Sense of Urgency, Anyone?
Climate change is real and is happening at an ever faster pace, a United Nations scientific panel said in a hard-hitting report issued Saturday on tackling global warming.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was delivering its fourth and final report on the science of climate change and the impact of human-produced greenhouse gases at a conference in Valencia, Spain.
The report produced by the Nobel prize-winning panel warns of the devastating impact for developing countries and the threat of species extinction posed by the climate crisis.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, presenting the report, warned that some of the effects of rising levels of greenhouse gases may already be irreversible.
The U.N. head said the situation was already "so severe and so sweeping that only urgent, global action" could head off the crisis.
(From: CNN)
posted by Robert Woerheide @ 7:28 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Man is not the cause of climate change. It's the financial people who want us to get away from fossel fuels. So let's tell everyone there is a problem caused by man enough times and loud enough
they will believe it. How much CO2 is used up each year shooting paintballs?
I think it's all lies. Why not just tell the truth!
Bert
But Rush Limbaugh says the whole thing is a fake! Case closed.
PS--Ever get the impression that Rush, if he were around in the late 50s-early 60s, would probably be telling his listeners that this whole cigarettes-cancer thing is overblown, and probably quote some of those paid-off doctors who appeared in the cigarette ads.
Not a bit actually.
This entire argument of "climate change", "global warming" and other stupidity is pointless. Far too much of the "data" used for these reports are based not upon actual observations but on computer models. Fact remains that we experience at least 4 climate changes a year. We call those "seasons". The fact remains that the earth has, time and again, gone through periods of temperature increase and decrease; recall those things known as "ice ages"? Of course, what no one ever mentions is that not only is CO2 a vital requirement for a habitable planet and that humans account for less than 3.4% CO2 accumulation annually but that CO2 has far less heat trapping capabilities than does water vapor. Additionally, less than half of our CO2 emission ever finds its way into our atmosphere.
The cold, hard truth is that because so many of the atmospheric processes are still being sorted out and quantified it is extremely reactionary and outright dangerous to claim that you not only know what is the cause of the perceived problem but that you are now going to try and fix it.
Consider this. You hear a knock in your engine; a sound that, heretofore, did not exist. You, knowing nothing more about engines that where to put the gas and how to turn it one, decides to tear the engine apart in a vain and foolish attempt to find and fix the sound. Would you ever do that? I should certainly hope not for a number of reasons. First, you have no idea if the cause of the sound is good or bad. Secondly, your lack of knowledge of the workings of the engine will almost surely end in catastrophe and will invariably wind up costing your far more than the original problem.
Now, extend that scenario to a global one and what you have is a minority of people, operating with a distinct lack of required knowledge who are making decisions that can effect the global environment. One of the clarion calls of the environmentalist movement is that the environment is in delicate balance and humanities involvement is throwing everything out of balance. If that be the case does it not make sense that we should tread as lightly as possible lest our attempt at fixing the engine turn into a blunder that is far more costly and deadly than the perceived problem?
So I guess going back to the beginning I would have to say that actually, yes, I do have a certain sense of urgency The sense that people with incomplete knowledge but "good intentions" are making ill-formed decisions that could have catastrophic repercussions.
Well, let's just hope you are right, Keith. I for one think you are mistaken, and my belief is grounded in science and logic--not, as you propose, knee-jerk reaction.
You fear that "people with incomplete knowledge but 'good intentions' are making ill-formed decisions that could have catastrophic repercussions." The fact is, reducing carbon emissions could not possibly have catastrophic repercussions. Which oil company do you work for?
The real danger, the real concern for catastrophic repercussions, is if we continue to sit around while people like you roll their eyes.
You are the real danger, sir. Taking action to protect our environment (even if you are so foolish to believe there is no danger from global warming) is not.
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