Climate Change. Was: FROST

J.E. Shields jshields104@insightbb.com
Wed, 14 Nov 2007 05:50:46 PST
Hi all,

I agree with Bob Pries, let's not get into the politics of climate 
change.  The science of climate change is different from Newtonian physics, 
which seems pretty cut and dried to most of us at this point -- unless we 
start moving at relativistic speeds, then Newton fails us.

Science is never absolute, it works by building a series of ever-better 
approximations.  The computer models for climate change are certainly not 
perfect, and a recent article suggested that there is a theoretical limit 
to how accurate they can ever become.  Climate is, after all, one of those 
mathematically chaotic systems.   Our so-far brief tenure as rational, 
scientific residents of this planet also limits the length of our set of 
precise data.   We can't even be sure that the Northern Hemisphere climate 
tracks the Southern Hemisphere climate very closely, or vice versa.

I did see one suggested mechanism for increased ice mass on Antarctica as a 
result of global warming:  Warmer world, warmer oceans, therefore more 
moisture in the atmosphere overall.  The coldest spot on the planet is 
usually the South Pole, so a lot of the extra moisture ends up condensing 
out and falling there as snow.  Seems to work for me, but is not 
necessarily important to where and how my bulbs are going to grow in the 
future.  They don't grow in Antarctica anyway.

"If" and "How" the climate is changing are quite relevant to us a plant 
people.  Are our beloved bulbs going to face greater and greater 
environmental/climate threats as time goes on?  Can we do anything to 
preserve threatened species of bulbs?  These are points we could and I 
think we should be addressing, here and in all plant groups.

Best wishes,
Jim Shields
in central Indiana where the weather is about to change (again) from summer 
to winter

*************************************************
Jim Shields             USDA Zone 5             Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92              WWW:    http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344     or      toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA


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