Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Climate Change: Good Or Bad?

A reader seeking to initiate discussion and seeking comments writes:


Subject: RE: Revealing our leaders as lightweights....




Well, the real issue is that we, the general public, do not have easy access to the data many are using to claim home sapiens are responsible for global warming. However, opposition to those claims comes from many, like myself, a geologist, who know that climate change is as inevitable as the sun rising. Many of us are skeptical because of the huge amounts of money that will change hands, mostly between politicians. I think the biggest elephant in the room is the lack of discussion about how bad global warming is for the Homo sapien population, and what severe damage it hasn’t caused before.

While we can argue about whether or not the CO2 from fossil fuels is the culprit, it is hard to believe that it is more powerful than the source of the heat itself, the sun and all its moods. With the potential (they say) of the current sun cycle going into a dormant time, we shall see. Again, do we really think a warmer earth is that bad, bad enough to transfer the wealth from one group to a more dangerous group? Who will do the most harm, a rise in temperature or a rich elite (politicians, who have no idea of where money comes from) taking more and more power? I vote that, like Pogo said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”



Alan

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

"opposition to those claims comes from many, like myself, a geologist, who know that climate change is as inevitable as the sun rising."

You must be an older geologist. The recent geo grads are mostly climate alarmists. Science programs have changed between the time the older geos graduated and the when newer ones did.

aseeling said...

Universities receive grants (money) from governmental agencies, run by politicians, elected by the purchase of votes from those living off money received from those same politicians, is any wonder they ape the political PC rhetoric? Because the issue is up in the air, so to speak, why wouldn't universities come down on the side of their money source? Again, the old adage of "follow the Money" proves its value. The presuppositions in any debate must be established before any discussion can really occur. Any other way will simply waste time. Each side must show its presuppositions and defend them prior to a truthful discussion of pros and cons.

JSG said...

I think the far greater threat is not catastrophic climate change, but the scientists and policy makers who continually try to convince us otherwise. And we are expected to accept their word and expertise without benefit of evidence. That sort of blind faith might work in religion, but not science, and definitely not politics.

The general public has every right to view the materials used in research. We've paid for it. And if drastic carbon emission reductions are imposed on us as a result of that research, we will most certainly pay much, much more.

Anonymous said...

I too like "home sapiens"--they hang out all day watching TV eating snacks, and never bother anyone.

Too bad elderly geologists don't do the same thing.

Peter said...

Another ignorant, obnoxious, ANONYMOUS internet troll reveals themself. It is a pity all they can do is make juvenile ad hominem attacks.

aseeling said...

Well, this "elderly geologist" is still trying to find energy that the hoi polloi can actually afford. The task is intense and requires actual mental, unique, work, not some algorithm fed into a computer whose answer is more like Douglas Adams' "42".

Similarly, the argument of global warming being "bad" (the definition of which has been cleverly foisted off on the populace who really has not been offered good, recognizable reasons why warm is worse than not) has no real meaning to a species that has made its mark on the world by adaptation and adjustment.

Besides, any anthropologist would question the concept that "change" has historically been THE enemy to Homo Sapiens. Has everyone forgotten the old adage that "necessity is the mother of invention", our Homo sapiens' trademark?

Lately, all I hear is fearful bowing and scraping to the fear mongering in positions to make a financial killing from, probably ill fated, "solutions." "Solutions" to a condition much larger than our puny attempts at mitigation.

Obviously this opinion could be wrong, for sure, but I'd rather NOT unquestionably be led down the garden path to slavery by those who agree with P.T. Barnum's comment "There is one born every minute."

Anonymous said...

Another ignorant, obnoxious, ANONYMOUS blog poster (your identity is just as obscure Pete, don't be silly) with a tremendous, obvious, and one-dimensional bias. It is a pity all you can do is make generalized and uninformed (and often ad hom) attacks.

Peter said...

Anonymous.......of course I keep my identity somewhat vague, to do otherwise would be suicide with crazies like you out there.

And yes I intentionaly and occasionaly make provactive statements with the intent of drawing people like you out of the weeds and thus revealing just how ignorant, mean, and biased you really are.

I would be happy to discuss the science or lack thereof relative to "global warming" and "climate change" but the issue has long ago become political, and in your case personal. So go ahead...gimmee your best shot.....you low-life, bottom-dwelling, internet troll.

Give us something intelligent to think about, backed by facts, just once. We would be thrilled.

Anonymous said...

Pete you are so funny. First you give us a funny typo, then you chide me for being ANONYMOUS when you yourself are "vague" (Ha! You didn't even think about that before you posted, did you?), then you claimed I was getting personal right before posting "low-life, bottom-dwelling, internet troll," and now you, of all posters, want a SCIENTIFIC discussion on a blog dedicated to trash-talk and political ad hom attacks against scientists and Al Gore. You truly are an idiot, aren't you?

Well, okay, I thought a good place to start might be the 2007 IPCC report. Here's the link:

http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/ch3.html

Go ahead, boy! Lay'em out! Give us your best SCIENTIFIC reading of the facts. Let's see what you've actually got after all that tough talk.

Anonymous said...

Pete, may I assume that your silence means you are giving the IPCC data a thorough and analytic reading? Come on, buddy, the world is waiting for your insight!!

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Peter said...

Anonymous troll just can not stop whining like a spoiled child. A product of our failed public school system no doubt, totally brainwashed by and blindly accepting of the Al Gorean environmental political correctness and without a shred of understanding of the issues.

Anonymous said...

So Pete, since you presumably do have "a shred of understanding of the issues," have you gone through the free IPCC data I provided for you? There's a ton of free, easily accessed information from scientists out there, but all I see on your site is highly biased blog posts and newspaper articles. Oh, and when you can't think of anything else to write, you simply resort to name calling.

Come on, man, we are waiting for you to blow us away with your actual "understanding of the issues." Or were you just blowing smoke up our wazoos about being a geologist? I have my doubts...