Global Warming Scepticism

[♦ nivek ♦]

[The-Captain]

2015: AGW will be deemed too big to fail, asset relief program will follow.

[ghost_warlock]

I've honestly been flip-flopping about whether or not I accept global warming as genuine, but so far as alarmists go at least a number of the things we're being told to do in order to avoid global warming are things we should probably be doing anyway. Examples include reducing reliance on fossil fuels (particularly where OPEC is involved), slowing deforestation, stop disrupting oceanic algae by dumping plastics, etc.

[Snakefoot]

I take great care to decrease global warming by switching channels whenever somebody starts up about it, thus reducing a source of hot air.

[florduh]

. . . a number of the things we're being told to do in order to avoid global warming are things we should probably be doing anyway.

I don't believe anyone thinks deforestation and dependence on OPEC are good things. What's at stake is giving government the power to decide for us what must be done, how it will be done, and who profits from the enforcement of "Going Green".The "green" business is a front for an extortion racket. Government/business as usual.

 

Look at the ethanol debacle. Hybrid cars are an expensive joke. Recycling wastes more energy than it conserves. They are scams perpetrated by government in collusion with business (as usual). These links are just a small intro to vast amounts of information available on the subject. It's just the beginning for those who are profiting from fear based compliance by well intentioned citizens who just want to save the planet.

 

ethanol

 

recycling

 

hybrids

[BlueGiant]

I've looked at some of the simulation data used, as well as how the data are verified (for instance, can the models get the trends of the last 150 years right?) and from what I've seen, there is something to them. There is definitely a plausible mechanism here. While the mass-media latches onto the worst-case scenarios, these are by no means the only ones that are out there and reported.

 

At the same time, most models do show shifts in climate with an overall warming trend. I also am in the modeling business (stellar phenomena), and from what I've seen there hasn't been anything improper done even with the "climategate" emails.

 

Of course, a bunch of so-called skeptics who know jack about how this sort of modeling works, declares the data bogus and dead, does so loudly, and gets more media play because it sells. Especially when they are played off of alarmist true-believers in the worst-case scenarios, Rockies are about to be beachfront property, sound bytes, who also happen to know jack about how these models work. Both groups then work to make a bad policy with worse implementation.

 

Oh, and there are some green developments that are actually beneficial, as in they actually make better product and do it cheaper with less waste. As an example, I'd point to the ibuprofen synthesis. Effectively, in the 90's a new synthesis was developed that genereated .7 tons of waste for every ton of product generated. This is down from 7 tons of waste for every ton of ibuprofen. Also, the waste is much less toxic. From what I know, the entire industry has switched to this new synthesis since it is so much more cost- and material-effective. There are others.

 

Not everything that claims to be green is green, I'll agree, but some of it is not only green, but makes a ton of "green" as well.