Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/11/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Maybe we have it all wrong. Those photographers worrying about cameras in cold weather are on the right track. A new analysis of the cycles of ice ages and warm intervals over the past million years, published in Nature, concludes that the climate will settle into a permanent colder state in the next millenium with expanded ice sheets at both poles. The authors, Thomas J. Crowley of the University of Edinburgh and William T. Hyde of the University of Toronto, used climate models and other techniques to assess the chances that the world is witnessing the final stages of a 50-million-year transition from a planet with a persistent warm climate and scant polar ice to one with greatly expanded ice sheets at both poles. The paper goes on to propose that humans would be likely to avert such a slide into a long big chill by adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Sure, Holland, Denmark, Florida, and Manhattan will be under water in the short term but eventually will dry out as the Polar ice caps grow. Go ahead and crank those Hummers up to full power (if you can afford it) and cherish coal fired power plants. You will be helping the environment in the long term. Burn (fuel) baby, burn! And keep those digital camera batteries warm. Larry Z