A Significant Relief

As we anticipate the release of the Inconvenient Truth,

the new film about Al Gore's effort to awaken America

to the real challenge of climate change,

The Washington Post has released a convenient headline,

to help soothe them back to sleep.

Climate Change Will Be Significant but Not Extreme,
Study Predicts
By Rick Weiss
April 20, 2006; Page A08

Earth will experience significant climate change in the coming century as a result of greenhouse gas buildups, but the more extreme estimates of global warming generated by some studies are unlikely to occur, according to newly published research.

"This still commits us to quite a bit of climate change, but it leaves the door open to avoiding the largest and most devastating consequences," said Gabriele C. Hegerl, a Duke University climate expert who led the study.

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Climate scientists from around the world have for more than a decade concurred that climate sensitivity's most likely value is in the range of about 2.5 degrees to 8 degrees Fahrenheit. But because many factors can affect global temperatures in poorly understood ways -- including the extent to which the oceans have tempered climate trends -- scientists have not been able to rule out more extreme calculations suggesting a warm-up of 16 degrees Fahrenheit or more.

The new work, described in today's issue of the journal Nature, reaches back 700 years. It recalculates the relationship between atmospheric composition and climate, taking into account the climate-affecting impacts of sun-blocking volcanic eruptions; carbon dioxide levels derived from air bubbles trapped in Antarctic ice; and temperature data derived from tree rings.

The result: Climate sensitivity almost certainly falls within the more conventional range of current predictions, with only a 5 percent chance that it will exceed 11 degrees Fahrenheit."

Let's see, I'm a skeptic and I hope Climate Change is a mass delusion

of the green infested minds of ecologist and recyclers,

who have somehow infected the minds of all the Academies of Science,

and the great majority of the World's scientists who are screaming out

for our leaders to do something to avoid a catastrophe,

and I read the Washington Post, because it is a fine middle of the road

presenter of the facts, (not like that liberal NYTs)

and I read that Climate Change will be significant,

but not extreem.

Thank God. That is a significant relief.

I can go about my day now and quote the Post that there is only

a 5% chance that the temperature will arise above 11 degrees.

Jeezus Freezus you guys.

This is the equivalent of saying that the estimate of the height

of the ledge that is about to break off,

that you and I and all of our pals are standing on,

is only 200 feet tall and not 300 feet, as some have estimated.

Of course, all of us, except for maybe a couple of broken leg

nested pairs will die, even if the fall is just 100 feet.

Nowhere in the story is the lead of the story confirmed.

Nowhere in the story is 11 degrees described as "not extreem".

The headline is a fabrication of the seriously skewed opinion

that climate change increases of even 5 degrees will be survivable.

I am not aware of any serious researcher

who believes that human civilization, as we know it,

can survive anything close to an 11 degree increase.

So the Post would have us believe that a 95 % chance of the avoidance

of complete total extinction is good news?

Just how bad does the corporate control of this critical issue

have to be before reporters and editors throughout the country,

and the rest of the world

walk off their jobs and say.

That's it.

No more lies.

We need to respond to this issue now,

or we are doomed.

That would be the significant relief the rest of us are seeking.

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art courtesy of Laura Walker Scott