The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has done its job over the course of the last two decades and given the world enough answers to generally conclude the science on global warming is now settled. To accomplish this, thousands of scientists, for years, donated their evenings, weekends, any free time they had in a selfless effort to answer the questions that needed answers. Hours they could have spent working on their tenure, or publishing career-enhancing papers and books. The Nobel Peace Prize was one big thank you from the world. But the scientific community is tired and their valuable time should not be taken for granted. And there is that other little factor that time is running out. So what should be the next step now that their last reports are done?
There will be some pressure from sticklers (obstructionists) who want them to go back... dot the I's and cross the T's to bring another notch of confidence to the science. (Those are the people who get 100 opinions on where to have dinner when three would do!) But there isn't time. We need to move on and fast.
What they need to focus on now is mitigation and sea level rise. Sea level rise because the scientists have seen changes in Greenland and Antarctica's glacial melt the last five years that they previously never thought possible. Mitigation because we are now facing a now-or-never scenario. What really are our options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Which are ready to use? Which require more development? If we are close, what are the impediments to making it happen? Where should we be seriously investing our time and money? As Al Gore said at the closing concert in Oslo last night, "Let's get on with it."
Strong leadership and marching orders for the IPCC can help make that happen.
Now, what if we didn't change anything and the scientists were right about global warming, what would be the harm?
Conservatives are supposed to be the people who err on the side of caution—in this case, the side of caution says, "Let's protect our environment, not our corporations."
Either get in line and help or get the fuck out of the way and let the rest of us do something about this.
http://lamarguerite.wordpress.com
Good news: "the record melting of Arctic sea ice observed this summer and fall led to record-low levels of ice in both September and October, but a record-setting pace of re-freezing in November, according to the NASA Earth Observatory. Some 58,000 square miles of ice formed per day for 10 days in late October and early November, a new record."
"I believe the purpose of life is to glorify God, and we can't do that if we're heaping content on the creation" (Al Gore, Capital Hill testimony before the US Senate, March 22, 2007, audio available at npr.org)
"Everything in the Bible makes sense to me" (Al Gore, New York Times, Oct. 22, 2000)
"I want people to see my religious experience as what it is, the most important thing in my life" (Al Gore, New York Times, Oct. 22, 2000)
"Faith is the center of my life" (Al Gore, New York Times, May 29, 1999)
and my mind went into "think mode". i mean just for a moment wouldn't it be "scientifically interesting" to know what's still under all those icecaps in greenland??? i know with all the mass destruction and awful sea level rising, this would in a sense cause some serious big bang theorists and religious people into a tizzy........ kinda like what's happening now eh? i am serious in a non-human mass disaster kinda way. i am aware of what is happening and am in agreement with alot of you laurie but....... what would happen with all that type of "real knowledge" from whatever is under there, you know?!?!
Marketers create needs that formerly did not exist in order to drive consumption of "new products." It is so sad to see this happen on the global stage. Hopefully the backlash will be soon in coming- perhaps the exorbitantly high price of organic foods will wake America up to the fact that "green" also represents dollars- cold hard cash.
There are thousands of scientists that believe this latest global warming trend is largely due to natural processes and they come from institutions such as MIT, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Harvard, USC, James Cook University, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, University of Ottawa, National Academy of Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of London, Danish National Space Center, USDA Water Conservation Laboratory, Arizona State, World Federation of Scientists, Yale, ..........ok, I'll stop there but the list goes on.
These reputable scientists are not funded by oil companies.
http://theglobalwarmingtruth.com
NOW WHAT?
You MUST get AL GORE to run for president. He would bring back respect and dignity to the White House. AND he knows what is important and now what is expedient to wage war against people who are no threat to us for the sheer profits of the war profiteers and who can put this country on the right track for the future of us ALL and not just a few ultra wealthy power brokers.
As leader of the free world his work would do more to bring about change than working as a speech giver.
So that is what I think is WHAT NEXT?
Go have a serious chat with Al and get him to run.