Not sure whether to laugh or cry....UK/US "causing drought"

[QueenOfQuotes]

at this story

It's sad because people are being lied to, but it's hilarious what that newspaper can come up with

[Easy]

This really is proof of the crudest form of propaganda. Trouble is, the people in Zimbabwe don't get any other information, so there is no way to combat this.

When Bush and Blair went after Saddam, I really think they should have gone for Mugabe too (not war-mongering, just think that if democracy in the world was what they wanted, they missed a very major target)

[QueenOfQuotes]

Have to say the "Herald" has always been an 'interesting' paper - even when the 2 other nonstate newspapers were printed - some VERY bizarre stories.

[throckenholt]

sad. Brainwashing is never good.

But in a way true - if global warming is the cause of climate changes in Zimbabwe, and the western world is most guilty for causig current global warming (although not maybe most of future problems - given expected development in China etc).

[Easy]

depends which scientist you follow Throckenholt. I lean with David Bellamy on this one.

[QueenOfQuotes]

that may well be partially true throcken - but most of the people reading that paper know very little (if anything) about global warming and are simply being led to believe it's all chemically done by the US and the UK!

[zebraZ]

David Bellamy is an anagram of Badly Mad Evil.

[triggerhappy]

David Bellamy is very much a minority on this one.

We are seeing evidence of climate change everyday, as much as I would like to bury my head in the sand, I can't.

[throckenholt]

as a the wife of a climate scientist I am sure that global warming is happening and modern western lifestyle is resonsible. Question is how soon the powers that be realise it is not something that can be ignored.

[triggerhappy]

ooooh, throckenholt, how interesting!!
Does hubby talk about his work? Do you think that knowledge is power or are you worried by what you know? Are we kept in the dark about a lot of things? If so, are we better off not knowing? LOL, SOOO many questions!

Sometimes I think I'd like to know a lot more about it, but I worry enough as it is, I'd probably never sleep again!

[zebraZ]

....and I meet economists who go around saying that even if global warming is happening it will bring net benefits to the US & European economies, so best just to let it happen, anyway!!

[throckenholt]

I was in the same field in a former life, and DH does talk about it a bit.

The problem is that although the scientists can see the effects of global warming, and point to its most likely causes, they have not yet got enough understanding or good enough models to predict accurately the future outcome, particularly on a local scale.

Until politicians and the general public get to understand how it will actually affect them they will not make the fairly drastic changes necessary (and necessary in the very near future).

Catch-22 .

My feeling is that there will be more extreme events and more unpredictable ones (the whole system becoming my chaotic). Most areas will be affected adversely (and hence our lives).

zebra - economists - paaaah !

[triggerhappy]

Am I right in thinking that every co2 particle takes 110 years to disperse from the atmosphere?

I read that on another site BTW!

[throckenholt]

I have no idea what that means !!

Sounds like some gibberish number dreamt up to illustrate a point in some argument

Maybe that means it takes that long before it gets locked up again long term in rock deposits ?

[triggerhappy]

oh right, I took it to mean that every particle of co2 released into the atmosphere will be there for 110 years before it can escape?

[zebraZ]

could it be an average... still sounds pretty long-lived. I think that sort of half-life might apply to ozone/cfs in the stratosphere, maybe?

[triggerhappy]

I don't know, I'm going to have a look to see if I can find the article,

I'LL BE BACK!

[lunachic]

david bellamy seems to be against windfarms which imo seems stupid
imo the more the better

[triggerhappy]

Damn, can't find the article, I hope I didn't dream it!

[throckenholt]

where's it going to escape to ? I don't think it finally works it's way to the top of the atmosphere and then just flies off into space. And it doesn't decay into anything else (like radioactive particles). The only place it can go is being tied up longterm in rocks, and maybe shorter term in trees.

[throckenholt]

that is pretty much the problem we are releasing the long-term store of co2 (by burning fossil fuels mainly) quicker than it is being tied up in rocks, so we are increasing the atmospheric concentration.

More co2 in the atmosphere acts like a blanket, trapping heat, so gradually the atmosphere and the oceans warm up (oceans take longer - but act as stabiliser of the system).

[QueenOfQuotes]

DH came up with a good point about this story yesterday.

If the UK is sooo clever at chemically altering the weather - why are we 'wasting' it on Zimbabwe - and not using it to make our own weather more predictable and less wet LOL

[throckenholt]

QofQ - good point. Although the idea of us deliberately chemically altering the weather over Zimbabwe could only have been thought up by someone who has no understanding of the way the day to day weather and climate interact. No way you can change the climate of one country in isolation.

[throckenholt]

is the line (from the original article)
"Zimbabwe is currently facing a food crisis and the country urgently needs to import 1.2 million tonnes of food to avoid famine."

anything to do with the fact that they chucked all the people who know how to run the farms ?

[QueenOfQuotes]

not so much that they chucked the people - as it's very common for people to grow Maize (the staple food source) at the side of the roads outside their houses......more the fact that they burned the land, and destroyed all the heavy machinery used to do it large scale

[zebraZ]

Anybody see the recent press about dust particles in the atmosphere (fuel particles in car exhaust, for instance) are blocking out solar radiation, which is ameliorating the effects of ghgs/global warming?

Net effect is that as fuel is cleaned up (less diesel used, for instance), the effects of global warming may accelerate.

Great, eh??

CO2 storage related to forestry -- don't let me start, am a real anorak on this one. Minimum 110 years on average, off the top of my head.

Must publicly apologise for appearing to slag off Bob Mendelsohn earlier, even if I don't entirely believe his calculations, he was very helpful in an email recently.