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This brings up an interesting point.

If higher Co2 levels makes more potent poison ivy, perhaps higher Co2 levels will make more potent marijuana. If so, you would think that would be cause for the stinky hippies to celebrate.

Well of course we don't want healthier plants. Third world farmers might be able to feed their communities. This could make third world people stop feeling so desperate, and then they might refuse to hand their children over to Madonna and Angelina Jolie.

You're right, David - someone told me that marijuana is getting more powerful, also.

I forget who...

This could make third world people stop feeling so desperate, and then they might refuse to hand their children over to Madonna and Angelina Jolie.

Nice to see another rational argument on this blog.

http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0928-pteropods.html

Rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could make oceans too acidic for marine organisms to produce protective shells according to research published in the journal Nature. Such a development could be catastrophic for the ocean's food chain and devastating for world fisheries....

The loss of these small organisms would have a disastrous impact on predators -- including salmon, mackerel, herring, cod -- that rely on them as a food source and could spell trouble for other species.

I always thought that it would be lower temperatures that would be cause for alarm. With lower temps come shorter growing seasons, which cause crop faailures. When the crops fail, food becomes scarce. when food becomes scarce, peole leave their homeland looking for greener pastures. They carry diseases with them , which have a greater effect than normal due to weaker immune suystems.

I think that these eco-nuts just want something to complain about.

A whole bunch of "could"s up in that comment, FGFM. Do you have anything to back all of that speculation up, or are you just lip-synching some standard libtard tripe? Coulda, woulda, shoulds. You've heard it since you were 6-years old. Nothing's changed. Back your BS up, or take your speculation back to the house.

You have to give them credit for their ability to spin stories.

Just for the record, we've known for over a century that the internal combustion engine produces carbonMONoxide (CO), not carbonDIoxide (CO2). The "Enviormentalists had been screaming about this all throught the sixties and seventies. Have they forgotten about that, or are they just altering data to suit thier needs?

No prizes for those who guess the answer.

"Rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could make oceans too acidic for marine organisms to produce protective shells according to research published in the journal Nature. Such a development could be catastrophic for the ocean's food chain and devastating for world fisheries...."

Except for the fact that those same organisms have lived through more acidic seas in the past. They didn't just evolve a few thousand years ago.

"Just for the record, we've known for over a century that the internal combustion engine produces carbonMONoxide (CO), not carbonDIoxide (CO2)."

Internal combustion results in CO, CO2, and NOx emissions, that was before the catalytic converter that converts CO and NOx into CO2 and N2. The more effeciently an internal combustion engine becomes, the less CO is produced in favour of CO2. So, the better we get at squeezing mileage out of our vehicles, the more CO2 we will produce. That's what the greens haven't stopped to think about.

I always thought that it would be lower temperatures that would be cause for alarm.

Just hold that thought for a few years. The global cooling scare will start soon. Since there hasn't been any statistical warming since 1998, we can probably expect a cooling phase to start any time in the next 5 to 10 years. Al Gore will have to redo his slide show, recall all the DVDs and books and start all over, maybe after he looses the next prez election.

If you're not really careful, you'll get whiplash watching Gore and his faithful change lanes. Of course we have to recognize that cooling will be our fault and that it will be the biggest threat ever. James Hansen will dutifully produce a temperature chart showing that the earth has been cooling since the last ice age and that we are going to be devastated by a wall of ice kilometers high.

Global cooling will be much worse that the little fever that the planet has produced lately. Cold kills like heat rarely can. British medical researhers estimate that if Britain became 2 to 3 degrees warmer, another 2000 people would die each summer from heat related causes. 20,000 fewer people would die from hypothermia each winter.

I guess that's a long way round saying yes, cold would be worse. IMHO

After about eight months, leaf size, stem length and weight and oil content of the plants raised at current carbon-dioxide levels were, on average, 50% to 75% higher

Might be a problem for you southerners, but nothing grows for 8 months in Canada.

After about eight months, leaf size, stem length and weight and oil content of the plants raised at current carbon-dioxide levels were, on average, 50% to 75% higher than the plants under the 1950s conditions, according to the study, expected to be published this year in the journal Weed Science. Not only did the higher CO2 level double the growth rate, but it made for hardier plants that recovered more quickly from the ravages of grazing animals.

Ok guys if you increase growth by 50% over 8 months, that is not the same as doubling the growth rate. That would be a 100% increase. 75% gets you closer, but still no cigar on the doubling claim.

What a piece of crap reporting that was. I just read the original paper. The work was done in North Carolina, not Maryland as the reporter, TARA PARKER-POPE states.

The researchers used ambient CO2 levels 370ppm and elevated levels of 570ppm. Not 1950 levels and present levels as stated. The research found that "After standardizing by initial 1999 biomass, the elevated-CO2 population in 2004 had grown 150% larger, twice the 75% increase exhibited by the
ambient-CO2 population at the end of the study (P = 0.005)." So they found a 50% increase in the enhanced vines and a 25% increase in the ambient vines. Urusiol concentrations rose by 50%.

The scary part is that TARA PARKER-POPE is a health reporter. What else has she gotten wrong.

Perhaps the larger poison ivy leaves will provide Sheryl Crow some much needed toilet paper.

Please notice that Mr/Ms FGFM's news article stated that these conclusions were based on projections from computer models...and we all know how accurate those are. BTW, that name is a little too close to FGM don't ya think?? (FGM=female genital mutilation)
FYI:
"Computer simulations give the impression of precision, but they are founded on a raft of assumptions, simplifications, and outright errors."
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/287/5455/960.
Please also see Dr. Richard Lindzen's comments on computer models and climate change.