Global warming to run out of gas

[hedgetrimmer]

link: http://www.news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1088622003

~SNIP~

JAMES REYNOLDS


CATASTROPHIC global warming due to fossil-fuel burning is unlikely because oil and gas will run out too quickly, scientists have claimed.

The controversial theory forecasts that all the fuel will be burned before there is enough carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to bring into reality melting ice-caps and searing temperatures.

Geologists at Uppsala University in Sweden claim there are not sufficient reserves of oil and gas left in the world for even the most modest of the scenarios put forward by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to come to pass.

Predictions of global meltdown by the IPCC created the drive for the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement requiring compliant nations to restrict their emissions.

[trogdor]

1. So, CO2 levels return to that during the Cretaceous Era.

Remember back then, before any of the stuff that turned to oil and gas was ever around? We had dragonflies with 18 inch wingspans. Why? Because the air was more dense, so insects could grow bigger and still function. The fact that they have exoskeletons puts a restriction on their size.

[Maple]

2. Apparently they've been so busy

fourmulating this theory, they havan't actually looked at the ice caps lately!

[roguevalley]

3. There are islands in the pacific

going under water. Will that mean NZ and Aust. will be
the sacrifices we make to keep our cars running? Don't
worry. We'll run out before it hits Redondo Beach. And
those other two places? <Shrug>

I don't see us surviving as a species sometimes.

[gristy]

4. You didn't print the rebuttal near the end of the article

And I suspect there will be many more rebuttals to come.

<snip>
He said that burning 3,500 billion barrels - the Swedes? conservative estimate - would see concentrations rise towards 1,000 parts per million (ppm). To put this in perspective, was 280ppm before the industrial revolution, is now 360ppm and, according to the Royal Commission on Environment and Pollution, must not exceed 450-550ppm if climate change is to be avoided.

Dr Anderson concluded: "Simplistic analysis neglecting the combustion of coal, our appalling record at forecasting fuel reserves and underestimating the carbon dioxide impact of known reserves is a dangerous basis ...for... policy."

[are_we_united_yet]

5. Don't belive it !

It is a bunch of crap!

[tlcandie]

6. Is this the same group that the Repugs have on their side to debunk

global warming? :shrug:

[w4rma]

7. lol! This does not make me feel any better. (n/t)

[cprise]

8. No way

One of the precautionary warnings against greenhouse gases is that the warming we cause ourselves could cross a threshold, triggering feedbacks in the environment that release even more greenhouse gases.

Earth supposedly has the potential for a runaway greenhouse effect resulting in temperatures over 500 degF. (a truly worst case).

[maggrwaggr]

9. like when we run out of gas and oil we're just gonna stop

we're gonna start burning everything in sight at that point. Especially coal. Dirty, clean, doesn't matter. We'll burn toxic waste, we'll burn old rags, we'll burn whatever we can get our hands on. Because if we don't there's gonna be mass starvation.

Which there's gonna be anyway. Unless we make a MAJOR changeover starting, oh, about 40 years ago.