Global Warming Stuff
A couple commentaries on global warming I stumbled upon that I thought were pretty good.
This first one is from Forbes magazine back in February. The writer tries to "explain" the global warming debate. I have a hard time following him but think I see where he's coming from. Do you?
One difference between his line of thinking and mine is he seems to accept the planet is warming. I'm more skeptical, but I don't think that's exactly his or my way of looking at it. After reading it twice I think his thinking might be close to mine:
That the atmosphere might be warming (or might end up cooling, imo), but man's contribution to it is insignificant. Not sure he'd want to use the word insignificant, though.
This second one is from The Independent Institute. The writer starts out by opposing carbon taxes but accepting the position that man's CO2 is causing global warming.
He believes carbon taxes will be bad for the economy. They could also make the carbon problem worse as more manufacturers move to countries without the environmental regulations we have.
The comments show how polarizing the issue has become. The first one claiming the planet isn't warming, the second one claiming it is- an argument the writer points out he was trying to avoid.
It's hard to get past the is vs. is not on issues like this no matter how you try to frame the discussion, isn't it?
posted by Fred Mangels @ 8:32 AM
11 comments
11 Comments:
"Henchman Of Justice" says,
There is no way for sure to say one way or the other that the planet would have cooled or warmed right now in 2012 regardless of whether humans existed or not because humans are not on record tens of thousands of years ago as intelligent enough to understand planetary changes; yet, one must realise that a growing human population COULD have impacts that cause "accelerated global weather pattern changes", even though the impacts are skewed by natural changes in the earth's axis rotation, volcanic eruptions (above ground and below water), earthquakes, solar storms, etc...(humans have nothing to do with solar storms btw). - HOJ
Yes. The guy alluded to that in his Forbes magazine commentary, except I believe he used the term "feedbacks" for the various natural influences on climate. That was one of many things I found confusing about his explanation.
"For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."
It's gonna get hot. Why does it surprise so many? Because they are willingly ignorant.
"he seems to accept the planet is warming."
Along with every other scientist who works in a field studying the issue. The oil-backed right-wingers are good at trotting out dentists and other 'scientists' working in unrelated fields who disagree.
Fred, you describe yourself as a skeptic, which implies critical thinking and careful consideration of the available evidence. In that spirit, I invite you to poke around here: http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php
We are coming out of an ICE AGE and have been warming for the last 15000 years. We couldnt control the climate if we tried! Humans have egos the size of the universe.
... I invite you to poke around here: http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php.
Those are just Believer talking points, Ryan.
So what is Fred is really after is the talking points of the skeptics?
As I wrote in my original post, hard to get past the us vs. them, is vs. is not in discussions like this, isn't it?
Us vs them? Welcome to America! Where sports, religion and politics pass as culture, entertainment and intellectualism.
Thats why I refuse to put any time into sports, religion or politics as they are DESIGNED to divide people into us and them.
"Henchman Of Justice" says,
Anonymous from above who won't spend time in politics is probably a fairly intelligent individual, except that by not getting involved to differentiate between wrong and right is to allow the perps to constantly victimize society.
To say you abstain from political involvement is not something to brag about, fyi. Why? Some people, including HOJ, would say your a major cause of the messed-up situation because you help foster the political problems by shying away from the political problems. Move to Iran if that is how "muted" you want to be! Despicable! - HOJ
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