From: svenson (svenson@holly.colostate.edu)
Date: Mon Feb 23 2004 - 18:43:26 MST
My name is Brett Swanson and I have only been lurking on this mailing list for
a little over a week. I am a senior at Colorado State University, studying
creative writing and journalism. Obviously, my ability to contribute to these
discussions will, for the time being at least, be somewhat limited.
Therefore, though earlier than perhaps I would have liked, I feel compelled to
respond about The Observer article on climate change.
The fact is, the Pentagon Has created a document much as The Observer
reported. This document, however, was given to Fortune magazine earlier this
month. The Observer's fault is not in misrepresenting the content of the
document but, rather, it misrepresents the level of secrecy surrounding it.
Obviously, this is a case wherein The Observer decided to sex-up its article
by creating a "secret-document" scenario. Undoubtedly, The Observer obtained
the document through somewhat secretive means, but it's not the top-secret
situation they describe.
That being said, the concerns presented in the article are real. There has
been a shift in environmental thinking recently amongst many scientists.
Namely, that global warming might not be the long-term phenomenon that people
have assumed it is. Intense temperature changes, droughts, and other extreme
natural disasters are possible. Many in The Pentagon think that this kind of
climate change needs to be considered. They are taking it seriously, so I
think it follows that we should take it seriously as well.
I end with a link to the original Fortune article, a link to an older article
that describes the science behind the doomsdsay scenarios in greater detail,
and an open-ended question from someone who's relatively ignorant concerning
the topics this mailing list addresses: If this new paradigm for viewing
global warming is to be taken seriously, and I would emphatically argue that
it is, how might it affect the singularity and transhumanism?
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,582584-1,00.html
http://www.whoi.edu/institutes/occi/currenttopics/climatechange_wef.html
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