Here it comes folks…hold your hats, brace yourself, and keep your seats. Tomorrow President Bush will be addressing the country from the rose garden to unveil his plan for reducing the emissions from the US. He is not yet outlining a specific policy, merely imagining a plan for our country. As a community we need to watch this like a hawk and keep track of the policy implications of this speech and the action that may follow.
Bush may try to use this speech to get the ball rolling to pass weak global warming legislation. We can’t have this happen, we can’t allow this to gain traction. We need strong legislation and cannot settle for anything less than the Safe Climate Act. This act is still not enough, but anything less will not do what we need. Lets keep an eye on this administration and not let them undermine our efforts to stop global warming!
Read the announcement here:
Subscribe by Email!
Subscribe by RSS!
Share on Facebook
Man made global warming is the biggest hoax ever to be brought down on the world. We cannot make the world warmer just like we cannot make it colder. Use your intuition instead of the media. It’s that big bright thing in the sky that controls most of our weather. Emerging science is finally bringing in the sun as a factor of warming. Go figure. It is man’s big fat ego that delves into these remote theories such as 30 parts per million of man made CO2 in the atmosphere are killing us. Remember in the 80s the big hole in the ozone that some how fixed itself? Weren’t we all supposed to be burnt up by the sun by now because of ozone depletion? By using the miniscule knowledge we have of the planet we launch huge conspiracies of epic disaster. We always paint the negative side, never looking to the benefits of natural shits in nature. The media eats this kind of foolishness for lunch. Quotes like “The science is in”and “The debate is over” are childish at best. The science continues as it should and the debate continues because new information should be discussed. Nature will continue to change. Get used to it. I’m just glad it isn’t global cooling. Snow, ice and nothing to harvest is not my idea of fun. Besides, have you seen the price of heating fuel lately?
dmac,
You brought up a good point: “Weren’t we all supposed to be burnt up by the sun by now because of ozone depletion?”
Yes, or something to that effect anyways.
It’s this sentence I want to reply to: “Remember in the 80s the big hole in the ozone that somehow fixed itself?”
Ozone depletion is caused by human-made gases called CFCs (chloro-flurocarbons). It’s too much CFCs that caused the hole in the ozone. Countries around the world signed and ratified the Montreal Protocol, a deal under the United Nations whereby countries had to reduce and then eliminate CFCs. They started with the industrialized countries that were causing most of the problem. The Montreal Protocol is working.
If you look at climate change, it’s a similar issue. Climate change is caused by human-made gases called GHGs (greenhouse gases). It’s too much GHG that is causing climate change. Countries around the world signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol, a deal under the United Nations whereby countries have to reduce GHGs. They are starting with the industrialized countries that were causing most of the problem. The Kyoto Protocol is working. It can work a lot more effectively if the United States ratifies the agreement.
You’re also right that science continues to happen and debate should continue to happen. Agreed; however, if you remember what the balance is of the debate, the climate change picture is much more clear. The international scientific community is 95% certain that the climate change we are seeing today is possible only with the impacts of humans. In other words, the international scientific community is 5% certain that the climate change we are seeing today is entirely natural.
Of course the sun is one of many factors; but right now, humans are the factor that is tipping the balance.
Thanks for posting what a lot of people are thinking, dmac - Hopefully this clears things up a bit.
Zoe
Thank you to both dmac and zoe for their comments. I just wanted to comment on one thing that dmac proposes, “listen to your intuition instead of the media.” I would like to mention that we have been trying to get the media to cover this issue comprehensively for years, and they are only relatively recently doing that. My intuition is quite fallible as well, and would cause me to act in a more subjective way. My support for strong action to stop global warming is inspired by the science. This is the conceptual aspect of what Zoe is talking about. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been researching this issue for about 20 years and is a rather conservative scientific body. Their most recent report asserts that global warming is caused by humans and radical action is needed to avoid catastrophic effects. I trust these reports because dirty energy companies and large emitters of GHGs have been active in watering down the science at every moment possible. They have literally sat in the IPCC meetings from their beginning and asserted their opinion and whispered in delegates ears to weaken the language. In spite of the heavy influence, the world’s leading climate scientists STILL believe that we are in dire trouble if we do not act to drastically reduce emissions. So, while I value your alternative point of view dmac, I fear that it drastically underestimates the amount of scientific work that has produced our climate change predictions. This isn’t armchair science, this is real science.