[extropy-chat] warmer weather = better wine

[Spike]

> Spike wrote,
> > Some folks talk about global warming like its a BAD thing.
> > 
> > Global warming linked to wine quality
> > Monday, November 17, 2003 Posted: 10:05 AM EST (1505 GMT)
> 
> Does this mean you believe in global warming now?
> 
> The argument against global warming seems to be a mixture of 
> some reports denying that it is happening, while other reports claim
it is 
> happening and is a good thing.  I have never understood how the 
> mutually-exclusive reports refute global warming theory.

Harvey I recognize that there are mutually exclusive
theories on this topic.  I do not subscribe to both.

Ive always believed in global warming in a sense:
I also believe in motherhood and apple pie, I like both.

The part I have a lotta trouble believing is the
notion that global warming will happen quickly or
that it will cause major problems.  I regret that
I am not likely to live to see the benefits of global
warming, unless cryonics works out, or the singularity
people are successful.  

I don't doubt that it will eventually warm up on this
planet, as we continue to emerge from the last ice age.  
This is a big place.  I suppose that it will take at least 
a few hundred years to go up 5-10 celcius, and I really don't
see that as a disaster.

Further, I suppose that the planet will eventually
get about as warm as it was during the Jurassic,
clearly not a disaster.  The polar ice caps will
melt, again not a disaster, for in a few
hundred years, we can easily move cities inland
and build better ones once we get there.  The statue 
of liberty with her torch poking out of the sea?
That won't happen.  This whole nation was built 
in a few hundred years, and just look at all the cool 
stuff.  

As for runaway greenhouse effect, another Venus,
nah, I don't buy that.  There isn't enough carbon on
this planet, if *all* of it were in the atmosphere
to make that happen.  I think we will eventually
realize how little carbon there is on this planet,
and start to treat it with a little more respect.
Currently is treating it as a *pollutant*.  Carbon 
is actually a limited and valuable resource.  It
cannot all end up in the atmosphere, because plants
grab it and haul it down if it is available to them.

Of course there will be displacements in global warming.  
Most of my personal wealth is in a 50 by 80 foot piece of 
land at an elevation of 14 feet above the current sea level.
Same with my inheritance, in our mutual home state (and 
may the day of my receiving that inheritance be maaaany many 
years in the distant future).  I lose no sleep over the worry 
of it becoming submerged.  Penguins will have trouble, yes.
But we can modify them genetically, or simply select a
subspecies that can survive on Canada's and Alaska's thawed 
northern shores.  And walruses, well, I wouldn't want to be 
them.  But plenty of other species will thrive, such as 
humans.  We are *Africans* fer evolutions sake!  

We are a smart species, we can move cities, we can
move nations.  We can build cities on stilts.  We can
sequester water inland.  We can reclaim a great deal of 
land that is currently useless, under ice most or all 
of the time.  We can reclaim a lot of fresh water that
is currently wasted, by creating new rivers and
reservoirs, eliminating useless deserts.  The Sahara
and Siberia both have bright futures, whereas now
they are nearly useless.

We go on about the increase in disease from global
warming, but really most of that is caused by improper
water management leading to increased mosquito population.
All those heat stroke deaths in France last summer could 
have *easily* been avoided by something as simple and low
tech as an *air conditioner*.  What is that about?

What about all the lives saved by milder winters?  If we
shorten the flu season even a little, we greatly reduce
the number of human deaths.  There are people that die
*every year* because of catching something from being
cooped up with the family indoors.  Shouldn't we be
trying to save those folks?  Would not a little global
warming do it?  Would not a milder winter save a bunch
of animals too?  

If we were to adjust upward the amount of oxygen (a little), 
increase the amount of carbon dioxide, increase the 
rainfall everywhere, *do water management correctly*, 
quit wasting our efforts fighting each other, decrease 
the temperature delta between poles and equator and 
between winter and summer, this would be a 
far better planet.  

Plus we get better wine outta the deal, and maybe
some of those cool giant dragonflies. 

spike