This is what one could conclude from a study published in the September 9, 2005 issue of "Science" and conducted by Colorado University-Boulder, New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia's Department of the Environment and Heritage and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. As summarized on ScienceDaily,
Humans have been tinkering with greenhouse gas levels in Earth's atmosphere for at least 2,000 years and probably longer, according to a surprising new study of methane trapped in Antarctic ice cores conducted by an international research team.
The study showed wild gyrations of methane from biomass burning from about 1 A.D. to present, said Dominic Ferretti, lead study author and a University of Colorado at Boulder researcher with a joint appointment at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, or NIWA in Wellington, New Zealand. Scientists had expected to see slowly increasing concentrations of methane, a major greenhouse gas produced primarily by burning and anaerobic activity from agriculture, livestock and natural sources, up until the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s, he said.
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... "There has been a naïve idea out there that humans were just passive, pastoral passengers on the planet up until just a few hundred years ago".... "We have shown that is not the case."
Well, then, the problem is not really pollution from industry and automobiles-- we've apparently been screwing up the planet since Day One. Imagine how much more we'd enjoy the environment if only we didn't exist.
But wait, there are other methane culprits responsible for producing methane and hence for global warming: per Science Daily's summary of the study, "In addition [to humans], natural sources of methane include wetlands, termites and wildfires." If you've made a contribution recently to a save-the-wetlands group, I hope you're duly embarrassed.
So, if we could get rid of humans, wetlands, termites and wildfires, the environment would avoid further global warming and be a paradise, right? Not necessarily. According to one author of the study,
"We are in an unusually long interglacial period right now, and another interesting but unresolved question is whether humans, without forethought, have inadvertently kept Earth out of the next ice age by altering its energy budget."
So- hooray for thoughtless, gas-guzzling, coal burning, rainforest fire-setting humans? After all, if we weren't here keeping the planet warm and toasty, all those endangered species might be freezing their little tosies off.
TO: the previous poster
Yes.
Posted by: Stephen Holzer | September 15, 2005 at 09:30 AM
should we believe that because you are a lawyer stumping for BushCo that you also have common sense?
Posted by: | September 15, 2005 at 08:52 AM