The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > Under the gun > Comments

Under the gun : Comments

By Julian Cribb, published 9/6/2009

While we continue to dawdle on greenhouse mitigation policy we seem blithely unaware there is a gun pointed at our heads. The clathrate gun.

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. All
"But realistically, who is willing to take such a risk with their children?"

I am, for one.

"And why?"

Because this looks exactly like all the hysterical claims that have been made in the past -- overpopulation, running out of food, nuclear winter, global cooling, the ozone hole, greenhouse gases, acid rain, the Y2K bug, CJD, CRD, bird flu, swine flu, etc, etc, etc, and global warming itself... all of which turned out to be cynical attempts to panic the populace in order to a) sell more newspapers and b) put more power into the hands of self-appointed 'saviours'.

"Yet if there was even one chance in a thousand of the gun firing, should we ignore it?"

One chance in a thousand is about the risk you take of being hit by a car during the next month. Does that mean you should spend the next month indoors? However, as a 'science communicator' should know, pinning a number on the 'probability' of a unique event is mathematically bogus.

Ho hum. Nothing to see here. Wake me up when the clathrates call.
Posted by Jon J, Tuesday, 9 June 2009 9:41:14 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
What *is* it about these Baby-Boomer Jeremiahs, that they actually seem to get off on trying to scare people?

This piece is about as sophisticated as telling a bunch of kids that old story about the murderer banging the head on the car roof.
Posted by Clownfish, Tuesday, 9 June 2009 9:58:18 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
WOW they are pulling out the big guns of fear...based on speculation<<a gun that,potentially,>>>big key word that potent-ally to beat up hysteria

potentially<<can take out the whole of humanity and,possibly>>.possably and potentially wow it just gets better[clearly the scrabbling for this new tax is reaching the heights od despiration[seems there calling on the powers of man to hold back the ocians of methane now

potentially/possably yes the science in in..lol..take out MOST<<most life on Earth...The clathrate gun.>>>strange name..[why no holowcost linkage?..no global warning deniers?

<<Locked in the deep ocean sediments>>LOCKED BEING THE KEY WORD...like locking down the vast ocians of co2...we could say the same for the clean coal solution[single use air locked under the earth[not miles of water and sediment]

<<are an estimated>>>ie presumed by an edicated GUESS

<<three trillion tonnes of methane hydrates - methane gas trapped under immense pressure in water ice.>>under IMENSE presure IN WATER ICE...trapped indead...

<<Methane is a gas with about 70 times the global warming potential of CO2>>>you raise a good point[what of these greenies home-composting THEIR methane direct into our air NOW[them damm greenies want their compost and our carbon taxes too

[tax greenies composting]..thier compost fumes are equal to 5 cars co2 fumes..lol...way to go you green hyprcrites..[stop producing methane in your compost bins of mass destruction

<<and if>>> noting the if's/buts/and maybies and possabilities

<<IF a significant amount of it were to escape>>>it it WERE to escape...lol

<<it>>ie methane greenies are producing from their vego composting excess

<<IT[methane]..could..LOL...COULD trigger runaway global warming, raising Earth’s temperature by 10 degrees or more in a matter of decades.>>>if it did happen it would still take DECADES?

AND here comes the fear..<<If ignited,..the gas could create gigantic explosive airbursts,>>how much oxigen would it take...lol[noting the quaran talks of burning ocians...not burning skies..[where does the sky bbegin??...seems mountain climbers have a shortage of oxigen mearly on top of a mountain...lol giagantic air bursts...lol

STOP ALL HOME COMPOSTING NOW

<<and..'it..;..may...MAY..also toxify vast expanses of the ocean.>>..lol...better stop farting/belching folks
Posted by one under god, Tuesday, 9 June 2009 11:38:14 AM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Methane bubbles from sediments in the North Sea are not entirely new – they explain the disappearance of trawlers sitting upright on the seabed east of Aberdeen at what is known as “The Witches Hole”. Observations from the last six months in the arctic sea noted upwellings of methane, previously undetected.
Perhaps we could soon be visited by massive changes.

But why should we worry? Ian Plimer, in an article on OLO (26/7/07), allayed any fears we might have by noting that “life had thrived” through such changes in the geological past.
And, sure enough, the geological record does note the resurgence of life forms after massive extinctions of species during those changes.
Pity about Homo sapiens, one of the species most likely to be displaced by other life forms, as a consequence of such changes: We are currently unable to provide a decent living for the present 6.9 billion under present world environmental circumstances. Worse, our demographics are locked in to 9 billion.
Not only do we need to take climate change seriously, we are faced with just as much urgency in the task of minimizing pressure from human numbers. Expectation of continued economic growth, based on consumption, remains a cargo-cult undiminished by the less than cosy glow from sub-prime activities: “sustainable lifestyles” remain a fashion garment to cover inaction on root causes.
Underdeveloped countries continue to be denied adequate resources in the matter of giving women access, and the right, to limit their own fertility. Without that, they are trapped in continuing poverty – numbers escalating until warfare, migration, disease, starvation winnow them.
Agricultural advisors will continue to be impotent until they accept the necessity for addressing the pressure of numbers as well as agricultural improvement. Gassing on about methane clathrates does deal with a nasty symptom, but not the underlying cause
Posted by colinsett, Tuesday, 9 June 2009 12:02:13 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Sorry I know I posted this in the previous thread as well but it seems even more pertinant to this one.

I am scared that people have been too stupified by advertising, the media and consumption that there is no hope and easter island here we come. We are in the end only animals and boom and then collapse is quite common in the natural world. It would be a pity. I would like to think us humans were smarter than your average insect but sadly on current evidence it doesnt look too good.
Posted by mikk, Tuesday, 9 June 2009 1:17:40 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Ho hum, back to living in the moment.
Posted by Faustino, Tuesday, 9 June 2009 1:24:02 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy