On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:15:03 -0500, BAR wrote:

Eisboch wrote:
"John" wrote in message
...
"Eisboch" wrote in message
...
The History Channel ran a great documentary on oil over the weekend. It
explained how oil was (and still is) created from atoms of carbon and I
thought the whole thing was interesting. It also opened my eyes a bit.
For many reasons, not the least of which being the surprise emergence of
China and the growing oil demands of it's population, we looks like we
may be in deep doo-doo much sooner than forecast even 10 years ago.

Eisboch

They also ran a show on global warming, it is global warming in the past
that created the oil in the first place.
But the basic tenant is that the more green house gases mankind spews, the
warmer the earth gets, the more melting that creates releases more
greenhouse gases, etc, etc, etc until the whole planet is too warm
everywhere but the artic.

And yes the earth goes through warming and cooling periods caused by the
sun - but this time mankind is a huge contributing factor.



I've resisted the temptation to jump on the "man is the cause of global
warming" bandwagon precisely because the earth has gone through these cycles
naturally for 10's of thousands of years. However, one thing caught my
attention while watching the HC documentary on global warming. Apparently
the earth is in a natural warming trend to begin with and the contributions
of mankind may influence the natural cycle back to cooling that would
otherwise occur. The issue of frozen methane being released from the ocean
floor due to the extra degree or two of water temp is scary. It could throw
the whole system, normally naturally regulated, out of control.

If it's true, it's too late. There's no way to stop it now, with the
dependence on oil that most developed nations have and particularly with the
newfound personal wealth in China causing the Chinese to hang up the
bicycles and buy their first auto.

Oh, well. Something else to worry about.

What about the asteroid that is predicted to "near miss" the Earth in
2028(http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9803/1...id/index.html).

Tom's got us covered.
--
John H