Global warming might indeed be real. But it's also true that the weather has changed substantially and rapidly before.
An example can be had by just looking at any of the paintings depicting Holland in the 17th and 18th centuries. Those paintings show people SKATING on the canals in Holland. And, quite obviously, the ice must have been thick enough for them to do that in relative safety, and that means prolonged very cold weather. Also, for there to have been a market for ice skates with which to skate on canals in the winter, then this cold weather in Europe at the time must have been an on-going occurance.
And, as long as people alive today remember, it's never been cold enough in Holland, even in the worst winters, to have ice on the canals thick enough for someone to skate on.
So, then, to what do we attribute the warming that happened in northern Europe since those paintings were painted? Global warming again? Surely there was no global warming due to our burning of hydrocarbon fuels before we even had cars, or central heating in our homes.
Mlb3c:
I used to post on an internet DIY forum based in the US before coming here, and during my time on that web site, I got to know a fair number of Americans. I've never seen as much grassroots opposition to the way a Commander In Chief has conducted foreign relations as I am seeing with George W. Bush. I think most Americans simply feel he did not treat the decision to go to war as the very last resort it should be simply because he felt it would be an easy victory over the Iraqis. Truth is, it was an easy victory over the Iraqi army. It's re-establishing some semblance of law and order in a country boiling over with ethnic hatred and general skepticism of the US army's motive in invading Iraq that's causing the ongoing problems. The Iraqis are very much concerned that the US army is an occupying force, and not a liberating force.
Unfortunately, that force has to remain there until the Iraqi government is sufficiently well established and strong enough to deal with civil unrest themselves. Otherwise the country slides inexorably into a civil war, or a state of perpetual civil war like so many African countries.
I think the lesson we all learn from this is that the decision to go to war should only be made as a last resort and when it's obvious that there's no other alternative. George Herbert Bush took that decision very seriously when Iraq had the strongest army in that part of the world.
) but I think it also has a lot to do with disposable nappies and those polystyrene containers that McD's et al like to use.
