Huge ice sheet breaks loose in Canadian arctic

[Go_Placidly]

Our planet is continually changing and always has. The Sahara was not always a desert. Where I live in Michigan, it was once covered with glaiciers. Species have come and gone long before man was on the scene. Man's effects on the globe are miniscule compared to nature. When Mt. St. Helens erupted a while back, it put more stuff in the air than all of mankind since we first lit a fire. The sun is what regulates our temperature most and a few spots on it can change the Earth more than anything. And as for predicting climate change, the meteorolgists can only get tomorrow's weather forecast right about 50% of the time. Measuring average temperatures is pretty meaningless, because the average only exists on paper, not in real life. For example, the average temperature for June where I live is about 67 degrees. The average high is 79 and the average low is 59. Tomorrow we will be in 90s. Two weeks ago we were in the low 30s one night. The average does not exist, just like the average family size of 3.14 in America dies not exist. Who has a .14 kid?

I like Ranger Bill's take on this. Personally, I don't believe that global warming is a crisis, but I do believe that CO2 levels in the atmosphere have risen dramatically since the industrial revolution. It's not just CO2 causing temperatures to rise that's a problem, but also other chemicals we spew into the air that eventually bind to, and break down, ozone (O3) particles. Who knows what kinds of effects UVA&B radiation have on the earth, and it's flora/fauna. The way I figure, we barely understand anything at all... because if history has taught us something, it's that our knowledge is increasing exponentially. It may seem that we're figuring out more and more stuff, faster and faster, but there's so much more out there! The stuff we dream of now may be commonplace 100, 200 years from now... maybe sooner?

How badass was it that Jules Verne predicted submarines? Back to the topic at hand, though, my personal theory is that the seasons are simply shifting, at least for the Northeast US, but that this change, like everything, is just a cycle that will eventually reverse. I wouldn't be surprised if for the next 5 years, winter will really be jan-mar, spring will be apr-jun, etc. The second part is that, unfortunately due to the warming (which is a natural part of earth's cycle), the biozones are shifting towards the poles. Deserts are getting larger, and everything else is moving polewards. Take the Aral sea as an example of the equatorial hot zone expanding, in conjunction with increasing demands on water:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aral_Sea.gif" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (watch it recede)

The problem we're encountering is that the human population can't keep growing and growing when the earth is saying, hey, it's time to put some limiting factors on your grown... It's time for that S curve to level out, and shits about to hit the fan.

Ranger Bill also points out that the Sun has a huge effect on us... I remember learning a few years ago about the 11 year solar cycle, during which the sun will have a peak amount of sunspots (an active region where the magnetic field is disrupted in the solar atmosphere) and a linked increase in solar flares. What do these flares do? As far as we know right now, the wave of protons they unleash could slow down our satellites and injure unprotected biological tissue (aka astronauts) a la a neutron bomb.

I used to think there was something I could do about this stuff, but it is too depressing to think about it now. I just trust to the almighty force that is out there above us, be it God, some ridiculous alien race, or simply positive thinking, that I'll lead the best life I can with the time that I'm given, and the rest will be what it will. /rant

[Caruthers]

Milankovitch Cycles

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/seasons_orbit.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


As a result of the gravity of the Moon and Sun acting on the Earth's slight equatorial bulge (caused by its rotation), the Earth's axis wobbles around the perpendicular to its orbit with a period of 26,000 years, the phenomenon called precession. Precession causes the NCP to move in a circle around the North Ecliptic Pole, which changes the pole star. In ancient Egyptian times, for example, the pole was close to Thuban in Draco (the Dragon). It also causes the plane of the Earth's equator to wobble, which changes the directions of the equinoxes and solstices against the background stars. In ancient times, the Vernal Equinox was in Aries, which is why that constellation tops the classical list. In classical times the Summer and Winter Solstices were in Cancer and Capricornus, hence the names "Tropic of Cancer" and "Tropic of Capricorn." Our astronomical roots are deep indeed.

http://www.astro.illinois.edu/~jkaler/celsph.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The disorderly-flip theory is supported by evidence from geology that in past reversals the decline was not total. Lava flows that solidified at Steen's Mountain during a lengthy reversal process show that the magnetic poles wandered across the equator three times.

http://pesn.com/2005/02/27/6900064_Magnet_Pole_Shift/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Entering Our Galactic Day
http://www.adishakti.org/mayan_end_time ... 1-2012.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

so for fucks sake..............cycles are cycles........until they change.........everything changes.