Well, with the arctic melting, and glaciers taking a digger, I don't know how it is possible not to have affected the thermohaline current.

This is where this thread loses it humor.

I do think emissions play a role, not to mention the huge population that the earth is trying to sustain. Frankly, I don't get the whole objection to birth control thing and I was raised in the major religion that supports this premise.

I LOVE kids, and I had 4, but my sister had none, so we say that we had zero population growth...lol. Plus, I raised 4 kids that were not 'place-able'. (I think this is why I am sick, the agency wasn't kidding. It is anxiety provoking when your kid pokes holes in your new stainless steel fridge because they are pizzed off at you...eh, fire starting, animal abuse, blood, guts, gore...what more can you ask for? And I wonder why my body is eating itself....seems appropriate to my life experience....bleeding heart liberal that I am.)

Two of my kids are employed in high level environmental jobs....one is very high level. I have dumped my responsibilty on them.

This huge diaster in Haiti is one example of huge population growth, that is unsustainable....and look at the human suffering. I am stunned. I have actually dug into my pocketbook on this one. Those poor people. They live on land which is sinking, subject to hurricanes, tsunamis, landslides, earthquakes.

There are no jobs and many of them eat dirt, yes dirt...some kind of calcified soil patties.

There is a time when making more people is not a gift, but a tragedy of unmitigated scope. More people that we can not care for, is not joy, it is immeasurable suffering. I have tried to care for societies unwanted kids, and it is not the wonderful heartwarming experience we see in the movies....it has been more like Psycho, but we did it, and did it well, and made a difference....kind of.

Well, regardless, now there are 4 million horribly traumatized, injured, homeless people with likely a half million dead under their feet.

We complain about our lives, and our medical care, and look what so much of the world has to deal with.

We could have a climatic disaster and be in their shoes in a heart beat. I hope not, but scientists have been awfully mum about the Thermohaline Current. It has to be affected by the glacial melt. Can you imagine if we go into a cold, drought cycle? The bread basket of the world in a deep freeze? Global warming does not mean the world uniformly warms....it can mean ice ages.

If people knew what was being 'injected' into the strata in hopes of 'discovering' oil, gas, minerals, etc. Colorado has injection earthquakes! We think we can do all this stuff with no impact! I am not saying this earthquake was man made, it isn't, but our footprint on the earth is WAY TOO BIG.

I agree that there are natural cycles, but one can not dismiss the impact of 6 billion people on the planet, and then, the fact that we want to 'develop' socieities into CONSUMER societies, with no thought to sustainability.

I hope that the next generation is able to figure out how to make life GOOD for these poor people, without diminishing our standard of living too much, and all in a sustainable manner, with less impact on the planet. Gosh, that sounds like we need a miracle. A garden and a goat?? I don't know. What do you do with a highly urbanized slum like in Haiti, or Rio, or other city, where favelas are the standard? How do you employ all these people when we can not employ our own here in this country?

If we save people, we have to impress upon people, that they can not multiply indefinitely. There is a struggle for resources now....can you imagine 10 billion people?

I work with a group that promotes sustainability, and it is a hard concept for people to grasp. I don't always live sustainably and am ashamed of myself for it, but I have so cut down on what I spend on junk...maybe it is aging up and wondering, what will I do with this stuff in 10 years! It is just stuff and I can't take it with me. I have given away so much in the last few years.

Maybe this illness has brought me sanity. I now have a better idea of what is important in life, and it isn't stuff.

I am looking at redoing my kitchen, for a number of reasons, and all the joy I was getting out of that just flew out the door watching these images on TV. I can't even look at the brochures or think about the money. I have been living without a dishwasher, and that has seemed like such a burden. Except for karma, I could be living in a tent. I don't know why I deserve such a nice life (despite being ill and disabled)....and yet, I complain, because others have it better still. I am lucky not to be under a bridge or on a street with a tin cup.

Gosh I wish I was healthy enough to go down to Haiti and provide nursing care, but alas, I would not make it a day. I would not make it thru the immunizations.... I feel rather useless today.

The thing is, this is a big crisis now, and then in a few years, it fades, as did NOLA....we still have not rebuilt NOLA. I wonder how the poor of NOLA, any one from NOLA feels right now?

I suggest that those of us who can, do some good by donating some money to these poor people in Haiti....even 10$ helps....1 million people giving 10$ is 10 million. It is only one of those 'feel good' things to do, and this problem is systemic and huge, but it is something, better than nothing.

China pledged 1 million $....One million, from the powerhouse of manufacturing! They should be ashamed of themselves....what a joke. If only I could not buy anything Chinese.....They should pledge 1 billion...and provide it!

Americans are still very generous people. I like us. The common American is a very generous person.

Ok, so much for my rant today....I have a headache, now.

Go way back in the history of the world and we have had ice ages before.

I was talking about the atmospheric connection between my state and Alaska. Nothing to do with thermohalene current as I see it. But what do I know.

I don't think any of us really know. It is complex. The earth is like an organism. It is not unlike managing a person with autonomic neuropathy. Fix one thing here, and cause a new problem elsewhere. Strange analogy, I know.

Yes, ice ages are part of earth's life cycle, and up to now, man has had little impact on the environment. We are now in an industrial age. We now make compounds that were previously, unknown to man. We are suffering the effects of some of this taking up residence in our bodies.

It is not inconceivable that a rapid climatic change could occur. It happened 26,000 years ago....very rapid. That may be nature. I know that 500 years ago, my water would not be full of atrazine and nitrates.

I am not an armagedonist, just a realist.

To see the issue in context, fill a fish tank with too many fish....

Resources are limited, and we are competing for them already. It could get ugly.

We have been colder than Alaska, but, that is not unusual for us. Anchorage is always warmer. Fairbanks is not usually warmer than us. This has not been an unusually cold winter for us...winter here is always long and cold. Summer was cold. It really affected our crops around here. We could not grow healthy tomatoes at all. I lost about 2/3 of the crop from my 60 plants. That hurt.

There is an atmospheric connection between Alaska and MN. There are huge dips in the jet stream which are called "long waves" and they tend to space out so that MN and Alaska have the inversely related temperatures. When Alaska's warm, it's usually cold in MN and visa versa. We look to Alaska before a big pattern change in the winter to get an idea of what's headed our way.

Anchorage is not always warmer. Yes, Fairbanks can be extremely cold in the winter and hot in the summer. It's in the interior. Having been to Alaska many times - visiting many parts of the state - one August it was 90 degrees at a Pizza Hut in Fairbanks. No air conditioning and it was hot. My husband used to work in Alaska as well.

Then there's Coldfoot where it was -82 degrees below zero one winter. It also got as high as 97 degrees above zero one summer. This isn't unusual for Coldfoot at all.

Kind of shoots a hole in the global warming story with having an unusually cold winter and a cool summer in MN. And I don't think that this is the first time it has happened either. I remember terrifically cold winters in the past.

Global warming isn't about any one location.

It is not a theory, and the only hole is in the ozone layer.

I did not buy the recent best seller either....nor do I watch Fox. I guess I am uninformed.

I didn't either nor do I watch Fox. I rest my case

I love Fox, watch it every day. I also do not believe in global warming. I think it's all hype, just trying to get more money out of all of us. People like Al Gore who are forever preaching at us to save the world, then lives in his totally energy sucking home...all hype.

The earth goes in cycles, and what happens, happened before, and will happen again.

A real heatwave here today...in the 40's.

If we could get Fox, we would definitely watch

Just wanted to pop in and say something completely intelligent....... .......................
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ACTUALLY !!! I just wanted to be the one who has the honor

of making the ONE HUNDREDTH post to this awesome THREAD ! !!!!