[extropy-chat] Doubt and About

[Damien Broderick]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Harvey Newstrom" <mail at HarveyNewstrom.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 10:45 PM

> There is no doubt that the globe is actually warming.  If you want to
> argue whether humans are causing it or whether it is a natural cycle, that
> is a different argument.

In Oz:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8118124%255E27
02,00.html

Average yearly temperatures are projected to rise by as much as 2C across
the nation by 2030, and 6C by 2070, according to an Australian Greenhouse
Office report into global warming - triggering more natural disasters and
crippling water shortages.

The number of very hot summer days, with temperatures soaring above 35C,
could double in most capital cities.

The 240-page assessment, to be released today by Environment Minister David
Kemp at a UN summit on climate change in Italy, says Australia will need to
make major changes to adapt to the hotter weather that will be induced by
global warming due to the greenhouse effect.

The trend in Australian temperatures since 1950 is now matching climate
model simulations of how temperatures respond to increased greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere, the report says.

It is likely the 1990s was the warmest decade in the past 1000 years, at
least in the northern hemisphere.

To cope with climate change, the report warns that Australians must use less
water, change the types of crops grown by farmers, revise engineering
standards and rezone land to prevent flooding.

Farmers are at high risk of losing money due to the increased frequency of
bad years, especially droughts, in parts of Australia within the next 20 to
50 years.

And Queensland's tourism industry could suffer as warmer water bleaches the
corals in the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef.

[etc, and of course that's a gummit report so we know we can ignore it]