■ 18 March 2008 | 7:10 AM
Global argument
Whether or not global warming is a threat to our existence, there is one issue that both believers and cynics of global warming should be able to agree on: Pollution is a serious threat to the viability of our planet.
Lorraine Ortega
Chesapeake
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Response
"Nutrient runoff and deforestation are indeed major problems but they are not being ignored. "
If you think they are not being ignored, look through your local paper over the next few weeks. See how many permits there are to circumvent the law meant to protect Chesapeake Bay. Some protection that is being offered here.
Don Tabor: Describe 03 and what it does. Dig deeper.
Really? What hard science?
I've read the IPCC technical summary, and I don't see it there.
At least not any to back up any of the scenarios predicted by Gore Et Al.
For example, under the most restrictive carbon limits, sea level rise was predicted to be on the order of 2 to 12 inches in 100 years. With no effort to limit carbon, it was 4 to 17 inches. (the 23 inch rise published was rejected as impossible by the scientists but put back into the report by the bureaucrats.)
So, at the cost of wrecking our economy, we can, if they were correct at all, make a 5 inch difference in sea level in 100 years. After that,it starts falling again, no matter what.
Whoopee.
It's the Denial of Global Warming That Resembles Religion
Nutrient runoff and deforestation are indeed major problems but they are not being ignored. Deforestation adds to the problem of global warming as there are less plants to consume CO2 and produce oxygen creating a greenhouse effect that is growing to the point of feeding on itself and threatening our future existence. Nutrient runoff is creating dead zones due to the algae blooms that consume oxygen in the oceans. The changing ph in the oceans is also a major factor along with the rising sea temperatures. Global warming, unlike religion, is based on hard science and peer reviewed consensus.
No one I know of advocates pollution
Many disagree on what constitutes pollution. Our air and water are a great deal cleaner today than they were 30 years ago, especially with regard to the really toxic pollutants. It often seems that having accomplished their real goals, the environmental professionals define pollution down just to stay in business. When I was an environmental activist, 38 years ago, our goal was for cars and factories to release only CO2 and water. Now CO2 is being touted as a pollutant.
Its not, CO2 is plant food.
Sadly, science is being ignored in favor of emotion within the environmental movement, and human caused global warming has become a false religion. The result is that we are distracted from the very real environmental concerns, like deforestation and nutrient runoff, which we could be solving were we not pursuing the impossible dream of eliminating CO2 emissions.