Global warming has to be our highest priority!

[cally]

Nothing else matters as much as this issue. Talk about Iraq, middle east conflict, religious conflict all you want. It doesn't matter unless we focus on global warming.

We're about to lose most of our major cities and historical record. I'm not talking about just the US, but the world civilization that we know. I'm just not smart enough nor do I want to be, to predict what will come next.

Folks, it's time to focus if we want to save this civilization and world.

I look at too many issues and I see the normal debates. It does not matter unless we address global warming. We're about to lose it all unless we all focus on this one issue. We have no other options.

Anyone who disagrees, please cite your reference.

[villager]

1. who's disagreeing? It will soon trump all the acting out by

religious crazies (ours, theirs) that currently hold the planet hostage/in thrall....

[cally]

5. I see too many of us focused on old conflicts

We have to unite and focus on this one. We have no other choice.

[leftchick]

2. I have been saying this for months!

It is another 60 degree December day here in NC and it is all I think about. Global Warming/Climate Change exclipes ALL other issues period!

[Junkdrawer]

3. Alternate Energy unites my two greatest concerns...

Iraq/Iran is an oil issue.

Global warming is an oil issue.

If we get our oil addiction under control, we go a LONG way to solving both crises.

[nam78_two]

4. I agree but

I do think the indifference in the Western world is because we realize that we will be affected last (though we are contributing the most) and therefore as per usual we don't give a hoot.

Problem is we might have a cushion but thats about it. However, while we can look the other way while the African and Asian nations and the poorest people on the planet get screwed yet again, while we debate the usual navel-gazing stuff regarding whether breast implants are ethical or not etc. etc., we don't have that much time either :-/.

[rmgarrette64]

6. I'll play. I disagree

A few caveats, of course. I'm mostly taking issue with the idea that global warming should be our "highest priority!" And, to be fair, I'm arguing for the sake of arguing - unanimity, such as we're already seeing on this thread, is often a sign that we haven't looked at the issue enough. It's always good to re-examine your case.

Anyway, you asked for references, so let me start with one. This is a senate white paper from Sen. Inhofe, Senate White Paper. He examines some of the more extreme claims of global warming, as well as media reaction to same, which tends to be even more exagerated.

There was another, far more interesting abstract I'd seen recently, but was unable to locate again - so please allow me to summarize, even though I've forgotten details like the author... It was an economist presenting, and his claim was two-fold. First, he examined how we had adapted to gradual changes in the past, and found that the costs of gradual adaptation are considerably less than those for sudden adaptation. When we talk about global warming, we tend to estimate the costs based on everything happening at once. His claim is that this is a drastic overestimation. Secondly, he was pointing out that there is an opportunity cost to anything we do, and we need to take that into account even when dealing with global warming. In other words, even if we can accomplish a definite good by spending X on combating warming, we need to look at what else we could have accomplished with that X, and compare to see the costs and benefits.

In your own second paragraph, you claim "we're about to lose most of our major cities and historical record." What is your source for that? That is far beyond most of the claims I've seen, which point to a 2-4 degree fahrenheit increase over the next century, with a sea level rise of about 2-6". Bad, sure. Catastrophic, probably not.

Oh, one other reference - I assume well known. I found Bjorn Lomborg's Skeptical Environmentalist to be an excellent resource. Yes, I know the critiques - and people have found some errors. But only some. In general, I find him an excellent resource on the numbers. His whole book isn't posted, but a quick link is Lomborg's site.

Before signing off, let me reiterate. Climate change is important. We should be doing more than we are. But we should also check our own assumptions before going too far.

R. Garrett

[cally]

7. Where are your references?

Prove it. Yeah, I know I didn't cite references. I don't believe I have to. Prove to me that this one is open for debate. I don't believe it.

[rmgarrette64]

9. I put two references in my response

Did you want more? What claim specifically do you want me to back up?

R. Garrett

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Bjorn Lomborg?!

:rofl:

The guy's been utterly discredited. You might as well be referencing the Discovery Institute and Art Bell.

[jpak]

11. Inhofe is a GOP scientific illiterate, Lomborg has no credibility in the climate science community

Here's some real science...and the smoking guns are in bold...

Robert K. Kaufmann, David I. Stern (1997) Evidence for human influence on climate from hemispheric temperature relations. Nature Vol. 388 pp 39 - 44

Simon F. B. Tett, Peter A. Stott, Myles R. Allen, William J. Ingram, John F. B. Mitchell (1999) Causes of twentieth-century temperature change near the Earth's surface Nature. Vol. 399 pp. 569 - 572

T. M. L. Wigley, R. L. Smith, B. D. Santer (1998). Anthropogenic Influence on the Autocorrelation Structure of Hemispheric-Mean Temperatures. Science. Volume 282 pp. 1676-1679.

S. Levitus, J. I. Antonov, T. P. Boyer, and C. Stephens 2000 Warming of the World Ocean Science 287: 2225-2229

Peter A. Stott, S. F. B. Tett, G. S. Jones, M. R. Allen, J. F. B. Mitchell, and G. J. Jenkins (2000) External Control of 20th Century Temperature by Natural and Anthropogenic Forcings. Science. Vol 290 pp 2133-2137.

Francis W. Zwiers and Andrew J. Weaver (2000) The Causes of 20th Century Warming. Science. Vol. 290 pp 2081-2083.

H. Jesse Smith (2000) Climate: Man-made and Natural Variation. Science Vol. 289: pp 217-219.

Myles R. Allen, Peter A. Stott, John F. B. Mitchell, Reiner Schnur,Thomas L. Delworth (2000) Quantifying the uncertainty in forecasts of anthropogenic climate change. Nature. Vol. 407 pp 617 - 620

Richard A. Kerr (2001) It's Official: Humans Are Behind Most of Global Warming. Science. Vol 291:566

J. E. Harries, H. E. Brindley, P. J. Sagoo, R. J. Bantges (2001).
Increases in greenhouse forcing inferred from the outgoing longwave radiation spectra of the Earth in 1970 and 1997. Nature Vol. 410 pp 355 - 357

T. P. Barnett, D. W. Pierce, R. Schnur (2001). Detection of Anthropogenic Climate Change in the World's Oceans. Science Vol. 292: pp 270-274.

S. Levitus, J. I. Antonov, J. Wang, T. L. Delworth, K. W. Dixon, and A. J. Broccoli (2001) Anthropogenic Warming of Earth's Climate System. Science 292: 267-270.

D. J. Karoly, K. Braganza, P. A. Stott, J. M. Arblaster, G. A. Meehl, A. J. Broccoli, and K. W. Dixon 2003 Detection of a Human Influence on North American Climate
Science 302: 1200-1203

P. A. Stott, D. A. Stone and M. R. Allen 2004 Human contribution to the European heatwave of 2003 Nature 432, 610-614

B. D. Santer, M. F. Wehner, T. M. L. Wigley, R. Sausen, G. A. Meehl, K. E. Taylor, C. Ammann, J. Arblaster, W. M. Washington, J. S. Boyle, and W. Brüggemann 2003 Contributions of Anthropogenic and Natural Forcing to Recent Tropopause Height Changes Science 301: 479-483

J. Hansen, L. Nazarenko, R. Ruedy, M Sato, J. Willis, A. Del Genio, D. Koch, A. Lacis, K. Lo, S. Menon, T. Novakov, J. Perlwitz, G. Russell, G. A. Schmidt N. Tausnev 2005 Earth's Energy Imbalance: Confirmation and Implications Science Vol. 308: 1431 – 1435

B. J. Soden, D. L. Jackson, V. Ramaswamy, M. D. Schwarzkopf, and X. Huang 2005 The Radiative Signature of Upper Tropospheric Moistening Science 310: 841-844

T. P. Barnett, D. W. Pierce, K. M. AchutaRao, P. J. Gleckler, B. D. Santer, J. M. Gregory, and W. M. Washington 2005 Penetration of Human-Induced Warming into the World's Oceans Science 309: 284-287

V. Ramaswamy, M. D. Schwarzkopf, W. J. Randel, B. D. Santer, B. J. Soden, and G. L. Stenchikov 2006 Anthropogenic and Natural Influences in the Evolution of Lower Stratospheric Cooling Science 311: 1138-1141

There is NO disagreement among real climate scientists regarding global warming - it's real and caused by human activities.

and everything else is Republican BS...

[LSK]

12. Sen. Inhofe??? From that OIL state of Oklahoma????

:rofl:

[Johonny]

15. 6" or 4 1/2 feet

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=D9ECA0697CE00E28C61E029120C518C9

[silverojo]

10. I don't disagree that global warming must be addressed

I merely disagree that it's THE highest priority. Our highest priority must be the economy--getting people jobs, restoring the safety net for the poor, and health care for all. That will, in turn, help with global warming, because people will be able to afford more hybrid vehicles and all those things you need for your home, to reduce energy consumption. But when people can't afford to put food on their table, or afford their medications, they can't afford spending money on energy-saving measures.

So I'm not exactly disagreeing with you, just saying that this is the way to enable John and Jane Doe to help with global warming.

I wish Al Gore would talk more about solar energy, particularly solar cooking. It's a great way to use the energy of the sun, to cook without overheating your kitchen during the summer...and solar-cooked foods just plain taste great! You can buy pre-made ovens, build your own, or even fashion one out of a couple cardboard boxes and some aluminum foil. I've done the latter, and even frozen foods cook to perfection--food doesn't burn, and clean-up is much easier than in other methods of cooking.

Imagine if every mall, office building, etc., had solar panels, how much that would reduce how much energy we use!

Solar energy, while it has its limitations, certainly has a rightful place in any effort to reduce global warming. :thumbsup:

[irislake]

13. Absolutely! Absolutely!

I couldn't agree more. Our new Liberal Leader Stephan Dion has made it his top priority. I think it has moved ahead of Health Care as the most important issue in Canada. Stephen Harper has really blundered. He is going to be down and out in no time over this. I guess he is making the mistake of talking directly to his Rapture-Me-Up Jesus- Freak God, the same God who is giving your pretzeldent such crappy advice about everything you can think of.

[taterguy]

14. Do you use a car for transportation?

If so, why?