From a news story on how rice yeilds will be affected by global warming.
"If you think about it, world records for the marathon occur at cooler temperatures because it takes much more energy to maintain yourself when running at high temperatures. A similar phenomenon occurs with plants," he said.
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
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3 comments:
The full stories of the effect of human activity on the planet have a curl-your-hair effect.
If we could see an asteroid heading at us, we would be galvanized into action. But as the recent torture thing showed, if you can't see it, you don't react. By the time global warming can be seen, which will be soon, we will be well past the point of no return.
What, after all, does global warming look like?
There must be a name for that kind of thinking. I think it's a disorder maybe - "Annihilation Fears" or something like that. I recently had someone pitch the "Peak Oil" concept at me in the same fear based manner. "By the time we realize we're really running out of oil, it will be too late to react and civilization will crumble." I suggest it is safe to ignore any argument that has in its thesis, "...and the human race will be destroyed."
It depends on the point of view. For many species their time may well be up. Humans are highly adaptable and are not a good measure of the health of the Earth system.
-ken
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