The ORIGINAL 1000+ Posts Club

[opinionista]

Hey Folkes,

In this thread there was a post about the climate change and the global warming. Well, I'm not sure if you guys heard about it in the news but France and Spain joined last night in a initiative against the Global warming which consisted in turning the power off for five minutes. Lights, computers, and other equipment. The Government turned the lights off monuments, some streets and buildings. We were able to reduce the power demand to 2,5% in those five minutes.

I was wondering why don't you do the same in the US? It could send an important message to US authorities. If any of you belong to environmental organization, why don't you propose it? It was major success here and they plan to repeat it soon.

CNN's today front page:

Global warming real, likely to get worse, scientists say

PARIS, France (AP) -- Global warming caused by human activity is real and will continue for hundreds of years, a panel of some of the world's top climate scientists said Friday.

Officially releasing a 21-page report in Paris on the hows and the what of global warming -- though not telling the world what to do about it -- the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change gave a bleak observation of what is happening now and an even more dire prediction for the future.

"Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level," the report said. (New report says global warming is real )

The head of the panel, Indian climatologist Rajendra Pachauri, called it a "very impressive document that goes several steps beyond previous research."

A senior U.S. government scientist, Susan Solomon, said as the report was released, "There can be no question that the increase in greenhouse gases are dominated by human activities."

The report said man-made emissions of greenhouse gases can be blamed for these problems: fewer cold days, hotter nights, killer heat waves, floods and heavy rains, devastating droughts, and an increase in hurricane and tropical storm strength (particularly in the Atlantic Ocean).

And if you think it is bad now, the harmful effects during the 21st century "would very likely be larger than those observed during the 20th century," the report said.

The panel predicted temperature rises of 1.1 to 6.4 C (2-11.5 F) by 2100. That was a wider range than in the 2001 report. However, the panel also said its best estimate was for temperature rises of 1.8 to 4 C (3.2-7.1 F).

On sea levels, the report projects rises of 7 to 23 inches (18 to 58 centimeters) by the end of the century. An additional 3.9 to 7.8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) are possible if recent, surprising melting of polar ice sheets continues. (Watch how rising sea levels could affect San Francisco )

And the report said no matter how much civilization slows or reduces its greenhouse gas emissions, global warming and sea level rise will continue on for centuries.

"This is just not something you can stop. We're just going to have to live with it," co-author Kevin Trenberth, director of climate analysis for the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said in an interview. "We're creating a different planet. If you were to come up back in 100 years time, we'll have a different climate."

A colleague from the center, Gerry Miehl, warned that continued global warming could eventually lead to an "ice-free Arctic."

Scientists do worry that world leaders will take that message in the wrong way and throw up their hands, Trenberth said. That would be wrong, he said. Instead, the scientists urged leaders to reduce emissions and also adapt to a warmer world with wilder weather.

"The point here is to highlight what will happen if we don't do something and what will happen if we do something," co-author Jonathan Overpeck at University of Arizona said. "I can tell if you will decide not to do something the impacts will be much larger than if we do something."

"You make a difference on hundred of years time frame, but this is the future of the planet," Trenberth told The Associated Press. "We have to adapt to it."

Trenberth said the world is paying more attention to scientists now than in previous warnings in 1990, 1995 and 2001. "The tension is more now," he said.

The head of the U.S. delegation, White House associate science adviser Sharon Hays, called the panel's summary "a significant report. It will be valuable to policy makers."

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/02/02/climate.talks.ap/index.html

[moremojo]

I was wondering why don't you do the same in the US? It could send an important message to US authorities.

There's no way the present federal government would do this right now, and probably no state government either. At a time when we so desperately need inspired and wise leadership, we find ourselves under the heel of greedy, myopic plutocrats who care for nothing other than their own power and wealth.

The only place to find hope is on the local, grass-roots level, per the environmental groups that you suggested. Local governments could conceivably follow France and Spain's example, and lead the larger nation onto a saner path.

[Meryl]

Hey, I see congratulations are in order for David925, who is now in the Top Ten Posters. 

CONGRATULATIONS DAVID! 

[David In Indy]

Hey, I see congratulations are in order for David925, who is now in the Top Ten Posters. 

CONGRATULATIONS DAVID! 

Thanks Meryl!

But who did I bump off the list? I never intended to bump somebody off the list! God, now I feel bad. 

[David In Indy]

ANKE!!!!

I was just told it was you I bumped!

I'm sorry! I'll tell ya what.... you start posting a little bit more and I'll post a little less!

I don't want to bump anyone off their lists! 

[David]

Saturdays Top Ten List

injest  9207
Lucise  6089
Garry_LH  4746
MaineWriter  4604
Front-Ranger  4305
louisev  3456
Ellemeno  3256
DavidinHartford  3222
Fran  2588
David925  2563 <---New Top Ten member!

[MaineWriter]

Morning all,

Well, we did have snow, looks like 3 inches or snow. Nice and white out there, 27 degrees. Clear sky this morning.

David, welcome to the top ten club. Glad to have you here.

L

[David]

Same here Leslie.  It was snowing pretty heavy on my way home from work last night.    We got about 2 inches here.    First real snow of the season.

I've been fighting a migraine all night and morning, so no full 1000+ post list yet.   Maybe later when I can look at the screen longer.

[Lynne]

Yes, I do think it's at least partly some kind of glitch, as the second post I made today still left me with a figure of 1,366 posts (we'll see what happens after I submit this present one). Any inquiry that might solve the mystery would be much appreciated.

Scott - I have some info from Phillip to pass on about post counts:

Post count is sometimes not updated until forum maintenance in run.  Posts deleted and placed in the recycle bin do not always reflect on the user's post count until the forum software does one of its automated maintenance runs.  This can take a week.  So even if a post doesn't appear in the recycle bin anymore, it may not be counted until the maintenance run.

I have found a way to change the post count feature to -not- deduct posts from a user's post count if messages are deleted.  The user keeps full credit for posts, even if they no longer exist on the site.  This can be implemented when John finally gets 1.1.1 (the current version) working here.

I hope this helps!
-Lynne

[Jeff Wrangler]

I've been fighting a migraine all night and morning, so no full 1000+ post list yet.   Maybe later when I can look at the screen longer.

Hope you feel better, David. A migraine is a goddamn bitch of an unsatisfactory situation. I know. I get 'em.

If you don't have a prescription medication to take for it, and you aren't nauseated, try a decongestant and something with caffeine in it, along with a painkiller. And just forget about anything you had planned to do today!