Global Warming

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  1. #11

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    [QUOTE=chowfun;224629]To be honest. I don't know for sure if that's a bad thing.

    Even if the world is covered with oceans with a sprinkling of islands...Only a few million people survive this "end of the world" scenario...Surviving marine life will flourish due to the smaller human footprint.
    QUOTE]

    World War 3 might be seen to be a bad thing.


  2. #12

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    I think that people that are still clinging to the idea that we're affecting the climate are plain wrong. Even Bush is now admitting to it...

    To say that for every study saying one thing, there's another saying the opposite isn't quite correct. It's definitely not a 1-1 ratio here.

    That being said, it's supremely arrogant to look at the data and affirm to know what's going to happen in 50-100 years. The climate models have huge margin of errors built in and much of the data that is fed into them also has large margins of error.

    The alarmists are also playing people for idiots when they talk of flooding cities, countries disappearing etc... Countries like the Netherlands have already been dealing with these problems for a long time. I think we have a pretty good idea on how to build dikes. Heck in HK, we certainly know what land reclamation means...

    Unfortunately, I firmly believe that we're too stupid and greedy as a race to do something significant enough to change the current course. Humans will have to lean to adapt to the change and that's as simple as that... It doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to minimize the damage. We should try to lower emissions and become more efficient but the reality is that most people will not care until hit hits their wallet or their lives directly.

    The highest selling vehicles in the US for the last 17 years were always pick-up trucks, now it seems the Civic has surpassed it for the first time. Quadruple the price of gas and we might get somewhere...


  3. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by gilleshk:
    I think that people that are still clinging to the idea that we're affecting the climate are plain wrong. Even Bush is now admitting to it...

    To say that for every study saying one thing, there's another saying the opposite isn't quite correct. It's definitely not a 1-1 ratio here.

    That being said, it's supremely arrogant to look at the data and affirm to know what's going to happen in 50-100 years. The climate models have huge margin of errors built in and much of the data that is fed into them also has large margins of error.

    The alarmists are also playing people for idiots when they talk of flooding cities, countries disappearing etc... Countries like the Netherlands have already been dealing with these problems for a long time. I think we have a pretty good idea on how to build dikes. Heck in HK, we certainly know what land reclamation means...

    Unfortunately, I firmly believe that we're too stupid and greedy as a race to do something significant enough to change the current course. Humans will have to lean to adapt to the change and that's as simple as that... It doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to minimize the damage. We should try to lower emissions and become more efficient but the reality is that most people will not care until hit hits their wallet or their lives directly.

    The highest selling vehicles in the US for the last 17 years were always pick-up trucks, now it seems the Civic has surpassed it for the first time. Quadruple the price of gas and we might get somewhere...
    I agree. We are affecting climate, but we don't know how; alarmists on both sides get way too much press (sort of like a previous poster who said environmentalists want more room for whales, less for people; I believe that sums up the reputation of the extremists in that group and they are the ones with all the press);
    and the answers will come when somebody can make money off the answers.

  4. #14

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    I guess it's not a bad thing that environmentalists get a lot of press since it may open a few people's eyes. We may not know what's going to happen but it's pretty obvious that we're doing harm... The question is how much harm and whether we can fix it... which is probably not.


  5. #15

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    washingtonpost.com

    James E. Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute and one of the first to sound the alarm about global warming in a congressional hearing 20 years ago yesterday:
    "Practically, I don't see how we can stop putting the oil in the atmosphere, because that's owned by Russia and Saudi Arabia," he advised the House committee on global warming. "We can make our vehicles more efficient, but that oil is going to get used and it's going to get in the atmosphere . . . and it doesn't really matter much how fast we burn it. But what we could do is stop the coal."

    It's reputable opinions above that makes me question/suspect the trendy solutions the Al Gore clan came up with. I'd hate to see his popular movie ruin Earth faster by distracting us with the wrong solutions.

  6. #16

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    Coming from a guy that spends 20 times the national average(already high) on electricity... yeah he better be buying carbon credits and shining his little Oscar...


  7. #17

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    Another quote from Hansen: "It's probably also worth pointing out that our actions to deal with climate change over the past 20 years have really been minuscule and we're really running out of time."

    I don't see actions getting any better anytime soon to make a significant impact. Not when there's still time to make big bucks!!!

    There would be a comet heading to destroy earth and there would still be people selling life insurance


  8. #18

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    Why are we so worried about saving the damn planet when there is already so much inhumanity around us... on the very streets and neighborhoods we live in?

    Go help a disabled child, donate some blood, teach some to read, help an old lady cross the road.

    There are far more real ways in which we can create a better world than buying a souped up Prius and pretending that the world is a better place because of the choice of car.


  9. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by KnowItAll:
    Why are we so worried about saving the damn planet

    .
    I think only a minority actually want to save the planet, or make a real difference to the world we live in. The majority are far too selfish.

    From a Flux of Pink Indians song (1982)

    "the money we donate to charity
    is too small to be of real consequence
    but large enough to ease our conscience"

    replace charity with recycle carrier bags, buy a prius, set air-con higher, turn lights off for one hour once a year etc etc

  10. #20

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    That's bang on leghk...