If you think weather is climate than there is no point in having a debate.
Climate change causes greater extremes.
So are you saying you would think buying land in the Netherlands or investing in a ski resort in the Alps is a good idea?
By the way, the season is Austria is 2.5 weeks shorter than 15 years ago.
I agree with you. It is the global warming alarmists who point to hurricanes, floods, etc. as a reflection of what amounts to their theology. It doesn't matter what happens weather-wise, it is caused by global warming.
No one doubts that the climate is getting warmer over the past 100 years. We have some real data on which to base that conclusion. However, there is no conclusive proof that man is responsible in any significant way for these changes.
It is pure hubris to believe that man can control the earth's climate. Man's presence on this 4 1/2 billion year old ball of rock and iron hurtling through the cosmos has been a mere blink of an eye similar to a fruit fly's life span compared to man's. The earth has gone through enormous climate changes long before man emerged from the sea. It will survive long after man has gone.
Unfortunately, global warming has become politicized and its adherents will not truck any difference of opinion or accept any data that conflict with their preconceived assumptions. This is not good science and certainly not the basis of good public policy. We (the developed, affluent countries) are being steamrollered by global warming fanatics to spend trillions of dollars, which can cripple our economies, on the mere hope that cutting down on various emissions and meeting other pollution goals can actually influence the climate of this planet. Moreover, there may be unintended consequences of our actions, which could actually make things worse.
In the meantime, the most populous countries on the planet, India and China, are exempt from these formulaic pollution goals. As both of these countries become more affluent, they will be become the major polluters. For example, the Chinese government has made plans to increase automobile production by an annual average of 10.9% over five years. China is the world's third largest producer of automobiles now. Their imports of automobiles are also increasing exponentially.
Tony Blair has seen the light and so are many other European countries as they realize that they cannot reach these self-imposed targets without suffering significant economic pain. I find it amazing that anyone signed on to Kyoto, which was based less on science than on the herd mentality of the environmentalists. We would be better served trying to adapt and adjust to the ever changing effects of the earth's climate than laboring under the delusional premise that we can control it. The earth's climate has been colder and warmer than it is today. The idea that we can stablize and negate these natural cycles and covert the earth into some sort of artificial, climate controlled biosphere is sophistry.
So are you saying you would think buying land in the Netherlands or investing in a ski resort in the Alps is a good idea?
Sure. It is an individual decision, but any such decision would not be based on some unproven theory that the climate will be altered significantly in the next 100 to 1000 years. Thirty years ago Time magazine had a cover story that we were heading into a new ice age, which was the conventional wisdom at the time. Now, they have a story that we have global warming and are near the tipping point for abrupt change in the world's climate resulting in floods and melting ice caps.
By the way, the season is Austria is 2.5 weeks shorter than 15 years ago.
That is weather, not climate change. LOL.