Thomas Friedman: The Iceman Cometh

77 degrees 45 minutes N. latitude,

51 degrees 6 minutes W. longitude

Jorgen Peder Steffensen made me an offer I couldn't refuse: "If you come to Copenhagen, I will show you a Christmas snow -- a real Christmas snow, the snow that fell between 1 B.C. and 1 A.D."

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[lamarguerite]

This is when Pascal's Wager's argument becomes handy:

http://lamarguerite.wordpress.com/2007/11/16/disarming-the-climate-change-skeptics-with-pascals-wager-argument/

[isis]

This is a great article. Insightful and of course a bit of a warning to us all that nature is fickle even when we don't play with her so why make things worse.

[Kula]

So what did I get out of this little global warming hysteria article. The climate is always changing, It has been warmer in the past... much warmer. Debate ended. AGW is a joke.

[Wilburrr]

Yes! You are right!! The Earth has been muh warmer. My question is; what was living here at that time? It is not the temperature that I am concerned with, it is the rate of change we are seeing. Nothing in history is nearly as great as the rate at which our climate (NOT our weather) is changing.

[rfshunt]

Obviously you stopped reading when you found something that seemed to agree with your prejudice.

From the article:

Some climate-change deniers would say that this proves that mankind is not important in changing the climate. Climate change experts, like Dahl-Jensen, say it"s not so simple: The climate is always changing, sometimes very abruptly, so the last thing that mankind should be doing is adding its own forcing actions " like pumping unprecedented amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

[mergina]

Be careful what you may find in that snow.

[Amennyc]

How can one even be concerned when the "iceman" claims to have samples from 150,000 yrs ago? If the earth is only 6,000 yrs old, this man is a liar and so is the concept of global warming. The "iceman" truly does not believe in God or the bible and therefore, has no credibility. It is this type of thought that keeps the USA from going forward. People for the most part cannot see past their nose.
Other point, the article in NYT business section about Steve Wynn. He brags about having one of the most expensive diamonds in the world. In the end, a polished rock that man has made valuable. Gloating about it, while the casinos are filled with many dumping money into his casinos, often losing. Money that could go to charity, their kids college, food, loans, ending a foreclosure.... but the gamble is there. But what they do not truly see is that Steve Wynn is laughing all the way to the bank. Instead of feeding their own bank account, they feed his. A man who would never, ever even invite these "lower bottom" feeders to a dinner or to get near his "precious rock".
The poor gladly make the rich richer. Throwing money their way anytime they can. It's time they see beyond their nose and into their wallets.