The Reality of Climate Change Part 1
posted by: Scott P. 344 days ago
Allow me to humbly introduce myself as the newest environmental blogger at Care2. I am at once excited and intimidated. The environment by its very nature is a huge subject to tackle with many facets. Moreover, each of these facets comes with its own set of individuals, each with their own strong ideals and opinions.
Before I accepted this position I spent about an hour just thinking about what the environment means to me, and how the quality of our environment affects our daily lives and the global community. Take a few minutes to do it yourself and I think you will immediately see what a daunting subject matter it is. The environment is not merely an issue for tree-hugging 7th level vegans--i.e. they don't eat anything that casts a shadow and tend to spend their free time pocket mulching (for those of you that don't get this Simpsons reference I suggest you bone up--particularly on seasons 4-7 which are my favorite). It is at once a scientific, health, security, business, moral and personal issue that taps into various world concerns from the type of food we eat, to how we heat our homes, to what our homes are made of.
On a global scale it affects the profit margins and future sustainability of companies both large and small, it affects international security because of how or where we get our energy supply (just ask Ukraine and the other Eastern European countries without heat due to Russia's cutting off their supply of natural gas). Also climate change induced natural disasters not only cost the world a lot in human and monetary terms but they can also create refugee crisises that could turn an emerging democracy into a failed state and thus into a haven for extremism. Not to mention the global health pandemics that can be caused by the fallout from such a natural disaster.
Despite my initial trepidation, I now find myself eager to attack these issues and I ask those that read this blog to feel free not only to comment on what I say but also to suggest topics. And please feel free to give criticism. In fact, I hope you do. I may get facts wrong or you may disagree with my interpretation or the possible solution I suggest. I will strive to learn from you as much as I hope you learn from me. As I said before, the subject matter is large and diverse. While I was baptized Catholic I lack papal infallibility. Blogging should not be a one-way stream of information wherein you take in the sage advice of a stranger behind a keyboard it should be the next level in a literary conversation. We need to strive together to make this about creating an evocation, i.e. a to-and-fro interplay of ideas and beliefs. I am, after all, but one individual while you are the multi-verse living in that otherworldly dimension known as the "interweb."
Without further ado, I have decided to tackle the mother of all facets: The boogeyman of the far right and the fundamentalist religious-types who actually want this to occur because it is God's way of bringing about the rapture. I am of course talking about climate change. For most of the world and the scientific community, climate change has ceased being a debate. It is real and it is happening. In the last 10 or so years the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has combed through all the peer-reviewed science on this subject and has concluded with a high level of confidence (a high level of confidence generally means over 90%--which as anyone who is used to doing statistical analysis knows is pretty much as certain as science gets) that not only is the temperature increasing but that man plays a significant role in increasing the temperature due to carbon emissions.
I know some people out there will refuse to believe this. Science isn't always right they say. They remind us that Science is frequently wrong or scientists change their minds as knowledge increases. To that I will agree--somewhat. More often than not, the examples given by people who doubt the efficacy of scientific inquiry focus largely on matters regarding health and medicine. The here-today-gone-tomorrow nature of medical wisdom - i.e. what was true last year has not been proven untrue this year - causes skepticism amongst many people when it comes to scientific facts and findings. But I think the process is a positive not a negative. It is the natural rhythm of science. The beauty of scientific inquiry is that it is peer reviewed and that its findings are adjusted and refuted. But if a theory is valid it will not only withstand criticism it will flourish. Climate change has flourished not only as a truth among the scientific community but as a real threat to the global community.
Science is not always right, but it more frequently is. Just think about all the things science does get right. For example, the ability to communicate on-line via the "interweb," cloning, space travel, etc. are all based on science that was right. At some point you have to ask yourself, "am I going to keep insisting the world is flat and claiming that climate change is a matter of opinion and as such it's okay to disagree that it exists?"
I've said it once and I'll say it again, all opinions are not valid, nor should they be given equal attention. If I were to tell you that global warming was being caused by too many "left-handed lesbian albino Eskimo midgets" (c'mon all you Dead Milkmen fans, give me some props here) would you agree that my opinion deserves equal merit? Hopefully not, and to get back on point--it is okay to disagree with how to deal with climate change but it is no longer okay to not believe in it anymore than it is okay to not believe in gravity or that water is one party oxygen to two parts hydrogen. It is fact. Accept it.
Now that you've ostensibly accepted it, you may want to know why you should care. Of course you have the more commonly discussed and extremely important environmental issues of maintaining pristine lands and protecting wildlife, but there are other issues as well. For all of you conservatives out there who couldn't care less about protecting animals or keeping land clean, in my next blog to appear this coming Monday I will touch on the one that should be near and dear to your heart: International security.
Read more: community, vegan, vegans, environment, climate, global warming, mulching, tree hugger
comments
Who is this clown? Is he really related to you Scott or is someone just being a JERK!
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Yeah, Scott, that team sure did suck last night. They just plain sucked! I've seen teams suck before, but they were the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked!
I gotta go Scott my damn weiner kids are listening.
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its not just the mud ball we walk on its you health, have a nice glass of mercury with that water
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/green-power-plants
We can do what is right for the health of all people on earth, in doing so we can stop global warming. Please sign the petition above a letter asking environmental companies to come together use their network ability to raise donations to start building geothermal plants. We can’t wait on government, even with the new administration, we can get it done faster. Clean Air no mining
Please sign and forward. Thanks Carrie.
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I look forward to reading more.
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Nice read! Enough with the theory...what are some action steps being taken? Care 2 probably already has this...but what about 100 Steps Everyday Person can do to Go Green? Omesh
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To those conservatives that have taken umbrage with my characterization of conservatives as being people who are less than concerned about wildlife and pristine land, let me respond. I didn't say all conservatives, I said those who don't care about these issues. If you happen to be a conservative and also a rabid supporter the Endagered Species Act or the Clean Air Act than I applaud you and you do not have to consider yourself in the mix which I wrote about previously. The reality is that most conservative thought leaders do not consider the environment a highly salient issue particuarly if it involves greater regulation or restrictions against business interets. If you doubt my words, read a copy of the conservative magazines such as Human Events, The National Review, etc.
Furthermore, you can go to Project Vote Smart http://www.votesmart.org/ to see what issues conservative representatives in Congress support. Environmental issues will not be at the top of their list. Moreover, look up their Congressional Record to see what type of votes conservative representatives cast. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/ The evidence will speak for itself.
In the end, if you feel that my characterization is unfair because it is negative than maybe the problem isn't that I honestly critique a conservative point of view but that you feel it unfairly characterizes you. Maybe instead of taking issue with me you should take issue with conservatives that are giving you a bad name.
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I received a few emails about my statement that some people believe that climate change is a preface to the rapture. Here is at least one link that monitors conditions for the rapture which included climate change amongst the factors.
http://www.raptureready.com/rap2.html
This comment was posted on a blog just this last week
"It would be too expensive to try to stop climate change. Should we spend anything on climate change? After all, our Precious Lord has promised to come down from heaven during the Rapture and take us deserving souls to heaven. And all signs point to the Rapture happening very soon. It is better to spend our energies preparing for the Rapture in heaven than to try to save the world, don't you think?"
http://daily.sightline.org/daily_score/archive/2009/01/08/its-too-expensive-to-address-climate-change
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Ah Jaqueline,
I never claimed that there is not a natural cycle to the Earth's temperature. Of course, there is that is how scientists can tell that for the last thirty years that it has increased at a much faster rate than it has previously. Moreover, what evidence do you have that the current cycle would call for warming in at this exact moment in time? The moons shape waxes and wanes in the night sky by a predictable cycle. If we suddently had three weeks worth of full moons you might think something is up no? We know three things that are fact: 1) that levels of CO2 in the air have increasd by well over 30% since the 1920s. 2) That humans are responsible for most of this increase. 3) That CO2 i.e. greenhouse gases by their very nature cause the planet to warm (regardless whether it comes from natural sources or from manmade sources).
I will be the first to admit that climate change is complex. I will also admit that it can be hard to see it as an imminent threat with a high level of salience--even to people that believe in climate change. It would be much easier if to discern the threat if it were already causing the "sky to fall" in ways that the casaul observer on the stree could not deny. But the reality is that it is happening and that by the time it is directly in our faces it may very well be too late.
http://globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image:Carbon_History_and_Flux_Rev_png
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=87
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Sam,
Thanks for the props. Energy policy will be a major aspect of the content of this blog. As for the mix of opinion versus fact, I intend to have plenty of fact to support any opinion I stated. Going forward I will be sure to provide a list of refernces so readers can see where I am getting my information.
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Hey Don,
You are the second person to catch that lack of comma. I guess I missed that one...grrr lousy comma. One day I will find that comma and put it in its place.
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