There’s Still Hope for the Planet (Barf alert!)

NY Times ^ | July 21, 2012 | DAVID LEONHARDT

[neverdem]

YOU don’t have to be a climate scientist these days to know that the climate has problems. You just have to step outside.

The United States is now enduring its warmest year on record, and the 13 warmest years for the entire planet have all occurred since 1998, according to data that stretches back to 1880. No one day’s weather can be tied to global warming, of course, but more than a decade’s worth of changing weather surely can be, scientists say. Meanwhile, the country often seems to be moving further away from doing something about climate change, with the issue having all but fallen out of the national debate.

Behind the scenes, however, a somewhat different story is starting to emerge — one that offers reason for optimism to anyone worried about the planet. The world’s largest economies may now be in the process of creating a climate-change response that does not depend on the politically painful process of raising the price of dirty energy. The response is not guaranteed to work, given the scale of the problem. But the early successes have been notable.

Over the last several years, the governments of the United States, Europe and China have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on...

--snip--

Even natural gas, a hotly debated topic among climate experts, helps make the point. Thanks in part to earlier government investments, energy companies have been able to extract much more natural gas than once seemed possible. The use of natural gas to generate electricity — far from perfectly clean but less carbon-intensive than coal use — has jumped 25 percent since 2008, while prices have fallen more than 80 percent. Natural gas now generates as much electricity as coal in the United States, which would have been unthinkable not long ago...

[submarinerswife]

It always makes me laugh when some pin head declares that 120 years of manipulated data (out of 4.5 billion years of the earth's existence ), is all they need to prove that we are going to die because the earth is too fragile to survive a .5 degree rise in temperature.

This article proves that going back 2000 years to the Roman Empire, we are in a cooling pattern.

[Impala64ssa]

Yes, one of my physics professors way back when admonished us young skulls full of mush with TINSTAAFL, There is no such thing as a free lunch. And for those who don’t get it, BOHICA, Bend over, here it comes again.

[neverdem]

Thanks for the link!

[DaveTesla]

Yes the climate is changing!
It aways has.

Now what does the Marxist New York Times think you should do
about this non-crisis crisis?
All you have to do is allow them to create a one world
tyrannical, unelected, unaccountable government wherein
your are a subservient slave to them and they will save you.

[goodnesswins]

WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE....send some of the WARMTH to us here in Western Oregon....high of oh, maybe 65 today....it’s JULY 22nd!!! Normally it’s in the low 80’s....and low 50’s at night (tonight forecast for 48!!!

[Lazamataz]

Damn that Conservation of Energy thing. Someone needs to pass a law!

[boop]

Took the words out of my mouth! Here in Seattle my furnace came on in the middle of the afternoon. It’s set at 68.

[submarinerswife]

notice how it’s referred to as MAN-made instead of the more PC, gender neutral PERSON-made global warming?

Just be grateful that it's not calledWHITE MAN-made global warming.

[UCANSEE2]

OK. We'll just put small wind turbines on the backs of all vehicles. That will generate enough electricity to offset the loss to the soft road and roadside wind turbines.

[Mad Dawgg]

...and the 13 warmest years for the entire planet have all occurred since 1998, according to data that stretches back to 1880.

The mind boggles that the author actually wrote this.

(Or am I the only one that sees a problem with such a statement...?)

[UCANSEE2]

I can see the lawsuits now from people who crack up their cars watching the pretty psychedelic designs, or the ones who have seizures

Nah. These roads will not only generate power, they will use some of that energy to power the cars via electro-magnetic induction. The cars will also be on AUTODRIVE with a GPS linked computer which (by law) does all driving on highways.

Everyone will be free to gawk at the passing scenery.

and there will be flying cars too, and unicorns, and... life will be found on the moon.

[Mad Dawgg]

"What most don’t understand about solar or wind derived energy is that there is no free lunch..."

EGGSactly Batman. I just watched an eye opening documentary called: Windfall.

It was a shocker. Touched on all sorts of issues involving wind power that I never even considered.

[rlmorel]

Hahahaha...awesome...now THAT graphic made me laugh.

I STILL want my flying car, darn it.

[neverdem]

"...and the 13 warmest years for the entire planet have all occurred since 1998, according to data that stretches back to 1880."

The mind boggles that the author actually wrote this.

(Or am I the only one that sees a problem with such a statement...?)

It's one of the reasons for a barf alert. There were others.

[UCANSEE2]

I STILL want my flying car, darn it.