Global Warming: A Primer

In the news today it is reported that the space shuttle Atlantis, after successfully completing its mission to repair the Hubble Telescope, is prevented from landing by thunderstorms over its landing site in southern California at Kennedy Space Center. The problem is especially acute because the shuttle has been in space for 11 days, and has only enough resources to last until Monday.

A nice metaphor for the apocalyptic end-time of humanity envisioned by global warming advocates. The shuttle, rapidly using up its finite resources, is face to face with out of control weather that literally cuts it off from the life-blood of air and atmosphere that it so desperately needs to survive. Atlantis, and the tiny astronauts within its belly, are like fish out of water, who after blindly jumping into a hostile environment, now can only flop around in a vain attempt to return home. Giving vent to its technological exuberance, humanity leaps to the heavens, heedless of the gathering anger of the earth below.

Through all the metaphors within metaphors, similes wrapped in allegory and anthropomorphism, the simple question is: Well, okay, but what should we do? In climate science there are two options, broadly defined as mitigation and adaptation.

In the case of the shuttle, mitigation would involve devoting massive amounts of money, billions and billions of dollars, to stopping the thunderstorms. Theories abound as to how this might be done, but in the runup to the recent Olympic games in Beijeng, China used the "shoot first and ask questions later" method: to keep the skies clear over the opening ceremonies, China fired more than 1100 rockets at the clouds to disperse them from the Olympic site. This may have worked, but in the case of our shuttle, the storm clouds stretch over almost the entire state of Florida. I shudder to contemplate the rocket attack it would take to intimidate those clouds. But in any case, after billions spent, and bomb fall-out terrorizing citizens across the Sunshine State (nice irony, Florida), it would still be quite unclear that the astronauts could land by Monday.

So, it looks like we are going to have to go with Option B, adaptation, which means we adapt to the changes weather forces on us.

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In the case of the shuttle, that means that the landing is delayed until tomorrow in the hopes that the weather clears up. If it doesn't, then the shuttle will land on Sunday where the weather is clear, which is southern California, the location of an alternate landing site. The Saturday landing means that the atronauts will have to endure another day in space, which will entail increased consumption of Tang and microwaveable soup. A southern California landing is worrisome, however, because it will cost the government $1.8 million to ferry the shuttle from California back to the east coast on top of its custom designed jumbo jet.

So let's see, should we mitigate the weather by spending billions of dollars on mortar attacks on clouds over the entire state of Florida or adapt to the weather and waste 24-48 hours of valuable astronaut time, decrease our global supplies of Tang and instant soup, and possibly add $1.8 million in shuttle travel expenses to NASA's $18 billion budget?

You decide. A hint: Overcoats and sweaters in winter? Igloos in the North? Canteens in the desert? Migration to warmer climates? Drought resistant crops? All of these and more are historical examples of adaptation. Animal and human sacrifices to the gods? Sackcloth and ashes and angst ridden prayers? Paying dubious strangers to make it rain? All of these and more are past examples of mitigation. Another hint: historically, the human species has always opted for adaptation over mitigation, a pragmatic bent that seems to have stood it in good stead up to now.