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Originally Posted by Bewolf
So, let's get that right.
Climates over earth's history have sometimes warmed, sometimes cooled. Sometimes that change was faster, sometimes lower. Sometimes it was caused by Co2, sometimes by Methan, sometimes by changes in the earth rotation axis, sometimes by vulcanic activity, sometimes by meteors. Sometimes that caused massive ice ages, sometimes it caused massive warming periods. With other words, it is an utterly chatotic and unpredictable system. What the show got right was, for example, the little ice age and the warmth period preceeding that one.
That makes any "definities" pretty much impossible.
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Bottomline thus is:
Climate change may or may not occur, but the amounts of CO2 we put into the atmosphere "DOES" have an effect. Maybe a small one, maybe a large one, that is up for speculation.
But the whole system is so unpredictable and inherently unstable that even small amounts "may" have larger consequences further down the road. Butterfly effect is the keyword here. It is this unpredicability that causes countries like Germany to think "kay, better invest and spend a bit more today, even if it is for naught (still has positive effects like energy independence, so it is a winner whatever way you look at it), then to just go on into the unkown with unpredictable risks involved.
Thing is, we simply do not know enough about long term climate effects to take that risk.
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erm, except the warming/ glacial periods have occured at very regular intervals over the range of the Vostok Ice Core sample, and that same study shows clearly that CO[sub]2[/sub] is not the driver. There is however, a lose correlation indicated but by no means is a cause and effect indicated
Volcanic activity has been recently discoverd occuring in the West Antarctic (yes right under the Larson B shelf which broke off) and also more recently occuring under the Arctic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kendo65
A comment on people's behaviour in the recent property bubble. There's been some talk of 'deadbeats' and people irresponsibly taking out mortgages that they could never afford.
I think we have short memories. I can talk best about the situation in UK and Ireland just a few years ago. When property prices were continually going up there was all kinds of talk (including from 'experts' who should have known better) about property continuing to rise inexorably upwards essentially forever (ludicrous as it now seems I heard a lot of such talk then - complete with spurious but seemingly 'logical' reasons why). That was the general mood of the time and I recall something akin to panic setting in as people saw their chance of home ownership recede.
As prices continued to rise there was a feeling that if they didn't act now to 'get on the ladder' they would lose any chance of ever owning a home. I'm sure that fear led to many risky gambles where a feeling of desperation over-rode caution and common sense.
That attitude went hand in hand with the over-zealous behaviour of banks and mortgage lenders to fuel and sustain the whole boom.
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yep, that's how bubbles form, and as well know bubbles only reach a certain size before they pop.
no-one really stopped to consider Kondratief (sp) and his "K wave" (rise, plateau, fall) with wars at the peak and major war at the trough. The last trough was WWII