Dear Maureen,
Pull up a pew so we can talk climate change. Last month, you said, "We have cooled and warmed, cooled and warmed over millions of years." But you were waiting for proof that humans have caused the current warming.
I'm glad you raised this, because many people don't understand how modern climate weirdness is different from the age-old shifts. We know Earth was 6°C cooler during the last ice age. At that stage, the sea level was 120m lower and a land bridge connected Asia and North America.
Interglacial periods had similar temperatures to pre-industrial times, but the last one was a degree or two warmer (much like now), causing ice melt at the poles and raising sea levels by several metres.
If today's climate chaos was the result of the forces that prompted that freezing and defrosting, trying to stop it would be futile. That's because those forces were celestial.
When Earth makes its yearly orbit around the sun, it's buffeted slightly by gravitational pull from other planets, moons and the sun itself. That skews its tilt and degree of wobble, and distorts its orbital path from circular to slightly elliptical and back again. These deviations repeat over tens to hundreds of thousands of years and strongly affected climate over the last three million years or so. For evidence, look up "Milankovitch cycles".
Denne historien er fra March 18 - 24 2023-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
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First-world problem
Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.
Applying intelligence to AI
I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.
Nazism rears its head
Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.
Staying ahead of the game
Will the brave new world of bipartisanship that seems to be on offer with an Infrastructure Commission come to fruition?
Grasping the nettle
Broccoli is horrible. It smells, when being cooked, like cat pee.
Hangry? Eat breakfast
People who don't break their fast first thing in the morning report the least life satisfaction.
Chemical reaction
Nitrates in processed meats are well known to cause harm, but consumed from plant sources, their effect is quite different.
Me and my guitar
Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.
Time is on my side
Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?
The kids are not alright
Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.