I must say i am amazed at the knowledgable things that have been said here i did not think we had so many smart people on thisa forum and it is good to see. Being a practising agnostic i am as unconvinced about global worrming as i am about religion, but then again their is some very good theories around that i think we would be mad to ignore.
A few things that have got me concerned and being here in Asutralia i am viewing things from a sourthern hemisphere point of view.
1/ The hole over the south pole is nearby and and skin cancer is rampant in this country, is this a cyclic thing that no one would know about because hardly anyone lived here in the past.
2/ What if it is true and what do you think the emergence of India and more menacingly China will do. They are absolutle eating up Australian raw materials, I own shares in my last employer an instrumentailty of the Chinese governemt and i think i amm going to get a lot richer because of this but to what end if this is going to kill the world as we know it.
3/ I dont know how much where i live is above sea level but i can walk to the Coral Sea in twenty minutes and it is flat walk!
4/ rainfall in this country is increasing yet we have neen in drought for about seven years; the rainfall is moving north to largely unpopulated areas, Why?
5/ much of the interior of Australia is below sea level and when you look at the right sort of map you can see the chain of lakes etc through South Australia where an easy connection to the ocean will be a reality if the sea level rises much at all. If it fills up what will this do to our weather patterns and ultimatle the worlds? Not worried about people etc no one lives there. But this area is called Lake Ayer and many creatures and plants that were thought to have died out millions of years ago live there and what will this do to them?
I am not sure of what is happening if anything but i think the Sydney area from whence i cams is get
Ian,
I’ll still say cyclic. Delaware also has a higher than average cancer rate, but then again is is the home of DuPont, Hercules, Atlas, and a bunch of other chemical companies!
A nagging thought is how many people died of cancer before they had a name for it and it would have been classed as consumption, a miasma, or some like term? Just like so many diseases, there must have been a heap of people kicking off on a worldwide basis that displayed similar symptoms in order to get the researchers interested enough to discover what it was! Remember, at one time any skin rash or disease was lumped in as Leprosy! The Leper was cured cause somebody put some oil on dry skin, or a rash from some allergy went away!
Haven’t you noted that as the third world countries become industrialized, the industrial countries become more service oriented? This simply means that the manufacturing (and all it carries with it like pollution and economic development) moves from place to place wherever the labor market is cheapest. The smog and junk just moves with it!
Look at the Europe, to N. America, to far East movement of the last 250 years!
Certainly some branch of your local or regional government can tell you your elevation. I can’t imagine they operate that much differently down there than they do here! Our County Planning & Zoning office has maps that show it. So does the State Geologist’s office! Even Federal offices have need of that info, and it is there for the asking! It just takes some prying to figure out whom to ask!
Thimk (spelling deliberate), there had to be some reason they called it a lake! Probably loads of evidence that it was a lake a zillion years ago! New Orleans turned back into a waterway under the proper conditions, so no reason why the Lake shouldn’t!
Well even if the world goes to h*ll on a tobogan, at least a solar powered garden RR would be pretty easy to do. All Solar PV cells already generate electricity in DC, so all that would be necessary would be a couple car batteries to store generated electricity to hook up your powerpack to, and you could keep running you trains, even if you can’t run your car.
Just a note the only CFC’s in the USA today, to my knoweldge, is a few different Asthma inhalers, with phase out in 2 years(some time in 2008) for the vast majority of the ones left (a few other inhalers, as I understand it, have a little longer till they can figure out an effective reformulation of their product). the only reason they have been left on the market this long is: price/so little CFC release/ availablity/ and some patients poor response to replacement products -basically caused by a relasionship between: drug release, particle size and inflamitory response.
That’s kind of ironic, since a sizable percentage of today’s asthma sufferers seem to have the greatest difficulties when the air pollution is higher than usual.
And as a random interjection: chronic bronchitis/borderline asthma is (more or less) responsible for my RhB addiction. As a kid I had the good fortune of being “shipped off” to the Grisons, more precisely the Engadine. Last stop before St.Moritz.
The Asthma home was located right beside the RhB line and even in 1952 it was a very fine spot to watch trains. 10 months of a regular RhB diet is very addictive.
The climate is very similar to what we have up on our XC skiing mountain, as is the elevation. And up on the mountain we also have “Narrow Gauge Tracks”. [;)][:)][:D][;)]
iandor
My grandfather was a dyslexic agnostic with insomnia, he would sit up all night pondering the existence of his dog.
Anyway, I saw a special on PBS awhile ago about Vikings and how they were able to travel the way they did. The program stated that the earth heats up about every 500 years, which would have melted the ice to allow them to travel the routes they took. Now normally PBS would not miss a chance to blame the US and George Bush’s family or his ancestors for anything bad that happens to the world, so maybe it just happens cyclic as said before.
When my grandfather died he was all dressed up with no where to go.[:D]
RhB_HJ, I agree with the irony -proof that there is more humor in the real world than what anyone could dream up… Thats interesting how asthma/bronchitis got ya hooked, I hope ya dont have problems anymore… I hope some of those “narow gauge” tracks are yours, I love skiing, but not much ablity to ski here in IA (no mountains here, but there are a few quote unquote skiing slopes here -laughable to the rest of the skiing world, but a short drive beats 12 hours to colorado, for a quick skiing fix)
No what i am talking about is melanoma namely skin cancer. the rate has gone through the roof in Australia and the government agencies involved have issued many helpful statements and clothing to combat the situation. This is not a maybe this hole is surely there and it is surely killing Australians at an alarming rate.
Yep, plenty of my tracks up on the mountain. Matter of fact on Saturday, we had our annual 30km Loppet. Absolutely gorgeous conditions, brilliant sunshine, fresh, but groomed powder - we got a foot of the stuff last Wednesday!! - it was just wonderful. The only fly in the ointment was a dam*n hamstring cramp I got at 11km, but I toughed it out. Next year I’ll add a potassium routine to the carbohydrate-loading. Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!
PS the PC correction provided the correct number of asteriks. [;)][8D][;)]
iandor, not do downplay, but remember there is other factors in the skin cancer issue, 1) people tan much more than they use to, 2) people wear more revealing clothing than in the past, 3)people live longer, because of modern medicine, making other causes of death go up (especially if not caught in time). These are as much to play if not more so than Ozone layer issues. Also there is not a hole, just a bad weaking of the ozone layer down there. Once again I state this not to downplay the issue, but for clarification purposes only.
On to less serious issues, RhB_HJ, remeber not too much potassium, but that should help. Although I still envy your “ability” to get such cramps from skiing [;)]
My Science Teacher says that right now we are in a Ice Age Cycle, and by looking at a graph of past weter condition( sea level marking on the rocks) we are curently cooler and the sea level is lower that that of the last inter glacial Period so we may be slow ly climbing out of it.
I say if you don’t like the weather, then move to another planet.
CFC’s are heavier than air and do not float up into the upper atmosphere, but they do destroy ozone in a careful controlled laboratory environment. Lightning (electricity)creates ozone naturaly from the O2 in air and water vapor. You can do your part to help the Earth by dropping electrical appliances into buckets of water and make ozone at home if you really care.
Still on the less serious issues; 20 odd years ago when I was dabbling in triathlons (short distances only!) I managed on occasion to flip-turn off the pool wall during training and get a super cramp in one or the other calf. The coach usually told me “Time to loosen up, my friend!” [:D][}:)][:D][:D][:D]
I really think that things are changing and I do not know the real reason; I am not a scientist. However the problems or explamations mentioned regarding what is happening in Australia regarding skin cancer do not comvince me at all, something has changed. I have been the skipper of a coastal yacht and blokes i have known for years, who have lived just about all their lives on the water in a particular area are reporting skin cancer at an unprecedented rate. I can tell you after they have had their various operations, they all look like they have gone several rounds with a tiger and lost.
So really unless you come from the southern hemisphere or are familiar with the situation down here, i would suggest that you may not properly appreciate it.
Now we have seen the hottest summer on record just past, the highest waves ever seen in 150 years, the coldest day last August and now we are being ravaged by a cyclone that has acted in a different way to all prrevious cyclones and its name is Larry and it is being followed up by another one named in Fiji called “Wati”. This is unheard of and the devestation iss unprecented.
We have been in drought for 7 years longer than ever before and other places are in flood quite nearby.
I personally believe that this countries weather has changed and many people on the land who hve been around for about 80 years think so as well.
Regsrds Ian
PS. Thannks all of you for your emails of concern but although the problems with the cyclones are in this state of Queensland they are about 1000 km away, so as such are not causring us any problem at all.
A few people care about global warming but it’s way down the list of most folks’ concerns. You’ll never take away people’s large SUVs and Hummers and besides, not many care if a few Pacific Islands go under water. It’s something for our grandkids to deal with.