[lug] Anyone else hate to get rid of old equipment?

[Davide Del Vento]

> can't understand how anyone in Boulder, with all of the research labs, could
> have any doubt about the reality of global climate change.  Maybe the cause
> is still open for debate, but not the existence of sustained and measurable
> change

I am a physicist and I work at NCAR so I must answer. The reality of
global warming and its cause is indeed certain. Pumping into the
atmosphere stuff that was in the ground increases the greenhouse
effect and thus Earth *average* temperature, period.

When scientists say "it's a theory" it means a completely different
thing from non-scientists saying "it's a theory".
Newton's gravity "theory" is wrong and has been corrected by
Einstein's "theory". But that doesn't mean that all the sudden stuff
started to float in the atmosphere instead of falling on the ground.

You can argue about how fast the increase of temperature will be, or
when Venice (Italy) will be submerged, or if we'll all die because of
the heat or because of increased likelihood of diseases and the likes.
You cannot argue about the reality of global warming and its cause,
like you cannot argue about the fact the stuff does indeed fall on the
ground. If you are a scientist (or an expert curious) you can argue
about the details (did it fall in 2.003 or 2.002 seconds? did you
sneeze changing its weight with your spit?) but not on its reality.

Regards,
Davide