Happy Monday! Today's global warming as caused by Man story was certainly inspired by beer. Or some sort of mind altering substance.
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Heck, global warming as caused by Man tends to be pushed by people who are on mind altering substances. Or too many cookies, as witnessed by Al Gore's ever expanding waistline. He invented cookies, you know.
WASHINGTON – When climate scientist Andrew Weaver considers the idea of tinkering with Earth's air, water or sunlight to fight global warming, he remembers the lessons of a favorite children's book.
In the book, a cheese-loving king's castle is infested with mice. So the king brings in cats to get rid of the mice. Then the castle's overrun with cats, so he brings in dogs to get rid of them, then lions to get rid of the dogs, elephants to get rid of the lions, and finally, mice to get rid of the elephants.
That scenario in "The King, the Mice and the Cheese," by Nancy and Eric Gurney, should give scientists pause before taking extreme measures to mess with Mother Nature, says Weaver of the University of Victoria.
However, in recent months, several scientists are considering doing just that.
They are exploring global warming solutions that sound wholly far-fetched, including giant artificial "trees" that would filter carbon dioxide out of the air, a bizarre "solar shade" created by a trillion flying saucers that lower Earth's temperature, and a scheme that mimics a volcano by spewing light-reflecting sulfates high in the sky.
These are costly projects of last resort — in case Earth's citizens don't cut back fast enough on greenhouse gas emissions and the worst of the climate predictions appear not too far away. Unfortunately, the solutions could cause problems of their own — beyond their exorbitant costs — including making the arid Middle East even drier and polluting the air enough to increase respiratory illnesses.
Kevin Trenberth, climate analysis chief at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said mankind already has harmed Earth's climate inadvertently, so it's foolish to think that people can now fix it with a few drastic measures.
So bring on the wonky, expensive, silly, foolish, damaging, economy destroying ideas. I'm sure those in developing countries, living in mud and thatch huts with no lights, parasites, bugs, unsanitary conditions, and do not have multiple homes and the ability to jet around the world preaching to people will appreciate all the crazy schemes to reduce a natural gas by consensus.
Instead of worrying about a silly natural occurence (did you know that the 30's were warmer then it is today?) caused by mostly natural effects (somehow I always have to prove that the Sun is actually hot), why not deal with real environmental issues, like the true pollutants put out by passenger vehicles? And clear cutting, land and ocean pollution, and recycling? Renewable power sources? Things that really matter and are real. At one time, everyone thought that humans were the smartest creatures on Earth, but the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy proved that theory wrong. What? That was fiction? Just like global warming as caused by Man.
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