It doesn't have to get warmer everywhere to be global warming. The article cited even says that global warming will initiate an Ice Age. Figure that out. Of course that's for the Northern hemisphere. Wonder what happens in the south?
An interesting point is that it talks about how similar this warming is to previous warming cycles. Then it states that we are to blame. How sure are we that we are making that much of a difference?
Also, the near unanimous opinion is that the burning of fossil fuels is the largest impact we are having, and that an increase in the introduction of greenhouse gases is our biggest effect. What about the natural processes that might take up the excess CO2 in particular and reduce the overall concentration of greenhouse gases? There is research that shows a large impact in CO2 concentration from the presence of bogs. Peat bogs tend to absorb large amounts of CO2, particular when levels are high. Of course, you can't really live in a bog, so humans have been systematically reducing the bog surface area all over the planet for centuries. Is our biggest impact the introduction of the gases or the removal of the balancing absorber of surplus CO2? This is somewhat analagous to a chemical solution and acidity. You can add a lot of acid to a strongly buffered solution and not make much difference, but if you systematically remove the buffer, the solution becomes much more sensistive to the addition of acid, and the balance is precarious indeed. In the same way, the removal of bogs (and the prevention of their formation) may be creating a much more precarious balance of greenhouse gas concentrations.
It would be interesting to see bogs held in the same light as the rain forests in the future.
