Monday, February 18, 2008
Non-headline of the week
We all remember endless media coverage of the retreat of the Arctic sea ice during last year's northern summer. Well, the Arctic ice has returned with a vengeance this winter, covering 2 million square kilometers more area than the average over the last three winters. Are last summers "unnerved experts" getting their nerve back?
We await the screaming of "frozen Arctic" headlines with bated breath. Not.
UPDATE: In other confusing climate news, we learn that the British government wants to ban bottled water on the the theory that all that plastic is contributing to global warming. While I think regulation of bottled water is a very silly idea, I also think that the fairly recent obsession with bottled water in the First World is one of the all-time wasteful consumer trends. Drink from a farookin' tap, already, and save your money.
3 Comments:
By 
, at
Mon Feb 18, 12:58:00 PM:
We buy bottled water for two distinct purposes: emergency use and bread baking.
My wife uses bottle water in mixing bread dough. That also serves to cycle bottled water through the inventory and assures we don't have it sitting around until an emergency actually occurs.
By 
Viking Kaj, at
Mon Feb 18, 01:07:00 PM:
My thoughts on global warming previously shared on this site are that the range of temperatures recently observed is well within the range of normal statistical variations seen over the last 50 million years or so. During that period the earth has been both a warmer, but also and more often a significantly cooler, place than it is now. Most reputable climatologists reserve judgement. In fact climate science is still trying to come up with a satisfactorly explanation for the little ice age, which only ended about 300 years ago.
That said, there are other important reasons to reduce hydrocarbon emissions, including especially acid rain. So I support the efforts to reduce such emissions in their entirety.
Finally, I can see good reasons to drink mineral waters, which along with using sea salt, restore important trace minerals to the body (provided you are not taking a supplement). Depending on your locality, tap water can also include trace amounts of heavy metals and other bad things. For example, most Europeans who live along the Rhine drink bottled water with good reason. The average glass of tap water derived from the Rhine has been recycled seven times by the time it gets to the Netherlands. This is one of the reasons why European have become expert brewers over the centuries.
Everyone in life has to believe in something, I believe I'll have another Grolsch.
By randian, at
Mon Feb 18, 05:21:00 PM:
Acid rain is an already solved problem, and has been for years. Acid rain is caused by emissions of oxides of nitrogen, which modern emissions controls on cars and coal power plants eliminate over 99% of. CO2 emissions play no part in acid rain.
