GEE, where were these guys when I....

I'm glad to see this - tells me the younger generation has more sense than the previous generation.

Some of the arguments "against" global warming remind me of arguments on this forum - determined to prove the person is "right" whether it makes any sense or not.

Climate change (global warming) is not just about heat. It's about extremes in the weather patterns. We are seeing harsher winters and bigger floods and stronger storms. It's true there was a huge flood in 1937 - and there have been colder winters.

But were they all stuffed together into a few years? No, they were weather events spread over generations. Now we seem to be having major weather events several times a year - globally - and every year there seem to be more extremes. At some point, even naysayers have to see that a string of coincidences may be a pattern.

I hope those kids stick with it and educate their peers so that perhaps there will be a global generation that takes on the problem instead of justifying or ignoring it.

kay

Actually the Green movement is picking up steam even if not everyone is noticing yet.

We are INSIDE of the 6th great extinction, and this one is human caused. Right now, globally, scientists are teaming with citizens and organizations to rebuild ecosystems. When ecosystems start to die off, it causes a chain reaction and we may still succumb to this extinction if we don't work fast enough. The carbon prattle - whether it actually is enough to change climate is in debate - but the decision is not. We replant these forests and other plants in dying ecosystems and we don't have to worry about THAT issue. Period. If we had not leveled so much of the planet, our C20 production would be a pretty moot point.

What we have done is over breed to ridiculous levels and we are going to pay for it. You cannot clear as much land as we have cleared. And it is continuing. Now there's efforts being made to stop and restore damage just about everywhere, though.

In the US - Midwest they are replanting ethonol cornfields which have ruined the soil and are polluting - it's going back to tall grasses which grow quickly and can be used more efficiently for ethonol, and will encourage the proliferation of indigenous species.
Highway and waterway banks are being restored to control erosion and pollution.

Tree farms are good as far as for air and keeping lumber industry out of the forests, but they are sterile for the most part. Still - they allow forests to remain untouched.

Construction laws now are in place to prevent ecosystem damage. Landscapers are going back to indigenous plants instead of imports.

Colleges have field work courses, and there are masses of volunteer jobs for people who want to work in ecosystem restoration and maintenance. These are running on a global scale. Right now Haiti is being restored -- and that one was threatening a worldwide chain reaction. The people there have to cook their main food grain or its poisonous, so they are not only reproducing over carrying capacity levels - all those people are stripping the forests because they can't afford fuel. The trick is now to educate them to understand they can't have litters of kids and survive.

They are starting recycling programs everywhere. It is now illegal in many places to dump electronics instead of recycle. They pollute with deadly chemicals and we are running out of many of the metals. We're only around a decade from losing many of them - there's more above ground than below now so whether we have metal to use in the future will be determined by how many of our metal devices we can recycle. There are laws going into effect making it illegal to ship electronics to third world countries where they are causing more pollution than cleaning it up with really bad recycling processes.

There are also around 10 organic waste recyclers now in the US alone. Wood and food waste etc are being composted on a large scale basis - saving landfill space and creating compost of varying grades - best grade is for agriculture and the lower grades are being used for restoration. You can't replant dessicated soil, so the compost is necessary in some replanting efforts - Arizona uses a LOT of compost in their restoration projects.

Manufacturers are sometimes voluntarily and others by regulation finding ways to make products out of less lethal materials to cut end pollution. Businesses are being encouraged to go green - and many are. Going green means to mitigate and prevent waste and pollution in every way that it can be done. People help this effort when they patronize businesses that are certified green instead of open polluters.

The list goes on -- if you care about this planet you will start pollution mitigation actions in your own home, since families are responsible for nearly half of all pollution. Watch what you are using for fertilizer and pest control and start using non-toxic cleaners and that alone will help more than you realize. WHere do you think rain takes that crap? Limit your family size. If you absolutely can't deal with life without a city sized family - adopt. If we don't get population under control right now - every effort we make is futile.

That's just the way it is. You can call me bat**** nuts - but I"m one of the people that are going green and you may see me in a restoration project real soon. I'm looking over certifications now. I've been watching the situation for decades and studying intensely for 5 years now........and right now, during the 6th major extinction we need all hands on deck to stop it.

Not being able to control the sun or the tilt of the planet doesn't mean we don't need to stop desertification and over-population. There's a reason for that,too.

But - on a good note. It's getting colder. Unfortunately - it was the heat that allowed human populations to reach almost 7 bil. That's the way ecosystems work - when a species has what it needs it proliferates until they cut their own supplies and then they diminish again. Unfortunately - THIS species got real egocentric and thought it was above the ecosystems instead of seeing itself as part of it. OOPS. Unfortunately - we were capable of more damage than most.

It's getting cold. The biggest part of the problem is about to correct itself.

As for Cold? I have been accused of trying to look tough, etc... because I tend to LIKE cold weather! OK, OK, if it gets much below 22degrees F, I tend to be TOO cold, and I like sleeping in more like 60 degrees, but I can take the cold better than most! 8-)

Bill Farnham,

The more pressure put on things like newspapers, the less likely they are to degrade. In compost bins, they suggest mulching, stirring, and layering to give the material more surface area to be degraded by the elements, and digested by microbes and insects. But that is work they really never do in landfills. 8-( I SHRED a lot of things, and at least THAT stuff will degrade better. OH, and many disposal companies suggest packing in plastic bags! NEAT! SANITARY! Unfortunately, NOT good for the environment.

Steve

Kurt - don't know where you pulled your stats. It's not global warming that 90% believe in. It's that humans are the cause of the extinction - and there is more than 90% behind that one. They will ALL agree that desertification is both deadly and human caused. But WARMING isn't the issue. Don't forget that India walked out of the climate talks because of the IPCC announcing that the Himalayas were melting. They are not. The scientists up there are furious at that bit of propaganda.

There is trouble on some glaciers and it is because of DRYING -- and it is drying because the forests were cut that kept them moist. Reforest those areas and the glaciers will be just fine.

It may be extremely warm where you are right now, Kurt - but it's not global. Out here it happens to be a lot colder than usual - and wetter. It's May and I just came over a pass where it was snowing Sunday. Still. There's still 30 feet of snow pack up there. Right now you have localized anomalies, but its cooling in general - and more rapidly than some climatologists are comfortable with. I heard the big roar over the fires in Russia this summer all over the news, etc. They forgot to mention that just West of that area the weather was the cool side of normal. Nobody seems to notice that we've had record colds in Texas and Florida for two years running now either. Go look at the agricultural charts. For 2 years they were showing more crop yields everywhere because of cooling. In fact - there are three places on the map that are going to be in trouble for crops if we get the same amount of cold this year.

So "warming" is something that is being used as a misnomer. We are in trouble - and it's our own fault. But on a global scale - we are not in a warming trend even if there are a few places that are experiencing excess warmth. What's going on is ecosystems are dying. We've stripped the vegetation, and polluted everything.

It might be a good idea to get some organizations restoring your ecosystems out in your area, Kurt. The boy scouts did a great job of restoring a few areas of Washington that had started to become too stripped to hold the correct moisture and temperature. The EPA can tell you if there's any reforestation going on in your area - if not, maybe you should start a group. Funding is available for them.