New Mars Forums

But what we do have is the hard evidence of Ice cores and in Ocean taps that CO2 remained  for the most part stable for the last 10000 years at about 280ppm. There where variances but never more than 1 or 2ppm. This is not the case starting about 150 years ago that CO2 started to increase till it now is at a level of 350ppm. We have seen that lately weather patterns are being affected.

We are the dominant species on this planet and we really are masters of all that we survey. We though are producing the majority of the CO2 that is entering the atmosphere either by burning hydro carbons or by the slash and burning of forests for agriculture.

In Scotland we now have the climate of what was the south coast of england in regards to when spring comes and to the severity (or lack of) of the winters. Worrying for Scotland is that people from England might move up here (Laughs).

Fossil fuels are what has given us the very high standard of living we in the west now enjoy. It has fueled western culture to being the dominant one in the world and has allowed the worlds "carrying capacity" to have the 7 billion that now abide on this planet by its mass production agriculture. But to all of this there is a cost, an acre of grass for cattle does not absorb and convert as much CO2 as an acre of forest. And our dependence on fossil fuels means that we produce a lot of CO2 that has to go somewhere.

So what can be done well for oil we are seeing its price rise and rise as we have really peaked in our production and it is now falling but demand is still there. My concern is that we will still need to have to provide energy and we will have to turn to other power sources as oil prices rise. This could mean coal and there really is no dirtier a fuel.

Do we really want a world that has a lot of its flat areas covered in rising sea water. Where would the people of Bangladesh go? If we keep going with the global warming we do risk one thing more and more global insecurity and it wont bring what we all hope for a peaceful world

I hope Ian that you and yours have the best and that this symptom will be able to be cured or at least treated by medicine.

And since the majority of type 1 diabetes is very treatable and since I have a friend who had it I hope your bairn goes with the majority.

My friend never found it an impedement on his life or in enjoying his childhood in case you need an example of this.

Wish you the best, Grypd

At last, it has always astounded me that such a potential resource like the Moon has never been checked for materials which we would need to further advance mankind.

But will NASA share  :laugh:

But I have to ask the question what about all the hydrocarbons we are using. We use over 574 million barrels of oil each year, mostly for fuel. In the US the production and use of coal is over 400 billion tonnes a year most of this is pure carbon.

This is a lot of carbon going into the atmosphere and I have to ask where does it go?

We have seen that we are able to have a great effect on this world. Do you remember mount Pinatubo Volcanic eruption 1991. It produced about 22 million tonnes of ash and sulfur Dioxide (SO2) it changed the weather for about a year. It cooled the atmosphere by about a 0.5 degree centigrade. This is a definite example of a real change in what occured. Sulfur Dioxide obscures the sun but Carbon dioxide retains heat so does this mean that we who pump about 5 times as much into the air are effecting the world as much?

If it is not us what is it then that is causing the world to heat up as much and the increased amounts of CO2 found in the atmosphere.

But like everything we have to look at the where this CO2 and methane that is present in the atmosphere come from. What puts it there and what would account for its increasing. Unfortunatly only by looking at the Emissions of fossil fuel burning and deforestation can give the amount that is now present. We know that the gas hydrates on the ocean and locked in the permafrost are still there.

It was colder 200 years ago but then the  general Industrial revolution occured and since that time we have recorded an increasing amount of industrial products in the atmosphere and ocean floor, Principally CO2. The Earth is in what is called an interglacial period and should by evidence from geological be in a period of cooling. But its not, its heating.

There is no such thing as an Earth base line but general trends and peak conditions like Ice ages etc. But what is certain is that it is a general trend between the extremes and not what is dramatic increase like is occuring now. The only change is Human influence and that we are very influential to the planet.

And it is not just the western nations which shoulder the blame. Certainly the rest of the world is being destructive to there natural balances as we are, in fact in the production of methane they are worse and in the destruction of forest and so called carbon sinks the worst. But it is the western world that burns the hydrocarbons.

The British goverment now have plans to develop a Tsunami detecting service for the western hemisphere.

It is something everyone has to realise is that Tsunamis can occur anywhere that there is a large area of water. The American continent Eastcoast and Europe have no real Tsunami detection service either. The Tsunami in the Indian Ocean was a wakeup call, a tragic one and we do need to do something better. As an example the Japanese have the best Tsunami detection service in the World they detected the one in the Indian Ocean but due to not haveing anyone to tell all they could was watch. The Pacific has a good one and soon will the Indian ocean. But what about the Atlantic. And this question was asked of a geologist in Aberdeen university could it happen. His answer "Oh yes, actually geologically speaking they are very common"

There is another example of the short sighted thinking that catergorises the building of the ISS. This oxygen generator was at first supposed to have been launched by the Ariane 5 and not the shuttle. It also was supposed to have its own power supply but all this was vetoed by NASA. Now the Node 3 remains sitting in a hanger as it is now impossible for it to be launched by the Ariane.

This beggars the question if this is international cooperation what happened then.

Sorry to see no link to the thread but/

http://www.spacedaily.com/2005/05020116 … Spacedaily Article

And its not as if this has been known for years. The trouble is For the USA is it cannot afford the Kyoto agreement especially facing cheaper competition from the likes of the Chinese etc.
Not to mention it is political suicide for an American president to tax the Fuel that fills its countries tanks. There is even rumbles when the price goes up.

This is ridiculous.
The ISS is having to use its thrusters as the basic system to keep it spinning the right way has Overloaded

The ISS is still suffering from the occasional recurrent unexplained noises though the Mission controllers now think its the result of stress being put on the whole frame. There where those nasty dent pictures.

The ISS keeps having its air supplies get low as the main system to manufacture and purify the air keeps breaking down.

The ISS has real difficulties for feading the much reduced crew aboard as its supplies are reliant on the Russians who never planned to have to do the whole deal..But hopefully the ATVs will be up and running soon.

The ISS is hardly finished and is going to take ages if ever to be done as long as we get the shuttle working as no other option is available to send the modules into space and its very unlikely to be able to do any real science before it simply wears out from age

The ISS is in the wrong orbit for development of space and it really has no future potential in that regard. If we need to go to the Moon we will need to create Another station to be able to develop those potentials.

The ISS is causing real problems in international relations with the Russians actually calling the shots but with everyone blameing NASA for why they cannot get the Billions they have spent to create modules to go up there. Especially as NASA in the past had blocked alternative launchers sending up there own modules or creating modules with seperate power supplies.

The ISS has become what it was not to be a floating failing white elephant. A lot of good work went into the creation and design of the various modules to be utterly wasted. I find it very frustrating.

It has been said that we will send a generation of artificial wombs so that an instant population could be created on Mars. Sorry to say if that where to be the case it will be done by another country than the USA. Taking stem cells and developing a fetus in space is not capable for them.

It recently has found that the stem cells it currently has are coated with a sugar enzyme. This means that they are unworkable and it is not known how they got there nor under legislation can they garner more or research how they where so contaminated. And we are far from clone producing a generation of Alphas, Betas and Gammas.

As for Kliper it needs a development of its current launcher to fly. And it is this launcher that can be flown from Kourou. And so Russia wants to work with ESA is that a bad thing it keeps them focused on this side rather than China and for ESA it gives them access to a lot of developed space research and generations of advanced Engines and launchers.

I think its the actual amount that reaches the sail that is important and Im pretty sure that the Sun will not deliver the required 60mw. It also seems to be set for a specific frequency so allowing it to be able to cause the paint to melt and release its stored gases.

I suspect that we will never truly know the numbers of people that have died in Gulf war 3 and the occupation of Iraq afterwards. And I can see it will cause the historians to be arqueing this in the decades to come. Not to mention wether it was really a worthwhile war in the first place.

But it is said we cant arque over spilt milk. We are there and it means we have to devote all our efforts to fixing the problems and ensuring when we leave we leave a country that will not turn out to be a worse enemy than Saddams Iraq was.