Hi John, I would like to point out that I did not write the first two sentences you cite and I was being sarcastic when I wrote the third one. As I said, I'm agnostic on human caused global warming. Unusually, I mostly agree with everything you say here. A few comments below...
>> > the fossil fuel industry doesn't have to convince anyone that global >> > warming isn't happening, > > > There is no doubt that the climate is changing but that is nothing new, the > climate has ALWAYS been changing. Other than a few very brief ice ages > during the last few million years the temperature has always been warmer > than now and occasionally MUCH warmer; at least that's the way things have > been during the last 600 million years. And by the way, right now the sea is > rising at the rate of about one inch every 10 years, that would make for a > rather dull Hollywood style disaster movie so it's not surprising that > environmentalists make exaggerated claims, it's the way they stay employed, > and without scare tactics many environmental groups would be out of > business. I suspect the same, unfortunately. I don't know enough to have a strong opinion. >> > As Albert says, knowledge doesn't produce action. > > > One action environmentalists haven't produced is a cure that isn't far worse > than the disease. Yes. This is a big issue that is not properly addressed. People have this cartoonish view of fat capitalists getting richer, but they forget that, all social injustices aside, if you dial down energy production people will starve to death, die of cold and disease and so on. Independently of anything else, we already backed ourselves into a corner by growing the human population to 7 billion. There is not way to dial down energy consumption without causing a tragedy. The current population level is a direct consequence of the energy revolution. > They say global warming will somehow lead to human > extinction but will shout down anyone who even mentions nuclear energy which > produces no greenhouse gasses. Yes, nuclear power may be our only hope, global warming or not. We might need it to survive peak oil. It has its dangers but the technology is improving. It's not as poetic as getting energy from the sun and wind, but it's a realistic option. It has enough efficiency so that the transition from fossil fuel dependency could be made without causing an energy depletion catastrophe. Since you mention Microsoft, here's an interesting talk by Bill Gates on the issue: http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates.html > They say we're headed for a disaster of > Biblical proportions but try to paint Nathan Myhrvold, the former chief > technical officer at Microsoft, as a villain for suggesting ways a cooler > planet could be engineered if increasing heat turned out to be a serious > problem in a century or two. Yes, this boggles my mind too. I think I've mentioned it before. > Environmentalists claim to occupy the moral > high ground but because of a superstitious fear of all genetic engineering > they oppose Golden Rice even to the point of criminal sabotage which could > prevent 670,000 children a year from dying of vitamin A deficiency and > 350,000 go permanently blind. Environmentalists blab on and on about the > evils of chemical pesticides but when science develops plants that need much > less of them they do everything they can to stop it. Yes. > Instead environmentalists insist that 7 billion people can be kept alive and > in comfort with moonbeams and hummingbirds and windmills powering blast > furnaces. Right. Realistically, this would probably look more like a zombie apocalypse movie. Telmo. >> > if the global warming models are correct, that is already too late. If I >> > understand the most common models correctly, it _is_ already too late. > > > If it's already too late then I humbly submit that the best thing that > environmentalists could do is stop making scary sounds with their pie hole > and let us enjoy the little time we have left before "fire and brimstone > come down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! > Earthquakes, volcanoes... the dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, > dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria..." > > John K Clark > > > > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
