Comments on: Tim Flannery Discusses Global Warming

By: Anders Welin

Anders Welin — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:18:49 +0000

A few things puzzles me in the book.
First, the ban on flying after 9/11 gave a rise in the daytime temperature(compared to the night temperature) of 1 degree Centigrade. If the airplanes exhaust fumes shadows the earth that much, the climate situation must be a lot worse than normally stated. If we don´t fly as much in the future it would lead to a warmer climate, instantly. On the other hand if we continue to fly the CO2-level in the atmosphere will rise and we will get the warmer climate anyway, but more slowly. To me it´s a catch 22 situation. Since the topic is not discussed at all for the moment (in media) I hope that I have missunderstood the situation or that more recent findings have shown that there is no such connection.

Does anyone know how it is?

By: Emily

Emily — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:27:07 +0000

I think the world needs more people like Tim Flannery. Those who refuse to accept that humans are the culprits in terms of the disasterous environmental issues we face, are both ignorant and dangerous. It is very easy to find excuses for the obvious issues at hand, such as blaming nature, itself. However, too often people hide behind the opinions of those who refuse to make the environment a priority, such as governments. It is very easy to be led by those in a position of power, but those who are considered truely great throughout history are those who took it upon themselves to try to make a change. What will it take for people to form an environmental conscience? Perhaps when our children are no longer able to experience the natural wonders of our country (Australia), then we might feel regret for not acting sooner. There are small things that we can all do to try to save our environment. If we are as clever as we think we are, this should be a carbon-filled breeze!!!!

By: Kevin A. Hill

Kevin A. Hill — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 12:04:15 +0000

How we could have done with Tim Flannery & his cohorts who support the Global Warming Hypothesis i.e. that man is solely responsible for Global Warming. 300 million years ago when the Permian Extinction destroyed 95% of all living things as a result of massive basalt lava flows from the Siberian traps which warmed the oceans & released methane from the ocean floor. Or when the meteor sruck 60 million years ago during the Jurassic period & destroyed the dinosaurs & 60% of all living things. Or 74000 years ago when Mount Toba erupted & destroyed 90% of the human population, thought to be 100000 at that time.
Of course we can castigate ourselves for using carboniferous & fossilised fuels & at the same time indulge in self-flagellation over the cutting down of the rain forests, but we can’t have our cake & eat it. For reasons best known to the Creator (or whoever), we have been blessed with the ability to discover, harvest & utilise those two fuels. Think of the alternative. If those two fuels had not been discovered the alternative for building, transport, warmth etc. would be timber. The decimation to the rainforests would be far greater than anything we have achieved since the advent of carbon fuels. Further, the oxygen in the atmosphere is 22%, rising from 1% before cyana bacteria rose from the oceans & gained a foothold on land. They used photosynthesis to absorb the huge ammounts of CO2 prevalent in the atmosphere some 3.5 billion years ago & over the next 2 billion years approx. raised O2 to its present level. Obviously, 22% is the optimum level of O2 for humans to survive on earth. If the forests were allowed to proliferate unchecked, is it too fanciful to suggest that O2 levels would rise above the required 22%. Conversely, if carboniferous & fossilised fuels were not discovered & the rainforests were cut down wholesale, CO2 levels would be at an unimaginable level, resulting in the very Global Warming we all dread.
In summation, in order to contend with the extremes of Ice Ages (when the earth was covered with 2/4 km of ice) & Global Warming (when temperatures reached an average of 50c worldwide), which have occurred in the past, caused by purely natural forces i.e super volcanic erutions, massive basalt lava flows, meteorites, CO2 from the oceans & sulphur fields, I have a suggestion to make which might just prevent these phenomena from occurring again; Cap every volcano, drain the oceans & sulphur fields, level the mountains that cause inconveniences such as monsoons in India & Bangladesh & find a way of either deflecting the next massive meteorite that heads for earth or moving the earth out of its way. Facetious!!! Of course.

Yes, at ground level we are creating havoc by pollution of the land & the sea, but leave real Global Warming to nature. It has done a pretty good, or bad, job till now. The average life span of the estimated 35 billion species that have inhabited the earth is 4 million years. Let’s hope we can emulate that. The biggest cataclysms that have resulted in Ice Ages or Global Warming that have ravaged the earth have resulted in the biggest evolutionary advances of all species. Will be exempt???? I think not.

kevin

By: Cheryl Milloss

Cheryl Milloss — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 13:29:17 +0000

Rewrite
I have just read Tim’s discussion on Global warming and it is disturbing and I believe most people are aware of the effect of burning carbon fuels such as coal and oil but our economy is so dependent on these and the companies so powerful that most people feel powerless to change this. However another side to global warming is the role of forests in absorbing the CO2 greenhouse gas and simultaneously putting out O2 that we and all life on earth needs to survive. We are still cutting rainforest trees for furniture, houses, and paper pulp! The rainforests are the most significant forests of all with their much taller trees, higher leaf surface and then the 3 lower stories of growth to add to that and our governments are allowing these to be decimated and so exacerbating the greenhouse effect. (ie more Carbon emmissions with more coal stations and more cars and more electrical use and now desalination plants and less and less trees to reduce the CO2 in our atmosphere!) I believe it is very important that people like Tim Flannery, Al Gore, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, Arnold Schwartzeneiger, Terri Irwin, David Suzuki and others including movie stars stand up and say we need to stop cutting down the trees. The logging companies should be planting their own on the hectares of land already cleared. The governments need to insist on it. As Joachim Prinz is quoted as saying: “The most shameful and most tragic problem is silence”.
Cheryl

By: stevo

stevo — Mon, 28 May 2007 16:26:30 +0000

i watched your interview on the abc lateline where you said carbon emissions would not have an effect on the economy then when tony suggested that with water being an issue and on top carbon tax where you sure this would not have an effect your comment was you hadn’t thought about it I suggest you should have thats what experts do idiot

By: King

King — Mon, 28 May 2007 16:25:45 +0000

I just cannot wait to pay my carbon emissions taxes so I can contribute to halting something that credible scientists admit that they do not fully understand. Think about it….we can’t determine the weather three days out, but here we have people crying that we need to drastically change our energy sources or we will “destroy our world” in 20-100 years. We might…but it will be deforestation and population growth that do it. Not carbon.

By: Brady Duell

Brady Duell — Mon, 28 May 2007 16:25:08 +0000

If we don’t do anything we will feel the heat and we will cook in our own juices!!!!!!!.

By: mitchell pavey

mitchell pavey — Mon, 28 May 2007 16:24:41 +0000

I agree with this entierly humans should do every thing that they can to try and stop global warming.If we don’t it will be my age group and ones after mine that feel the heat of global warming!.

By: james moerike

james moerike — Mon, 28 May 2007 16:24:03 +0000

AN AMAZON PIPELINE 3-4 PIPELINES ACROSS THE AMAZON WATER NOT OIL PIPELINES TO STOP DROUGHT!
IS NEEDED FROM JOBS AMERICAN AND AMAZON ECONOMY BOOSTER.

By: james moerike

james moerike — Mon, 28 May 2007 16:23:43 +0000

This is so informant, I have sent a proposal to Bill & Melinda Gates, to possibly fund a Amazon Pipeline like two or three something like the Alaskan Oil Pipeline except for water to keep the global rain forest wet.Creating jobs galore and possibly help save the rain forest from drying up?