Friday, July 06, 2007

Ancient Greenland Warmer Than Previously Thought

The oldest ever recovered DNA samples have been collected from under more than a mile of Greenland ice, and their analysis suggests the island was much warmer during the last Ice Age than previously thought.

The DNA is proof that sometime between 450,000 and 800,000 years ago, much of Greenland was especially green and covered in a boreal forest that was home to alder, spruce and pine trees, as well as insects such as butterflies and beetles.


But how can that be? It's hotter now than it's ever been in the history of the planet! Earth rests in the balance, and all that.

Less glacial cover in ancient Greenland means the global ocean was probably between three and six feet higher during that time compared to current levels, the scientists say.

And how much of a rise is the IPCC predicting in the next century or so? About 17 inches?

Let's look at the track record of similar scares.

Population bomb
Peak oil
Global cooling/"The Coming Ice Age"
Nuclear winter
Bird flu
SARS pandemic
Global warming

What do they all have in common? Several things.

1. They all required immense, immediate governmental action,
2. action favored by leftists,
3. action that would have a seriously adverse effect on the global economy and prosperity,
4. to forestall apocalyptic consequences.
5. None of them happened.

Is it any wonder I'm skeptical about the claims of the Church of Global Warming?

Update, 7/9/07: In my list above, how could I forget Thomas Malthus?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

It always gets me that people who flip out over the evil government using the GWOT to scare us into submission...

... are perfectly happy to be scared into submission by a host of things that are even harder to believe and have less immediate impact. Who cares about that weird car sitting at the curb smoking, I'm off to get me an compact fluorescent light bulb lest we all burn!

Perhaps it's a way to avoid things that are really scary.

Darren said...

Excellent point. It's all about who is doing the scaring, and if the cause is just.

Mrs. Bluebird said...

Well duh. It was called Greenland for a reason, wasn't it?

Darren said...

As I recall, it was called Greenland to attract settlers--not because it was actually green!

The forests in this article existed before modern man.

Still, the earth's never been warmer? Color me unconvinced.

Anonymous said...

Well, let's see, in what ways are the Earth today different from the Earth in the past ...

1. There are 6.5 billion humans, and within fifty years that number will reach 9 billion.

2. These humans have populated along the coastline. Built a lot of infrastructure there, too.

3. These humans are making radical changes to the Earth's atmosphere by burning fossil fuels at an impressive and ever-accelerating rate.

4. The humans are also destroying entire ecosystems and exterminating many species in the process.

5. These humans are also polluting the Earth in a horrendous fashion. The air, land and water are all becoming filled with pollution at an alarming rate.

So, therefore, you people are saying:

"It's ok! Everything is alright!"

To that I say:

You people are generating an apocalypse on the Earth which will kill billions of humans and destroy the technological civilization which you love so much.

Do you believe that this is impossible? Just wait a little while and you will verify these predictions with your own eyes.

Until then, of course, you can keep on doing what you do best: Watching television, shopping, eating fast food, driving SUVs and generally living like an obese American.

David Mathews
http://www.geocities.com/dmathew1

Darren said...

Typical leftie response: avoid the topic at hand, change the subject, and make unrelated counter-accusations.

And this from someone who probably uses no so-called fossil fuels of any kind, right David?

If my family history is any indication, I've got a good 50 years left. I'll let you know how that apocalypse goes.

allenm said...

1)Yeah, and we've heard the same rhetoric for the past fifty years and the lot of the human being has gotten better the closer th population apocalypse draws. In 1954 72% of the human race went to bed hungry according to the UN. This year that percentage will have fallen to 16%. If this trend continues the problem won't be hunger it'll be where to put all the damned food.

2)Your point being?

3)No we're not.

4)Just carrying on in the grand tradition established before us humans came on the scene. You do know that only one percent of all the species that have existed still survive? That's right, 99% are extinct and all a result of the beautiful, natural processes of nature.

5)Nope. Poor people pollute. That's why pollution in communist countries was vastly worse then in democracies. Communism = poverty. It didn't help that they were totalitarian dictatorships that didn't give a good rip about the environment.

You forgot about resource depletion that was slated to begin in the 1990s. That prediction was made in the 1960s in the widely read book "Limits to Growth". You can still find it at bigger libraries.

Not only was every prediction whose time has passed proven to be wrong, precisely the opposite occurred: resources are more plentiful and cheaper then ever.

But thanks for chiming in David.

I'm just curious but if you're American I'm sure you're one of those evolved Americans who hankers to be European, is ashamed of everything distinctly American and can't understand why more people don't aspire to be as elevated as yourself.

If you're not American are you among the people Americans died freeing or the people Americans killed to free the former?

Which is it?

Anonymous said...

Anon (BTY Darren, why does Anon always show up and refuse to give at least a pen name…lack of confidence in what he’s putting out?) would you try and get a clue.

“1. There are 6.5 billion humans, and within fifty years that number will reach 9 billion.”

You don’t say. When Darren and I were growing up in the 70s, the population hit 4.0 billion at there was such serious concern of where we are going to put everyone. We’ve gone 25% more and we haven’t run out of room since.

“2. These humans have populated along the coastline. Built a lot of infrastructure there, too. “

No kidding, we’ve populated along the coastlines. We’ve also tended to move towards cities as opposed to country areas because as a society and economy matures, it goes from to an agriculture base (e.g. US in 1700’s to 1800s) to industrial base (US later 1800s to late 1900s) to information driven economy (1980s onward).

3. These humans are making radical changes to the Earth's atmosphere by burning fossil fuels at an impressive and ever-accelerating rate.”

What humans in particular? Just American’s or westerners in general? What about all the people in China (I doubt there is an EPA there or their cars use unleaded gas) or India (same thing, I doubt the “EPA” there has an administrator shut down a multi-million dollar project and then drive away in his government provided SUV.

“4. The humans are also destroying entire ecosystems and exterminating many species in the process.”

Anon, you’re doing that! You miserable son of a bitch! :) In more seriousness (In as much seriousness as which I can take your rant) what “ecosystem” is the human race killing off? Specifically, which ones and how are you responsible for its destruction. As far as “exterminating many species” I’m going to give you a slap in the face with something you’re not associated with. It’s called reality. Species (animal and plant) have been created and destroyed since life has been on the Earth and new animals and plants have been discovered to this day.

“5. These humans are also polluting the Earth in a horrendous fashion. The air, land and water are all becoming filled with pollution at an alarming rate. “

Again anon, as a human who’s “polluting the Earth in a horrendous fashion” you can bump yourself off if you want. The Earth won’t miss you (BTY neither will we). I might remind you Anon of something Darren and I were taught in our elementary school called the Carbon Cycle. Animals (humans, deer, elephants, etc) breath in air, suck out the oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide (As well as industries, etc). The CO2 is in taken in by green plants and in conjunction with sunlight the plants perform photosynthesis that release oxygen into the atmosphere. So we are a critical part of one of the basic functions of all life on the Earth. So Anan it’s ok, you don’t have to bump yourself off.

Here is a hyperlink with a lot of pictures so hopefully you can understand it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_cycle

“To that I say:

You people are generating an apocalypse on the Earth which will kill billions of humans and destroy the technological civilization which you love so much.

Do you believe that this is impossible? Just wait a little while and you will verify these predictions with your own eyes.

Until then, of course, you can keep on doing what you do best: Watching television, shopping, eating fast food, driving SUVs and generally living like an obese American. “

Anon, try a book called “The Population Bomb”, Paul Ehrlich. In the late 60’s he predicted mass starvation and population caused by overpopulation by the late 20th Century. To quote the book:

1. 65 million people in the US would starve to death (I must have been sleeping Anon, when did we busy 65 million for starvation…Darren, did you notice it?)

2. By 2000, the US would be out of oil, coal, aluminum, iron, copper and other minerals.

3. Life expectancy in the US would drop to 40.

4. Air quality would be so poor that a large part of the US population would need to wear a mask.

I must have been sleeping through all this. Damned. I gotta wake up.

Anon, get a clue (and a life). And try some curiosity. If ALGORE et all really believed this tripe would they be driving all over the place in limo’s and private jets?

Answer this question please!

Also, I have one question. How old are you?

Ellen K said...

Predictions are only as good as the facts used in creating them. The problem with the whole Global Warming phenomenon is that it uses a comparatively small sample in regards to the entire time man has been on the planet and doesn't even begin to account for the MILLIONS of years before that. If you talk to archeologists and geologists, they will tell you that the earth's atmospherem polarity and sea levels have changed numerous times without the added intervention of humans. While this doesn't mean we should squander our resources, it doesn't necessarily mean that humans caused Global Warming or that they can really do anything meaningful about it. I find it doubly damning that most of the "Greens" and in this I could our Democrats since they have rolled over and permitted their platform to be written by these people, support a type of government that would hamper research, limit driving to the wealthy and the few elites and one that excuses the pollution of nations based on their political identities and fiscal records over the amount and types of pollution they are creating. China is now they worlds biggest pollutor on all scales, yet the left would have the United States as the primary target, limit our production, our economy, our research by signing the Kyoto Accord. And that is why we must not let a Democrat get elected. They are bought and paid for by the agents of change through George Soros.

Ariztophanes said...

Carbon dioxide is plant food.

The carbon that created huge forests of green and an ENTIRELY inhabitable planet now lies locked up in coal and oil reserves underground.

I say, "Free the carbon, let's get the life party started!!"