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  • The NIH Keeps Up With The Times: 1, 2, 3. David Baltimore Has A Flashback: ***. The NY Times Keeps Up With Times: ***. The Faith of Anthony Fauci: ***. Anthony Fauci Explains How HIV Causes AIDS: ***. Robert Gallo on The Force of Ejaculation: ***, on HIV Theory: ***, Lectures in Marseilles: ***. David Ho Does The Math: ***. John Mellors Sets the Record Straight: ***. Bono, el Magnifico, Holds (Another) Press Conference: ***. Anthony Fauci Explains Journalism in the Age of AIDS: ***. Anthony Fauci and David Ho Disprove an Old Adage: ***. Anthony Fauci Explains ICL and AIDS: *** The CDC Can't Keep Up With The Times:*** The Method of the "Small Inquisitor" Moore:*** The Co-Discovery of a Nobel-Worthy Enzymatic Activity:*** The Revenge of the "Very" Minor Moriarty:*** Julie Gerberding and Anthony Fauci Learn Arithmetic:*** Osama Obama Has a Message for Africa:***

Bad Manners and Good Gossip

« Threat of Heterosexual AIDS is Over! | Main | First Shoe at UN Drops: Peter Piot Resigns »

June 09, 2008

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Nick Naylor

Alas, a fine editorial is ruined by comments re the CO2 problem that reduce it to an ideological dispute.

Let's be clear about this.

Most definitely, "global warming skeptics" should not be ignored; see critiques by F. William Engdahl at www.globalresearch.ca.

But there's zero equivalency with HIV illogic, as real data on the increasing severity and frequency of large storms is possessed by property insurers. Reports in the insurance-industry trade journals that tie global warming to the resulting problem of inadequate reserves to pay claims can hardly be called ideological.

The necessity of decreasing our reliance on fossil fuels is also documented in an investigative report in the latest issue of Discover magazine.

The acidification of oceans caused by the 300-year upward curve of CO2 emissions is a serious problem.

Not underdetermined models, but straightforward chemistry is the basis for dire predictions on the fate of economically important species of fish.

Also predicted is a shock-horror species shift from phytoplankton to dinoflagellates. More of the toxic varieties especially (some cause life-threatening "red tides") will turn the food chain inside out.

Maybe we should at least read the article and reflect on the possibility of the end of civilization as we know it.

Maria (from Italy)

Another end of civilization? That's not entirely lacking of equivalency with the prophecies of AIDS's doomsayers some twenty years ago and later. Maybe a reflection is needed on who stands to gain from "manmade climate change" scares (no more "global warming" since temperatures on Earth appears to be, er, cooling). "Climate change" has occurred for natural reasons (first: solar activity) throughout Earth's history, even in a lifetime span.

Nick Naylor

So how do we know for sure that previous climate disasters wouldn't have wiped out a human civilization if one existed millions of years ago?

And for those "literals" to whom the above conjecture in the form of a question is beyond the pale, the good people of Iowa have just experienced a simulated "end of civilization" from an imaginary storm not predicted by global warming models.

Maria (from Italy)

As for the first question (the second one is far beyond my capability of understanding):
We don't know! As a matter of fact, there are a lot of geological indications that "climate disasters" of various origins may have wiped out more than one human civilization in the past.
But that doesn't mean that man-made burning of fossil fuels could be the cause of any climate disasters, in the absence of any serious reason to think so. For instance, CO2 emissions due to human activity are nearly negligible compared to CO2 emissions for natural causes, and CO2 contribution to "greenhouse effect" is in the order of few percents.
"Man-made" means that people may be made to feel guilty, and offer little objection to intrusion in their wallets and freedom. AIDS, of course, was said to be spreaded by the bad behaviour of mankind...

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