Our ignorance of a subject is a justification for not doing field experiments. Do what you like behind closed doors.
On 9/26/10 10:59 AM, "Stephen Salter" <s.sal...@ed.ac.uk> wrote: > Hi All > > It is good to have the correct attributions to wise statements but the main > point of my reply to James was the attempt to get comments and help for small > experiments which he had said could not be done. It is odd to say that our > ignorance of a subject is a justification for NOT doing research on it. > > Stephen > > Emeritus Professor of Engineering Design > Institute for Energy Systems > School of Engineering > Mayfield Road > University of Edinburgh EH9 3JL > Scotland > Tel +44 131 650 5704 > Mobile 07795 203 195 > www.see.ed.ac.uk/~shs <http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~shs> > > On 25/09/2010 22:17, James R. Fleming wrote: >> Re: [geo] Fleming in Slate magazine (also others articles) Colleagues: >> >> Stephen Salter wrote: Ken has pointed out that we are already carrying out >> an dangerous planetary test which we do not understand. Lowell says that we >> started it thousands of years ago. >> >> I believe the proper attribution for these ideas are not Caldeira and Wood >> but a combination of Glbert Plass and Roger Revelle and Hans Suess for the >> first and William Ruddiman for the second. >> >> >>> "If at the end of this century, measurements show that the carbon dioxide >>> content of the atmosphere has risen appreciably and at the same time the >>> temperature has continued to rise throughout the world, it will be firmly >>> established that carbon dioxide is an important factor in causing climatic >>> change² -- Gilbert Plass (1956). >>> >>> "Human beings are now carrying out a large scale geophysical experiment of >>> a kind that could not have happened in the past nor be reproduced in the >>> future. Within a few centuries we are returning to the atmosphere and >>> oceans the concentrated organic carbon stored in sedimentary rocks over >>> hundreds of millions of years. This experiment, if adequately documented, >>> may yield a far-reaching insight into the processes determining weather and >>> climate² -- REvelle and Suess (1957). >>> >>> ³The hypothesis (Ruddiman, 2003 >>> <http://courses.eas.ualberta.ca/eas457/Ruddiman2003.pdf> >>> <http://courses.eas.ualberta.ca/eas457/Ruddiman2003.pdf%3E> ) that early >>> agriculture caused large enough emissions of greenhouse gases millennia ago >>> to offset a natural climatic cooling remains controversial² -- Ruddiman. >>> >> >> Also, there is no doubt that clouds can be brightened (by ships tracks, >> etc.), but is this a climate test? Do you know that in 1947 Kathleen Blodget >> at General Electric told Irving Langmiur that intervening in a cloud was >> something much different than ³controlling the weather?² Seems to have >> fallen on Langmuir¹s deaf ears. >> >> Jim Fleming -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "geoengineering" group. >> To post to this group, send email to geoengineer...@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en. >> > > > The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in > Scotland, with registration number SC005336. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to geoengineer...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
