Friday, February 17, 2006
"The Sky Is Not Falling!"
Usually when ice melts, it's getting warmer. If Greenland is getting snowier, we have a balance. Maybe.
What I'd be worried about (more than Muslims or cultural relativists if I were a European) is the addition of large amounts of fresh water to the North Atlantic. A decrease in salinity could alter the ocean currents (salt water is heavier than fresh) and send the Gulf Stream to Africa. If that happens (and it's happened before) Europe is likely to get a whole lot snowier in the winter. Maybe the Sahara gets green like it was 10,000 years ago. Wouldn't that be a kick?
So is global warming a mirage? Part of the problem is that we don't know the climate triggers with absolute certainty. The problem is not necessarily a warmer planet, but the alteration of carefully balanced planet-wide cycles. We wouldn't need to go whole ice age or warm a bit more to see massive shifts in food growing zones around the planet.
Ice Age or Warm Earth? Either one spells "Dark Ages" to me.
