Select to expand quote
remery said..
You might enjoy reading "The Whole Story of Climate", by E. Kirsten Peters.
Meh, too many pages. Synopsis will have do me. I have too many pre-conceived notions about it all anyways. I don't want to risk changing my mind.
So:
A geologist explains the complex relationship between earth's geologic cycles and climate change.(oh goodie, rather believe a geologist about these things than a soothsayer or even a climate scientist)
This book, written by a geologist, describes the important contributions that geology has made to our understanding of climate change. What emerges is a much more complex and nuanced picture than is usually presented.While the average person often gets the impression that the Earth's climate would be essentially stable if it weren't for the deleterious effects of greenhouse gases, in fact the history of the earth over many millennia reveals a constantly changing climate. As the author explains, several long cold eras have been punctuated by shorter warm periods. The most recent of these warm spells, the one in which we are now living, started ten thousand years ago; based on previous patterns, we should be about due for the return of another frigid epoch.(yep, just what I thought, although return of the frigid epoch is anyones guess as to when and how much, we just can't forecast that well - yet)
But how could we be on the cusp of another ice age when all indications point to a warming climate? Though much is uncertain, this book clearly shows that major climate shifts can be appallingly rapid--occurring over as little as twenty or thirty years.
(yep, makes sense. Maybe Prof. Tim Flannery should read this as well ?)
Dumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere may increase the chance that this ""climate switch"" will be thrown, (yep, also makes sense, it may increase the chance. May also decrease the chance, but may increase it, can't argue with a maybe)
...with catastrophic effects on worldwide agriculture. All the more reason to take the threat of climate change seriously.
(oooh... and the punch line. That's always the bit that gets me. "may" in the sentence above about consequences, but then implied definite in the final conclusion).
Can we compare WA wheatbelt agricultural production against rainfall data and extrapolate forward to draw this doomsday catastrophic conclusion or are we just 50/50 guessing ?
Inversely proportional is a term used in statistics.