by CraigW » Tue Jul 11, 2006 2:26 pm
Okay, fair enough. Let's talk about the issue at hand. On a wine board, mind you.
As I alluded to, before we can fix the problem, as Sam suggested we ought to, we need to at the very least recognize that a problem exists.
My argument is that science exists; scientists have spend decades studying the phenomenon that climate change is occurring and is at the very least, minutely resultant because of the impact of humans consuming and burning fossil fuels on a staggaring level, cutting down rainforests, polluting rivers, lakes and oceans, and wiping out natural processes.
Here's the science behind it (as explained by a marketing professional, mind you): combustion of any material releases at the very least carbon dioxide into the air. If you're burning plastics or the like, even more chemicals get released into the air, but that's another matter. When we as a society burn gas, oil, coal, wood, etc. at the quantity that we are, carbon dioxide (CO2) in ridiculous quantities heads up into the atmosphere where it interacts with out atmosphere, including our ozone (ozone is the layer of gas - O3 - that deflects harmful radiation from the sun away from the surface of the earth). The amount of CO2 we're sending up there, via our factories, processing plants, cars, SUVs, etc. is doing two things: forming a layer of CO2 in our atmosphere and destroying our ozone layer. The earth's heat escapes off the surface naturally through a process of convection and is released into space (heat rising up: convective heating) and with all that CO2, instead of being released, is being trapped, like how heat remains in a greenhouse. Like a greenhouse, the earth is therefore not cooling down and is becoming hotter. The subsequent destruction of our ozone layer is also allowing in far more solar radiation than normal, which means that the earth is getting hotter to begin with, and add this to our greenhouse effect, it produces twice the problem. Not to mention we're getting tanned and burned easier, and that cancer is becoming more problematic. We are seeing direct results of this process in a variety of ways - ice melts when it is warmed, and therefore, polar icecaps, which have existed for hundreds of thousands if not millions of years (long before the ice age), are melting. Additionally, oceans are warming - just a degree or two - but enough to precipitate increased storm activity. Hurricanes are bred off the coast of Africa and derive their strength and intensity from warmer waters. Warmer waters = more and stronger hurricanes. If the ice caps have melted and the oceans have risen just an inch or two, or say six, then when we get hurricanes and storm surges occur, they don't rise by an inch or two, they rise by feet. And ask anyone in New Orleans, a foot or two matters a lot.
Now, plants consume CO2 as a natural process of photosynthesis - that is to say, it's what keeps them alive. The process of photosynthesis, while consuming CO2 also releases pure oxygen as a result, which is handy for us. Forests are excellent consumers of large amounts of CO2 and it's a wonderful treat to know that we have an atmosphere that moves air via tradewinds all around the world. Therefore, our CO2 could be consumed by the Amazon rainforest, or the forests in India or China. When you cut down rainforests, you're removing the earth's ability to consume CO2 on a large scale. So the problem is two-fold - not only are we producing far too much CO2 for the earth to handle, but we're destroying its ability to cope with it as well.
The enormous hole in the ozone layer, due to greenhouse gas build up has proven by science, over Antarctica should provide proof. The weakening of the ozone layer over Alberta, BC and parts of the US pacific northwest should also raise eyebrows.
The fact that the oceans are warming, that polar icecaps are melting, that species are becoming extinct by the hundreds each decade, and that pollution is sickening people with allergies, miscarriages, cancers and mutations should provide some reason for concern. And isn't it more than convenient that the people disbelieving the strongest in the entire phenomenon are those with power and money tied up in controlling the consumption of resources - whose livelihoods are dependant on society maintaining the status quo and not blinking an eye.
Telling people that climate change is unproven, unscientific, wrong, politically-motivated, fundamentalist, not related to human involvement or even non-existant is as much propaganda as is the warning that we have to do something. The difference being that to question it, after we as a society have poured billions of dollars and hundreds of careers into it, is completely ignorant and substantiatively baseless.
When are we going to get the picture? To refute one computer simulation is one thing, but what about the hundreds of scientifically-based predictions over the past twenty or more years? They add up over time....
You'd think that within the wine industry, among the first people to see the bigger picture and possible disaster would be those growing, selling, and consuming the grapes.
