Global warming and N.J.: Devastating together Extreme flooding, loss of crops only decades away, experts warn By DAVID BENSON Staff Writer Published: Thursday, July 12, 2007 TRENTON — On one of the hottest days of the year, Gov. Jon S. Corzine joined a group of scientists to deliver bad news: Get used to the heat. Global warming isn't some international bogeyman relegated to the far future. Global warming is here today, said researchers with the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the effects will get worse during the next few decades. On Wednesday, four climate scientists with the UCS delivered dire news to a crowd of about 100 in the Statehouse Annex. New Jersey's climate already has changed noticeably. Spring comes earlier, summers are hotter, and winters are warmer and less snowy. The average temperature in the state has risen by 1.5 degrees in the past 37 years, and it will get warmer still by mid-century. By 2100, Atlantic City will flood on a yearly basis, and ocean waters will reach far into Pleasantville. While blueberry crops may survive because some southern varieties will thrive in warmer temperatures, cranberries likely will disappear from New Jersey in less than 100 years. Cranberries, scientists said, need a chilly winter to rest before they flower and berry. “This is a real danger for the public today,†Corzine said of the current effects of global warming. “We have to translate this into something real in people's lives if we're going to change it.†http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/top_thr...p-7386124c.html
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Washington1788 @ Jul 13 2007, 07:24 AM) [snapback]478027[/snapback]</div> No, these are the one's whose grant money depends on validating the views of the people that control the purse strings.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Washington1788 @ Jul 13 2007, 09:52 AM) [snapback]478085[/snapback]</div> Its ashame that science has become so politicized in recent years. [/b][/quote] It's even more of a shame that people see conspiracies where there are none. I think that these types of comments (by 05_SilverPri) make the best case for teaching science in the schools that I can think of. Everyone should have a basic ability to look at data and not have to rely on (probably charismatic) other people telling them what to think.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Betelgeuse @ Jul 13 2007, 11:12 AM) [snapback]478098[/snapback]</div> Couldn't agree with you more. But if you really want to get depressed about the state of the world, Google piaget formal operational thinking. Most estimates for developed countries suggest that maybe one-quarter to one-half of the adult population is ever capable of doing any formal operational (abstract, logical) reasoning. This is not a comment directed at the posters here, I'm just pointing out something that is tough for most smart people to grasp. It's not so much that the average Joe is unwilling to reason things out, though I guess there's some of that. Mostly, empirically, it's that the majority of US adults are literally unable to reason in any abstract way. Their faculties for reasoning never developed beyond the stage that most people reach by age 11. They look like adults, in some ways they act like adults, but from the standpoint of the ability to reason abstractly, the US population is essentialy no different from your average junior high/middle school. I think that explains a lot about how the world works.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(chogan @ Jul 13 2007, 12:41 PM) [snapback]478210[/snapback]</div> That assumption could be a safe one if you go by a lot of the specimens on some of those "reality" TV shows!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Somechic @ Jul 12 2007, 03:59 PM) [snapback]477713[/snapback]</div> Yeah, but it was sooooooo *cold* yesterday morning...surely that refutes claims of global warming...right...? I mean, no one can argue with my perceptions... [laughing]
