PLEASE NOTE:
*
CCNet TERRA 8/2003 - 12 February 2003 2003
-------------------------------------------
"We note that the warming of the late 1970s to late 1990s,
which
returned much of the world to the level of warmth experienced
during
the 1930s and 1940s, may well be about to end. In fact, Chavez et
al.
cite much evidence that indicates a change from El Viejo to La
Vieja
conditions may already be in progress. If this is indeed true, we
could well
see global temperatures begin to drop in the very near
future."
--CO2 Science Magazine, 12 February 2003
"Lomborg is by no means a towering intellect or authority.
But
'undermining public understanding' and 'perverting the scientific
message' are nasty, catch-all charges that should have no place
in a
scientific court. The conviction by this Danish panel is unfair
and
bad for science. It is also bad for the environmentalists who
have so
applauded it. Lomborg will now be characterised as the victim of
a green
witch-hunt. I fear that his accusers have been guilty of just
that."
--Fred Pearce, New Scientist
(1) COOLING ON THE HORIZON?
CO2 Science Magazine, 12 February 2003
(2) NEW DOUBTS ABOUT THERMOHALINE "DEEP FREZZE" SCARE
Geology 2003, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 67-70.
(3) ARCTIC GLACIERS: ARE THEY MELTING?
CO2 Science Magazine, 12 February 2003
(4) A 500-YEAR HISTORY OF DROUGHT IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, USA
CO2 Science Magazine, 12 February 2003
(5) UK MAY FAIL ON CO2 CUTS
BBC News Online, 12 February 2003
(6) GLOBAL WARMING SCARE TRIGGERS NUCLEAR POWER PUSH IN UK
BBC News Online, 10 February 2003
(7) COMMENT ON GLIKSON LETTER TO CCNET (1/30/03)
S. Fred Singer <singer@sepp.org>
(8) RISK ASSESSORS
John Michael Williams <jwill@AstraGate.net>
(9) AND FINALLY: FORGET BIODIVERSITY SCARES - GENETIC ENGINEERING
WILL
RECREATE EXTINCT SPECIES
Discovery.com, 10 February 2003
==========
(1) COOLING ON THE HORIZON?
>From CO2 Science Magazine, 12 February 2003
http://www.co2science.org/journal/2003/v6n7c1.htm
Reference
Chavez, F.P., Ryan, J., Lluch-Cota, S.E. and Niquen C., M. 2003.
From
anchovies to sardines and back: multidecadal change in the
Pacific Ocean.
Science 299: 217-221.
What was done
The authors "review physical and biological fluctuations
with periods of
about 50 years that are particularly prominent in the Pacific
Ocean."
Parameters studied include air and ocean temperatures,
atmospheric CO2
concentration, landings of anchovies and sardines, and the
productivity of
coastal and open ocean ecosystems.
What was learned
The authors find that "sardine and anchovy fluctuations are
associated with
large-scale changes in ocean temperatures: for 25 years, the
Pacific is
warmer than average (the warm, sardine regime) and then switches
to cooler
than average for the next 25 years (the cool, anchovy
regime." They also
report that "instrumental data provide evidence for two full
cycles: cool
phases from about 1900 to 1925 and 1950 to 1975 and warm phases
from about
1925 to 1950 and 1975 to the mid-1990s." These warm and cool
regimes, which
they respectively call El Viejo (the old man) and La Vieja (the
old woman),
are manifest in myriad similar-scale biological fluctuations that
may be
even better indicators of climate change than climate data
themselves,
according to the authors.
What it means
The findings of this important study have many ramifications. The
one that
we highlight is the challenge the new results present for the
detection of
CO2-induced global warming. The authors correctly note, for
example, that
data used in climate change projections are "strongly
influenced by
multidecadal variability of the sort described here, creating an
interpretive problem." Hence, they conclude that "these
large-scale,
naturally occurring variations must be taken into account when
considering
human-induced climate change."
In this regard, we note that the warming of the late 1970s to
late 1990s,
which returned much of the world to the level of warmth
experienced during
the 1930s and 1940s, may well be about to end. In fact, Chavez et
al. cite
much evidence that indicates a change from El Viejo to La Vieja
conditions
may already be in progress. If this is indeed true, we could well
see global
temperatures begin to drop in the very near future.
We also note that the authors remarks about "large-scale,
naturally
occurring variations" needing to be considered when looking
for
"human-induced climate change" apply equally well to
the millennial-scale
climatic oscillation that brought our planet the Roman Warm
Period, the
Medieval Warm Period and now, very likely, the Modern Warm
Period, which is
something climate alarmists seem especially loath to do.
Copyright © 2003. Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide
and Global Change
===========
(2) NEW DOUBTS ABOUT THERMOHALINE "DEEP FREZZE"
CATASTROPHISM
>From Geology 2003, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 67-70.
http://www.gsajournals.org/gsaonline/?request=get-document&issn=0091-7613&volume=031&issue=01&page=0067
Synchroneity of meltwater pulse 1a and the Bølling warming: New
evidence
from the South China Sea
M. Kienast*
Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, British
Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada
T.J.J. Hanebuth
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology,
Geological
Survey of Japan, Institute for Marine Resources and Environment,
Higashi
1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8567, Japan, and Department of
Geosciences,
Bremen University, P.O. Box 330440, 28334 Bremen, Germany
C. Pelejero
Department of Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Chemical and
Environmental Research (CSIC), Jordi Girona 18, 08034 Barcelona,
Catalonia,
Spain, and Earth Environment, Research School of Earth Sciences,
Australian
National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200,
Australia
S. Steinke
Institute of Applied Geophysics, National Taiwan Ocean
University, Keelung
20224, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
A twofold decrease in long-chain n-alcane (n-nonacosane)
concentrations in a
downcore record from the northern South China Sea indicates a
rapid drop in
the supply of terrigenous organic matter to the open South China
Sea during
the last deglaciation, paralleled by an equally rapid increase in
sea-surface temperatures, corresponding with the Bølling warming
at 14.7 ka.
The sudden drop in terrigenous organic matter delivery to this
marginal
basin is interpreted to reflect a short-term response of local
rivers to
rapid sea-level rise, strongly implying that the Bølling warming
and the
onset of meltwater pulse (MWP) 1a are synchronous. This phase
relation
contrasts with the widely cited onset of this MWP 1a ca. 14 ka,
and implies
that previous studies postulating a weakening of deep-water
formation in the
North Atlantic due to massive meltwater discharge during MWP 1a
need to be
reevaluated.
INTRODUCTION
Following the last glaciation, sea level rose extremely rapidly
(13.5-24 m
in <290-500 yr) during meltwater pulse (MWP) 1a (Fairbanks,
1989 ; Bard et
al., 1990 ; Blanchon and Shaw, 1995 ; Hanebuth et al., 2000 ).
Together with
the Bølling warming, an abrupt rise in Northern Hemisphere air
temperature
of at least 5°C within a few decades during the last
deglaciation, MWP 1a
arguably represents the most dramatic event in Earth's climate
history
during the past 25 k.y., and determining its precise age is of
utmost
importance for a mechanistic understanding of the oceanographic,
glaciological, and climatic changes that occurred during the last
deglaciation (Clark et al., 1999 ). Nevertheless, the absolute
timing of MWP
1a and its phase relation with the Bølling warming are still
debated.
According to the widely accepted chronology and correlation
provided by Bard
et al. (1996) , MWP 1a ca. 14 ka corresponds to the Older Dryas,
i.e., to
the first major cooling event following the Bølling warming.
This would
imply a significant weakening of the thermohaline circulation and
its
associated heat transport to the North Atlantic region due to the
freshwater
input. Various modeling studies (Stocker et al., 1992 ; Manabe
and Stouffer,
1997 ) appear to corroborate a causative coupling of MWP 1a and
the Older
Dryas, indicating a cessation of deep-water formation in the
North Atlantic
in response to a massive meltwater input. However, Lohmann and
Schulz (2000)
suggested that many previous models underestimated overflow over
the
Greenland-Scotland Ridge, and showed that meltwater discharge and
continued
deep-water formation in the North Atlantic can be reconciled
using a new
model that allows for significant deep-water formation in the
Greenland-Iceland-Norwegian Sea. Furthermore, a modeling study by
Clark et
al. (2002a) suggests that most of the meltwater during MWP 1a
originated
from Antarctica, and not, as previously thought, from the
Laurentide ice
sheet. However, the dating of MWP 1a provided by Hanebuth et al.
(2000)
shows that the major rise of sea level occurred between 14.7 and
14.3 ka,
i.e., synchronously with the Bølling warming in Greenland ca.
14.7 ± 0.3 ka
(Stuiver and Grootes, 2000 ). This, in turn, would suggest that
MWP 1a
coincides with intensifying thermohaline circulation during the
Bølling
warming (Clark et al., 2002b ) rather than a slowdown, as
postulated earlier
(Bard et al., 1996 ). Here we provide an independent means of
establishing
the phase relation between MWP 1a and the Bølling warming,
circumventing the
inherent uncertainties of quasi-absolute chronologies and of
comparing
independently dated records, e.g., ice core with coral reef (Bard
et al.,
1996 ) or siliciclastic shelf (Hanebuth et al., 2000 ) records.
The rapid rise in sea level during MWP 1a led to a rapid retreat
of
shorelines around the world (including river mouths) and a sudden
flooding
of large parts of exposed shelf areas, and therefore the
inundation of the
lower reaches of rivers close to or at the shelf margins. This
rapid
transgression of large, shallow areas, most notably in western
Pacific
marginal seas, instantaneously provided a rapidly
landward-extending and
deepening accumulation space for terrigenous sediment. These
conditions
preferentially favored deposition on the shelves and, in turn,
led to an
abrupt decrease in the supply of sediment to the outer shelves,
the
continental slopes, and the deep sea.....
CONCLUSIONS
A rapid drop in the supply of terrigenous organic matter to the
open South
China Sea also corresponds with a rapid increase in sea-surface
temperature
during the last deglaciation, corresponding with the Bølling
warming at 14.7
ka. This is interpreted to reflect a rapid retrogression of local
rivers due
to rapid sea-level rise, strongly implying that the Bølling
warming and the
onset of MWP 1a are synchronous. This phase relation contrasts
with the
widely cited onset of this MWP 1a ca. 14 ka, and implies that MWP
1a did not
cause a reduction of deep-water formation in the North Atlantic.
To the
contrary, following modeling studies by Mikolajewicz (1998) and
Seidov et
al. (2001) , Clark et al. (2002c) proposed that an Antarctic
source of MWP
1a (Clark et al., 2002a) could have actually caused the
intensifying
deep-water formation in the North Atlantic during this time, and
the
consequent Bølling warming. Our results demonstrating
synchroneity of MWP 1A
with the onset of the Bølling warming provide critical support
for this
hypothesis.
© Copyright by Geological Society of America 2003
===========
(3) ARCTIC GLACIERS: ARE THEY MELTING?
>From CO2 Science Magazine, 12 February 2003
http://www.co2science.org/subject/a/summaries/arcticgla.htm
Computer simulations of global climate change have long indicated
the
world's polar regions should show the first and severest signs of
CO2-induced global warming. If the models are correct,
these signs should
be especially evident in the second half of the 20th century,
when
approximately two-thirds of the modern-era rise in atmospheric
CO2 occurred
and earth's temperature supposedly rose, in the view of most
climate
alarmists, to a level unprecedented in the entire past
millennium. In this
review, we thus examine historic trends in Arctic glacier
behavior to
determine the credibility of current climate models with respect
to their
polar predictions.
In a review of "the most current and comprehensive research
of Holocene
glaciation," along the northernmost Gulf of Alaska between
the Kenai
Peninsula and Yakutat Bay, Calkin et al. (2001) report there were
several
periods of glacial advance and retreat over the past 7000
years. Over the
most recent of those seven millennia, there was a general retreat
during the
Medieval Warm Period that lasted for "at least a few
centuries prior to A.D.
1200." Then came three major intervals of Little Ice
Age glacial advance:
the early 15th century, the middle 17th century, and the last
half of the
19th century. During these very cold periods, glacier
equilibrium-line
altitudes were depressed from 150 to 200 m below present values,
as Alaskan
glaciers "reached their Holocene maximum extensions."
Subsequent to this time, as the planet emerged from the depths of
the Little
Ice Age, the mass balance records of the 18 Arctic glaciers with
the longest
observational histories were studied by Dowdeswell et al. (1997).
Their
analysis showed that over 80% of the glaciers displayed negative
mass
balances over the periods of their observation, as would
logically be
expected for glaciers emerging from the coldest part of the past
millennium.
Nevertheless, the scientists report that "ice-core records
from the Canadian
High Arctic islands indicate that the generally negative glacier
mass
balances observed over the past 50 years [when the vast majority
of the CO2
resulting from human activities entered the atmosphere] have
probably been
typical of Arctic glaciers since the end of the Little Ice Age
[our
italics]," when the magnitude of anthropogenic CO2 emissions
was a whole lot
less than it has been from 1950 onward.
These observations suggest that Arctic glaciers are not
experiencing any
adverse effects of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. In fact,
Dowdeswell et al.
say "there is no compelling indication of increasingly
negative balance
conditions which might, a priori, be expected from
anthropogenically induced
global warming." Quite to the contrary, they report that
"almost 80% of the
mass balance time series also have a positive trend, toward a
less negative
mass balance [our italics]." Hence, although most
Arctic glaciers continue
to lose mass, as they have probably done since the end of the
Little Ice
Age, they are losing smaller amounts each year, in the mean,
which is hardly
what one would expect in the face of what climate alarmists say
is happening
to earth's climate.
Additional evidence that the Arctic's glaciers are not responding
to
human-induced warming comes from the studies of Zeeberg and
Forman (2001)
and Mackintosh et al. (2002), who indicate there has been an
expansion of
glaciers in the European Arctic over the past few decades.
Zeeberg and Forman analyzed 20th-century changes in glacier
terminus
positions on north Novaya Zemlya -- a Russian island located
between the
Barents and Kara Seas in the Arctic Ocean -- providing a
quantitative
assessment of the effects of temperature and precipitation on
glacial mass
balance. The results of their study showed a significant
and accelerated
post-Little Ice Age glacial retreat in the first and second
decades of the
20th century. By 1952, however, the region's glaciers had
experienced
between 75 to 100% of their net 20th-century retreat; and during
the next 50
years, the recession of over half of the glaciers stopped, while
many
tidewater glaciers actually began to advance.
These glacial stabilizations and advances were attributed by the
authors to
observed increases in precipitation and/or decreases in
temperature. For
the four decades since 1961, for example, weather stations on
Novaya Zemlya
show summer temperatures were 0.3 to 0.5°C colder than they were
over the
prior 40 years, while winter temperatures were 2.3 to 2.8°C
colder than they
were over that earlier period. These observations, the
authors say, are
"counter to warming of the Eurasian Arctic predicted for the
twenty-first
century by climate models, particularly for the winter
season"
Other glacier observations that run counter to climate model
predictions are
discussed by Mackintosh et al. (2002), who concentrated on the
300-year
history of the Solheimajokull outlet glacier on the southern
coast of
Iceland. In 1705, this glacier had a length of about 14.8
km; and by 1740
it had grown to 15.2 km in length. Thereafter, it began to
retreat,
reaching a minimum length of 13.2 km in 1783. Rebounding
rapidly, however,
the glacier returned to its 1705 position by 1794; and by 1820 it
equaled
its 1740 length. This maximum length was maintained for the
next
half-century, after which the glacier began a slow retreat that
continued to
about 1932, when its length was approximately 14.75 km.
Then it wasted away
more rapidly, reaching a second minimum-length value of
approximately 13.8
km about 1970, whereupon it began to rapidly expand, growing to
14.3 km by
1995.
The current position of the outlet glacier terminus is by no
means unusual.
In fact, it is about midway between its maximum and minimum
positions of the
past three centuries. It is also interesting to note that
the glacier has
been growing in length since about 1970. In addition,
Mackintosh et al.
report that "the recent advance (1970-1995) resulted from a
combination of
cooling and enhancement of precipitation."
Taken together, these observations from high northern latitudes,
where
CO2-induced global warming is supposed to be most evident,
provide no
evidence for that dreaded phenomenon. In fact, they suggest
that nothing
out of the ordinary is occurring at all. Hence, we once
again have a
situation where the predictions of today's best climate models
fail to
conform to reality.
References
Calkin, P.E., Wiles, G.C. and Barclay, D.J. 2001. Holocene
coastal
glaciation of Alaska. Quaternary Science Reviews 20:
449-461.
Dowdeswell, J.A., Hagen, J.O., Bjornsson, H., Glazovsky, A.F.,
Harrison,
W.D., Holmlund, P. Jania, J., Koerner, R.M., Lefauconnier, B.,
Ommanney,
C.S.L. and Thomas, R.H. 1997. The mass balance of
circum-Arctic glaciers
and recent climate change. Quaternary Research 48: 1-14.
Mackintosh, A.N., Dugmore, A.J. and Hubbard, A.L. 2002. Holocene
climatic
changes in Iceland: evidence from modeling glacier length
fluctuations at
Solheimajokull. Quaternary International 91: 39-52.
Zeeberg, J. and Forman, S.L. 2001. Changes in glacier extent on
north Novaya
Zemlya in the twentieth century. Holocene 11: 161-175.
Copyright © 2003. Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide
and Global Change
===========
(4) A 500-YEAR HISTORY OF DROUGHT IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, USA
>From CO2 Science Magazine, 12 February 2003
http://www.co2science.org/journal/2003/v6n7c2.htm
Reference
Knapp, P.A., Grissino-Mayer, H.D. and Soule, P.T.
2002. Climatic
regionalization and the spatio-temporal occurrence of extreme
single-year
drought events (1500-1998) in the interior Pacific Northwest,
USA.
Quaternary Research 58: 226-233.
Background
Climate alarmists claim that earth will experience all sorts of
extreme
weather as the planet warms; and they claim that the warming of
the last
century was "unprecedented over the past millennium."
Hence, the 500-year
record of severe single-year Pacific Northwest (USA) droughts
developed in
this study provides a good database for assessing the validity of
these
claims with respect to this particular phenomenon in this
particular part of
the world.
What was done
Eighteen western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis var.
occidentalis Hook.)
tree-ring chronologies from the Pacific Northwest of the United
States were
used to identify extreme Climatic Pointer Years (CPYs) --
indicative of
severe single-year droughts -- over the period 1500-1998.
What was learned
In the words of the authors, "widespread and extreme CPYs
were concentrated
in the 16th and early part of the 17th centuries," while
"both the 18th and
19th centuries were largely characterized by a paucity of drought
events
that were severe and widespread." Thereafter, however,
"CPYs became more
numerous during the 20th century," although the number of
20th century
extreme CPYs (26) was still substantially less than the mean of
the number
of 16th and 17th century extreme CPYs (38).
What it means
The data of this study fail to support the climate-alarmist claim
that
global warming increases the frequency of severe droughts.
Although this
study relates to only one type of extreme weather in one part of
the world,
it joins a growing number of other such studies from all around
the globe
that fail to reveal the type of meteorological behavior predicted
by climate
alarmists [see Extreme Weather in our Subject Index]. Hence,
since the
planet has indeed warmed over the past century, although not to
the
"unprecedented" degree claimed by climate alarmists, it
is getting more and
more difficult for them to continue to claim that global warming
will lead
to more extreme weather events of all types. Nevertheless, they
still make
such claims, apparently hoping that people will not learn of the
tremendous
body of evidence that argues against them.
Copyright © 2003. Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide
and Global Change
===========
(5) UK MAY FAIL ON CO2 CUTS
>From BBC News Online, 12 February 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2748977.stm
By Alex Kirby
BBC News Online environment correspondent
The UK Government is unlikely to meet its pledge to cut a key
greenhouse
gas, a respected advisory group says.
The advisers, the Sustainable Development Commission, say
measures for
significantly reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are
lacking.....
======
(6) GLOBAL WARMING SCARE TRIGGERS NUCLEAR POWER PUSH IN UK
>From BBC News Online, 10 February 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2743515.stm
Top scientists back nuclear power
The UK will be unable to cut greenhouse gas emissions without new
nuclear
power stations, the country's top science academy has warned.
The Royal Society has urged the government to show
"political courage" in
its forthcoming White Paper on energy, and make a clear decision
on the
future of nuclear power.
Without nuclear energy, Britain would have to rely increasingly
on fossil
fuels, leading to increasing carbon dioxide emissions and the
catastrophic
consequences of global warming, it said....
============================
* LETTERS TO THE MODERATOR *
============================
(7) COMMENT ON GLIKSON LETTER TO CCNET (1/30/03)
>From S. Fred Singer <singer@sepp.org>
Dear Benny
The truly "unfortunate reality" is that Glikson, like
some others, has
jumped to a conclusion not supported by observations. I was
present at the
AGU Council meeting that adopted language proposed by a
panel dominated by
activists. In my objections I pointed to the global cooling
(during 1940-75)
while greenhouse gases were rising rapidly and to the lack of any
appreciable atmospheric warming in the past 20 years, as shown by
weather
satellite instruments and balloon-borne radiosondes. In addition,
I pointed
to past deglaciations where the warming preceded the rise in CO2.
My published reply ("Human contribution to climate change
remains
questionable." Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union
80, 186-187,
1999) deals with these and other problems in validating climate
models with
actual data. A further publication (Eos 80, 372, 1999) notes the
absence in
the climate record of "fingerprints" that would
indicate a human
contribution.
The IPCC conclusion that "the balance of evidence suggests a
discernible
human influence on climate" is simply not supported by the
evidence.
Best
Fred
S. Fred Singer, Ph.D.
President, The Science & Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
1600 S. Eads St., Suite 712-S
Arlington, VA 22202-2907
e-mail: singer@sepp.org
Web: www.sepp.org
Tel: 703-920-2744
E-fax 815-461-7448; notify by e-mail before sending
===========
(8) RISK ASSESSORS
>From John Michael Williams <jwill@AstraGate.net>
Hi Benny.
In "THE LOMBORG CASE, RISK ASSESSMENT AND "HUMOR"
- A REPLY TO BENNY
PEISER", (CCNet TERRA 7/2003 - 29 January 2003)
Glikson writes,
"Many natural scientists, including
myself, develop a sense of reverence toward 4
billion years of terrestrial evolution and are
concerned with the destructive effects of Homo
Sapiens acting as if it is God."
This is a stunning announcement. It makes no sense at all.
Reverence for 4
billion years all at once, or just one at a time?
Suppose we are merely "Homo sapiens", just another
biological development.
Then, isn't all the irreverent damming of rivers, cutting of
trees, etc.
just "part of our nature"? Aren't we part of an
evolution doing something no
different than a lion bringing down a beautiful antelope and
making an ugly,
bloody mess of it? So, "developing a sense of
reverence", we regret our
meal? Is this really the dumb-animal model of what Glickson is
pretending to
represent?
Why bother stating it? It implies nothing and demands nothing of
us to be
better.
Which is "acting as God"? The proud antelope standing
ready to be fed? Or
the lion making a meal of it? Are woods or streams more
"natural" than
houses? NO, from this silly point of view.
This bringing in of "God" and "reverence"
adds nothing sensible to the
discussion; it simply is another way for the writer to justify a
point of
view. Neither "God" nor "reverence" is a
proper scientific subject, and
neither one can be controlled by science or engineering
activities. So, all
Glickson is saying here is that, with time, he and other natural
scientists
tend to get confused and think they are part of their own subject
matter.
Familiarity breeds comtempt.
Now, consider an opposing view: There really is no
"evolution" or progress
in nature. It is our
duty to prevent it. Some of us are given the opportunity do
disrupt and
destroy "nature". Others to defend the innocent victims
of change. In doing
things which animals can not, we are "acting as God"
(implying that cutting
down trees or burning coal is reserved to God, but maybe sitting
in an
auditorium and listening to speeches is OK).
Well, again, so what? In this dialectical view, strife between
the ones
acting as God and those protecting God's works, is inevitable in
human life.
Why bring up the God-given, inevitable? We can't change it, can
we? In this
point of view.
The underlying problem here is the mixing-up of scientific and
nonscientific
topics. One can not
invoke science against science. One has to use quantification of
the effects
of certain actions
to deal with them scientifically.
Environmentally, this generally is being done, at least in the
United
States. Building a dam requires some kind of environmental
review--not to
forbid changing the environment, but to understand the effects.
One sometimes thinks that damming Lomberg was just, as it were,
to forbid a
dam BEFORE any environmental review. Duh. Things get a lot
simpler if we
FORESEE having to think, and avoid it by taking action NOW.
Glickson has corrupted his science with religious ideas,
apparently, and his
religion with scientific method. The first step for a
"natural scientist"
should be to disentangle these mutually-exclusive modes of
action, and to
stop making up silly combinations which lack the perspective of
either one,
or af anything at all.
The most cogent comment was made, I think by Peiser, later in the
same
issue:
"There can be no doubt about the reality of
environmental degradation in many parts of
the world. However, it is worth remembering
that this process has been ongoing throughout
history."
Yes. Agricola's prints illustrating mining operations in
pre-industrial
Germany show strip-mine like trenches, and hardly a tree not a
sliced-off
stump. Environmental devastation. Literally. Yet, the
forests stand today.
Instead of substituting the "reverence" of the moment
for science, maybe the
"God-like" critics should spend a little more time in
the library, and learn
something about the actions they seem bound to oppose.
--
John
jwill@AstraGate.net
John Michael Williams
==============
(9) AND FINALLY: FORGET BIODIVERSITY SCARES - GENETIC ENGINEERING
WILL
RECREATE EXTINCT SPECIES
>From Discovery.com, 10 February 2003
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/afp/20030203/mammoth.html
Cloneable Mammoth Cells Discovered in Russia
Feb. 9 - Russian scientists said Wednesday that they've found
living cells
in a frozen ice-age mammoth that could provide the DNA needed to
resurrect
the long-extinct tuskers.
Cells obtained from the well-preserved legs of a mammoth found
last summer
in Russia's far-northern Yakutia region are "conditionally
alive," said
Vladimir Repin of the Vektor Research Center for Virusology and
Biotechnology.
The cells were fixed in formalin, an aqueous solution of
formaldehyde,
immediately after the finding, said Repin. The inner structure of
the cells
is undamaged, "so we suggest that the rest of the frozen
tissues contain
similar cell layers which could be unfrozen," Repin
explained to the
Informscience news agency.
Repin said that the living cells could prove to be good for
cloning
purposes.
"The cell material is unique because it contains not just
intact mammoth DNA
but whole cells which have been perfectly preserved for 10,000
years," the
Vektor press service said.
The latest finding comes as a boon to a group of Russian and
Japanese
scientists who are planning to revive the mammoth once they can
find usable
DNA material.
The team, led by Japan's Kazufumi Goto, a former professor of
reproductive
physiology at Kagoshima University, said last August that it
would be
"technically possible" to produce mammoth calves using
the DNA and
artificially inseminating an elephant cow.
The mammoth remains, still covered in reddish fur, were found
frozen in the
soil next to a riverbank near Yakutsk. The research team washed
the remains
using a water jet before placing them in a freezer and
transporting them to
Yakutsk's Mammoth Museum, Informscience said.
Goto hopes that by using good DNA from an ice-age mammoth he will
be able to
produce a hybrid of a mammoth and an elephant.
By impregnating each female hybrid with mammoth DNA, Goto
believes he can
produce a mammoth-elephant hybrid in which the original mammoth
would
predominate in its genetic constitution.
The Japanese researcher hopes that the resurrected mammoths will
live in a
sanctuary in an uninhabited area north of the remote, frozen
Kamchatka
peninsula in Russia's Far East, where present conditions resemble
their
original habitat.
Copyright 2002 AFP.
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