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Pastimes : R. Harmon's Earth 101 -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (37)	3/16/2000 9:08:00 AM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 183

OT, but it is science Message 13215644

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (37)	3/16/2000 8:59:00 PM
From: D.Lu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 183

Bill Joy, author of the Wired article and others will discuss the "Perils of Technology" on National Public Radio tomorrow afternoon on the show "Science Friday". sciencefriday.com

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (37)	3/29/2000 11:36:00 AM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 183

VIRTUAL CLIMATE ALERT March 27, 2000 Vol. 1, No. 16 While we here in the United States enjoyed the warmest winter on record, people in Mongolia and northern China experienced a winter so harsh even by their standards that it is remarkable their consequent hardship and suffering was scarcely noted by popular media outlets so seemingly attuned to every nuance of the potential climate change. All a cross America, spring arrived early on the heels of a mild winter. National Climatic Data Center records show that with the exception of a few cold and snowy weeks in the Northeast toward the end of January, every part of the US shared in unseasonably high temperatures all through winter. In our self-absorption we focused on cherry blossoms popping out earlier than expected in Washington, DC, and its surrounding suburbs. Newscasters expressed alarm at the sight of daffodils, forsythia, and other early spring blooms. Lawnmowers came out early, golfers hit the links, and gardeners felt sufficient confidence to get in some early planting in hopes of Independence Day bounty. Things couldn?t have been more different on the other side of the world. All across Mongolia and north central China, winter blasted in early and fiercely. It scarcely let up. In September, unusually strong blizzards began striking the area, burying the steppes and grasslands in a thick mantle of snow and ice. Regional temperatures plunged far below normal while snow cover and the duration of snow cover was far above the norm. Some thirty percent of Mongolia?s 2.4 million people live a nomadic life as herdsmen. For them, this winter has been a disaster. With grazing lands beneath a frozen, dense layer of snow and ice, more than 1.4 million head of livestock starved to death. Each week, it is estimated another 300,000 animals die. Those herds of camel, goat, yak, sheep, and horse are central to Mongolia?s economy. The herdsmen use the animals? meat for food, burn their dung for heat, use their pelts for clothing and shelter, harness them for transportation, and sell their products for cash necessary to purchase other necessities. As the herdsmen?s winter stockpile of dried and frozen meat began to run out, the regional Red Cross director predicted the toll in human death and suffering would mount rapidly. There are reports of death by starvation. Hospital admissions rose as the most susceptible Mongolians ? the very young and the elderly ? weakened. There have been deaths from related causes as well: exposure to extreme cold as temperatures plummeted to 50 degrees below zero, and instances of suicide blamed on the psychological strain induced by a complete loss of livelihood maintained for generations. The International Red Cross has called for food aid. Without it, widespread malnutrition and perhaps even larger-scale starvation could stalk the countryside. That two such entirely different weather scenarios and responses to it can coexist in different parts of the Northern Hemisphere demonstrates the absurdity of using local and even regional weather events as indicators of global climate patterns. Imagine had the situations been reversed. America?s media and the alarmist politicians who feed it might have had something truly newsworthy to report rather than to moan at the prospect of precocious blooming plant life. Record warmth in the US was deemed sufficiently newsworthy to merit front page coverage in The New York Times and The Washington Post, among other national newspapers. Invariably the tone of the coverage supported the vision of apocalyptic global warming. Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, there was widespread human death and suffering due to brutal cold. Where was the concern for indigenous, Third World peoples? Not a word made the front page of any major newspaper. Nor was this great human tragedy a subject of discussion in the nation?s capital among those politicians ready to regulate all human activity because of the threat from global warming. A warmer climate is demonstrably better for humans than a colder one, yet one would gather our government deems cold to be preferable. Shouldn?t we wonder why? greeningearthsociety.org