hdrjr, happy thanksgiving.
Roger on that....more oil and gas is expelled via natural means every year than from all of the industrial oil pollution combined - and by a large margin.
Need more facts? The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Phillipines released more greenhouse gases by volume than has been released by man since the beginning of the industrial revolution - and by more, I mean by a factor of 10 or so. That includes coal, oil, gas, everything.
The earth is a very large and complex heat machine. There have been years of study spent looking at ice cores from the anarctic, where yearly varves are 1 cm or less in thickness. From these varves, pollen samples are extracted, identified, and a picture of global climate emerges.
The picture ties in nicely with the theory of continental drift. In ages when the continents were split and a circum-equatorial current was established, the earth very efficiently distributed heat from the tropics to the arctic regions, via ocean currents. The result? No ice caps and balmy temperatures in places like proto-Alaska. Hence the voluminous vegetation and subsequent oil deposits, not to mention an abundant fossil record showing subtropical conditions. In ages where these currents are interrupted by continental closure, ice caps form and global climates shift.
The list goes on, but the bottom line is that a quick study of global temperatures through the eons shows this current wobble to be microscopic in the grand scheme - kind of like a 1-minute 1/256 point move in the entire history of IBM.
It's the biggest grant-writing boondoggle to have hit the scientific community ever. My opinion is that the world of research periodically suffers from an overwhelming conceit when they suppose that they can successfully measure something as intricate and glorious as our planet, or show cause and effect from a single variable in a near-boundless system.
Which is not to say that we should not take care of mother earth and practice all kinds of conservation at every opportunity. But let;s keep our perspective in place.
Regards and Happy Thanksgiving to all,
Aggie |
