March of the Ignoramuses

On the Monday, June 26^th Rush Limbaugh program, guest host Paul W. Smith was interviewing someone (name escapes me) on how foolish the “Libs” are to worry about global warming. If there are any real problems they are a half a millennium away.

In last week’s Science Magazine (June 16, 2006) there is a modest article titled “Permafrost and the Global Carbon Budget.” The sub-head is “ Climate warming will thaw permafrost, releasing trapped carbon from this high-latitude reservoir and further exacerbating global warming.”

This is new information, best I can tell. Check it out at www.sciencemag.org. (subscription; or at the library) It seems that most of the global warming models haven’t included much about the CO2 and methane that will be released by thawing permafrost. There are such vast quantities of permafrost that it can contribute big time to a sudden acceleration of climate warming. The current warming trend driven by human-generated greenhouse gasses has already started melting the permafrost, which releases more greenhouse gasses which makes the warming faster, which … well you see the pattern.

It’s not just the “Libs” worrying about global warming and the possibility of it getting much worse very fast. Most scientists – of all political stripes – are worrying about this, and about being ignored by smug and self-righteous ignoramuses. The three scientists who wrote this research paper conclude: “Factors inducing high-latitude climate warming should be mitigated to minimize the risk of potentially large carbon releases that would further increast climate warming.”

Wow, “should be mitigated!” What, take action? Cut the use of fossil fuels? Horrors, these scientists must be madcap “Libs.”