Re: [asa] NASA's Griffin Regrets Remarks on Global Warming

Apart from the issues of global warming itself, Griffin made a logical
error in claiming that it is presumptuous to claim that current
climate is better than the one that will result from global warming.
He is equally presuming that the new climate would be no worse, so the
charge goes both ways and gets one nowhere. Available data indicate
that climate change causes more trouble than benefit to humans over
the short to medium term, so concern abut global warming is not
presumptuous.

This point also reflects confusion about the real problem of climate
change. The problem is the very rapid change. Global climates have
been much warmer at times in the past. If no more major disturbances
occur, evolution should generate a good diversity of new species
adapted to the new conditions in a few million years or so. There's
no scientific reason to claim that present or 1900 or 40 million years
ago had the "best" climate, but there is ample reason to believe that
the current shifts in climate pose significant problems for humans and
other organisms as they try to adjust to the changes. Personally, I
like the diverse fossil faunas found in the extensive warm shallow
marine settings associated with globally warm conditions, but I won't
be available for describing the new species by the time evolution
catches up with new conditions, if it ever does.

-- 
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
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