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;123006][url=http://www.theonion.com/content/news/bush_acknowledges_existence_of]Bush Acknowledges Existence Of Carbon Dioxide[/url][/QUOTE]
Just in time for Earth Day he took steps to keep states from meddling with his shrewd insight, knowledge and vision:

[URL="http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/888906.html"]Editorial: Bush tries again to thwart greenhouse gas law: [I]President slips pre-emption of California rule into new vehicle mileage standard[/I][/URL][QUOTE]The provision, which would prevent California from enforcing one of its historic greenhouse gas laws, appears on page 378 of a 417-page document released by U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters – on Earth Day, no less. It states in part that "any state regulation regulating tailpipe carbon dioxide is impliedly pre-empted," under the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, EISA.[/QUOTE]

Study Casts Doubt on Warming/Hurricane Link
 

[url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j9YzbkbPjYwP_3-9wZhTNbMcZSAQD90O62QO0]AP: Study Says Global Warming Not Worsening Hurricanes[/url]: [i]Global warming isn’t to blame for the recent jump in hurricanes in the Atlantic, concludes a study by a prominent federal scientist whose position has shifted on the subject.[/i]
[quote]WASHINGTON (AP) -- Global warming isn't to blame for the recent jump in hurricanes in the Atlantic, concludes a study by a prominent federal scientist whose position has shifted on the subject.

Not only that, warmer temperatures will actually reduce the number of hurricanes in the Atlantic and those making landfall, research meteorologist Tom Knutson reported in a study released Sunday.

In the past, Knutson has raised concerns about the effects of climate change on storms. His new paper has the potential to heat up a simmering debate among meteorologists about current and future effects of global warming in the Atlantic.

Ever since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, hurricanes have often been seen as a symbol of global warming's wrath. Many climate change experts have tied the rise of hurricanes in recent years to global warming and hotter waters that fuel them.

Another group of experts, those who study hurricanes and who are more often skeptical about global warming, say there is no link. They attribute the recent increase to a natural multi-decade cycle.

What makes this study different is Knutson, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fluid dynamics lab in Princeton, N.J.

He has warned about the harmful effects of climate change and has even complained in the past about being censored by the Bush administration on past studies on the dangers of global warming.

He said his new study, based on a computer model, argues ''against the notion that we've already seen a really dramatic increase in Atlantic hurricane activity resulting from greenhouse warming.''[/quote]

[quote=ewmayer;123006][URL="http://www.theonion.com/content/news/bush_acknowledges_existence_of"]Bush Acknowledges Existence Of Carbon Dioxide[/URL][/quote]
:missingteeth::fusion::w00t::cry::crank::help::kosmaj::groupwave:

[quote=ewmayer;133698][URL="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j9YzbkbPjYwP_3-9wZhTNbMcZSAQD90O62QO0"]AP: Study Says Global Warming Not Worsening Hurricanes[/URL]: [I]Global warming isn’t to blame for the recent jump in hurricanes in the Atlantic, concludes a study by a prominent federal scientist whose position has shifted on the subject.[/I][/quote]

even about "global warming" itself, I have some doubts, cf.
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ice_Age_Temperature.png[/url]

wouldn't it be just "normal" to have a +3 average for some 10-20kyrs ?
don't worry, we can expect a fresh -6 period during at least 50-100kyrs after that !