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BRING ON THE WORMING
Gorbal worming may be a good thing, reports Robert Matthews:
“If you could vote for a change in climate, you would always want a warmer one,” says Philip Stott, emeritus professor of biogeography at the University of London. “Cold is nearly always worse for everything - the economy, agriculture, disease, biodiversity”.
According to Prof Stott, times of historical prosperity have often been tied to unusually warm periods, such as the so-called Medieval Warm Period between 1100 and 1300. In contrast, the Little Ice Age between 1450 to 1890 was characterised by famines, pandemics and social upheaval. “We should be glad we’ve left that behind,” he said.
The possibility that a warmer future could bring further benefits has long been noted by climate-change scientists, albeit reluctantly. The draft of the most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - regarded as the voice of mainstream scientific opinion - conceded that many developed nations could make “net economic gains”, at least for moderate levels of warming. This rare glimmer of optimism was watered down when the final report emerged in 2001.
Since then, however, studies by researchers in a host of fields have cast doubt on the relentlessly gloomy forecasts. The heat-wave that struck much of Europe in 2003, killing more than 11,000 in France alone - was seized on by ecoactivists as proof-positive of the lethal effects of global warming.
Yet a review published last year by scientists at the University of London pointed out a basic medical fact: in many countries, cold kills far more people each year than heat. For the kind of temperature rise predicted for the UK over the next 50 years, the team estimated that heat-related deaths would rise by about 2,000 a year - but that this figure would be dwarfed by a cut in cold-related deaths of 20,000.
There’s lots more. Read it all, then go outside and aim something destructive at the ozone layer.
(Via reader Garth Godsman and Greenspin)
UPDATE. Worming believer John Quiggin isn’t short of a dime. So why doesn’t he accept this bet?
I’m going outside to fart and destroy the ozone. At least I’m not destroying the habitability of the in-zone.
Posted by -keith in mtn. view on 2005 06 15 at 12:07 PM • permalinkWhat’s all this about worms?
They probably don’t like the cold either, but what do we care? They’re worms.
Posted by tim maguire on 2005 06 15 at 12:58 PM • permalinkMostly OT: On the subject of lefties not being able to see beyond their silly little self-imposed horizons: Ebay bans sale of Live 8 charity concert tickets
Choice Geldof quote here: ““What eBay are doing is profiteering on the backs of the impoverished. The people who are selling it are wretches. But far worse is the corporate culture which capitalizes on people’s misery.”
Gee, guess Bob still doesn’t understand that person A making a profit doesn’t mean that person B loses money. Besides, what does he expect…that the holders of all 100+ pairs of tickets that showed up on Ebay are actually going to attend the concert now? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to allow these tickets to go to people who actually care about his little charity gig, even if that means some “wretches” (and, gasp, corporate juggernaut Ebay as well) are going to earn some money in the process?
Besides, what if some of those 100+ people were going to, you know, donate the proceeds?
And these control freaks think they know how to save a whole continent. Truly mindboggling.
It does go against the spirit of the entire thing. Granted it’s “lets throw money at Africa until it gets better”, but still.
As for the weather, excellent, we can all burn our garbage.
Posted by Aging Gamer on 2005 06 15 at 01:18 PM • permalink“Inuit hunters threatened by a melting of the Arctic ice plan to file a petition accusing Washington of violating their human rights by fueling global warming, an Inuit leader said on Wednesday.”
Posted by Steven Den Beste on 2005 06 15 at 02:15 PM • permalinkWell it looks as if The UK is in for some mediterranean weather.
Which is a shame as the damp cold weather was one of the reasons i left for Australia.
There is nothing more depressing than an English sea side town on a damp day. Even the foul smelling chips are soggy.
Imagine my horror, when i got to OZ and found most of the seaside towns to be recreations of Bridlington on sea in the sunshine.
Those Yorkshire-men have a lot to answer for.
IF you were caught drinking a glass of wine, you were labelled “a poofta” and if you ate pasta a “wog”.
How things have changed for the better!Steven den Beste—What are they bitching about? How hard can it be to catch a walrus on dry land?
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 06 15 at 08:35 PM • permalink“If you could vote for a change in climate, you would always want a warmer one,” says Philip Stott
Phil obviously hasn’t spent too many summers in Australia.
Posted by blandwagon on 2005 06 15 at 09:42 PM • permalinkAging Gamer .... “lets throw money at Africa until it gets better” .....
This isn’t exactly the way I’d put it.
How about ” Let’s throw lots of other people’s money at Africa so we can get noticed and feel good about ourselves. After all if it doesn’t work we can come back and do the same thing in 10 years time.”
Indeed, all that money throwing provides some great photo ops.
Posted by Aging Gamer on 2005 06 15 at 11:15 PM • permalinkThe Innuits could always move to Antarctica; there’s more ice there, so it’ll last until we have Kevin Costner’s dream world.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 06 16 at 12:44 AM • permalink
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