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Ah yes, the evil cow flatulence!Drive through Norco, CA, Kettlemen City, CA and right over the NM border on I-10 and you'll know why there's Global Warming.
Well, it says this:
And seeing as we have a rise of global mean tempature of over 1°C then I think that is more of an argument for man made global warming than anything else. The graph does show a very chaotic scene, but it is also a very long term graph.Based on the incomplete evidence available, it is unlikely that global mean temperatures have varied by more than 1°C in a century during this period. The information presented on this graph indicates a strong correlation between carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere and temperature.
Ah yes, the evil cow flatulence!Drive through Norco, CA, Kettlemen City, CA and right over the NM border on I-10 and you'll know why there's Global Warming.
Damn!
Livestock such as cows, sheep, goats, camels, buffaloes, and termites release methane as well. Bacteria in the gut of the animal break down food and convert some of it to methane. When these animals belch, methane is released. In one day, a cow can emit ½ pound of methane into the air. Imagine 1.3 billion cattle each burping methane several times per minute!
Actually, what I stated above was incorrect. I don't think the global mean tempature has risen over 1 degree in the past century, but is forcast to increase over 1.5 degrees over the next 80 years. I thin it has gone up .5 degrees or so over the past 100 years.
Manny, I can see where you could interpret that as a case for man-made global warming with the short term rise, but if I look at the entire historical record, I see a somewhat cyclical activity which tells me that the planet has gone through these changes before without man-made contribution.
Well, I don't doubt the cyclical nature of the climate, but that doesn't mean that if you don't change the cycle you won't effect it.
Either way, I think it is pretty safe to say that a rise in GMT of more than 1 degree over the course of a century or an increase at that rate is something above normal.
Has his been posted here yet?
If not, here you go....
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistor...katrina/3342643
Tally of evacuees in Houston shelters drops dramatically
By BECKY BOWMAN and SALATHEIA BRYANT
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle HURRICANE KATRINA
The number of Katrina evacuees counted at Houston's largest shelters is dropping dramatically as people leave for new accommodations, new jobs and new lives.
According to the latest tally, considered the most reliable to date, 8,066 hurricane victims are still stranded at the three Reliant Park shelters and the downtown George R. Brown Convention Center, down from 25,400 reported just Tuesday. It's evident at a glance that evacuees have more breathing room than they did last weekend, but it's hard to track how many people are simply switching shelters, moving in with relatives or actually finding more permanent housing. In fact, it's hard to get an accurate headcount at all.
After Reliant Park imposed a curfew for the first time last night, authorities were able to do their most accurate headcount so far. But during the day, no one stands guard at the gates to ask evacuees whether they're going out for groceries or leaving for good, so even the latest numbers are fluid. People are free to pack up and go without notifying anyone, and they do just that.
"I wouldn't say there was a large exodus in the last 24 hours," said Coast Guard Lt. Joe Leonard, who's in charge of Houston's megashelters.
Although lines are shorter and no one's fighting over cots anymore, there are still plenty of people in need of help. This morning's tally of evacuees came to 2,930 in the Astrodome, down from 16,000 on Tuesday; 1,800 in the Reliant Arena, down from 4,500; 2,000 in Reliant Center, down from 2,400; and 1,336 in the George R. Brown Convention Center, down from 2,500.
Gregory Smith of the Red Cross warned that the constantly changing numbers should be regarded as "a living thing."
"People should be prepared to be flexible with these shelter figures," he said.
The opportunities to leave are growing by the day. Airlines are offering free or discounted flights to evacuees, friends and relatives are arriving to whisk them away, and today's decision by the federal government to pass out $2,000 debit cards will pay for gasoline or bus tickets that were out of reach before.
But for some of those who've arrived from New Orleans, the prospect of venturing out into Houston is intimidating.
Eighteen-year-old Marcus Poole, a community college student who worked at a rental car agency back home in Louisiana, is finding that looking for a job is no easy task in a city so sprawling. Houston's even bigger than he remembers it as a child visiting AstroWorld.
"I feel like I'm in another country, being in a city so big," he said.
Many of those who choose to stay are still trying to connect with loved ones. Still sitting on her cot with her family today, Alisha Bush, 33, is anxious to reach her 15-year-old daughter, who was taken to shelter in Arkansas. Bush thinks she has the best chance of a reunion if she stays put.
She has been in the Astrodome since last Wednesday, when the overcrowded floor forced people to sleep in the stands.
"The lines are getting shorter and shorter," Bush said. "It is clearing out."
Wanda Payton, 44, she said she was expecting to leave tomorrow for a three-bedroom house offered by a Channelview woman.
"It has died down. They are getting people out," she said.
For those who are staying for now at least, officials have turned their attention to needs like food stamps, school registration and medical care.
Local and federal authorities are finalizing a special housing subsidy "voucher" program, good for at least six months and perhaps a year, to serve 25,000 displaced families.
Meanwhile, the shelters have opened job booths and the Texas Workforce Commission and Federal Emergency Management Agency were expected to send representatives there today. The federal agency could help with a variety of services, including housing and unemployment aid.
"Our focus this week is to begin the process of re-integrating our guests," said state Rep. Rick Noriega, a CenterPoint Energy official tapped by Mayor Bill White to run the facility at the convention center.
The city's shelters were originally set up to serve as a clean environment in which evacuees could sleep.
"We're seeing, obviously, that mission shifting," said Noriega, a Texas Army National Guard officer. "We're becoming a little more service-focused."
Registering for help
Some of the help is coming from volunteers with Operation Compassion, a massive relief effort led by Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston and spearheaded by the Second Baptist Church. The thousands of volunteers from 131 local congregations have assumed primary responsibility for feeding the masses of storm victims who have taken refuge here.
"It's blessing me probably more than it's blessing them," said volunteer Wanda Brock, 68, a member of Second Baptist Church who was dishing out barbecue Tuesday. "It's a real eye-opener to see how blessed you are when you see people who have lost so much."
At the convention center's job booth, evacuees picked up fliers and added their names to a 12-page list of people looking for jobs.
Potential employers can browse the list, and some companies also have posted jobs on another list.
East New Orleans resident Gabrielle Thomas, 30, who is living with 13 other evacuees in a friend's two-bedroom home in Sugar Land, came to the shelter seeking help to get her life back on track.
A job, she said, would be a first step.
"I can't go back there for a few months, and I need work," said Thomas, who worked as a clerk to a juvenile court judge. "I lost everything I had."
With forecasts that 400,000 to 500,000 people could lose their jobs because of the hurricane, the Labor Department has announced plans to spend up to $75 million in emergency assistance for evacuees who now are living in Texas.
The money would provide assistance to 37,500 evacuees by temporarily putting them to work providing food, clothing, shelter and other assistance to storm victims.
'I've been there, done that'
While so many people looked for jobs and permanent housing, plans to move as many as 4,000 evacuees to cruise ships in Galveston were put on hold. Many who had taken refuge in the Astrodome said they would rather stay in the stadium than move to the ships, officials said.
"I don't want to be on no water," said James Givens, 48, a longshoreman who is trying to find a place other than the Astrodome to live. "I've seen enough water to last me a long time."
When she heard about the offer to live on a cruise ship, Bobbie Williams, 44, rose from her cot, shaking her head emphatically.
"No, no, no, no more water," she said. "I don't want to see no more water. I've been there, done that. Not right now."
Evacuee Wallace James, 48, spent part of his day at the Social Security Administration, trying to get a check he was owed. He hopes he can use the money to move out of the Astrodome and into subsidized housing.
"If things don't work out, I'll just move on to another state," James said.
He said many Louisiana residents are trying to look forward.
"We ain't trying to talk about where we came from," he said. "We're trying to talk about where we're going."
Chronicle reporters Matt Stiles, Armando Villafranca, Jennifer Radcliffe, Monica Guzmán and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwa...rtainties.html
Uncertainties
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What's Known | What's Likely | What's Unknown | Living with Uncertainty
Like many fields of scientific study, there are uncertainties associated with the science of global warming. This does not imply that all things are equally uncertain. Some aspects of the science are based on well-known physical laws and do ented trends, while other aspects range from 'near certainty' to 'big unknowns.'
What's Known for Certain?
Scientists know for certain that human activities are changing the composition of Earth's atmosphere. Increasing levels of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide (CO2 ), in the atmosphere since pre-industrial times have been well do ented. There is no doubt this atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases is largely the result of human activities.
It's well accepted by scientists that greenhouse gases trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere and tend to warm the planet. By increasing the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, human activities are strengthening Earth's natural greenhouse effect. The key greenhouse gases emitted by human activities remain in the atmosphere for periods ranging from decades to centuries.
A warming trend of about 1°F has been recorded since the late 19th century. Warming has occurred in both the northern and southern hemispheres, and over the oceans. Confirmation of 20th-century global warming is further substantiated by melting glaciers, decreased snow cover in the northern hemisphere and even warming below ground.
What's Likely but not Certain?
Figuring out to what extent the human-induced ac ulation of greenhouse gases since pre-industrial times is responsible for the global warming trend is not easy. This is because other factors, both natural and human, affect our planet's temperature. Scientific understanding of these other factors – most notably natural climatic variations, changes in the sun's energy, and the cooling effects of pollutant aerosols – remains incomplete.
Nevertheless, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated there was a "discernible" human influence on climate; and that the observed warming trend is "unlikely to be entirely natural in origin." In the most recent Third Assessment Report (2001), IPCC wrote "There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities."
In short, scientists think rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are contributing to global warming, as would be expected; but to what extent is difficult to determine at the present time.
As atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases continue to rise, scientists estimate average global temperatures will continue to rise as a result. By how much and how fast remain uncertain. IPCC projects further global warming of 2.2-10°F (1.4-5.8°C) by the year 2100. This range results from uncertainties in greenhouse gas emissions, the possible cooling effects of atmospheric particles such as sulfates, and the climate's response to changes in the atmosphere.
The IPCC states that even the low end of this warming projection "would probably be greater than any seen in the last 10,000 years, but the actual annual to decadal changes would include considerable natural variability."
What are the Big Unknowns?
Scientists have identified that our health, agriculture, water resources, forests, wildlife and coastal areas are vulnerable to the changes that global warming may bring. But projecting what the exact impacts will be over the 21st century remains very difficult. This is especially true when one asks how a local region will be affected.
Scientists are more confident about their projections for large-scale areas (e.g., global temperature and precipitation change, average sea level rise) and less confident about the ones for small-scale areas (e.g., local temperature and precipitation changes, altered weather patterns, soil moisture changes). This is largely because the computer models used to forecast global climate change are still ill-equipped to simulate how things may change at smaller scales. [See the U.S. Climate section for more detail on climate models.]
Some of the largest uncertainties are associated with events that pose the greatest risk to human societies. IPCC cautions, "Complex systems, such as the climate system, can respond in non-linear ways and produce surprises." There is the possibility that a warmer world could lead to more frequent and intense storms, including hurricanes. Preliminary evidence suggests that, once hurricanes do form, they will be stronger if the oceans are warmer due to global warming. However, the jury is still out whether or not hurricanes and other storms will become more frequent.
More and more attention is being aimed at the possible link between El Niño events – the periodic warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean – and global warming. Scientists are concerned that the ac ulation of greenhouse gases could inject enough heat into Pacific waters such that El Niño events become more frequent and fierce. Here too, research has not advanced far enough to provide conclusive statements about how global warming will affect El Niño.
Living with Uncertainty
Like many pioneer fields of research, the current state of global warming science can't always provide definitive answers to our questions. There is certainty that human activities are rapidly adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, and that these gases tend to warm our planet. This is the basis for concern about global warming.
The fundamental scientific uncertainties are these: How much more warming will occur? How fast will this warming occur? And what are the potential adverse and beneficial effects? These uncertainties will be with us for some time, perhaps decades.
Global warming poses real risks. The exact nature of these risks remains uncertain. Ultimately, this is why we have to use our best judgement – guided by the current state of science – to determine what the most appropriate response to global warming should be.
I can totally understand the concern over water.
Myself and some other scuba instructors were talking about taking kids diving and teaching them how to dive, but the concensus was a lot of them would probably be too skittish for anything less than crystal clear water (which you can't find in Texas).
Maybe after some time has gone by, like in 6 months or so, you should reconsider this. It might help some of these kids overcome an intense fear of water that I'm sure many of them will develop.
Comal? Ok it's not deep but it's clear. Also rig dives off Port Aransas are clear (but scary as ). Yea in Cozumel once we left with 12 divers and came back with 11.. they found this guys body a week later. His partner sucked.
You want a clear dive AHF, drop some money and take the kids to Aquerina ( , I can't spell) Springs (You can still dive there, can't you?)
Ah I forgot about that place.. I wanted to dive there but they where tight ass about it (you had to be on research mission). If it's hot that water looks good...
Not only does the water look good, but back in the day the scenery at the intersection that took you up to Pepper's where the concrete apron by the river is looked real good as well.
no politics in the hurricane katrina thread, but talk about scuba diving at aquarena springs is a-ok! hahaha
They blew off the cruise ship idea... told ya it was dumb.. it would of been a living ...
speaking of cruise ship. my gf's friend had her cruise canceled bc the ship was being used to house refugees.. didn't even get her money back. all she got was a voucher for the same cruise at a later date... bs!
all we need is another food poisoning situation.
We are going on a cruise next week on the 15th and we felt like lowlife's when we called to see if our cruise had been cancelled but it was not.
The wife felt uneasy about calling about our cruise while so many are suffering and struggling to get their lives back together but I told her that life goes on. I mean it didn't stop people from partying during the labor day weekend but I do admit I felt selfish too.
i met some new orleans people partying too... and yes, everyone's life can't stop.
lucky your cruise wasn't canceled. it is not everyday that people get the time off to take a vacation.
Just got an email saying my company donated $10K to the Salvation Army for relief efforts.
Didn't know the tightwads had it in them.
didn't they mention it was coming out of the x-mas bonus fund???? j/k
Nah. It is coming out of their paychecks.
I don't know if anyone here subscribes to the "The Onion". Their take on the Hurricane Katrina coverage brings some much needed humor to this time of sadness. We all need things to laugh at.
http://www.theonion.com/content/index
The Elation, the Carnival boat I was going on in December, is being used for Katrina relief purposes. We have a choice of either getting our money back or going on the Conquest for an additional $400, with no upgrades.
At least I didn't have to call to feel like an ass. They emailed me.
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