I usually sit on the sidelines of GW discussions, watching the stock positions and concepts
re-manifest themselves, always amazed that no one mentions Lovelock.
But since we're in full on OT mode, allow me to introduce you to him.
I read Lovelock's "Revenge of Gaia" about 4 years ago, and in one book, I felt the whole
GW thing made sense to me:
Here's the skinny on his interpretation, at lossy resolution: He approaches the earth as an equilibrium seeking
super system. Humanity's impact is causing the earth to absorb and retain more heat than ever. Buffering against this
are the polar caps, which are the Earth's air conditioners, offsetting increased heat retention. As the caps "releast" cold,
oscillations occur, resulting in freakish weather. The resulting meting causes sea levels to rise, until the caps are no longer
able to buffer against increased heat rentention, at which point the earth's temperature skyrockets overnight.
I won't claim to understand this... and I didn't even stay at a holiday Inn last night - But it does make
sense to me, and Lovelock makes an accessible and plausible case - Despite the odd title of his book.
Personally, I come from a city with a reputation for unpredictable weather. We joke that in Calgary, one
can experience all four seasons in one day. When I was a child, 30 years ago, winters were consistently -30c (-22f),. but
for the last 15 years they've been increasingly warmer - So much, that we hardly even had winter here this last year.
Last night the temperature fell to -11c (12f), and dumped about 4 inches of snow. By lunchtime today, the temperature was 10c (50f).
That's rather strange, even for around here.
> However, in my short life-time, there has been
>decided shift in our weather in Montana, and the Glaciers of Glacier Park
>are clearly melting away. I don't doubt the predictions of no glaciers by
>2030, there's not much left now. That wasn't the case in my youth, nor in
>any recorded history.
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