Friday, August 03, 2018

Climate change?

Early morning meeting with Carmelo talking about the hot weather, I see the forecast for Poznań is not much better. Next week it is predicted to be 35c on Wednesday and Thursday. In our 11 years here I have never seen it that high Yet there are still those who do not believe the climate of the world is changing, not for the better. The argument is that weather always goes through cycles and this is just one of those times.  No matter that pictures show melting glaciers, worldwide weather catastrophise almost every week, drought in many countries, tsunami's, hurricanes in larger number and floods in many rivers. This is all normal they say.The fact that scientists have been warning us for over 40 years of these coming changes if we don't change the way we live means nothing to them. It's like the ostrich burying his head in the sand.

On the brighter side, I had a nice meeting with Radek later in the morning and met also Zosia, a young woman I haven't seen for a few years. She is writing her Master's thesis and is home in Podolany now while she completes it. Podolany is an area just across the railroad tracks from where we live, a 5 minute walk.


Poranne spotkanie z Carmelo opowiadające o upalnej pogodzie, widzę, że prognoza dla Poznania nie jest dużo lepsza. Oczekuje się, że w przyszłym tygodniu będzie to 35c w środę i czwartek. W ciągu ostatnich 11 lat nigdy nie widziałem tego tak wysoko, ale wciąż są tacy, którzy nie wierzą, że klimat na świecie się zmienia, nie na lepsze. Argumentem jest, że pogoda zawsze przechodzi przez cykle i jest tylko jednym z tych czasów. Bez względu na to, że na zdjęciach widać topniejące lodowce, globalną katastrofę na świecie niemal co tydzień, susze w wielu krajach, tsunami, więcej huraganów i powodzi w wielu rzekach. To wszystko, co zwykle mówią. Fakt, że naukowcy ostrzegają nas od ponad 40 lat o nadchodzących zmianach, jeśli nie zmieniamy naszego sposobu życia, nic dla nich nie znaczy. To tak, jakby struś chowa głowę w piasek.

Z drugiej strony, miałem miłe spotkanie z Radkiem późnym rankiem i poznałem Zosię, młodą kobietę, której nie widziałem od kilku lat. Piszę pracę magisterską, a teraz jest w domu w Podolanach, kiedy się kończy. Podolany to obszar po drugiej stronie torów kolejowych, z których mieszkamy, 5 minut spacerem.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:25 PM

    Hi again David and Joan, nice that we arę able to remain friends even if we beg to differ on some issues, my parents told me that you should never discuss politics or religion, now how boring life would be if that was the case. David to days problem is that people don’t want to respect the umpires decision, Trump was democratically elected, people are behaving like spoilt children if they don’t get what they want they go bananas. Your hero JFK was no better a moral person than Trump, his involvement in Vietnam was not justified. Trump has his own leadership style, he has got rid of the niceties which other leaders are known for and got straight into business.
    Global warming is like a religion, you believe in it or not, now David as a bright young student you must have heard of the ice age, ??, the worlds climate will change no matter how many cars are on the road or cows in the field.
    Please relax and enjoy life., it doesn’t help the blood pressure.

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  2. Anon, today's problem is NOT that they don't want to accept the Electoral College decision but rather they don't want to accept a man who's only concerns are greed for money and power. The Presidency is NOT a business. It is an office that requires thoughtfulness, intelligence and diplomacy. He has none. You cannot possibly compare him to JFK who worked for better education for all, better health care,a better climate, better relations with foreign countries and equality of civil rights. Yes, I have heard of the Ice Age of 2.6 million years ago and the Prehistoric Age but have you ever heard of the Solar or Hot Age? I don't think so.

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  3. David. As you know, earth had many times Ice Age. Now, if Ice Age was a few times on our planet, that also means, between Ice Age had to be Heat (Solar, Hot) Age. ??? And saying something like did anybody heard about Solar Age is kind of one minded statement. You want to believe in Hell but not God.Yes, we heard that. Go to internet articles. Scientific articles. Not arguing that CO2 produced by people, do not have affect on our climate, but that happened before. Maybe now is worse that before. Maybe not. That is very difficult to proof. But you can't see just one side and ignore second. And yes, people died because of heat, but they were dying because of that many, many times in previous years.

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  4. Cousin Jan,
    Nice to hear from you. Certainly there have been periods of time when the planet got warmer in it's history no matter which scientific report you look at. However, those warming periods(12,700 BC, 9,400 BC, 5,400 BC, were not caused by man. You said I want to believe in Hell but not in God? A strange conjecture on your part. Is God causing global warming? Is that what you mean? It is you and I have helped cause the problem. There is no “Maybe” about CO2 affecting our climate. It has been proven years ago. The problem is people still think “maybe”. 18 of the hottest years on record have occurred since 2000 and each of the last 3 years the temperatures are higher. Surely you must feel this.
    We will not agree on this subject but it was good to see your comment.

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