From: Michael Satterwhite Date: 2009-04-19T04:11:53+09:00 Subject: Re: Goodbye Ruby - Hello Earth Christophe Mckeon wrote: > We are presently losing 200 species a day on this planet. That rate is > as high as during the greatest species die offs in the earth's natural > history, during disasters, like eruptions of super-volcanoes and meteor > impacts. Ecological diversity is of course what keeps us alive. It was at this point that I rolled my eyes. Question: where did you get this statistic? A quick Google shows that there is a lot of disagreement on it - so why did you choose this number to quote as if it were an established fact. You then went on to state that there is a scientific consensus on man-made climate change. Again even a cursory google shows that there is anything but. Indeed, over 31,000 scientists have gone on record in disagreeing with this. While Al Gore likes to claim the consensus as true - but stating a lie repeatedly doesn't make it a truism. A recent NASA study (I first saw it in December - but it has been referenced in quite a few news stories since) shows that the earth's temperature - which was slowly rising up to 1998 - hasn't changed since then. Some scientists (and I don't give them much credence, either - I'm an equal opportunity skeptic) are beginning to claim that the earth is entering a cooling phase. Now, do I believe the earth's climate is changing? Absolutely. It has been in a state of flux since the beginning of time - why should it stop now? Do I think man is the reason? The jury is out on that one. I'll agree we're part of the ecosystem - therefore have contribution. How much is another question. I do believe we should do what we can to clean up the planet, however. A clean environment is a good thing! We should be doing it for its own sake, however, not because some alarmists who are afraid to look at all data on an issue are screaming the sky is falling. -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.