[Vision2020] Planetary Experiment Not Done For 55 Million Years

[Ted Moffett]

All:

The film "Inconvenient Truth" explores the energy corporation paid "experts"
who shed doubt on the evidence for human caused global warming.

What we are seeing now from human sourced global warming is nothing... Once
atmospheric CO2 levels go over 500 parts per million (pre-industrial levels
were around 280 ppm and now are around 380 ppm, mostly due to human
activity), only heroic, fantastic and risky efforts can stop catastrophic
global warming, like injecting large amounts of particulates or aerosols
into the atmosphere to block sunlight, causing a cooling effect, like
volcanic eruptions can induce.

CO2 stays in the atmosphere for up to 200 years, so once levels reach 500
ppm, even with stopping all CO2 emissions, global warming would continue.
And other scenarios predict cascading global warming impacts from CO2
induced warming, such as methane releases from unstable methane hydrates in
melting permafrost, causing even faster and more intense warming, given that
methane is 20 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2, though it has a
short atmospheric lifespan, around 10-15 years.  Some of the sudden intense
warming periods in Earth's history are speculated to have come from
temporary large scale methane releases.

We have a narrow window of time to quickly reduce CO2 emissions on a global
scale, or the world's coastlines will be radially re-worked, along with
other disastrous effects.  Time to buy that new "beach front" property worth
millions, if you can just predict the rise in sea level accurately;  25 ft.,
50 ft, 100 ft. 200 ft?

Of course the Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Daniel Schrag,
director of the Harvard University Center for the Environment, is just
perpetrating the global warming hoax in the following statements:

http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/12.09/07-climate.html

"We are performing an experiment on a planetary scale that hasn't been done
for millions of years," Schrag said. "Nobody knows what's going to happen
and there will be surprises."

Researchers have looked to the past for clues about the future. The Eocene
Period, 55 million years ago, appears to be the last time carbon dioxide in
the Earth's atmosphere reached 500 parts per million, which is where
optimistic estimates project carbon dioxide levels to reach by 2100, Schrag
said.

At that time, it appears temperatures warmed into the higher latitudes, with
palm trees growing as far north as Wyoming, pine forests growing in
Antarctica, and crocodiles living in Greenland. Temperatures in the deep
ocean, 35 degrees Fahrenheit today, were 20 degrees warmer, and global sea
level was 300 feet higher than today.

"This is where we're heading. The question is how long will it take to get
there. A thousand years? Ten thousand years? Or 500 years?" Schrag said.

One thing that worries scientists is that current computer models of the
Earth's climate can't re-create a scenario with a warm climate that far
north, even with higher carbon dioxide levels. That means that scientists
are missing a critical factor in their understanding of how global climate
works, Schrag said.

Even so, Schrag said, he believes the Eocene warming resulted from a
doubling or tripling of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, similar to
what's expected over the next century. In the 1950s, carbon dioxide levels
were about 330 parts per million. Already today, they've risen to about 380
parts per million - the highest level in 430,000 years - with projections
for the next century ranging from 500 parts per million to 1,000 parts per
million.

-------

More info on global warming not from experts paid by energy corporations:

http://www.citizen.org/texas/Global_Warmi/Causes_of_Gl/

------

Ted Moffett

On 1/4/07, Art Deco <deco at moscow.com> wrote:
>
>  ExxonMobil cultivates global warming doubt -report Wed Jan 3, 2007 3:30pm
> ET[image: 162]
> Rueters
>
>
>
> By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
>
> WASHINGTON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Energy giant ExxonMobil borrowed tactics
> from the tobacco industry to raise doubt about climate change, spending $16
> million on groups that question global warming, a science watchdog group
> said on Wednesday.
>
> "ExxonMobil (XOM.N: Quote<http://stocks.us.reuters.com/stocks/overview.asp?symbol=XOM.N&WTmodLoc=InvArt-C1-ArticlePage1>
> , Profile<http://stocks.us.reuters.com/stocks/fullDescription.asp?symbol=XOM.N&WTmodLoc=InvArt-C1-ArticlePage1>,
> Research<http://stocks.us.reuters.com/stocks/analystResearch.asp?symbol=XOM.N&WTmodLoc=InvArt-C1-ArticlePage1>)
> has manufactured uncertainty about the human causes of global warming just
> as tobacco companies denied their product caused lung cancer," Alden Meyer
> of the Union of Concerned Scientists said at a telephone news conference
> releasing the report.
>
> An ExxonMobil spokesman did not respond immediately to calls for comment.
>  The union, a nonprofit group based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said
> ExxonMobil, the world's biggest publicly traded corporation, had succeeded
> in parlaying a relatively modest investment into unwarranted public doubt on
> findings that have been overwhelmingly endorsed by mainstream science.
>
> ExxonMobil did this by using the same methods used for decades by the U.S.
> tobacco industry, the report said, including:
>
> -- raising doubts about even the most undisputed science;
>
> -- funding a variety of front organizations to create the appearance of a
> broad platform;
>
> -- recruiting a number of vocal climate change contrarians;
>
> -- portraying its opposition to action as a quest for "sound science"
> rather than business self-interest;
>
> -- using its access to the Bush administration to shape federal
> communications and policies on global warming.
>
> TOBACCO TACTICS
>   Reuters Pictures [image: Photo]
>
> Editors Choice: Best pictures
> from the last 24 hours.
> View Slideshow
>
> U.S. tobacco companies used these tactics for decades to hide the hazards
> of smoking, and were found liable in federal court last year for violating
> racketeering laws.
>
> Global warming has been blamed for stronger hurricanes, more wildfires and
> worse droughts. While there have been cycles of warming and cooling
> throughout Earth's history, the last 30 years have seen a steep warming
> trend which most scientists say is due to emission of so-called greenhouse
> gases by the burning of fossil fuels in vehicles, factories and power
> plants.
>
> ExxonMobil has funded legitimate scientific studies on climate change, the
> watchdog report said, but noted it has also spent approximately $16 million
> between 1998 and 2005 on 43 organizations that have cast doubt on the
> reality of human-caused global warming.
>
> The report said these have ranged from $30,000 for the group Africa
> Fighting Malaria, which argues on its Web site against urgent action on
> climate change, to $1.6 million to the American Enterprise Institute, a
> pro-business think tank in Washington.
>
> James McCarthy, professor of biological oceanography and director of the
> Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, noted a 2005 statement
> issued by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and 10 science academies
> from other countries, affirming that "climate change is now sufficiently
> clear to justify nations taking prompt action."
>
> "This report reveals for the first time the degree to which efforts to
> exaggerate uncertainty in climate science produce non scientific reports
> designed to cast doubt on published scientific climate studies have been
> orchestrated by ExxonMobil," McCarthy said at the news conference.
>
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