Ed, I disagree that the debate is over and I don't believe in conspiracy theories (well maybe a few. ; - ) ). However, it is a well known fact in academia that if you don't tow the party line you don't get grants or tenure. This is true for a lot of different academic fields. So obviously the profs who might think differently keep their mouths shut because they need their paychecks. There have been many independent studies not funded by Bush or the oil companies that say not to worry about global warming. Maybe you believe in a Big Oil conspiracy where the thousands of scientists around the world who say that global warming is not a problem are being paid off by my buddy Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson. Not all of them are funded by Big Oil.
I agree that CO2 is increasing and that our earth may have warmed on average 1 degree in the last century. However, whether all of that warming was due to the extra CO2 is debatable. Now there are very good numbers out there that say if we spend a few trillion dollars on "cap & trade" and other wasteful programs to comply with Kyoto or whatever new carbon treaty, we might be able to reduce future warming by 1/4 of a degree! WOW! What a bargain! Give me a break. But again, anything we do will be swamped by China and India. That's my biggest beef. The United States is now BANKRUPT! We can't afford this huge scam. If we are going to invest large sums of money with the intent of helping the environment, we should be investing much more in forestry! But all we get is a few goddamn crumbs thrown to us once in a while! Mike -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Edward Frank Sent: Sunday, June 07, 2009 12:19 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [ENTS] Re: High elevation forest response to climate change and other factors Mike, Steve. The scientific community is extremely competative. Everyone is out to prove everyone else wrong. The idea of a conspiracy among the scientific community is pretty far-feached even for the most avid conspiracy theorist. At this point in time there is an overwhelming concensus, more so on this topic than anything else I can think of, that global warming is taking place and that it is being caused or made worse, to human produced carbon dioxide from burning of fossil fuels and other activties. It is only the carckpot fringe that doesn't believe it is taking place. If their was legitimate science showing global warming was not taking place, the oil and coal companies would be sending those researchers money so fast they would not know where to stack it. That is not happening because even the big energy producers realize that these doubters of glbal warming are too far out on the lunatic fringe to be given serious consideration. The belief in global warming is far less accepted by the general public, but this isn't really something that can be voted upon. The only materials that can be cited denying global warming were produced by the Bush Energy department, on behalf of the energy industry, and that was because taxpayer money could be used to produce the propoganda rather than their own money. There certainly can be legitimate arguments made about the various legislation, treaties, check-off, and caps that are deisgned to help slow the warming. Can any of these effeorts actually help? Are they really just a redistribution of wealth? Are they just costly fascdes that do nothing. This is a legitimate area for debate. Arguing that global warming is not taking place, or that it is just part of the natural cycle is a dead horse. Ed --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
