Post by Jason Todd Grisham on Dec 6, 2009 9:30:08 GMT -5
Honestly I'm not sure how much human involvement is in the world getting warmer. Hell it might just be a cycle as we've been worrying about it getting colder and warmer on and off for a while and we might have turned the corner and its getting colder. In the end I think that its a good idea to reduce pollution because its definitely not good to breath in your lungs so it might not be because of ice and stuff but more just public health.
That's pretty much my view right there. The leaked emails have certainly made me distrustful of Climate Scientists. And it's annoying that they would destroy the evidence, and even more annoying that they were evidently technologically incompetent. But there is a lot of other evidence (or so I've been told) that coalesces really well into the warming narrative.
Yes, the hottest year on record is 1934, and not 1998, but 1998 was still pretty damn hot. I hear people complain that there can't be climate change because it snowed in Texas recently. But that's the first time in recorded history that its happened, doesn't it seem a bit strange? The warming of the globe overall causes bizarre weather fluctuations, which we've all seen. To give an example, two years ago in Kenosha we had a tornado in January. January. Because that day it decided to be 50.
How much of this is natural and how much of it is man made? I don't know, I'm not a scientist. And if the scientists weren't trying to give the grants their monies worth, I'd imagine they would agree. They would say there's remarkable correlation, which must be taken seriously, but of course we can never say it's proven or settled. Only politics can do that.
Regardless, let's assume there isn't any global warming. Let's assume the models are wrong, the scientists were part of a conspiracy of scientists, and all of the worlds nations jumped on for the ride to pursue their own interests. Would it hurt to be greener? I'm not an enviro-nut. I'm not saying the environment is more important than jobs. I'm not saying we should run our cars on ethanol (God forbid, that stuff is horrible, especially up north). But there are a lot of actions that could be taken that aren't as extreme as a lot of people would tell us to do, and in the end would be very cost effective assuming there is or isn't climate change.
But more to the topic, when I was about 10-12 or so, I was dead frightened of global warming. I mean, sleepless nights terrified. It was a horror movie come to life (or, a really bad end of the world thriller). I imagined what it would be like to boil alive thanks to how damn hot it would be. And it wasn't just that. We were going to suffocate on our own pollution! I remember asking a family friend why he would dare work at a factory when they were polluting our air. It was then I learned it was mostly water vapor...
We were going to run out of water because our showers took so damn long! I knew this because I saw the PSA's on Nickelodeon! Rosie O'Donnell would never lie to me! She hosted the Kid's Choice Awards! A lot! Why would they need to tell us this unless people weren't doing it! AAAAAHHHH!!!
But I got over it. Either way, while I'm not going to say climate change isn't man made, I think it's certainly overblown. What are our worst estimates? 4 C by the end of the century? Relocate some people and invest in air conditioning.