Obama Announces New Climate Plan

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Climate change that stopped 20 ears ago? :rolleyes:
No matter what the phony weather crisis of the day, the answer is always more Big Government control of our lives, staggering taxes, breaking the backs of as many Americans as possible, while killing millions of jobs and leaving our children with no future. Thus far, the plan is working like a champ! 👍 Rob
 
Hmm. Wellat least he’s trying to take care of his planet. Despite his other faults.
Oh yeah, while jet-setting across the globe with his elitist family and friends, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars to hard-working families. He really cares. :rolleyes: Rob
 
No matter what the phony weather crisis of the day, the answer is always more Big Government control of our lives, staggering taxes, breaking the backs of as many Americans as possible, while killing millions of jobs and leaving our children with no future. Thus far, the plan is working like a champ! 👍 Rob
Well, if there are too many accidents and deaths on the road, then they put up stop signs and stop lights.

We have ALL had our great chance over the past 25 years to reduce our GHG emissions, which could have been done cost-effectively, saving us $1000s without lowering our living standards (I speak from experience).

Since we as a people have been so evil and stiff-necked about refusing to do that, putting the life of the world at stake, the gov has to step in now.

My big complaint is that the gov should have stepped in 20+ years ago (under Bush Sr, under Clinton, under Bush Jr), when it became obvious people on the whole were just not going to do the right things. I remember even writing to Barbara Bush in 1990 to please influence her husband to do the right thing re climate change, begging on my knees.

It is the people’s own fault that the situation has festered and pretty much guaranteed a tremendous amount of harm to humanity and others of God’s creation (even if Obama’s plan is carried out – and surely Congress will squelch it); and it’s the government’s fault for not acting a lot sooner.

The whole thing now is a big squabble over much too little, much too late.

My living in sorrow continues unabated. I have a image of Our Lady of the 7 Dolors on my bedroom dresser.
 
And it seems Obama is also posed to okay the XL Keystone pipeline, which will more or less guarantee a lot of global warming. (That is how environmentalists are now analyziing his slippery speech.)
(
How much?
 
How much?
At one point Dr. James Hansen (retired head of climate science at NASA) suggested that if we burn all coal it is likely we could tip the climate into runaway warming as on Venus, ending all life on earth (that would be really really hot, boiling away the oceans, etc). And if we also burned all the unconventional fossi fuels, tar sands and shale oil, it was a dead certainty. (He didn’t consider oil as much of a threat, since we’re running out, but coal and unconventional sources of fossil fuels would be enough to do the trick.) See: columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/AGUBjerknes_20081217.pdf

However, since then he has backed away from that most drastic prediction (see columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2013/20130415_Exaggerations.pdf‎), and is speaking more of mini-runaways (or hyperthermals) as happened 55 mya during the PETM, and 251 during the end-Permian extinction event (when 90% of life on earth died). The PETM & end-Permian spiked up some 6C greater than today and wiped out a large portion of life on earth, but happened over a period of 1,000 or more yrs. We are now causing such a warming (to 6C above pre-industrial levels) to perhaps happen within a few 100 years, so there really is no analog from the past re how that will affect life on earth. Apparently other great warmings that took 10,000+ years did not have a drastic an impact as the PETM, which happened rapidly in geological terms. Now we are causing it likity-split.

The problem is the warming we are causing could trigger melting of arctic permafrost and ocean hydrates, releasing vast gigatons of carbon (CH4, CO2) into the atmosphere, causing more warming, more melting, more warming, and so on. The system is dynamic, not linear, so there is not exact answer to your question, but it is possible we could see 6C warming within a century or two if we pursue a “business-as-usual” path without much effort at mitigation, and at that level serious harms to life are pretty much guaranteed.
 
At one point Dr. James Hansen (retired head of climate science at NASA) suggested that if we burn all coal it is likely we could tip the climate into runaway warming as on Venus, ending all life on earth (that would be really really hot, boiling away the oceans, etc). And if we also burned all the unconventional fossi fuels, tar sands and shale oil, it was a dead certainty. (He didn’t consider oil as much of a threat, since we’re running out, but coal and unconventional sources of fossil fuels would be enough to do the trick.) See: columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/AGUBjerknes_20081217.pdf

However, since then he has backed away from that most drastic prediction (see columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2013/20130415_Exaggerations.pdf‎), and is speaking more of mini-runaways (or hyperthermals) as happened 55 mya during the PETM, and 251 during the end-Permian extinction event (when 90% of life on earth died). The PETM & end-Permian spiked up some 6C greater than today and wiped out a large portion of life on earth, but happened over a period of 1,000 or more yrs. We are now causing such a warming (to 6C above pre-industrial levels) to perhaps happen within a few 100 years, so there really is no analog from the past re how that will affect life on earth. Apparently other great warmings that took 10,000+ years did not have a drastic an impact as the PETM, which happened rapidly in geological terms. Now we are causing it likity-split.

The problem is the warming we are causing could trigger melting of arctic permafrost and ocean hydrates, releasing vast gigatons of carbon (CH4, CO2) into the atmosphere, causing more warming, more melting, more warming, and so on. The system is dynamic, not linear, so there is not exact answer to your question, but it is possible we could see 6C warming within a century or two if we pursue a “business-as-usual” path without much effort at mitigation, and at that level serious harms to life are pretty much guaranteed.
Goal of Science - Provide explanations for observed phenomina and to establish generalizations that can predict the relationship between these and other phenomina.

Qualities of good science:
1.Not based on authority
2.Testable
3.Repeatable
4.Universal
5.Measurable (Tangible)
6.Observable

I see a lot of fail in the Anthropological Global Warming theory.

Based on authority
Not testable
Not repeatable
Not universal
Not measurable
Not observable

Basically the opposite of “science”.
 
Goal of Science - Provide explanations for observed phenomina and to establish generalizations that can predict the relationship between these and other phenomina.

Qualities of good science:
1.Not based on authority
2.Testable
3.Repeatable
4.Universal
5.Measurable (Tangible)
6.Observable

I see a lot of fail in the Anthropological Global Warming theory.

Based on authority
Not testable
Not repeatable
Not universal
Not measurable
Not observable

Basically the opposite of “science”.
AMEN!
 
Goal of Science - Provide explanations for observed phenomina and to establish generalizations that can predict the relationship between these and other phenomina.

Qualities of good science:
1.Not based on authority
2.Testable
3.Repeatable
4.Universal
5.Measurable (Tangible)
6.Observable

I see a lot of fail in the Anthropological Global Warming theory.

Based on authority
Not testable
Not repeatable
Not universal
Not measurable
Not observable

Basically the opposite of “science”.
Climate change is not like a classical lab experiment where you can control variables and just study one variable. Though they do have very sophisticated ways to tease out the “signal” of global warming from the “noise” of natural fluctuations due to many factors. That is why it took them so long, nearly 200 years up to 1995 before the first studies could say that warming was happening (at .05 on the null – .04 for winter temps (which are warming faster) and .06 on summer temps).

They do have quite a bit that is testable. You really need to take a course or read a book on it.

For one thing, global warming has happened in the past so they have parameters and a lot of data, and also Hansen’s most likely scenario predictions in the 1980s for what’s happening since are pretty much dead on. He even threw in a hypothetical volcano (which would have a cooling effect), and one did happen (Mt. Pinatubo), with about the same result as he predicted.

Climate science has become very sophisticated now and it is repeatable, universal (also applies to Mars, Venus, etc), measurable and observable – the basic aspects and quite a few others. The scientists are sometimes caught by surpise, such as when the Antarctic ice shelves disintegrated, also that Greenland had ice melt over nearly all its surface last summer – those types of phenomena are more difficult to quantify and predict. And they are very open in admitting that. However, their understanding of these more dynamic processes are increasing by leaps and bounds as they happen and are studied. They have good understanding now (after the fact).

What might happen is that after the fact – after civilization has collapsed and there are no scientists left, bec all are scounging for some morsels to eat and drops to drink (those few that have survived). At that time there might be very good data for very good understanding, but no one to study and analyze it 😦
 
Climate change is not like a classical lab experiment where you can control variables and just study one variable. Though they do have very sophisticated ways to tease out the “signal” of global warming from the “noise” of natural fluctuations due to many factors. That is why it took them so long, nearly 200 years up to 1995 before the first studies could say that warming was happening (at .05 on the null – .04 for winter temps (which are warming faster) and .06 on summer temps).

They do have quite a bit that is testable. You really need to take a course or read a book on it.

For one thing, global warming has happened in the past so they have parameters and a lot of data, and also Hansen’s most likely scenario predictions in the 1980s for what’s happening since are pretty much dead on. He even threw in a hypothetical volcano (which would have a cooling effect), and one did happen (Mt. Pinatubo), with about the same result as he predicted.

Climate science has become very sophisticated now and it is repeatable, universal (also applies to Mars, Venus, etc), measurable and observable – the basic aspects and quite a few others. The scientists are sometimes caught by surpise, such as when the Antarctic ice shelves disintegrated, also that Greenland had ice melt over nearly all its surface last summer – those types of phenomena are more difficult to quantify and predict. And they are very open in admitting that. However, their understanding of these more dynamic processes are increasing by leaps and bounds as they happen and are studied. They have good understanding now (after the fact).

What might happen is that after the fact – after civilization has collapsed and there are no scientists left, bec all are scounging for some morsels to eat and drops to drink (those few that have survived). At that time there might be very good data for very good understanding, but no one to study and analyze it 😦
Global warming has happened in the past. The problem is not that scientists are recognizing global warming, but that they seem to be too willing to attribute it to man-made causes. And we now know that in some cases, data indicating a theory or explanation that is at odds with the orthodoxy is either suppressed or ignored. This leads me to believe that much of the scientific community is agenda driven with regard to the issue of climate warming or climate change. Add to that the fact that the remedies proposed by those who believe in man-made climate change are aligned with the goals of the left: more government control of everything and you have a good reason to be very skeptical of what the mainstream “scientists” are saying on this subject. The climate (if you will pardon the pun) in academia is such that if someone comes up with an explanation that is contrary to the orthodoxy, they risk losing their funding and being ostracized. In a way, the environmentalist left has become more rigid and dogmatic than the religious people that they so like to ridicule.

Ishii
 
Maybe not quite all of the effects of Obama’s anti-energy policies.

There’s falling behind in technology and turning into a “commodity exporter” of our energy resources to other countries; a third-world economic strategy.
There’s much higher costs of everything for most, because energy costs affect everything we buy.
There’s freezing in the dark for the poor.
There are “crony capitalism” benefits going only to the well-connected “clean energy” scams.
There is the unemployment line for everybody in the coal industry.
There is the loss of potential jobs for people in the energy industries and the industries highly sensitive to artificially high energy costs.
There is the loss of competitiveness worldwide when energy costs much more here than elsewhere.

Just a few negatives attending the pursuit of the mythical dragon of “global warming”.

And judging from their prodigal use of energy, the energy-averse politicians themselves don’t believe in it.

So it’s for nothing.
Why do you call it the mythical dragon of global warming? I recognize that no one has been able to prove it. But isn’t it the Church’s position that because the vast majority of the scientists agree that man is contributing to climate change that we would be imprudent to ignore it in our planning for the future? Am I overstating the Church’s position? What do you see the Church’s position to be? This is not a trap question nor do I have a dog in the fight other than to want to do what is the morally right thing to do. So far I have found no papal or bishop’s statements warning against the scientific conclusions supporting “global warming” but I have found statements in support of them. What is a Catholic supposed to think? For me personally, the anti-climate-change rebuttal is wearing thinner and thinner.
 
Climate change is not like a classical lab experiment where you can control variables and just study one variable. Though they do have very sophisticated ways to tease out the “signal” of global warming from the “noise” of natural fluctuations due to many factors. That is why it took them so long, nearly 200 years up to 1995 before the first studies could say that warming was happening (at .05 on the null – .04 for winter temps (which are warming faster) and .06 on summer temps).

They do have quite a bit that is testable. You really need to take a course or read a book on it. 😦
When they figure it out let us know. So far they have a correlation of increasing CO2 and increasing temperatures that lasted about 15 years, then the correlation stopped and the “science” can’t figure out why.
 
Why do you call it the mythical dragon of global warming? I recognize that no one has been able to prove it. But isn’t it the Church’s position that because the **vast majority of the scientists **agree that man is contributing to climate change that we would be imprudent to ignore it in our planning for the future? Am I overstating the Church’s position? .
Vast majority? Source that cites these numbers?
 
Why do you call it the mythical dragon of global warming? I recognize that no one has been able to prove it. But isn’t it the Church’s position that because the vast majority of the scientists agree that man is contributing to climate change that we would be imprudent to ignore it in our planning for the future? Am I overstating the Church’s position? What do you see the Church’s position to be? This is not a trap question nor do I have a dog in the fight other than to want to do what is the morally right thing to do. So far I have found no papal or bishop’s statements warning against the scientific conclusions supporting “global warming” but I have found statements in support of them. What is a Catholic supposed to think? For me personally, the anti-climate-change rebuttal is wearing thinner and thinner.
You think this even though the scientists deliberately suppress the research and opinions of other scientists who accept the orthodoxy? Furthermore, the global warming crowd is fully allied with the left whose prescription for solving climate change is…* more government control and socialism!* There may or may not be global warming - but even if there is, there is no proof that the global warming is caused by man. Does one have to believe what the bishops say about global warming in order to be a good catholic?

Ishii
 
Global warming has happened in the past. The problem is not that scientists are recognizing global warming, but that they seem to be too willing to attribute it to man-made causes.
They attribute it to the greenhouse effect (which Venus and Mars also has). Without the greenhouse effect (greenhouse gases, such as CO2, in the atmosphere) they are simply unable to explain the amount of warming during past warmings. The greenhouse effect is very well understood and accepted in science. A few scientists have tried to debunk it (science is always skeptical), but their science has been roundly and well refuted.

Now, are they able to tell which GHGs are in the atmosphere now. Yes. It has to do with carbon 13 and12, and the ratio of 12 (plants, fossil fuels) to 13 has increased, indicating that the extra carbon up there is mainly from human-caused source – see myweb.rollins.edu/jsiry/isotopes.html.
And we now know that in some cases, data indicating a theory or explanation that is at odds with the orthodoxy is either suppressed or ignored. This leads me to believe that much of the scientific community is agenda driven with regard to the issue of climate warming or climate change.
Patently wrong. Any errors have been aired and fixed. You’re listening to the fossil-fuel funded denialist industry lies which they keep spewing out. Get into the actual science and see for yourself
Add to that the fact that the remedies proposed by those who believe in man-made climate change are aligned with the goals of the left: more government control of everything and you have a good reason to be very skeptical of what the mainstream “scientists” are saying on this subject.
I’ve been advocating Reduce, reuse, recycle, go on alt energy with feasible. Become energy/resource efficient/conservative. And that’s all the gov is trying to inspire people to do. Carrots (such as the great savings to be realized) have not worked, so they’re thinking a trying a few mild sticks to prod people into saving $$$$ and the planet.
The climate (if you will pardon the pun) in academia is such that if someone comes up with an explanation that is contrary to the orthodoxy, they risk losing their funding and being ostracized. In a way, the environmentalist left has become more rigid and dogmatic than the religious people that they so like to ridicule.
Not at all so. Climate scientists are a curious and competitive lot, and will consider any theory that holds promise of water. And they have, such as the cosmic ray theory (which they say might have something to it, except there have not been increasing cosmic rays over the past few decades…
 
Patently wrong. Any errors have been aired and fixed. You’re listening to the fossil-fuel funded denialist industry lies which they keep spewing out. Get into the actual science and see for yourself
No, not patently wrong. Have you heard about “climategate” in which scientists manipulated climate data and attempted to suppress critics? And regarding funding - those in academia who oppose the global warming orthodoxy - who “come out” face the danger of losing their funding. Think about it - would a government bureaucrat fund a scientist who challenges the idea that “global warming” (or climate change) is real? (and therefore challenges the remedy for the global warming - more govt. power and involvement?
I’ve been advocating Reduce, reuse, recycle, go on alt energy with feasible. Become energy/resource efficient/conservative. And that’s all the gov is trying to inspire people to do. Carrots (such as the great savings to be realized) have not worked, so they’re thinking a trying a few mild sticks to prod people into saving $$$$ and the planet.
That’s all the government is trying to do? Have you heard about the hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money wasted on failed “green” initiatives? And the connection between funding these green companies and their political support in return???
Not at all so. Climate scientists are a curious and competitive lot, and will consider any theory that holds promise of water. And they have, such as the cosmic ray theory (which they say might have something to it, except there have not been increasing cosmic rays over the past few decades…
On the contrary - you have way too much faith in the honesty of government and the entrenched orthodoxy in academia. You should be way more skeptical - especially considering it is our tax dollars which are funding all this research and investment.
 
Vast majority? Source that cites these numbers?
Vast majority of practicing, publishing climate scientists – some 97 to 98%, according to studies.

You can do your own study and review all the articles published in top tier science journals and see what percent are saying anthropogenic climate science is not happening and is a hoax.

Even the climate scientists who are skeptics (and funded by fossil fuels) – e.g., Lindzen – are saying ACC is real and happening – only that it won’t be so bad (we can always hope it will not be so bad). However his ideas and theories are not panning out, e.g., the iris effect.

However, even if all climate scientists were bought out by fossil fuels and started denying ACC, the that wouldn’t make it a hoax. There is God-only-knows reality, and people can either strive to find the truth or bec of ideological and selfish reasons fall into a bevy of lies…which is what the denialists are doing bec, let’s face it, ACC is an inconvenient truth, even for Al Gore and also for me.

There are those brave enough to face it, take responsibility, admit failures in life, and strive to do the best. And others who would threaten their own children and progeny with serious harms.

Luckily climate scientists have not caved to evil pressures, harassments, and death threats (including against their small children). Here are some stats re % who accept ACC:
 
Vast majority? Source that cites these numbers?
The USCCB wrote:

The dialogue and our response to the challenge of climate change must be rooted in the virtue of prudence. While some uncertainty remains, most experts agree that something significant is happening to the atmosphere. Human behavior and activity are, according to the most recent findings of the international scientific bodies charged with assessing climate change, contributing to a warming of the earth’s climate. usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/environment/global-climate-change-a-plea-for-dialogue-prudence-and-the-common-good.cfm

I was pretty much taking their, and others’, word for it. Also, I had had a discussion with a friend last year in which he showed me that all the major academies of science around the world endorsed man made climate change. I have long since forgotten what cites he had given me to look at, but it was convincing. When you asked for cites I had to start looking around. I thought the following was pretty impressive.

The following scientific organizations endorse the consensus position that “most of the global warming in recent decades can be attributed to human activities”:

American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Astronomical Society
American Chemical Society
American Geophysical Union
American Institute of Physics
American Meteorological Society
American Physical Society
Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO
British Antarctic Survey
Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences
Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
Environmental Protection Agency
European Federation of Geologists
European Geosciences Union
European Physical Society
Federation of American Scientists
Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies
Geological Society of America
Geological Society of Australia
Geological Society of London
International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA)
International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
National Center for Atmospheric Research
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Page 7 of 9 from the intermediate version of There is no consensus
Royal Meteorological Society
Royal Society of the UK

The Academies of Science from 19 different countries all endorse the consensus. 13 countries have signed a joint statement endorsing the consensus position:

Academia Brasiliera de Ciencias (Brazil)
Royal Society of Canada
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Academie des Sciences (France)
Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina (Germany)
Indian National Science Academy
Accademia dei Lincei (Italy)
Science Council of Japan
Academia Mexicana de Ciencias (Mexico)
Russian Academy of Sciences
Academy of Science of South Africa
Royal Society (United Kingdom)
National Academy of Sciences (USA) (12 Mar 2009 news release)

A letter from 18 scientific organizations to US Congress states:

“Observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change is
occurring, and rigorous scientific research demonstrates that the greenhouse
gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver. These conclusions are
based on multiple independent lines of evidence, and contrary assertions are
inconsistent with an objective assessment of the vast body of peer-reviewed
science.”

The consensus is also endorsed by a Joint statement by the Network of African Science
Academies (NASAC), including the following bodies:

African Academy of Sciences
Cameroon Academy of Sciences
Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences
Kenya National Academy of Sciences
Madagascar’s National Academy of Arts, Letters and Sciences
Nigerian Academy of Sciences
l’Académie des Sciences et Techniques du Sénégal
Uganda National Academy of Sciences
Academy of Science of South Africa
Tanzania Academy of Sciences
Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences
Zambia Academy of Sciences
Sudan Academy of Sciences

Other Academies of Sciences that endorse the consensus:

Australian Academy of Science
Royal Society of New Zealand
Polish Academy of Sciences
 
You think this even though the scientists deliberately suppress the research and opinions of other scientists who accept the orthodoxy? Furthermore, the global warming crowd is fully allied with the left whose prescription for solving climate change is…* more government control and socialism!* There may or may not be global warming - but even if there is, there is no proof that the global warming is caused by man. Does one have to believe what the bishops say about global warming in order to be a good catholic?

Ishii
One was to delve deeper than Fox News or politicians espousing a view that is really an opposition to the other political party. The USCCB’s statement is well thought out; you don’t have to believe it, but you should read it. They have no dog in the fight that I know of, whereas, the politicians do. And what about the endorsement of all the academies of science around the world? Surely, their opinion counts for something. The idea that global warming is being used as a play for more government and socialism is a valid one, but it does not mean that global warming is a scam, it just means that it is being used to further an unrelated cause. The cause of free enterprise and democracy could be furthered if anyone was interested in pursuing it. It could be that there are corporations exerting influence against the case for global warming because it means loss of dollars to them if we move away from fossil fuels. I don’t know-- I’m just saying.

The evidence is not enough to prove it with absolute certainty, but the evidence seems far more in favor of the proposition than against it. The more I read, the thinner the argument against man-made global warming becomes. You can’t always wait until you have 100% conclusive evidence before you act on something that has so much scientific evidence in support of it, especially when the risk is so high. Please don’t ask me to cite all the studies. As I was looking around the net, I found that it was full of global warming studies. They are no secret.
 
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