Warmal Globing

The lighter side of global warming

Unexpected Consequences

Now this will be interesting.  Whenever the Government gets involved with fixing the environment, consequences eventually point out the folly.  This fact has a rich history—one glaring example is how Asian carp were introduced to clean Southern fisheries, and they ended up killing off every fish in whatever ecosystem they enter.  We now have underwater electric fences in Chicago, hoping to prevent the entry of these fish into Lake Michigan.  The Government does not have a monopoly in this activity; well-meaning environmentalists have a rich history themselves.  You will read in the New York Times about the successful release of thousands of mink from fur farms, but you won’t read about the slow starvation of these animals in the wild.  The bottom line is that every action has a wide range of unintended consequences.  Some have called it “the butterfly effect”—not just in the movie of the same name.

Did anyone expect Global Warming to threaten the small, family-run restaurants in Mexico?

The old Time magazine from 1975 suggests putting soot on the arctic ice caps, to absorb more heat from the sun and prevent the freezing of all of mankind.  That was a bad idea.  Now this article reassures us that for a few trillion dollars, a ring of shade could be place around the earth. Déjà vu all over again…  I placed it in this section as an example of one of the consequences of global warming—global stupidity!

Turns out that if the earth warms, the trains won’t run on time.  There are other surprises as well.

Satellites will stay up longer than they used to.  So will the nuts and bolts that the astronauts drop.

Global warming the cause of seal infidelity!!

Global warming fuels fungal toad-killer!!

Toads aside, us Wisconsin rednecks joke about the benefit of a warmer winter, and yell “Global warming?  Bring it on!!”   But beyond that, it is rare to have a situation that is only bad.  Sure, we know about the flooding… but people die from the cold too!  And in the past, every environmental change has resulted in adaptation by the reining biota—why not now?  Three links below dare to peak at the good side of global warming.

A complete list of things caused by global warming

Africa devastated, air pressure changes, Alps melting, American dream end,  amphibians breeding earlier (or not),  ancient forests dramatically changed, Antarctic grass flourishes,archaeological sites threatened, Arctic bogs melt, Asthma, atmospheric circulation modified, avalanches reduced, avalanches increased, bet for $10,000,  better beer, big melt faster, billion dollar research projects, billions of deaths, birds return early, blue mussels return, Britain Siberian, brothels struggle, bubonic plague,  building collapse, bushfires, butterflies move north, caterpillar biomass shift, Cholera, civil unrest, cold climate creatures survive, cold spells (Australia), computer models, conferences, coral reefs dying,  cost of trillions, crime increase, crocodile sex, crumbling roads, buildings and sewage systems, cyclones (Australia), Darfur, Dengue hemorrhagic fever, desert advance,  desert retreat,  destruction of the environment, diseases move north, dust bowl in the corn belt, Earth biodiversity crisis, Earth dying, Earth even hotter, Earth lopsided, Earth melting, Earth morbid fever, Earth on fast track, Earth past point of no return, Earth slowing down, Earth to explode, earth upside down, earthquakes, El Niño intensification, emerging infections, encephalitis, Europe simultaneously baking and freezing, extinctions (human, civilisation,  logic, Inuit, smallest butterfly,  pandas, pikas, gorillas, walrus, toads,  plants, salmon, trout,  wild flowers, woodlice, penguins, a million species, half of all animal and plant species), experts muzzled, extreme changes to California, famine, farmers go under, fever,figurehead sacked, fish stocks decline, floods,  Florida economic decline, food poisoning, food prices rise, food security threat (SA), forest decline, forest expansion, frosts, fungi invasion,genetic diversity decline, gene pools slashed, gingerbread houses collapse, global cooling, glowing clouds, grandstanding, grasslands wetter, Great Barrier Reef 95% dead, greening of the North,  Gulf Stream failure, habitat loss, Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome,   harvest increase, harvest shrinkage, hay fever epidemic, hazardous waste sites breached, heat waves,  hibernation ends too soon, hornets, human health risk, hurricanes, hydropower problems, hyperthermia deaths, ice sheet growth, ice sheet shrinkage, inclement weather, Inuit poisoned, Inuit suing, industry threatened, infectious diseases,  insurance premium rises, invasion of midges,  island disappears, islands sinking, itchier poison ivy, Kew Gardens taxed, kitten boom, krill decline, lake and stream productivity decline, landslides, landslides of ice at 140 mph, lawsuits increase, lawsuit successful,  lawyers' income increased (surprise surprise!), lightning related insurance claims,  Malaria, Maple syrup shortage, marine diseases, Meaching (end of the world), megacryometeors, Melanoma, methane emissions from plants, methane burps, melting permafrost, Middle Kingdom convulses, migration, migration difficult (birds), microbes to decompose soil carbon more rapidly, more bad air days,   more research needed, mountain (Everest) shrinking,  mountains break up, mountains taller, mudslides,  new islands, next ice age, Nile delta damaged, no effect in India,  nuclear plants bloom,  oaks move north, ocean acidification, outdoor hockey threatened, ozone repair slowed, ozone rise, personal carbon rationing, pest outbreaks, pests increase, phenology shifts,  plankton blooms, plankton destabilised, plankton loss, plants march north,  polar bears aggressive,   polar bears drowning, polar bears starve,  polar tours scrapped, psychosocial disturbances, railroad tracks deformed, rainfall increase, rainfall reduction, refugees,  release of ancient frozen viruses, resorts disappear, rice yields crash,  rift on Capitol Hill, rioting and nuclear war, rivers raised, rocky peaks crack apart, roof of the world a desert, Ross river disease,  salinity reduction, salinity increase,  Salmonella, salmon stronger, sea level rise, sea level rise faster, seals mating more, sex change, sharks moving north, shop closures, shrinking ponds, ski resorts threatened, slow death, smog, snowfall increase,  societal collapse, songbirds change eating habits, sour grapes, space problem, spiders invade Scotland, squid population explosion, spectacular orchids, taxes, tectonic plate movement, ticks move northward (Sweden), tides rise, tourism increase, trade winds weakened, tree foliage increase (UK), tree growth slowed, trees could return to Antarctic, trees less colourful,  trees more colourful, tropics expansion, tropopause raised, tsunamis, turtles crash, turtles lay earlier, UK Katrina, Venice flooded, volcanic eruptions, walrus pups orphaned, war, wars over water, water bills double, water supply unreliability, water scarcity (20% of increase), water stress, weather out of its mind, weather patterns awry, Western aid cancelled out,  West Nile fever, whales move north, wheat yields crushed in Australia, wildfires, wind shift, wind reduced,  wine - harm to Australian industry, wine industry damage (California),  wine industry disaster (US),  wine - more English, wine -German boon, wine - no more French ,  wolves eat more moose, wolves eat less, workers laid off, World bankruptcy, Yellow fever.

and all on 0.006 deg C per year?

This is hard to believe, but… Good for Coral Reefs!?!

(They usually hate everything!!)

Good for people who usually would freeze to death!!

Better for Candy Land!!

Just kidding, silly—this person explains how Russia benefits...

Fair and balanced alert:  

Ecojournalists at the ecoEnquirer don’t rely on quasi-scientific reports—they go on assignment to give readers the REAL story.  In the piece below by CBS, called  “Pristine Alaskan Glacier Turns Into Tropical Wasteland”,  the Eco-Team found that the time-stamp on the picture on the left was altered, and that the photo was actually taken in 1985.  Amazingly, they also proved that in the picture on the right, extra fronds were added to the third abnormally-tall palm tree from the right margin.  The extra fronds were used to create the impression that the palms are actually doing well in the photo—just the opposite of what the eco-team found.  According to the EcoTeam, “several of the palm trees appeared to be ill—simply not making it.  Obviously the distressed condition of the trees raises questions about the veracity of the conclusions irresponsibly suggested by CBS”.

1986: Frosty Cove's original pristine state featured majestic ice fields and rock outcroppings.  (Original CBS text)

2006: Frosty Cove's original beauty has been forever lost, now replaced with invasive foreign plant and animal species. (Original CBS text)

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