Hi Laura,

I teach Physics at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse. Yesterday, I watched a rather interesting TV documentary. It claimed that right before the last ice age there was a period of rapid warming right before the big chill. Even more astonishing, was that this dramatic change in trend happened over a timescale of only 10 years. They speculate that the reason for the sudden change was that the warming melted glacial ice which decreased the salinity of the worlds oceans and somehow shut down the gulf stream.

OK, so tie that in with an earlier documantary I watched where scientists are concerned that the number of upwellings (or downflows, I don't recall) in the North Atlantic has dramatically decreased over recent decades. That, to me, suggests that the circulation of the North Atlantic is changing.

Do you think that there is any reason why we should be at least a little concerned? No matter how unsettling it may be, I am sure that human civilization can easily cope with a few degrees of global warming. However, an ice age would really mess things up big time!

Mankind has too much information at its fingertips. The 24 hour Media Machine needs copy, anything will do, so Climate Change/Global Warming is fair game. Computer studies are reported but only the figures from the top of the range temps are printed. What has happened to the prediction that this year was the Mother of all Tornado Year and Southern USA would be razed to the ground? Carbon Parity/Trading is the new South Sea Bubble and will burst when sea level rises and temperatures do not go through the roof. What will politicians do then to control the masses/raise taxes? We have a new Religion - hooray - Mankind is destroying the Planet. CO2 is the Holy Grail. Strange that each year Planet Earth produces nearly 200 Billion Tons of CO2, Mankind barely 6 Billion. So our 3% addition is changing the World's weather? Vikings grew Barley in Iceland in the 12th Century. It is still too cold to grow it there now.
Lets spend money on sensible projects not waste it on Carbon Claptrap. Water Vapour is THE Greenhouse Gas and yet it is never mentioned. Strange how CO2 levels rise AFTER temperatures increase and not before? What causes the temperature rise? Certainly not CO2 levels.
Climate Change is a given - it has never been stable - stability is the desire of people who also want 100% safety in everything and who need to get a life and forget about a non event - Global Warming Catastrophe. Green Charities are stirring up panic to gain more funds - top brass get bonuses for monies raised don't they? More people die due to cold weather than hot so I for one am not in the least worried about our Planet's weather. : )

Brian,

There are consequences to more co2. If a higher concentration makes vegetation lush, that means greater transpiration which means greater water vapour which means an atmospheric warming. We are definitely tinkering with temperature regardless of what may or may not be the thrust of the warming that has been observed.