North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>]

> In the 70's, I recall scientists 'predicting' a mini ice age because 
> of a couple of cooler years.


Actually, that isn't quite true. This is a problem with getting our 
information from the news media who are always trying to simplify and to 
sensationalize. The scientific consensus was never for global cooling. 
True, you can always find SOME scientists who will say anything. And 
they will tend to get at least as much press coverage as the mainstream 
consensus, especially since they are liable to be more newsworthy. (We 
see that in the global warming "controversy" today. Controversies, even 
manufactured ones, are good for media sales.)

A few scientists back then did talk about the cooling effects of 
particulate pollution, but remember, we've done a lot since the 1970's 
to control particulate pollution - and nothing to control carbon 
dioxide. Even then, the consensus was that carbon dioxide emissions 
would have a bigger impact, therefore the planet would be getting warmer 
(which is exactly what happened). And since we cleaned up a great deal 
of our particulate pollution, that had an effect, too. Well, that was 
the whole point, right?  We wouldn't expect particulate pollution to 
have the same impact when we made an effort to lower it.

But I must say that I absolutely agree with Spidra that this isn't the 
place to debate global warming. And look at the title of this posting. 
"Weather" isn't "climate." When we get a cold day, or a cold year, we 
all laugh and say, "so much for global warming," but of course we all 
know that's not valid. It's just a comment, just a joke. You can't tell 
ANYTHING about global warming by looking at our local weather, 
especially over short periods of time. (And how much can laymen tell, 
anyway, when we can always find *someone* who'll argue what we want to 
hear? This is a very complicated science.)

I think we would be far better off to just skip this topic, since it's 
not directly related to fruit-growing. What's the point, really? It's 
easy to get off-topic, and a little of that isn't a problem,... but too 
much might be. And this is too good a group for that!

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
You can't sit there and worry about everything. Get a life. You have a 
much greater danger of being hit by lightning than being struck by a 
terrorist. - Michael Bloomberg