No subject

to argue against these doomsday forecasts - to be met only with derision on 
these lists.......  while NO ONE has even really tried to convince me WITH 
FACTS and logical arguments that mine are wrong.

The latest media, government, and doomsday-merchant concentration on CO2 is 
the most ubiquitous in its serious impingement on any optimistic views of 
the future of mankind - as it suggests that all industry, all that all 
civilisation has achieved in the last couple of thousand years is just 
producing a "pollutant" which threatens the heat-death of the planet.

For heaven's sake (what an expression for an atheist to use - but it is so 
important) apply a little simple thought to the whole question - even to 
discuss those on my web-site at 
http://apling.freeservers.com/GlobalWarming.htm and its links.

CO2 really is a trace gas in the atmosphere now; with only narrow bands of 
infra-red absorption; and it is NOT at the highest level the earth has eve 
known - far from it.  It is quite clear that CO2 preceded oxygen as a major 
component of the atmosphere - and oxygen is produced by photosynthesis, 
powered by the energy of the sun, and catalysed by the chloroplasts of green 
plants to produce oxygen on the one hand, and carbohydrates - the main 
energy source for all animal life - on the other.

Vast amounts of CO2 have been stored over geological time - in the 
calcareous hills and mountains of the world, such that CO2 is now a trace 
gas. rather than a major constituent of the atmosphere - and the main 
current reservoir are the oceans - which account for over 2/3rds of the 
world's surface and a very high percentage of the world's water.

It seems to me, as was quite evident to all the 20th-century scientists who 
taught me, that the main controller of the earth's climate is the sun - 
which varies its output century by century; and the main
inhibitor of the sun's input to the earth is that its first effect is to 
raise water vapour from the oceans - whcih result in clouds, obscuring the 
rays of the sun [thus preventing over-heating] (and incidentally reducing 
heat loss at night, and thus over-cooling).

Let us be pleased with the current climate we experience - forget gloomy 
forecasts of future changes - of which there are sure to be many; 
concentrate on the fight for peace and the end to poverty throughout the 
world.

As a final word, I suggest that computer forecasts of climate change are 
likely to prove as wrong and futile as forecasts of the capitalist economy 
of US/UK - and you all know where that has led !!
Computer forecasts can only be verified by the future - why should computer 
forecasts of climate be any better - check in 50 year's time, when I shall 
be long dead !!  (They certainly did not forecast the last cold winter !! 
Nor can they, in retrospect forecast the "year without a summer" of 1816, or 
the terrible storms of (dates don't immediately come to mind - but MANY were 
worse than in the last few years).

Written in desperation at how unfocused intended "revolutionaries" than so 
mcu younger than me seen to be.......

Paddy
http://apling.freeservers.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Barry Brooks" <durable at earthlink.net>
To: <e.c.apling at btinternet.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 4:47 AM
Subject: [Marxism] Worst Environmental Problem? Overpopulation, Experts Say



Here's another odd call to "replace" fossil fuels, yet if we conserve
and stop "overconsumption" we will only need to provide a small
percentage of what we waste (need?) today.

Replacement should be reserved for things we wish to have, and there is
no reason to replace one kind of too much with another kind of too much,
clean or not.

Later, replacing fossil fuels may be possible, but later is going to be
too late... forget the cost. How much does it cost to not do something.

Barry


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090418075752.htm

Worst Environmental Problem? Overpopulation, Experts Say

ScienceDaily (Apr. 20, 2009) — Overpopulation is the world’s top
environmental issue, followed closely by climate change and the need to
develop renewable energy resources to replace fossil fuels, according to
a survey of the faculty at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and
Forestry (ESF).

Just in time for Earth Day (April 22) the faculty at the college, at
which environmental issues are the sole focus, was asked to help
prioritize the planet’s most pressing environmental problems.

Overpopulation came out on top, with several professors pointing out its
ties to other problems that rank high on the list.

“Overpopulation is the only problem,” said Dr. Charles A. Hall, a
systems ecologist. “If we had 100 million people on Earth — or better,
10 million — no others would be a problem.” (Current estimates put the
planet’s population at more than six billion.)

Dr. Allan P. Drew, a forest ecologist, put it this way: “Overpopulation
means that we are putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than
we should, just because more people are doing it and this is related to
overconsumption by people in general, especially in the ‘developed’ world.”

“But, whether developed or developing,” said Dr. Susan Senecah, who
teaches the history of the American environmental movement, “everyone is
encouraged to ‘want’ and perceive that they ‘need’ to consume beyond the
planet’s ability to provide.”

The ESF faculty pointed to climate change as the second most-pressing
issue, with the need to develop renewable energy resources to replace
fossil fuels coming in third.

“Experimenting with the earth’s climate and chemistry has great risks,”
said Dr. Thomas E. Amidon, who invented a process for removing
energy-rich sugars from wood and fermenting those sugars into ethanol.
“This is a driver in climate change and loss of biodiversity and is a
fundamental problem underlying our need to strive for sustainability.”

Rounding out the top 10 issues on the ESF list are overconsumption, the
need for more sustainable practices worldwide, the growing need for
energy conservation, the need for humans to see themselves as part of
the global ecosystem, overall carbon dioxide emissions, the need to
develop ways to produce consumer products from renewable resources, and
dwindling fresh water resources.

Best wishes,

Bill

---
William N. Ryerson
President
Population Media Center

145 Pine Haven Shores Road, Suite 2011
P.O. Box 547
Shelburne, Vermont 05482
U.S.A.
Tel. 1-802-985-8156 Extension 204

Mobile: 1-802-578-4286
Fax 1-802-985-8119
Email: ryerson at populationmedia.org <mailto:ryerson at populationmedia.org>
Web site: www.populationmedia.org <http://www.populationmedia.org/>