Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Kelp is on the way The current issue of National Geographic magazine has a cover story on global warming.  It warns of melting glaciers and rising sea levels producing dire consequences for low-lying areas like the Netherlands, Bangladesh, and the Maldives -- not to mention Florida, the Gulf Coast and Manhattan. Among the many photos accompanying the article is one with the following caption: In Madison, Wisconsin, winter is milder than in years past.  Researchers monitoring ice on Lake Mendota find that ice cover on the lake averages about 40 fewer days now than it did 150 years ago.  Says University of Wisconsin researcher John Magnuson, "Wisconsin is losing winter as we knew it." No doubt some Wisconsin residents wouldn't consider that much of a loss.  Or as my auto mechanic, an avid Rush Limbaugh fan, once told me, "If it wasn't for global warming, we'd still be living in the ice age."  Ditto, Rush, just take some extra Oxycontin and you'll never feel those Aedes aegypti mosquito bites. Nobody in Wisconsin or elsewhere can predict whether temperatures will rise just enough to make frigid northern winters bearable, or if we'll all soon be treading water.  In the latter case, evolution may eventually produce a homo sapiens with gills, for survival in the new Waterworld environment.  Of course, if you're a Creationist, that option is unavailable. 11:09:49 AM