Sensible talk about global warming
Here’s a link to a sensible article about global warming. I enjoy reading science, and I’ve read no convincing evidence that man-made global warming is real. Notice I said “man-made.” Global warming may or may not be occurring because global temperatures have been going up and down for hundreds of millions of years due to many reasons, some of which scientists don’t understand. If you watch only CNN, however, you’d think man-caused global warming was a “certain” scientific fact. And if a public figure dares to disagree with the supposed facts of imminent global warming, he or she is castigated by the left media as stupid or irresponsible.
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December 16th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
One of the problems is that both sides of the man-made Global Warming debate have lots of $$$ riding on the outcome. Exxon Mobil in particular, up until a couple of years ago funded several, very visible, vocal Warming denial sites and it stunk of self-interest so bad, that now if anybody speaks up, well, they must be in bed with an oil company or coal company everybody thinks.
Of course, there is a lot of $$$ in researching Global Warming too, so that also affects the stories coming out on GW esp. from the research departments of the major universities, as you have no doubt seen.
For my part, certainly the world has been warming, even despite a decent re-icing of the Arctic this past summer. Lots of places have set cold records in the past few weeks, but others have set new high temp. records too (some as a matter of fact in and around Worcester, MA, just a week after a record ice storm. Worcester was 60 something a day or two ago I think.)
Now as to whether the warming is man-made, I’m not so sure of that part. What I do know is that there are lots of reasons to cut down on burning oil and coal, asthma and a host of other ills among them, even if man-made warming turns out to be not happening. Ditto for getting us off of the Arab oil merry-go-round. I therefore have cut way back on my energy use, and if that doesn’t turn out to be helping the planet, I doubt it’s hurting it. I know it’s good for my wallet and political piece of mind, never even mind any possible Global Warming amelioration.
December 17th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Two quick points:
Short term trends in weather mean nothing. Global warming and cooling happen over thousands and hundreds of thousands of years. There have been three major glaciations in the last several billion years, but hundreds of ice ages and warming periods (interglacials) among those glaciations, according to scientists who study these things. What is happening to weather this year or in the past decade means very little compared to long-term trends. Looking at a longer-term trend, say the past 10,000 years since the end of the last ice age, two things are possible:
1) The interglacial we are currently in is continuing for a while longer, perhaps for another 10,000 years.
2) We are near the end of the current interglacial (as a number of prominent Russian scientists think) and we are about to head into another ice age.
The only thing that is certain is that the temperature of earth is always changing, either going up or down.
2) I think there are lots of reasons to get off of oil too, including the reasons you mention, but I think it’s a terrible idea to let bad science, manipulated by politicians and environmental activists, dictate how we should proceed. I believe in acting from honest science, not because the ends justify the means.
December 19th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Let’s look at global warming in another way… another imminent threat that requires immediate attention by the government to:
1. Fix the problem
2. Keep you safe
3. Requires YOU to give up something and submit to further and expanded control and taxation.
Knida sounds like the war on terrorism, or the war on drugs or the war on, on… oh, just fill in the bank. Like all those “WARS” if you criticize, question it, show facts that it is unnecessary, not working or wrong you will be castigated by the left media or the brain washed masses as stupid or irresponsible or just full of crap.
It would be nice… just once in a while if people stop taking anything the government says as gospel and think for them selves and do a bit of research to see if what they claim is correct!
Question Authority! Think for your self!!
~Brogan
PS- I gotta give it to them this time… They finally found away to tax the air you breathe… A Carbon tax… Nice! Next you will have to pay for the air your dog, cat or live stock is breathing, what your car uses or to heat your house.
How big is your carbon footprint?… HAHA, how about stop cutting down trees like the rain forests (the lungs of the earth) first.
They Tax the food you eat, the water you drink, the land you live on the property they let you own, your income, the money that was left over after taxing you parents and you inherited, now the air that you breathe…It’s all about money and control…