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Post by raybar on Jun 15, 2013 23:24:00 GMT -5
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Post by raybar on Jun 16, 2013 0:34:18 GMT -5
Another melting ice film available on Netflix is Extreme Ice a PBS Nova episode. Also features some of James Balog's work, but more focused on what's happening than on the time-lapse project itself.
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Post by MeLily on Jun 16, 2013 22:54:09 GMT -5
I had to log in as a guest with that name because I am having a whole bunch of problems with FACTS. First of all, just getting FACTS to open. And then FACTS not rccgnizing me as having logged in. I would have been here much sooner if not for that.
Anyway, assuming this will take (and I'm not so sure about that), I watched the actual TED talk, and I must say, I really love TED. Their presentations are always so interesting and presented in such a way that even the likes of me can understand them.
My feelings about this topic is not optimistic. I know it said economically and otherwise, this cam be solved, but that the problem is the public perception. I, personally, don't think this will be solved or even started to be solved until it's way too late. Just think of the third world countries which are only now begining to be just really developed. It's a disaaster in the making I believe. Does anyone else think any differenly?
Lily
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Post by raybar on Jun 17, 2013 0:44:44 GMT -5
Sorry you are continuing to have trouble logging in. Do you have trouble with other sites as well?
It's a problem that is already here, not one in the making. We (the whole world) are using more energy every year, and there is currently nothing to substitute for fossil fuels, at least not on a global scale. Greenhouse gases will continue to accumulate in the atmosphere and the planet will continue to warm for the foreseeable future.
If it all happens gradually we can probably deal with it, albeit at enormous cost in money, resources, effort, and so on. But there are potential "tipping points" which could drastically accelerate things, and we do not have a good understanding of where they are.
- There is a huge amount of carbon dioxide dissolved in the oceans. CO2 going into the oceans, rather than staying in the atmosphere, has mitigated the problem for a long time, but that can not continue after saturation is reached. Further, as the waters warm they can hold less, and CO2 presently dissolved will begin to come out of solution and enter the atmosphere. (This is the same thing you see when a soft drink gets warm and all bubbles come out of the liquid.)
- If the glaciers, particularly in Greenland and Antarctica, should suddenly (say over a decade of two) release massive amounts of water, then sea level rise won't be gradual and we won't have time to deal with it in any orderly way. A lot of people live in coastal areas and we could have hundreds of millions of them trying to move inland all at once.
- We don't really know how weather patterns are going to change. We can hope that warmer climates will just spread gradually into temperate areas. So, for example, in 50 years the climate in Boston might be like the climate in Philadelphia is now - a little warmer, less snow in winter, etc. But we are already seeing increased drought over wide areas, increasingly violent storms, and so on. What does the future hold for farming and ranching?
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Post by pat on Jun 22, 2013 18:40:17 GMT -5
I'll have to put those movies into my queue, Ray, thanks for the recommendations.
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