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

Thise of you who thing that global warming is a storm in a teacup and the scientific community is unnecessarily alarmist, ought to read this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6665147.stm

Hiding behind spurious and out-of-context invocations of scientific principles (such as, B, Le Chatelier's Principle) won't work anymore. And those of you who think that giving house room to such tendentious drivel enriches the Guide (such as you, Pinniped) really ought to think about what you are doing here and what you are bringing to this enterprise.

I can't be nice or polite about this anymore. I won't have people telling me that a ticking time bomb is nothing to worry about and that I ought to shut up and stop being so 'utterly ultimately boring'.

I joined the Greens to do my bit, as we have a general election this day week. I find the Greens soft pedalling more than I'd like: they are now one among many competing parties with a good chance of increasing their seats, but I want the voters to force all parties to face the green imperative: if we fail on climate change, we fail on everything (George Monbiot).

My brother has started a letter campaign, and here is my version of his letter:

Global heating will spiral out of control unless it is curbed within
the next few years. Should this happen most of the world will
become uninhabitable for humankind within a few generations. All
will suffer directly or indirectly from drought or flooding or famine
or breakdown of society or war. Our generation must act to
forestall such a calamity.

There are many things that everybody can do to reduce global heating.
Political leaders and influential people can do the most. Please do
what you can, increasingly.

Please send on this message, in your own words and your own name, to
friends and to your elected representatives.

I would welcome a reply with your comments.

~Andrew (Recumbentman) Robinson

I think we need and have every right to know from the people who represent us where they stand on this issue. And I also want to know what they are doing about it.

I still don't really understand sinks. Which is awkward as it's part of the course I'm doing at the moment, and there was a question on it when I did this course last year. Can't remember what marks I got for it!

What kind of sink? Not the kitchen kind, surely?

It's not that complex is it? Certain things soak up CO2.

As far as I understand it, just about the only thing that removes CO2 from the atmosphere is photosynthesis. We've been adding CO2 to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, so to be a sink the photosynthetic entity must be expanding. This means planting more forests or seeding the ocean with iron in order to encourage algal growth.

I'll have to go and check my book again and see why I was so confused.

Kitchen sinks are also tricky. No matter how many times I clear them up, they always get full of washing up again.

Same problem (sort of).