[Vwdiesel] OT Ecosystem

[LBaird119 at aol.com]

> If you've never visited Vancouver Island, I suggest you do so soon, before 
> one of the 
> most beautiful places on this earth only remains preserved in a few small 
> parks.
> 

  Used to hear a lot of comments like that here 20+ years ago.  Now, 
the logging is so well done you rarely even see a logged area even 
when it has been logged.  Stats claim there are more trees/acres of 
forested land in the US than at the time of settlement.  Mostly due 
to helping stop fires rather than burning on uncontrolled.  
  So many claim the rain forests are the "lungs of the Earth."  That's what 
we've been taught and told for years.  One day I sat and thought about 
it.  Didn't add up.  A smallish percentage of the planet is land, a very 
small percentage of that is rain forest.  Doesn't add up.  O2 levels would
vary and they really don't other than with altitude.  So I pondered at 
what could REALLY be the main contributor to CO2 conversion and 
it hit me.  The WATER!!  A little chlorophyl containing life in ALL that 
water would contribute more than a lot of flora in a small place.  I later 
found some info that did confirm just that.  Realize there's algae and 
various green stuff in nearly all the water on the planet.  Not positive 
but it seems I've read that rain forests aren't all that efficient at 
converting 
in an overall sense due to the huge canopy.  Only the upper plants 
are really contributing.  The lower ones are in shade enough that 
the CO2 --> O2 time isn't much more than the O2 --> CO2 time in 
all that shade and darkness.
  If we were way out of balance it'd show heavily.  Cycles in weather 
are just that.  Maybe we've contributed, maybe we haven't.  The Earth 
has been here a long time, gone through ice and tropical and we didn't 
do either of those but if we'd have had a media and activists then, you 
can bet they'd convince most that we were indeed responsible.  
  I'm not in favor of being irresponsible with anything but I'm sure not 
ready to jump on whatever bandwagon based on "we say so."  There 
needs to be some proof or at least logical argument.  Even the guy 
who came up with the first computer model and coined the phrase 
"global warming" recanted his belief in it.  I honestly don't have the 
answers but I'm pretty convinced "they" don't either.  The one argument 
that tends to make some sense is the deep ocean current stuff, but 
there's not a lot of evidence how stable that really is either.  Change 
the output of the sun a fraction of a % and whoo boy!  But it happens 
and it doesn't take much to be measurable.  Much more impact than 
all the stupid gas hog SUV's IMO and we have no control over it.  
  I'm curious just how much shift we got out of that sunami.  There was 
mention of tilt shift and rotational speed change but I never heard 
anything in final numbers.  THAT can change the climate!
     Loren