The Oil Drum

I agree that little of significance is being done about global warming and peak oil (which most aren't even aware of).  But there are some nonsensical assertions by Lovelock and others that undermine their cause.  The 100,000 year figure is pulled out of thin air, CO2 residence time in the atmosphere is a few centuries not millenia.  Climate models are fully nonlinear.  They cannot resolve the microphysics of clouds since there are not and will not be any time soon computers that can handle the resolution (grid or spectral) that is required (e.g. covering the atmosphere with a 10 micron mesh, or about 4 x 10^34 grid points).  

The fact that cloud processes have to be parameterized in models with 100 km horizontal resolution is a favorite "achilees heel" of the global warming denialists but at least the parameterizations are physically based with a lot of research behind them and do capture the bulk behaviour of clouds.  Current models predict that a doubling of CO2 increases tropospheric humidity by about 50%.  We are not looking at unlivable conditions everywhere but the poles.  This is not to say things will be hunky dory but gigadeath claims based on direct global warming effects are absurd.  If the claims are based on diseases then there is nothing particularly special about global warming as population density and poor sanitary conditions (e.g. SARS, bird flu) are going to happen regardless.