As I read the article it is broadly consistent with information available at the Science Museum in London about the Gulf Stream being dependent on a cold deep counter-current flowing southwards.
(Although I am a bit uneasy about the idea of it joining the Pacific around the bottom of Africa (!) ) The simplified explanation I have heard is that the cold deep current is caused by mass of the frozen ice over the Arctic Ocean. The present rapid shrinkage of this ice cap is therefore the mechanism that could bring an end to the Gulf Steam. I have not heard the argument about fresh water flushings. That would seem to get into more complex models of fluidics. But the broad picture of a delicately poised system that could oscillate rapidly between two states, is consistent with the more recent orthodox status of chaos theory. Capitalists and non-capitalists alike have to address the fact that we live in a complex interacting biosphere. That may be bad news for humanity. But it certainly undermines the capitalist faith in the virtues of private ownership of the means of production, and of socially and environmentally blind production. The zeiteist is becoming increasingly unfriendly to simplistic capitalist solutions. It requires at the very least the highly socially conscious integrated perspectives of finance capitalism, which, indeed, could be the eve of the socialist revolution. When does the remodelling of BP to mean Beyond Petroleum lead to a change mediated perhaps just by a wave of focus groups, into a belief that production must be for the people, and that the financial figures have got to be seen as an abstraction? Then a phase shift has occurred. Stably unstable systems. Where the change will occur first is hard to predict. Politically or environmentally. Chris Burford Chris Burford :London. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Ballard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2004 12:28 AM Subject: Re: [PEN-L] The Ice Age Cometh > --- "Devine, James" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I'm no expert on this, but it sure seems that any > > kind of global change in the average temperature > > would disrupt weather patterns all over the world, > > causing severe winters, droughts, etc. > > > > I'm just an aspiring prolo-author. But the noises > coming out of the Establishment press indicate that > we're in BIG trouble because of the ineptitude of our > philistine ruling class. > > More here: > http://www.fortune.com/fortune/print/0,15935,582584,00.html > > Hopefully, we'll "sublate" the capitalist system > before it's too late. > > Regards, > Mike B)
