h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"And lo,If your neighbour looks as if he is about to strike you on the cheek, make sure you hit him first." New Christianity?

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No. Nothing to do with Christianity.

For anyone in any doubt,here's some befoe and after climate change pictures.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/sci_nat_how_the_world_is_changing/html/1.stm

hmmm.
Is it just me or does the mountain in pic. 5 look like it has lost its 'point' in the later picture?

Yes it does, but it could have been ice?

that's a bit of a dodgy arguement. A selection of localised climates changing is not very strong evidence for global climate change.

What is very strong evidence for an overall global climate change are the temperature statistics that show that mean world temperature has increased.

Is this any better evidence?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4275729.stm

or
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/2976279.stm

Well I'd certainly go for the first one. The second just seems like ludditism. If anything is going to keep humanity afloat its technological advance.

It is interesting that Sir Martin Rees refers to the survival of "our present civilisation" as only having a 50:50 chance of making it to the end of the 21st century. He's probably being quite optimistic, as "our civilisation" is the ultra-consumerist, gas-guzzling, fuel-fossil, highly polluting civilisation that has emerged in the "global village" context since WWII. There is no way that this civilisation can survive indefinitely, simply because the resources on which it depends are limited, and research funding into renewable resources is a tiny fraction of the research money that goes into weaponry, for example. And on the other hand, the political will to curtail pollution (to the extent that it will have a reasonable impact on our environmental destruction) is simply lacking.

As I have argued before, the rapid consumerist-economic growth of both China and India is going to present a huge environmental problem on top of the existing crisis within a couple of years. Both India and China are rapidly acquiring the taste for, and the means to purchase all the trappings we in the west have taken for granted since WWII.

China, more precisely, the Chinese government, cannot afford to say "No" to its aspiring consumers, because it's the economic boom that's keeping its people from questioning their political situation and lack of basic freedoms. And while ever more Chinese people move from the countryside to the factory cities, there is no incentive for employers to improve working conditions, raise wages, or permit trade unions ( even if these were legal under the present regime!) let alone undertake costly environmental-protection measures.

Our fossil-fuel civilisation is bound to collapse. Maybe the human race will survive the consequent culling, whether that cull is the result of a pollution-driven disease pandemic, resource wars, catastrophic climate change, or some spectacular "natural" event, be it a super-volcano or a meteor impact.

A recent article in "Focus" magazine, UK, on super-volcanoes, has shown that the chances of a supervolcano eruption are only about 1:700,000 in any given year. But then, Yellowstone is overdue, and there are approximately 7,000 potential supervolcano sites around the Pacific "ring of fire" where tectonic plate subduction zones build up a good head of pressure over the millennia.

Doubtless GWB and his cronies are assured a cozy hibernation under some American mountain should a volcanic winter, or a substantial meteor, hit planet earth.

Cheers,

C \|/

well i didn't see the documentry but i don't need to watch tv to get that the climate is changing. Anyone still in denial has thier head in the sand. If we assume that this is the case what to do about our fate. I think if the world carries on as is we or our children will see the end. The question is: Is it to late to do something about it perhaps we should all lose our selfs in hedonistic persuits (seems to be most peoples prefered option)or we could wake up and start to try and change. Only possible by starting with changing me first. It is no good going on about various bad politics while carrying on comsuming the products. I am guilty of joining in with this mass destruction but more and more my concience bothers me when i fill up at the petrol station or carry my shopping to the car in yet another plastic bag i won't use again. I am helping myself to change by getting involved in a hemp growing project(www.alsativa.com). This might be the only way to have a reasonable future for our grandchildren to me it seem like a noble cause but with the lack of confidence i feel about my fellow humans perhaps hedonism is the way to go at least it's fun.

I think the worry I have is that we in the West are so very reliant upon - the easy option. What would we do, how would we manage without water out of a tap, electricity out of a socket?
In my middle age I have a few skills that might help me survive, (like growing food)but when I look at some of the younger generation , (some of whom refuse food if its not accompanied by ketchup) I wounder how they would manage. Farming skills have been eroded, as have other crafts that we might need in this brave new world of less. We have become a nation of people with children who don't even wear coats in the snow because it might be considered naff. We put style before function and ease of prepartion before nutrition. We've learnt to live easy, how would we survive hard?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/supervolcano/programme.shtml


Volcano - Jellystone program - details this weekend

Whoops Yellowstone, had a yogi bear moment there

Yogi bear moment...

So, how many people saw the "Supervolcano" programmes on BBC 1 and 2 on Sunday and Monday?

Missed it, sorry. But there's not really a great deal we can do about that particular disaster anyway, is there? I mean, changing human behaviour isn't going to prevent it or make it a situation we can deal with. Or was the whole point of the programmes that we somehow *could* stop this one?

Mol

Wellllll, if you got a really, really big bathplug...

or we all moved to Australia and built some massive underground hydroponic units and water purifiers.
Still the topic is The End of The World and not what can we do about it.

BTW I did watch both episodes and was riverted. My son went into nervous anxiety attacks..what with the global warming and the meteor that's on course for our house. Still this is what it's all about - life on earth - a struggle - but we're not well equiped to handle catastophe, paradoxically. The last time a super volcano erupted on earth there were only 1000 (i guess this is an aproximation) humans on the planet, and somehow we're still here. I wonder if we would manage half as well as our ancestors?
Here's a BBC interactive game to see how you'd handle a super volcano
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/supervolcano/game.shtml