[Vision2020] Rush Limbaugh Says It's A Hoax! I Hope He's Right!

[Ted Moffett]

All:

I decided to check into worst case global warming scenarios, including the
exploitation of methane hydrates for energy, which combined with traditional
fossil fuels would release about 15000 Gigatons of carbon, most of it from
methane hydrates, which store over twice the carbon of traditional fossil
fuels:

http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/media/press_releases/pr45.pdf

"If we follow business-as-usual then we will commit future generations to
climate change, and if we exploit unconventional fossil fuels we could
return the Earth to a hot state it has not seen since 55 million years ago,"
Dr. Lenton said.

Cool, dude!  I mean, cook'n man!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ice/chill.html

Between 52 and 57 million years ago, the Earth was relatively warm. Tropical
conditions actually extended all the way into the mid-latitudes (around
northern Spain or the central United States for example), polar regions
experienced temperate climates, and the difference in temperature between
the equator and pole was much smaller than it is today. Indeed it was so
warm that trees grew in both the Arctic and Antarctic, and alligators lived
in Ellesmere Island at 78 degrees North.
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Trees in Antarctica!  Alligators in Ellesmere Island (off the coast of
Greenland)?  What a great world future generations might live in!
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That's the good news, because let's assume before this extreme state of
affairs is reached, human beings will stop increasing CO2 levels via burning
fossil fuels, and methane hydrates are a doubtful energy source, though
commercial interests are investigating them.

Here's the bad news.  This climate change model discussed below does not
include methane hydrate burn, as far as I can tell, but just a continuation
of what we are doing stretched out over the next three centuries burning
traditional (oil, coal, natural gas) fossil fuels:

Modeling of long-term fossil fuel consumption shows 14.5-degree hike in
Earth's temperature

LIVERMORE, Calif. — If humans continue to use fossil fuels in a
business-as-usual manner for the next few centuries, the polar ice caps will
be depleted, ocean sea levels will rise by seven meters and median air
temperatures will soar to 14.5 degrees warmer than current day:

http://www.llnl.gov/PAO/news/news_releases/2005/NR-05-11-01.html
http://www.llnl.gov/PAO/news/news_releases/2005/NR-05-11-01p.html
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For those who think modern urban cities are a bad idea, and wish a return to
a more bucoli lifestyle for humanity, this scenario might fulfill their wish
of phasing them out, because some urban areas on coastlines will be, shall I
say, doing swimmingly!

Maybe all the alligators flooded out of the Everglades in Florida can
migrate to Ellesmere Island?

Nature and humans will adapt.  Just ask George Bush.

Ted Moffett
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