Posted on 10/11/2006 8:09:47 AM PDT by SmithL
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says the debate whether humans are changing the climate is over. Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, says the science linking human activity to global warming is overwhelming.
President Bush recently called global warming "a serious problem." He said there is still uncertainty over how much of the warming is natural and how much man-made, but he added that it was time to "get beyond the debate" and deploy new technologies to curb greenhouse gases.
But in the U.S. Senate, one prominent lawmaker isn't buying it.
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., has argued repeatedly that the idea that humans are warming the climate is a hoax. In a speech on the Senate floor last month, he declared that the "greatest climate threat we face may be coming from alarmist computer models."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Part of this is the belief that man always messes everything up, including paradise (Garden of Eden). Yet, it seems grandiose to believe that man could totally ruin a planet. Is there conclusive scientific proof?
This warming spell began when the North American ice sheet began to melt. There wasn't a factory or an SUV in sight.
End of discussion.
You go, Senator!!!
They could have said opinion but judgment sounded more official. Do we pay scientists to be judges, politicians, and opinion writers?
Scientific proof requires double-blind experiments with a control. These experiments must be repeatable and the cause and effect relationship must be provable and strong to be of use. CO2 levels rising 0.1% over several hundred years, from 0.28 to 0.38%, is not significant enough to be entirely responsible for a 5% increase in temperature.
We are short on experiments that show us the optimum temperature to support quality of human life. That setting is likely warmer than it is today. And we are short on how to inexpensively make white reflecting clouds and snow to actively manage where and when the Sun's energy heats the surface. Why do we spend billions on detecting a tiny amount of global warming and very little on technologies that can manage the climate?
Climate management technologies will eventually be funded by the Department of Defense. They will never come from scientists or the UN. If we could induce a directed hurricane we could do more damage to North Korea than an atomic bomb.
Living in Seattle I always view it in terms of "do I want palm trees or 1 mile of ice piled up in my backyard?" Its amazing to think that not too long ago there WAS about a mile of ice over my head!
"Living in Seattle I always view it in terms of "do I want palm trees or 1 mile of ice piled up in my backyard?" Its amazing to think that not too long ago there WAS about a mile of ice over my head!"
This is a non-sequiter, but whenever we travel I always express my preference for places with palm trees. When I found out we were going to Alaska on a cruise, I said NO NO! That's the wrong direction. I want to go SOUTH! Lets go to the Caribbean.
Well, we began our cruise in Vancouver, and there in the median were 6 or 8 palm trees in two rows. The sightseeing guide said, "'Course, they don't grow very fast here. In fact, they haven't gotten any bigger during my lifetime".
One more thing: Our next trip was to London, England in February. Yup - there were a couple of live palm trees outside a pub in downtown London. I have travelled so far only to places where there are palm trees. :-)
I can only imagine what 2010 will bring us.
What did O'Brian say that?
CA....
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