Welcome to
Science a GoGo's
Discussion Forums
Please keep your postings on-topic or they will be moved to a galaxy far, far away.
Your use of this forum indicates your agreement to our terms of use.
So that we remain spam-free, please note that all posts by new users are moderated.


The Forums
General Science Talk        Not-Quite-Science        Climate Change Discussion        Physics Forum        Science Fiction

Who's Online Now
0 members (), 181 guests, and 2 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Latest Posts
Top Posters(30 Days)
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 4 of 4 1 2 3 4
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 264
W
Senior Member
Offline
Senior Member
W
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 264
I just scanned it last night but I did read it more thoroughly just now. I'm not moved.
Certainly, the statstics of AIDS deaths may (probably) have been inflated, but could it be that they're deperate for research money? You're a mother. Nice looking boys, BTW. They were fortunate enough to have been born in healthy circumstances. Try picturing them in a camp in East Africa as babies. When I was there I didn't have my two young daughters yet, but I would see my older kids faces transposed in the faces of the starving kids, and say, "What if..."
Some events in Life are indelible. No amount of reports to the contrary can change that.

Back to Glaciers, the icefield atop Kilimanjaro took us a little more than 12 hours to get up and back down. On the way down we passed a big area where the face of the ice had fallen in. Big boulders of ice almost the size of a school bus. If we'd been there when it had collapsed we'd have all been killed. An Architect colleague of mine went in 2002, I think it was, and they were only on the ice for 6 hours. It's shrinking fast. It's nothing like the thing that Hemingway wrote about. I went in March and the sunset was above heavy cloud cover, quite disappointing. Mark went in early October and his group saw the sun rise over the southern hills of Kenya, Tsavo Park. He has some great photos. That old song by Toto, about watching the sunrise above the Serengeti is completely wrong. Kili is way, way to the East

And it's only in the Parks that they rip off North Americans, Egypt isn't at all like that.

.
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,490
E
Megastar
Offline
Megastar
E
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,490
I have not been to Africa- and I read the article. In my opinion it is rubbish. AIDS means not as stated in the article, a virus that makes you sick but a virus that lowers your immunity to a stage where other diseases are able to get a good go at killing you. You die of TB, pneumomia, cancers of various sorts and often suffer from awful wasting etc. Infection runs through the body, even in doe-eyed young girls who want to be models.

It is possible to not catch AIDS in western counries. Sexual absinance will do it, if that is not possible then casual sexual encounters when the partners' HIV status is unknown, should always include a condom. Sharing needles is silly, as is any behaviour that includes blood mixing....etc. That's all fine for western countries we've known about it for years and can make an informed choice regarding risk. However it may be harder in Africa where the Government told people that AIDS did not exist, but if they got it then garlic, lemon and rhubarb infused together would cure it. Now I believe, thanks to the help of the WHO, generic drugs are available so that at least some of the population can afford them.

Denying that AIDS exists is silly--- but denying that it is preventable is worse.


Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,490
E
Megastar
Offline
Megastar
E
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,490
Wolfman- I read something about Killamanjaro recently that seemed to be saying that it would be snow free very soon and this is not to do with Climate Change but because the snow had in fact been slowly retreating since the Ice Age. The clincher was the statement that ther was no new snow since then because it NEVER snowed there.

Is this so? This seems very unlikely to me, especially as the point was that it is too near the Equator for snow, and I know it snows on the top of Kawaii in Hawaii. I've seen the ski-runs!! Maybe though it has something to do with the availability of water? Sounds like you had a very scary moment or two!!

Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 217
S
Senior Member
Offline
Senior Member
S
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 217
The recent studies have shown that Killamanjaro is losing it glaciers do to deforestation not climate change.

Nature Study Debunks Kilimanjaro Glacier Myth

Written By: James M. Taylor
Published In: Environment News
Publication Date: February 1, 2004
Publisher: The Heartland Institute

Quote:
Deforestation “More Likely Culprit”

According to Nature’s Betsy Mason, “Although it’s tempting to blame the (Kilimanjaro) ice loss on global warming, researchers think that deforestation of the mountain’s foothills is the more likely culprit.”

Forests at the base of Kilimanjaro have been steadily disappearing for decades. “Without the forests’ humidity,” Mason reports, “previously moisture-laden winds blew dry. No longer replenished with water, the ice is evaporating in the strong equatorial sunshine.”


http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=14287


It's not Global Warming, it's Ice Age Abatement.
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 264
W
Senior Member
Offline
Senior Member
W
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 264
Ellis, you know, I never though of that, the seasonal snowfall on the Big Island doesn't appear to be diminishing, at least it hasn't been reported as receiving less snow than normal. My son graduated from U H Hilo (Home of the Vulcans!) and I've got photos of him on my office wall up on Kilauea snowboarding. Kili's closer to the Equator, but awfully high as well, something over 19,000 at the peak. You'd think it wouldn't get that much new snow. The Hawaii mountains are something around 14,000 I believe.

Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,164
Megastar
Offline
Megastar
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,164
Originally Posted By: scpg02
The recent studies have shown that Killamanjaro is losing it glaciers do to deforestation not climate change.

Nature Study Debunks Kilimanjaro Glacier Myth
Quote:
Deforestation “More Likely Culprit”

According to Nature’s Betsy Mason, “Although it’s tempting to blame the (Kilimanjaro) ice loss on global warming, researchers think that deforestation of the mountain’s foothills is the more likely culprit.”
Forests at the base of Kilimanjaro have been steadily disappearing for decades. “Without the forests’ humidity,” Mason reports, “previously moisture-laden winds blew dry. No longer replenished with water, the ice is evaporating in the strong equatorial sunshine.”

http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=14287


Isn't deforestation one of the leading causes of climate change?

This should probably be more properly described as regional climate change (due to deforestation). That the summation of regional climate changes worldwide has caused global climate change should not be overlooked though. Thus I think it's fair to say that global climate change is at least reinforcing the regional CC of that area of Africa.

As usual, everyone thinks of global warming as equating with emissions only, and they miss the interconnectedness of it all.

~SA


Pyrolysis creates reduced carbon! ...Time for the next step in our evolutionary symbiosis with fire.
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,031
T
Megastar
Offline
Megastar
T
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,031
Ellis wrote:

"the point was that it is too near the Equator for snow, and I know it snows on the top of Kawaii in Hawaii".

Obviously snowfall is not simply a product of cooling through altitude. You need moisture as well. Hawai'i has a moister climate than does Kenya. It's closer to the sea for a start.

Scpg02 wrote:

"Killamanjaro is losing it glaciers do to deforestation".

I remember reading that before the Aboriginal Australians arrived Oz had a more widespread forest cover. Whenever rain fell wind carried transpired moisture further inland to fall as rain again and so on. Deforestation through widespread use of fire reduced transpiration and the amount of moisture carried further inland. This exaggerated the drying of the continent. Reforestation may be the single most important thing to reduce drought. Trouble is any trees planted in drought-prone regions are often immediately chopped down and used for fuel. Too many people again.

Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,490
E
Megastar
Offline
Megastar
E
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,490
I had the ski fields in the wrong place-sorry. It is interesting that deforestation is so important with regard to climate change, and yet not given that much attention, though I believe Australia has been able to reduce its carbon usage calculation by the banning of bush clearing for grazing recently. The moisture explanation makes sense, and does the deforestation explain the situation in the Himalayas too, where the run-off from the snows seems to be declining? Or is that really population expansion?

Page 4 of 4 1 2 3 4

Link Copied to Clipboard
Newest Members
debbieevans, bkhj, jackk, Johnmattison, RacerGT
865 Registered Users
Sponsor

Science a GoGo's Home Page | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Contact UsokĀž»­¾W
Features | News | Books | Physics | Space | Climate Change | Health | Technology | Natural World

Copyright © 1998 - 2016 Science a GoGo and its licensors. All rights reserved.

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5