Global Warming Denial
The junket at Copenhagen is about to start and we’ll get all of those global warming denial stories. Usually, they are from selfish, overweight people, who are addicted to 4x4s, private jets and all other wasteful indulgences.
But before you embrace what they say, read Johann Hari in the Independent. He analyses all of the evidence and comes to the conclusion that global warming is man-made.
These are the last two paragraphs, which if you can’t bother to read the rest, you should read.
So let’s – for the sake of argument – make an extraordinary and unjustified concession to the deniers. Let’s imagine there was only a 50 per cent chance that virtually all the world’s climate scientists are wrong. Would that be a risk worth taking? Are you prepared to take a 50-50 gamble on the habitability of the planet? Is the prospect of getting our energy from the wind and the waves and the sun so terrible that’s not worth it on even these wildly optimistic odds?
Imagine you are about to get on a plane with your family. A huge group of qualified airline mechanics approach you on the tarmac and explain they’ve studied the engine for many years and they’re sure it will crash if you get on board. They show you their previous predictions of plane crashes, which have overwhelmingly been proven right. Then a group of vets, journalists, and plumbers tell they have looked at the diagrams and it’s perfectly obvious to them the plane is safe and that airplane mechanics – all of them, everywhere – are scamming you. Would you get on the plane? That is our choice at Copenhagen.
Now, I’ll add another thought.
Look at the major countries that are lukewarm on climate change; the United States, China and Saudi Arabia. All have a lot to lose if climate change is accepted. America would have to change its lifestyle much more than any other country, China would have to generate its energy in different ways and poor old Saudi would lose all those oil sales. None of these countries have large areas of low-lying land.
On the other hand, a lot of those countries who believe that action should be done on global warning have a lot of land that will soon disappear. They should know!
So just as the fat bloke in his 4×4 is a denier, so are the United States, China and Saudi Arabia. It is just plain selfishness.
The Anonymous Widower 
Thanks for the independent summary – I hadn’t seen a paper today nor the article online, so am glad to have stumbled across your time saving analysis. Good to find a rational writer in the blogosphere – keep it up…
N
Comment by waterguy | December 4, 2009 |
You don’t undrestand how glaciers work. Glaciers only grow when it snows. When it does not snow the glaciers stop growing. The antarctic and arctic are both cold deserts, so it stopped snowing there thousands of years ago and so these ice sheets do not grow. However glacial ice naturally shrinks due to sublimation (the evaporation of ice directly to the air). So no matter what we do they will eventually shrink to nothing through sublimation. This evaporated water will end up in the oceans and will cause the oceans to rise whether we stop global warming or not. So no worries, as long as these ice sheets remain deserts the glaciers will eventually disappear through sublimation and coastal regions around the world will be flooded, no matter what we do. So relax, we’re all doomed.
Comment by Klem | December 4, 2009 |
I do understand. My physics is very good. I also believe that engineers and scientists will find the solution. Read Buckminster Fuller and you’ll know they always do.
So we’re not all doomed. Well, I hope so! Anyway, I’m 62, so I’ll be dead before it all happens.
Comment by AnonW | December 4, 2009 |