Scientist Says Global
Warming Options Exist
September 16, 2005 — By Associated Press
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Global warming
poses a threat to the earth, but humans can probably ease the climate
threats brought on by rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,
global climate specialist Richard Alley told an audience at the
University of Vermont.
Alley said his research in Greenland suggested that subtle changes in
atmospheric patterns leave parts of the globe susceptible to abrupt and
dramatic climate shifts that can last decades or centuries.
Almost all scientists agree that increasing levels of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere created as humans burn fossil fuel is warming the planet.
How to respond to the warming is a matter of intense political,
scientific and economic debate worldwide.
Alley said he was upbeat about global warming because enough clever
people existed in the world to find other reliable energy sources
besides fossil fuels.
He said people can get rich finding marketable alternatives to fossil
fuel.
"Wouldn't it be useful if the United States were to have a piece of the
action. Wouldn't it be useful if some bright students from UVM were to
have a piece of the action," Alley said.
Alley said that Europe and parts of eastern North American could in a
matter of a few years revert to a cold, windy region, akin to the
weather in Siberia. Such shifts have occurred frequently over the
millennia, Alley's research shows.
A gradual change in atmospheric temperature, such as global warming,
could push the climate to a threshold where such a shift suddenly
occurs, he said.
Alley told his audience of about 200 people in a UVM lecture hall
Wednesday evening that he couldn't predict if, when or where sudden
shifts toward cold, heat, drought or water could occur under global
warming, but it is something everyone should consider.
"This is not the biggest problem in the world. The biggest problem in
the world is getting along with each other. But it's part of that
because we're not going to get along with each other if we're not
getting along with the planet," Alley said.
Source: Associated Press |