Quote:
Originally Posted by Private_collector
I'll take your word for all those figures and principles
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Actually I was amazed to find that Arrhenius predicted man made global warming over a century ago, and that his figures tally closely with today's computer modelling. He went on to speculate about the effects on mankind, and his words are quite prophetic - heralding Rudd's "greatest moral challenge of our generation", and the Greens' castastrophist warnings:
"We often hear lamentations that the coal stored up in the earth is wasted by the present generation without any thought of the future, and we are terrified by the awful destruction of life and property which has followed the volcanic eruptions of our days."
But he remains philosophical: "We may find a kind of consolation in the consideration that here, as in every other case, there is good mixed with the evil. By the influence of the increasing percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we may hope to enjoy ages with more equable and better climates, especially as regards the colder regions of the earth, ages when the earth will bring forth much more abundant crops than at present, for the benefit of rapidly propagating mankind."
Of course, he may be inclined to revise his views on "equable climates" if he had to live through floods and bushfires!