Say Goodbye To Those Polar Bears ...
Meanwhile, in related news: "Antarctic ice melt more widespread than first thought."
Good thing I'm not living on a coastline, eh?
Oh - and by the way (emphasis added):
Therefore, I am reminded of this older post of mine:The Amazon rainforest is one of the biggest and most important living stores of carbon on the planet through its ability to convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into solid carbon, kept locked in the trunks of rainforest trees for centuries.
But this massive natural "sink" for carbon cannot be relied on to continue absorbing carbon dioxide in perpetuity, a study shows. Researchers have found that, for a period in 2005, the Amazon rainforest actually slipped into reverse gear and started to emit more carbon than it absorbed.
Four years ago, a sudden and intense drought in the Amazonian dry season created the sort of conditions that give climate scientists nightmares. Instead of being a net absorber of about two billion tons of carbon dioxide, the forest became a net producer of the greenhouse gas, to the tune of about three billion tons.
The additional quantity of carbon dioxide left in the atmosphere after the drought – some five billion tons – exceeded the annual man-made emissions of Europe and Japan combined. What happened in the dry season of 2005 was a stark reminder of how quickly the factors affecting global warming can change.
"For years, the Amazon forest has been helping to slow down climate change," said Professor Oliver Phillips, from the University of Leeds and the lead author of the study in the journal Science. "But relying on this subsidy from nature is extremely dangerous. The emission of five billion tons of carbon dioxide was huge. It meant that a major part of the biosphere had switched from one function to another, from a carbon sink to a carbon source.
"It shows what could happen if droughts become more frequent, and climate models suggest that Amazonia will get warmer and so put more water stress on vegetation. If the Earth's carbon sinks slow or go into reverse, as our results show is possible, carbon dioxide levels will rise even faster. Deeper cuts in emissions will be required to stabilise our climate."
Yes, the planet will do fine in the long run, regardless of what we do to its climate cycle. After all, Earth and life on it did so after an extinction-level event some 65 million years ago - although the dinosaurs didn't do so well.And so it goes, indeed ...
Consequently, fighting Global Climate Change is not so much about saving the planet, but rather about saving ourselves and our future generations.
So, the final question is: fighting Global Warming - can Humanity afford not to?
Ha, here I sit perched on my granite shelf 20 meters above sea level. Comforting as that may be, most of my town is lower, some of it at risk of being inundated.
ReplyDeleteEarth will win, it always does. Diamond and Lovelock have compared mankind to a parasite that, in balance, thrives on the earth creature without undue effects. When the parasite becomes too great in number and too rapacious, the earth creature succumbs to a fever and kills off the parasites.
My God we're clever people, aren't we? Perhaps the cleverest people in the history of our planet. Yet all our Darwinist advantages can't protect us - from ourselves.
I dealt with a young lady from the provincial forestry ministry who works in their global warming/Kyoto department. We discussed the carbon sink factor of Canada's boreal and coastal rain forests.
We chatted for quite a while before I finally said, "we're doomed, aren't we?" She laughed and said, in her field, you can't keep showing up for work if you don't have a powerful sense of humour.
I'm not too worried. I've got a ticket on the last chopper out of Saigon.
MoS: have room for one more?
ReplyDelete;-)
One other point. I don't know if you spotted it, but there was a report (Grist.com may have it) recently that concluded an increase of just a few degrees in average temperatures would change precipitation patterns enough that the tropical rainforests would dry out and turn to kindling.
ReplyDeleteSo far there's nothing suggesting the same fate will befall the temperate rainforests.
Yes - I remember this.
ReplyDeleteBut can we be sure that it won't happen to temperate rainforests as well?
Questions, questions, questions ...