On 3/12/2011 3:54 a.m., Brian Gaff wrote:
Well, the think is about climate change, formerly known as global warming,
is that we don't exactly know what will happen. The way its looking from
trends is that the weather and climate will be more radical, no they will
not all join some NGO and swear to get rid of corruption, I mean that as the
warmer climes heat, the temperature differentials will drive the weather to
extremes and may well result in deserts in one place, and frozen wastes in
others.
It may not after all flood the world by melting all the ice, but may limit
the areas of temperate zones where we can live.
Brian


One thing that has always annoyed me about the way people talk about
climate change is that the focus is completely on the negative aspects.
You express concern about change limiting the areas of temperate zone,
but it's quite obvious that the temperate zone expands in some places
(e.g. on its northern fringe), and it's not at all obvious that the net
effect is a reduction.

When I hear someone expressing concern about the idea of a warmer globe,
I sometimes ask if they would prefer it if the the globe were cooler.
Why should the temperature we have become used to over a few centuries
be regarded as the ideal temperature? (I am not oblivious to the costs
of adjustment to a changing temperature, but that's a separate issue.)