I'm not totally convinced that we're not seeing global warming...From a stat point of view, one degree seems insignificant, yes. But, given that CO2 in the atmosphere DOES insulate the earth, and given the vast rise in CO2 in our atmosphere, I have a hard time denying it.
Whether or not it is responsible for what is going on, I have no clue.
CO2
can insulate the Earth. It
has insulated another planet that we know of, one dead planet. However in the presence life increased CO2 tends to lead to greater proliferation of plant life and increased oxygen production. The studies that show this conveniently get left out of those big global conventions on the Future of Our Planet! or what not. For global warming, I think the IPCC has yet to incorporate data on atmostpheric coolants into it's forecast models. Gee, you think they always predict the Earth is getting hotter because they
don't allow data into their models that would counter that conclusion?
The Earth
may be getting warmer. And this warming effect
might trigger a global ice age. And incidentally no matter what pattern the weather follows it's
always due to global warming according to these kooks. Which might make you wonder what kind of theory can and does predict
everything, and thus
can't be falsified. Scientifically it's called bullshit.
There are times in our planet's past where it's been on average 10 or more degrees hotter so far as we can tell. Life was flourishing. It's been a hell of a lot colder, life was flourishing. Climate shifts have happened thousands upon thousands of times over the course of our planet's history, life was flourishing all throughout these periods, and for some reason
this time (if it is getting warming... or perhaps getting warmer but then cooler because of the warmness... gee, we're just not
sure...) it's our fault and the fault of our SUV driving aunt? I don't think so.
The reason most people have trouble turning skeptical eye to this nonsense is because it's one of the new accepted religions for which you only hear one side. Take all the PHDs claiming we're going to turn the Earth into a true melting pot and put them in front of other PHDs who don't believe it and let them be questioned and they start doing Ralph Cramdens:
Question: "Gee professor, why do you exclude this data from your computer models, and how exactly do you
know so precisely what the temperature was over the Pacific that long ago?"
Answer: "Uh, hummanna hummanna hummanna hummanna..."
Global Warming is the latest rage of the Malthusians who have been present in every day and age claiming the sky is falling. Consider some points:
Why is the answer these people propose always
more government control? The government is the biggest direct polluter of the environment, with sovereign immunity of course. Is it because they mistakenly see the government as having a great track record of protecting us when governments in general have been responsible for more death and enforced neglect than any other agency in history? Or, is it because this is the new justification the socialist movement has grabbed onto in the world today? This is the excuse for needing socialism now. Is it because they have an aesthetic objection to a primarily capitalist society and the values it promulgates, and they know the only way to fight that is to have control of the agency that has control of legal force, the government? Then they can
force people to live in a way
they find pleasing.
Why do these people react with disgust at any industrial emission, regardless of how the environment reacts? There are chemical byproducts green groups have been trying to outlaw for years that are literally the same chemicals natural bacteria and other processes produce
en masse on our planet. They have zero observable environmental impact, they are in fact an integral part of the system. However, when chemical byproduct X is produced by a bacteria, it's good. When it's produced by a human process, it's bad. Interesting point of view.
Why is it no one looks or listens with skepticism at the environmental movement when it's most vocal proponents are people who have been making provably incorrect predictions for decades? It's understandable that the cloak of science makes some people think "Well, they must know better." However, even lunatic claims over the years haven't been questioned, and by lunatic I means claims like the one I mentioned, that the Earth's temperature has risen one degree over the last 100 years as a matter of certainty. Such a claim is on its face borderline insane, no one really questions it. This indicates an underlying social dynamic that needs to be looked at before you take such people at their word.
How is it that the Earth has gone through such an amalgomation of **** over the millenia without life being extinguished, yet no one questions the idea that a few SUVs will cause our downfall? Deserts were once oceans or jungles, seas were covered with glaciers, mountain ranges rise and fall, volcanos errupt en masse and then fell silent, comets and asteroids have hit the Earth, life is still here. It has to make you wonder at the real threat a fucking Hummer poses.
Related to that, no one questions the basic philosophy of environmental protectionism, or as it's properly known conservationism. There's an inherent conflict in the ideology because you can't conserve or protect something that by nature is in a constant state of change. Nature is a dynamic system, not a static one. There are no 'delicate balances' in nature as it's so often put. The balances in nature are the result of brutal competition among forces. People don't want to protect the Earth or the environment in the larger sense. They want to protect and keep static what they feel is the most pleasant state of the environment for them. And no one ever questions that, or brings up the point that attempts to keep a dynamic system static are just as destructive as intrusions into that system that weren't previously there. More destructive. There's ample evidence the Earth can accomodate pretty much any intrusion of life or other forces into its system with a minimum of fuss. It's been doing so for millenia. See what happens any time someone trys to stop a dynamic system and keep it static with no change. The end result is usually relatively catastrophic for that system, because it was meant to change, it was supposed to change to accomodate a new set of influences. In other words, the attempts of the greenies to turn this world into one big atrium are probably more likely to be harmful than any amount of industry.