|
|
All Your Air are Belong to Us
New Scientist is carrying this report detailing yet another discovery that shows just how complex climate modeling really is:
Industry has dramatically cut its emissions of pollutants, called volatile organic compounds. But those cuts have been more than offset by the amount of VOCs churned out by trees.
VOCs are an interesting angle, as for the most part car emissions are about NOx's (oxides of nitrogen), and other, different stuff. If I'm reading the article correctly, the stuff the trees belch out turns into NOx's, so it may be the same thing.
Regardless, this was a bit of data not even thought of by the people modeling the effects of ozone on the atmosphere. It should lead most people to conclude climate modeling is still only a few steps beyond the "wave-a-dead-chicken" stage. But, since environmentalism seems for the most part to have replaced Marxism as the religion of choice for the non-religious, I expect it'll just lead to another round of bloodletting.
I believe that pines are planted frequently to make up for logging of older trees. I don't know about sweetgum, its history etc. But it is seems as if all three types of trees overabundant growth (in terms of their affect on the environment) are related to human manipulation.That doesn't mean human manipulation is bad; we wouldn't be where we are good or bad if it weren'nt for human manipulation; but it shows how lasting the effects of any action, and that these effects aren't always predictable.
Posted by: Rachel Ann on October 18, 2004 02:39 PMThis is something I'd like to get a bit better understanding of. Right now, I'll agree - modelling isn't much better than the scratching in the entrails, however, there are many signs out there that things are getting warmer:
1 - Ice caps are receding everywhere - in fact, the Arctic cap is getting 9% smaller every year, data starting from 1978.
2 - Permafrost is melting, which is reeking havoc for the folks in northern Alaska and other silly places to live
3 - Africa's Lake Chad is now 10% as big as it was during the 1960's
Now, we've got a lot of problems assigning causes to these effects, but they are a bit disheartening. Not that I can recommend us going out and tinkering with things - we can't currently even prove that this isn't a natural event that we're just accelerating a bit OR that we're the primary cause.
Given all of this, I'd love to be able to stop what I'm doing and truly study this one, however, I don't have the education or funding necessary. Anyone want to give me a blank check?
Posted by: ron on October 18, 2004 03:16 PM