On Climate And Health, Beware Of Easy Formulas
Global warming on Free Republic
Posted on 04/16/2009 3:00:47 PM PDT by neverdem
KOHLUA, India — “It’s hard to believe that this is what’s melting the glaciers,” said Dr. Veerabhadran Ramanathan, one of the world’s leading climate scientists, as he weaved through a warren of mud brick huts, each containing a mud cookstove pouring soot into the atmosphere.
As women in ragged saris of a thousand hues bake bread and stew lentils in the early evening over fires fueled by twigs and dung, children cough from the dense smoke that fills their homes. Black grime coats the undersides of thatched roofs. At dawn, a brown cloud stretches over the landscape like a diaphanous dirty blanket.
In Kohlua, in central India, with no cars and little electricity, emissions of carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas linked to global warming, are near zero. But soot — also known as black carbon — from tens of thousands of villages like this one in developing countries is emerging as a major and previously unappreciated source of global climate change.
While carbon dioxide may be the No. 1 contributor to rising global temperatures, scientists say, black carbon has emerged as an important No. 2, with recent studies estimating that it is responsible for 18 percent of...
--snip--
But the awareness of black carbon’s role in climate change has come so recently that it was not even mentioned as a warming agent in the 2007 summary report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that pronounced the evidence for global warming to be “unequivocal.” Mark Z. Jacobson, professor of environmental engineering at Stanford, said that the fact that black carbon was not included in international climate efforts was “bizarre,” but “partly reflects how new the idea is.” The United Nations is trying to figure out how to include black carbon in climate change programs, as is the federal government...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
‘It’s hard to believe that this is what’s melting the glaciers,” said Dr. Veerabhadran Ramanathan, one of the world’s leading climate scientists, as he weaved through a warren of mud brick huts, each containing a mud cookstove pouring soot into the atmosphere.’
It’s hard to believe because it’s not true.
Concerning air pollution & the Beijing Olympics:
It's also unclear how closely smog and lower temperatures are linked. "We know that air pollution masks the effects of global warming. But to what percentage, we are still not certain," says Ramanathan. "If it's 80 percent, that would be bad news."
Or on 'Global Dimming/Brown Clouds'
These “atmospheric brown clouds” result mostly from the burning of fossil fuels and biomass, and they naturally worsen the impact of climate change caused by the emission of greenhouse gas emissions...
... India as a whole had become darker by about two percent per decade between 1960 and 2000, while China had lost its natural light by about three percent to four percent per decade from the 1950s to the 1990s. Poor air quality, less productive agriculture affecting food production and heightening the impact of climate change are the immediate portends.
According to lead scientist Veerabhadran Ramanathan of the US-based Scripps Institution of Oceanography, “One of the most serious problems highlighted in the report is the documented retreat of the Hind Kush-Himalayan-Tibetan glaciers, which provide the head-waters for most Asian rivers, and thus have serious implications for the water and food security of Asia,”
His solution? Solar cookers for the Asian & African poor-folk. When the sun don't shine, they can starve.
LOL! WTH are you talking about?
Name a credible source!
>Can Africa have power plants? Hell no - solar for them.
They can build all of the plants that they can afford to build.
>Can Africa damn rivers? Hell no - hurts the environment.
Of course they can - if they can afford to and have the expertise. Nobody could stop them by any means
>Can africa use DDT and other chemicals? Nope, environment again.
Sure can. IF they can produce the stuff themselves. - We don't.
I can see that you have never been to Africa and don't really know what you are talking about.
You are simply repeating someone's talking points, and I wonder what your agenda is when what you are spouting is that “the Western World is holding down Africa.”
But your point about being skeptical about liberal motivations is solid.
A lot of well meaning enviro-mental followers who think they can legislate us to use no energy will find that.....
.....when people are cold and hungry after being kicked out of their houses and jobs
They will begin burning EVERYTHING they can see. This includes every tree, fencepost, tire, motor oil, and plastic item they can find.
If they think they are going to save the planet by forcing us to REALLY pollute, they are sadly mistaken.
That’s why Obama is going to give them all your money. You’ll be poor as them, but at least you’ll use propane when you warm the beans.
Obama can gather all the soot and shoot it higher up into the atmosphere and to cool things down, right?
On Climate And Health, Beware Of Easy Formulas
Global warming on Free Republic
I expected a strong response from somebody. I’ve never been to Africa myself; but, my father used to live there, so I have some primary sourcing, if it matters.
Do a google search yourself, if you want to see WHO numbers on black lung...their numbers not mine.
You don’t think the western world dismantled and controlled Africa as colonial territories deep into the 20th century....and now interferes with their affairs with monetary policy, UN mandates, NGO’s which lobby against real infrastructure improvements...all in an attempt to ‘save the planet’ on Africa’s shoulders? Fine with me.
The Chinese agree with me though...they see the western world has blown it; and, they are investing heavily in real infrastructure and manufacturing.
I’m certainly not blaming all of Africa’s problems on the west...but our tinkering is certainly getting in the way. There is a rebuttal movie to the Algore movie, which has a segment on this - and they do a better job than I do in explaining it. I can’t remember the name, but it was ‘the’ movie that rebutted Algore...if anybody remembers its name.
“It’s hard to believe that this is what’s melting the glaciers,” said Dr. Veerabhadran Ramanathan, one of the world’s leading climate scientists, as he weaved through a warren of mud brick huts,waved his hand.
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