Run, Run Now.

This is a little disturbing. Life imitates . . . ok, well, I wouldn't call The Day After Tomorrow art, but near enough.

*Antarctic ice shelf the size of Rhode Island breaks off into ocean.

*New Delhi is hit by freak winter weather.

*Scientists find the North Atlantic current is weakening.

Finally. Cuddling with Jake Gyllenhaal is no longer simply a desire or fantasy: it is now a survival imperative.

Comments

[Chad]

I'll begin to worry when sea-faring vessels are anchored in ice outside my office on Broadway, complete with a pack of wolves who are immune to subzero temperatures.

[Malcontent]

So global warming causes global warming and global cooling now. Right.

Well, wake me when they find out it also causes impotence and male pattern baldness.

[Chad]

Maybe they should rename it "Global Fever". Sometimes you feel really hot, and get all achy and sweaty. And sometimes you get the chills. Who's to say why it happens...?

Probably 'cause of SUVs though.... That's my guess.

....Or maybe Big Oil. ... yeah. Probably them.

[Robbie]

The article on the North Atlantic current is pretty interesting though, and what I know of history seems to bear it out. North Atlantic civilizations have often enjoyed periods of great warmth and extreme cold. Thinking on it, I'm not sure I can really get all concerned about global warming. If it heats up to the point where the current weakens and the north grows colder for a few decades, it'll simply warm right back up again.

The Earth is a very self-adjusting system. The idea we're going to catastrophically warm seems bunk. There will never be a water world, sparing us all reliance on Kevin Costner's acting.

[Dan]

Check out the work of Bjorn Lomborg, aka "The Skeptical Environmentalist." While I think the basic science of global warming is sound, I do get annoyed by the shrill, over the top antics of some environmental groups. I view cleaner technology mandates not so much as a way to avoid a catastrophic climactic event, but more as just being respectful of the environment.

I guess I'll just have to find some other excuse to cuddle up with Jake.

[Chad]

And gills.... Costner had gills too. Very "in character" for him.

I'm not sure I'll ever be concerned about global warming until I can get a hold of some concrete, unbiased, irrefutable, scientific proof that it's happening and that there is something we can do about it.

Until then, I'll just have to fast forward to the good part in TDAT.... That being where the credits begin to roll.

[Dan]

Climatic not climactic. Why do I always notice these things right after I hit post?

[North Dallas Thirty]

Freudian slip? :)

[Dan]

Well, it's Jake we're talkin about here. Cut me some slack... :)

[Robbie]

Climactic shift - When you're almost there and suddenly lose it.

[Roy]

That is some scary stuff!!!!

[Jordy]

VIDEO: Discovery Science "Owning The Weather"
http://virtualmatter.blogspot.com/2005/12/video-discovery-science-owning-weather.html

[Donald]

I am still not sure how good looking I think Jake is? Not that I would not burn books with him at the library. I am sticking with off beat good looks.

[Malcontent]

1) I'm in the camp that thinks Jake is hot, period. No agnosticism from me.

2) I can't say the same about global warming, though -- in that I am a bit agnostic. Not that I think global warming is "hot," per se, although it would be a tautology to say so. Unless we're back to that "global warming=cooling" business.

But I digress. Anyhow, I think there is enough evidence out there that at least some amount of global warming is occurring, so that's a point I'm on the verge of conceding. (I do wonder, though, how much of the warming is a result of better technology to track climate change. Kind of like crime statistics, which are salient only to the extent that crimes are actually reported. NOAA itself concedes as much.)

My biggest concern, though, is that no one to my knowledge has credibly shown that the human race is having a significant enough impact on climate change that our actions to address would in themselves have any meaningful effect. After all, a single natural event -- the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo -- was enuogh to reverse the warming trend for about three years. A few more of those, and problem solved.

Insofar as it is a problem, of course. What's so wrong with a little climate change? Life on the planet has been adjusting to temperature swings for years. Extending the growing seasons in the Northern Hemisphere would sure make the Grain Belt a lot more productive, producing more food to feed some of the world's 842 million hungry people.

And I can't say I haven't enjoyed the mild New York winter. If more seniors would stay put here instead of retiring to Florida, the area's Ben Gay and Geritol-based economy would boom!

Seriously, I'm all for alternative sources of energy, but I think climate change is probably the least of the reasons why. Energy independence, enhanced geopolitical stability, and greater fuel efficiency (economic factors) are much higher on my list.

[o]

Hmm. I'm very saddened by the amphibian extinction presently underway. The success of the fungi which causes it is believed to be closely related to rising temperatures. By the time it is proved one way or the other it will be too late for hundreds of species.
When you consider how much land is presently in cultivation it is remarkable to consider that man is not influencing the environment. Whilst it is true that global temperature shifts are all part of 'natural' cycles it is concerning that the organisms that we rely on may no longer be capable of prospering in a way that we are accustomed. Or that others - some diseases, say - would take root in new areas. I say 'we' but obviously urbanites in the NY area won't suffer too much - it'll be poorer rural populations elsewhere that will fare the worst. And as an horticulturist I'd be sorry to see the devastation that would be wreaked on the flora of the UK and much of N Europe should the gulf stream be affected by melting ice caps.

[Don]

Amphibian extinction? 99% of the species that have everlived on earth are already extinct. Including the original amphibians that preceeded the dinosaurs.

I'm always puzzled as to why it is human beings "destroying the planet" or the environment or wiping out species. It's like environmentalists we are some kind of visitors that don't belong here. We are just as much a part of the environment as that fungus that kills off Kermit. Species arrive and they eventually die off. The same may eventually happen with human beings.

[Queer Conservative]

Humans have been around for mere seconds on the geological clock - to think we can have a catastrophic effect on the planet is stupid. Nature doesn't consider us anymore important than a microbe. Personally, I'd love for it get colder, so I hope the Gulf Stream does fail! Woo Hoo! Snow in Atlanta.

[Jamie]

"Humans have been around for mere seconds on the geological clock - to think we can have a catastrophic effect on the planet is stupid."

--Agreed. While I think we may have the capacity to effect the planet in the short-term, those that say we're "destroying the planet" are off-base. We're merely making it less hospitable for humans, if anything. Like George Carlin said, when the earth is done with us, it'll shrug us off like a drawing on an Etch-a-sketch. "We're only here because nature needed a way to make plastic." :)

[Robbie]

Maybe a little styrofoam =)