Nu op Nat Geogr: Equinox: The day the oceans boiled

Bericht van: Saskia (Wageningen) , 01-12-2004 13:03 

EQUINOX: THE DAY THE OCEANS BOILED
Wetenschappers beweren dat er geen verband bestaat tussen het verbranden van fossiele brandstoffen en de klimaatverandering. Bestaat er zoiets als een broeikaseffect of zijn we slachtoffers van Moeder Natuur?

---

Even wat commentaar:
Het was weer een lekker doemverhaal, wel 'mooi' opgebouwd. Alles werd 'mooi' aan elkaar gepraat, zonder twijfels of kanttekeningen. Ja alles kon aan elkaar gekoppeld worden.
Concentraties van broeikasgassen werden gekoppeld aan ijstijden (geen woord over Milankovic-cycli).


Mooi Engelstalig commentaar:

This programme investigated research whose findings were as follows: (1)
that the Amazon rain forest is currently soaking up a large proportion of
the carbon dioxide emitted by industrial activities, (2) that a small amount
of climatic warming could be expected to lengthen the dry season in the
Amazon basin by sufficient to cause the Amazon rain forest to die out and be
replaced by grassland, (3) that such a change in vegetation would create a
sudden release of large amounts of carbon compounds back into the atmosphere
as the trees decayed, (4) that this would cause a further major step up in
global warming which in turn could warm the seas sufficiently to release
large amounts of methane from methane hydrates on the sea bed, and
(5) that the result would be global warming well into double figures of
degrees centigrade sometime around the year 2100. Finally (6), the programme
connected this scenario with research into a climatic catastrophe 55 million
years ago which is believed to have followed a similar course, though
without the initial stimulation of industrial pollution. We were shown
temperature graphs with abrupt warming spikes, reconstructed from analysis
of oceanic cores.

It was interesting to note that only scientists whose work was consistent
with the above sequence of events were interviewed. Sceptics were completely
absent and (by implication) did not exist. The narrator was clearly a
graduate from the school of funereal voices; the music drawn from a symphony
portraying the end of the world. The plant cover of the rest of the world
was not mentioned; by implication it was either small in comparison with
that of the Amazon basin, or ineffective in absorbing carbon dioxide. The
status of carbon dioxide as a powerful greenhouse gas with a direct effect
on global temperatures was unquestioned (the programme did not even mention
water vapour). Alternative scenarios, whether involving natural negative
feedback loops or technological progress, were completely ignored, and if
viewers wished to draw the conclusion that industrial civilisation was well
on course for extinction, no obstacles were placed in their way. The Sunday
Times TV critic caught the tone of the programme when he commented: "A
frightening film, which someone should force George W Bush to watch."

Bron: http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/ccc/cc062201.html  Quote selectie