| <blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>quote:</font>
The rate of change today seems exponentially large compared to previous cycles.<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>
that's hard to say with any certainty,
and one must be cautious about generalizing
from the specific.
we know that there have been both
gradual and rapid climate shifts in the past,
and each time
some species were losers and others were winners.
surely mankind's intelligence, civilization and technology gives him an unprecedented edge in surviving, perhaps even thriving, in the new reality unfolding.
things really are changing,
did you know that the earth is very rapidly losing it's magnetic field ?
now i'm not quite sure how to blame that on western civilization yet
but i'm confident someone will.
but in a lot less time that it's going to take to melt the ice caps
the earth's magnetic shield from solar/cosmic radiation will be gone.
or maybe not,
some scientists hypothesize [ based more on wishful thinking than any real evidence]
that what might be happening is the
earth may be getting ready to flip magnetic poles,
reverse magnetic polarity, the north pole would become the south pole magnetically.
we know this has happened a few times before in the history of the earth,
so maybe that is really the cause
but nevertheless
the potential for disaster remains very high,
no one has any idea how long the earth might be unprotected without a magnetic field functioning as a radiation shield,
might be almost instant
or might take decades.
that, friends, is a very real concern
with far more impact in the short run
than a slow rise in global temps over the
next couple centuries,
at the rate our magnetic field is
deteriorating
it could be gone within 40-50 years,
soon enough for most of you to still
be among the living.
if the field collapses
and does not return very quickly
global warming will be very far down
on your worry list.
damn few species could survive the radiation for long.
(Message edited by admin on November 21, 2004) |