Alps experiencing warmest time in 1,300 years
VIENNA, Austria - Europe's Alpine region is going through its warmest period in 1,300 years, the head of an extensive climate study said Tuesday.
"We are currently experiencing the warmest period in the Alpine region in 1,300 years," Reinhard Boehm, a climatologist at Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics said.
Boehm based his comments on the results of a project conducted by a group of European institutes between March 2003 and August 2006. Their aim was to reconstruct the climate in the region encompassing the Rhone Valley in France to the west, Budapest, Hungary to the east, Tuscany, Italy to the south and Nuremberg, Germany to the north over the past 1,000 years.
Boehm said the current warm period in the Alpine region began in the 1980s, noting that a similar warming occurred in the 10th and 12th centuries. However, the temperatures during those phases were "slightly under the temperatures we've experienced over the past 20 years."
Humans first had an impact on the global climate in the 1950s, Boehm said, noting that at first, the release of aerosols into the atmosphere cooled the climate. Since the 1980s, however, greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane have warmed it up, he said.
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Is God Green?
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i am still not sure what to think about the global warming thing. Well, its pretty much beyond dispute that the earth is in a warming trend which could have pronounced negative effects on world economies and other human establishments. The question is what is the real cause- or more to the point- are the activities of man contributing?
I have always felt that the environmental movement made a mistake by putting their focus upon the "theory" of global warming as caused by man...rather than upon air quality and environmental integrity.
I mean...dirty air is not a theory. I used to lve in Dallas and all you had to do was look up at the dingy sky and you knew there was a problem. You had to know that breathing that stuff couldn't be a good thing.
I still remember the first "ozone alert' in DFW. The radio announced it- but also gave the disclaimer that there was really nothing to worry about. I have always wondered why- if there was nothing to worry about- there was an alert.
Some things just don't make a lot of sense.
Acording to some...like the Senator James Imhofe (R) from my home here in the great state of Oklahoma- global warming is the greatest scam ever foisted upon our people. I would like to see an open and thorough debate on that between scientists and poiticians.
I have been particularly alarmed how this issue has become a rallying point for "Christian Conservatives" who vehemently try to shoot it down as if stewardship of the planet were not a Biblical directive. My question would be how they have come to be so sure about the facts in the case also. It seems more like a political football for both sides than anything else.
Again...I think the focus should be more on air and water quality, public health and ethics. Those should be simple. The voice of Christianity hasn't seemed willing to address those either...which is astounding to me.
There are some things happening with the public attitude on all this that may be challenging the silence of Christianity on this and/or the collusion of Christianity with corporate and political powers that have denied or evaded their responsibilities. See the post "is God Green?" here:
http://geotheology.blogspot.com/2006/10/is-god-green.html
8:56 AM
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