permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

<http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/26/coverstory/index.html>

The heat is on: Global warming is the real deal

 Be worried, be very worried
The climate is crashing, and global warming is to blame

Sunday, March 26, 2006; Posted: 11:27 a.m. EST (16:27 GMT)

Editor's note: The following is a summary of this week's Time magazine cover 
story

No one can say exactly what it looks like when a planet takes ill, but it probably looks a lot like Earth. Never mind 
what you've heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency that would take decades to play out. Suddenly and 
unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us. From heat waves to storms to floods to fires to massive glacial melts, the global 
climate seems to be crashing around us.

(Time.comexternal link) -- No one can say exactly what it looks like when a planet takes ill, but it probably looks a 
lot like Earth.

Never mind what you've heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency that would take decades to play out. 
Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us.

From heat waves to storms to floods to fires to massive glacial melts, the 
global climate seems to be crashing around us.

The problem -- as scientists suspected but few others appreciated -- is that global climate systems are booby-trapped 
with tipping points and feedback loops, thresholds past which the slow creep of environmental decay gives way to sudden 
and self-perpetuating collapse. That's just what's happening now.

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