RATIONALITY
Neil Reynolds in a Globe and Mail column explains the facts presented in The American Scholar Magazine this summer by Professor Robert Laughlin, a physicist at Stanford.
Calm and factual, which is what we need! Please read if you are concerned about global warming.
It reminds me of an exercise I did a few years ago that relieved my concern. It is not scientific, but I think adds a little wisdom to the discussion.
The world population is 6 billion. I thought that is a lot of people, no doubt, and it will be double that in not that many years, so maybe there is need for concern.
To effect the climate of the earth these 6 billion - heading for 12 billion - must have a significant impact, so I could get a feel for this by calculating how much of the surface of the earth man touches directly - 6 or 12 billion is a BIG number!
So I said let's allow 1 square yard - 3' x 3' - for each person, and have them stand shoulder to shoulder just to see the physical size of this "direct human footprint" on the earth.
The result: the entire population of the earth would fit in 1/2 of San Diego County, California, where this is being written. When it doubles to 12 billion, they will still all comfortably fit in the county!
Think what a small area this is in relation to the earths entire surface!
I know, this is not our entire "footprint", but let's assume each person effects the atmosphere 100 times his "personal footprint". Correlating with area this would still fit inside the four Southwestern states - California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah.
Still a minute part of the earths surface, and I find it difficult to believe we could have any effect on climate with all of the other forces in the universe.
Food for thought!
Calm and factual, which is what we need! Please read if you are concerned about global warming.
It reminds me of an exercise I did a few years ago that relieved my concern. It is not scientific, but I think adds a little wisdom to the discussion.
The world population is 6 billion. I thought that is a lot of people, no doubt, and it will be double that in not that many years, so maybe there is need for concern.
To effect the climate of the earth these 6 billion - heading for 12 billion - must have a significant impact, so I could get a feel for this by calculating how much of the surface of the earth man touches directly - 6 or 12 billion is a BIG number!
So I said let's allow 1 square yard - 3' x 3' - for each person, and have them stand shoulder to shoulder just to see the physical size of this "direct human footprint" on the earth.
The result: the entire population of the earth would fit in 1/2 of San Diego County, California, where this is being written. When it doubles to 12 billion, they will still all comfortably fit in the county!
Think what a small area this is in relation to the earths entire surface!
I know, this is not our entire "footprint", but let's assume each person effects the atmosphere 100 times his "personal footprint". Correlating with area this would still fit inside the four Southwestern states - California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah.
Still a minute part of the earths surface, and I find it difficult to believe we could have any effect on climate with all of the other forces in the universe.
Food for thought!
Labels: Food for Thought, Global Warning
posted by Jim | 8:41 AM
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