The Future of The Global Warming Crisis
I had a discussion about "man-made global warming" yesterday. Here are my nuggets of wisdom:
"Long ago, when the earth was warmer, atmospheric carbon was sequestered into sedimentary layers. The earth subsequently cooled. Nowadays, that carbon dioxide is being released from fossil coal and oil deposits, and it's being released faster than it was sequestered. It's not crazy-talk to deduce that the atmosphere will again heat up because of this human-aided activity.
...
"Al Gore is pointing out that the smoke alarm is beeping, and people are laughing at him. "Al's hearing things again." But when the earth is on fire, people will say, "No one could have forseen this ever happening," and Halliburton will be paid hundreds of billions of dollars to pretend to do something about putting the fire out.
...
"At some point in the future the energy companies will be able to make more money with "cleantech" than with oil/gas/coal. At that point the politicians and media (who are bought-and-paid-for by such companies) will trumpet the need to go "cleantech".
Those "carbon credits" are more like a "sin tax" than a "bribe". You want to pollute? Well, you're going to have to pay for the cleanup, in advance. But if you've "gone green", there's no need for the carbon credit money to pay for the cleanup, because your polluting has stopped.
...
"I'm with you, that humans are natural, so any global climate change can be defined as "natural". I also don't think that there will be "runaway" global warming: the earth has a way of naturally moderating itself, for example higher temperatures create more evaporation which creates more clouds which reflects sunlight back into space which cools the earth.
I'm also with you that "carbon" is just one of many pollutants used in (or produced by) manufacturing.
People like Al Gore have taken on the worst job in the world: if he's right, and that man-made global warming is on our doorstep, and he succeeds in stopping it, then what effect we will all see? -nothing! How un-exciting. Much more exciting for the house to be fully engulfed in flames and have the fire brigade come barreling down the street, and have suited-up rescuers carry people from the fire. And then when Al Gore murmurs, "Well, I told you the smoke detector was beeping..." people will turn on him and say, "A little late for that now, Al, don't you think?"
"Long ago, when the earth was warmer, atmospheric carbon was sequestered into sedimentary layers. The earth subsequently cooled. Nowadays, that carbon dioxide is being released from fossil coal and oil deposits, and it's being released faster than it was sequestered. It's not crazy-talk to deduce that the atmosphere will again heat up because of this human-aided activity.
...
"Al Gore is pointing out that the smoke alarm is beeping, and people are laughing at him. "Al's hearing things again." But when the earth is on fire, people will say, "No one could have forseen this ever happening," and Halliburton will be paid hundreds of billions of dollars to pretend to do something about putting the fire out.
...
"At some point in the future the energy companies will be able to make more money with "cleantech" than with oil/gas/coal. At that point the politicians and media (who are bought-and-paid-for by such companies) will trumpet the need to go "cleantech".
Those "carbon credits" are more like a "sin tax" than a "bribe". You want to pollute? Well, you're going to have to pay for the cleanup, in advance. But if you've "gone green", there's no need for the carbon credit money to pay for the cleanup, because your polluting has stopped.
...
"I'm with you, that humans are natural, so any global climate change can be defined as "natural". I also don't think that there will be "runaway" global warming: the earth has a way of naturally moderating itself, for example higher temperatures create more evaporation which creates more clouds which reflects sunlight back into space which cools the earth.
I'm also with you that "carbon" is just one of many pollutants used in (or produced by) manufacturing.
People like Al Gore have taken on the worst job in the world: if he's right, and that man-made global warming is on our doorstep, and he succeeds in stopping it, then what effect we will all see? -nothing! How un-exciting. Much more exciting for the house to be fully engulfed in flames and have the fire brigade come barreling down the street, and have suited-up rescuers carry people from the fire. And then when Al Gore murmurs, "Well, I told you the smoke detector was beeping..." people will turn on him and say, "A little late for that now, Al, don't you think?"
posted by batguano at 12:30 PM
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