Posted on 07/23/2002 10:40:29 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Edited on 04/14/2004 10:05:17 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
I think attempting to get this thrown out by the courts is a dumb strategy. They'd be much smarter to go the initiative route. They could easily get the signatures needed to put this on the ballot, and I get it'd be defeated. Even if it weren't they'd still have the court strategy to fall back on. I wonder why they've chosen not to get this put before the voters.
Knowing the scientific and voting acumen of the average John Q Public in the State of Confusion, do you really have that much confidence in an initiative process on this issue once the "burning drought-terrible storms-melting iceshelves" TV bites begin airing prior to it?
Is there any transportation at all which is "zero" emission? Nuclear submarines, I guess...until you have to decommission. Or maybe bicycles--except for the CO2 exhaled.
--Boris
As scientists try to determine what impact human activity is having on the carbon dioxide load in the atmosphere, it's necessary to track natural carbon dioxide sources as well. In "Carbon Dioxide Emission From European Estuaries," M. Frankignoulle, G. Abril, A. Borges, I. Bourge, C. Canon, B. Delille, E. Libert and J.-M. Thate at U. de Lige in Lige, Belgium, show that European estuaries are significant natural sources of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Estuaries are rich marine ecosystems that are created when freshwater mixes with saltwater. The authors measured CO2 emissions from nine European estuaries and found that they emit between 30 and 60 million tons of carbon per year to the atmosphere.
That represents 5 to 10 percent of the total amount of carbon dioxide emissions from human activity in Western Europe. The largest amounts of CO2 occurred in the upper estuary, where there is low salinity and a decrease in saturated oxygen. Although there is limited data available, the authors expect high carbon amounts to be reflected in other estuaries around the world.
http://www.gaiabooks.co.uk/environment/carbonandclimate.html
Natural sources of carbon dioxide emissions range from volcanic eruptions to the aerobic digestion of decayed vegetation by soil bacteria.
http://www.wri.org/wri/wr-96-97/ac_txt3.html
Carbon dioxide is released to the atmosphere by a variety of sources, and over 95% percent of these emissions would occur even if human beings were not present on Earth. For example, the natural decay of organic material in forests and grasslands, such as dead trees, results in the release of about 220 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year.
http://www.gcrio.org/ipcc/qa/05.html
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