Global warming elsewhere...

[Reedtb2@cs.com]

Dear Doug, Peter, Stoves and Gasification:

I am as interested in GW as anyone on this list, and have expressed my 
controversial views often here.  (Using up fossil fuel will avert the next 
ice age which is now overdue, etc.)  

I like what Peter says below in its analysis and modesty.  I resent the GW 
mafia that dictates that because they are a majority, they must be correct.  
(One with God constitutes a majority!)

I DO believe that most of the prescriptions against GW are correct and that 
we should stop burning up fossil fuel so fast, save a little for our kids and 
find alternatives before it is too late.

Maybe we have heard all the possible arguments and may have to wait for the 
future to guide us....
                                                                              
 ~~~~~~~
We here in GASIFICATION and STOVES are working to do all the right things.  

Therefore, I humbly suggest that we divert the GW discussion to BIOENERGY or 
some other place that CREST can designate, and get to the business of 

BETTER GASIFIERS     and      BETTER STOVES.

Your administrator,                                  TOM REED



In a message dated 1/2/01 6:04:56 AM Mountain Standard Time, snkm@btl.net 
writes:


> **********Snipped***********
>
> >Particle size and the dark colouring of the soot. incompletely burnt
> >particles and dust are thought to be above the level where rain would wash
> >them out of the atmosphere.  So, pardon the pun, The Burning Question is
> >what specific role does CO2, methane etc play in this process.
>
> Drought! Part of the cascade!
>
> http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/drought/drght_home.html
>
> Gives a broad look at this subject in connection with global warming.
>
> I few years back drought caused the burning of large areas of forest here
> in Central America. The smoke from this reached to the Mid-West USA.
>
> That was just a small event! A "taste" if you will.
>
> Also the reason why I used the Sagan model.
>
> Climate Change due to global warming leads to severe drought. Eventually we
> have the mother of all forest fires. This blocks sun's rays. Plummets
> temperatures. Triggers ice age.
>
> A little bit of extra CO2 could trigger this cascade of events.
>
> What do we really know??
>
> "Global Warming is accepted as fact by most of the scientific
> community. However, Greenhouse Warming is more controversial because
> it implies that we know what is causing the Earth to warm. Although
> it is known for certain that atmospheric concentrations of these
> greenhouse gases are rising dramatically due to human activity, it is
> less well known exactly how increases in these greenhouse gases
> factor in the observed changes of the Earth's climate and global
> temperatures."
>
>
> There are so many variables to be concerned with. Apparently computer
> modeling of CO2 increase fits well with the actual climatic changes we are
> witnessing -- in this past ten years.
>
> Maybe in this present situation -- weather patterns of the past 1000'nds of
> years is of no practical value in plotting future weather. We have added
> some new variables.
>
> Still -- this is the present "bottom-line":
>
> "The last decade of the 20th Century was the warmest in the entire
> global instrumental temperature record, starting in the mid-19th
> century. All 10 years rank among the 15 warmest, and include the 6
> warmest years on record.This warmth is unusual for the past century,
> but what about in the context of past centuries or millennia? It is
> only through the reconstruction of past climate that we can truly
> evaluate the magnitude of this warming."
>
> The message of "Cry-Wolf" is that once a subject of alarm is presented to
> often and/or to passionately -- people become inured to any real danger 
> later.
>
> Keep an open mind! Do not disregard CO2 from fossil fuel combustion as a
> non-viable reason for global warming simply because mass-media is pushing
> this view.
>
> The global weather situation is always an incredible balance of countless
> variables. We do not know just how small a change in any variable will
> trigger a cascade of changes.
>
> An incredibly huge amount of fossil fuels have been converted to free CO2
> in the past 50 years at an ever escalating rate -- enough to make a
> measurable difference in our atmosphere. Can anyone be so sure this makes
> no difference to our global climatic conditions?
>
> What else is there to actually point a finger at? 
>
>
> Peter Singfield / Belize
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