Global warming has become an extremely polarising issue. There are strong science based arguments on both sides but whichever side you believe is to some extent a 'faith based' judgement as you can find contradictory journal papers and analyses on almost every issue (other than the actual general warming trend over the last century). I think that there is little benefit to arguing about it in a forum such as this as most people will already have strong beliefs one way or the other and we are unlikely to change peoples beliefs with discussion - it will only come from people being interested enough to do their own research.
On 31 March 2012 06:27, Jarold McWilliams <[email protected]> wrote: > Fukishima disaster? How many people died in this disaster? 3 so far, 0 > from radiation. How much was the damage to property? How many people > died when a renewable energy dam broke? About 1,000 and probably about the > same economic damage with the homes washed away. There were also fires at > oil refineries that killed more people than the nuclear plants. Also, the > nuclear plants were built in the 1960's. We have much safer nuclear plants > we can build now, and the antinukes are actually promoting the use of unsafe > nuclear reactors compared to newer ones. > > On Mar 30, 2012, at 10:43 PM, Jed Rothwell wrote: > > I wrote: > >> >> If you were to change the laws in the US, and you offered a $10 bounty for >> the heads of women and children, I am certain you would find hundreds of >> thousands of people who would gleefully go around chasing down, shooting and >> decapitating innocent people and bayoneting small children. . . . > > >> >> Believe me, we could end doing that in 10 years. If you doubt that you >> have learned nothing from the 20th century. > > > Or the 19th century. You may think that sounds like a dystopian fantasy that > could never happen in the U.S. In fact, 40 years before the Japanese army > went on a rampage and killed 23 million Chinese people, the U.S. army and > many ranchers still had a policy of killing off native Americans for a > bounty, including women and children. They did not decapitate them; they > scalped them. As Col. Chivington put it: "Kill and scalp all, big and > little; nits make lice." > > See also the Atlanta race riots in 1906 and the book "The Warmth of Other > Suns." > > It is a huge mistake to think that we can never go backwards, and we can > never revert to the barbaric standards of the past. The Germans, Russians > and Japanese did in the 20th century. Okay, it is not likely that the U.S. a > generation now will be in some lurid science fiction scenario, like the > movie "The Hunger Games" or a world in which it is again okay to kill off > Native Americans or black people. > > On the other hand, we have just seen the most important scientific discovery > in history ruthlessly suppressed for 23 years because of petty academic > politics and greed. Did anyone think that could happen here? What else might > have been going on? Did anyone imagine how much money Wall Street was > stealing and squandering before the 2008 crash? Read about the problems BP > oil installations had, culminating in the Gulf accident. Look at the > Fukushima disaster. Many terrible things have happened, and many more could > happen, because of greed, stupidity, hate and barbarism. > > My point is not that we should fear what might happen, or give up hope. > Never! The point is, don't be sanguine. Never assume you have nothing to > worry about. Be prepared! > > I expect there will be an orchestrated barrage of opposition against cold > fusion, far greater than anything we have witnessed in the last 23 years, > backed by countless millions of dollars. So far we have been fighting off > washed-up academic hacks such as Huizenga and nitwits such as The Amazing > Randi. These people have little power and no money. They are stupid. Soon we > will be fighting every conservative politician in Washington and many > liberals as well, because they are equal-opportunity shills for big oil. > They will denounce cold fusion in return for campaign contributions. They > will keep doing that until they sense the public is on our side. > > I anticipate the biggest political battle in the history of technology. . . > . Okay, maybe that will not come to pass. Perhaps I will be pleasantly > surprised. But we should be prepared for the worst. We should think about > how we will deal with it, and how we can win. > > - Jed > >
