What if we put all kinds of things into place that scientists believe would slow, stop, or even reverse global warming"if we banned the use of fossil fuels and forced the use of solar and wind and other clean technologies"if we changed the way we dump waste and toxins into our environment and made all efforts, unobstructed to cleaning up our environment and reducing our waste and it turned out that we were wrong about global warming; what would be the harm?
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.
Now What?
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.
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The thing I don't read in your article is leadership. Without leadership, it is hard to get moving on such a huge problem. It needs to happen at all levels, and across disciplines. From world, to national, all the way down to cities and villages. In politics, business, technology, science, sociology, grass roots organizing, . . . the solution will require the cooperation and competencies of all. Electing the right president for the United States can be pivotal.
http://lamarguerite.wordpress.com
Many of the people claiming the scientific community is undecided simply fail to grasp the scientific process. Of course you can find papers going against man-made global warming, because the way people test a theory is by trying to disprove it. However the vast majority, in fact a majority unheard of in a scientific issue this complex, of research has concluded that global warming is real, man-made, and will be catastrophic if we don't do something about it soon.
Debating global warming denialist is a wast of time. Not one of them can present a sustainable scientific argument against global warming. The only discussion worth having is what do do about it.
NASA Earth Observatory, Dec.12, 2007
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)
The earth has been warmer in the past. The earths's had more dissolved CO2 in the atmosphere in the past. The earth goes through cycles of heating and cooling. The science that shows that has been suppressed of late-including a recent paper that concluded that there was a massive algal bloom in the arctic when the water there was 72 degrees and that bloom is responsible for the vast amount of circumpolar petroleum deposits that are there now was completely ignored by the press. But that's fine, go ahead and label me an ostrich. The fact that 50% of the recently observed warming is due to the sun should be no reason to get people out of cars and into public transportation-the environmentalist in me would love to see it.
The trolls & their paymasters may have a well hidden replacement or new revision of the TROLLS LIST OF LOADED QUESTIONS, QUIBBLES, HALF TRUTHS & PEJORATIVE TERMS for writing rants. Will the trolls continue to use it in '08 if their paymasters fund rewrites & major revisions which will appear every 15 minutes? Trolls, like W & Co, aren't quick to adapt to rapid change. The neo-con movement's propaganda efforts could get tied in knots by rapid changes in rhetoric-I hope. The word salad trolls are now using in response to Al Gore getting well earned laurels, science relentlessly presenting irrefutable facts to the public, the surge of the public distrust & contempt for W & Co & the trolls axially auxiliary artillery of dud loads is freezing & wilting the word salad. The trolls garbage is starting to smell of rot before the trolls can dump it on the MSM or the public.
i was reading some article about a hybrid insect--http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7741
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?!?!
The earth is getting warmer at an alarming pace. This is the simple truth. You can verify it for yourself. You may have some sort of agenda that causes you to deny this truth but that doesn't change the facts. So what is causing the earth to get warmer? I don't know and neither do you. Its a problem for scientists. If they have reached a consensus that the problem is caused by CO2 emissions then we should accept that until we have a better answer. So what is next? Nothing is next. The United States lacks the leadership to actually do anything about anything. In America today its every man for himself. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Its been swell.
Now what? The marketing of an impending disaster. Fear-mongering reminiscent of Bush/Cheney post 9/11. The left mimics the right. Scare people and business interest into buying "green."
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.
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Posted December 12, 2007 | 11:48 AM (EST)