Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Michael Novak in the National Review's corner, dismisses global warming based on the evidence of Greenland's history. It was green (in part), 1000 years ago, and that's the way people liked it!
It is too bad that Nancy Pelosi did not travel out to Greenland with Eric the Red in 983-986, when the climate was much warmer and Greenland was so named because of its lush meadows and fertile fields — before a new ice age began that over centuries made it seem more like Whiteland. Too bad Pelosi didn't see climate change THEN. People then were glad to see the last days of Global Warming, and dreaded the winters and white-outs to come The Apocalypse Then was the Coming Ice Age.
Look it up in an encyclopedia. Here is what Laura Nivers at the American Enterprise Institute found:
How did a glacier-covered island get the name Greenland? In Norse legends written in the 12th century and later, it is told that Eric the Red explored the southeast and southwest coasts of Greenland in a.d. 983-986 and gave the country its name because people would be more likely to go there if it had an attractive name. Greenland was warmer in the tenth century than it is now. There were many islands teeming with birds off its western coast; the sea was excellent for fishing; and the coast of Greenland itself had many fjords where anchorage was good. At the head of the fjords there were enormous meadows full of grass, willows, junipers, birch, and wild berries. Thus Greenland actually deserved its name. Another attraction of Greenland was that Iceland and northwestern Europe, including England, had a grievous year of famine in 976, and people were hungry for food as well as land.
Now at the time, there were less people on the planet than live in the USA currently. There also was less permanent structures built on coast lines. If your hut was getting affected by rising waters due to sunny Greenland, you would move. Perhaps some of the drought going on in England was due to the warming period of the time, no?
So, they had it made. They could pick up, take a boat trip using 986 technology, and set off for Greenland. Those lucky ducks. I bet we will be able to do the same thing with Los Angeles, Manhattan, and Miami. Let's just put them all in boats, and move up North.
Global warming in an agriculturally based society in the middle ages was disruptive to individuals. Our permanent structures and large economic capital built into them is going to trouble us just a tad if they are underwater. It will be hard to go to a Giants game in a boat. But, we are plucky and will make do.
I get so tired of the right wingers who refuse to listen to reason and science. If there is one freakishly cold snap anywhere on the planet, they scream about it, and say in your face Al Gore. This is considered productive?
Now Michael Novak is going to try investing in real estate on penguin breeding grounds in Antarctica. These wingnuts sure don't live in the reality based world. Perhaps a viking helmet and a bottle of aquavit will be the new fashion accessories at parties for the terminally stupid set.
Somebody save us.
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