Saturday, March 28, 2009

Turn Out The Lights, The Party's Over

The Democrat & Chronicle is good for laughs if not for news. And I'm not talking about the comics section.

Today's chuckle came on (you guessed it!) the editorial page, in the Thumbs Up, Down section. They gave a thumbs up to "Earth Hour". This is happening tonight when concerned citizens from across the country and the world are supposed to show their support for anti-global warming initiatives. The idea is that you should shut off all of your lights from 8:30-9:30 PM and conserve energy.

This "sacrifice" will show world leaders how serious we are about global warming. Of course, we wouldn't want too much sacrifice; you are not being asked to turn off your TV or computer for that hour. I guess environmentalists across the globe want to be able to IM each other about what a great thing they are doing.

Obviously, protecting our environment is a paramount concern. But the idea of taking dramatic steps which will severely reduce our standard of living on the claim that such steps will prevent man-made global warming is crazy. If you take a look at the temperature chart contained in this PowerLine post, it is clear that the Earth goes through cycles of warming and cooling. Something other than man-made pollution has to have been the cause, at least in the millenia before the Industrial Age. The related charts also show that CO2 emissions do not appear to be the cause of warming.

It seems to me that before embark on costly changes to our economy, like a multi-billion dollar carbon tax, we should have a real scientific debate on whether or not human efforts are responsible for the condition and/or can change the result. Like so many other things we "know", the case is not closed. We have been told it is closed by advocates, zealots and partisans like Al Gore and the UN's IPCC. There are many reputable scientists and climate experts who disagree; the zealots don't want them heard.

As the PowerLine article notes, we can only hope that Congressmen read the cap and trade carbon tax bill that Obama is pushing before they vote on it. Here's another idea: why don't we hear from scientists on both sides of the issue before we take irretrievable steps?

2 comments:

King Dinglefritz said...

I have only one question to ask. What if Al Gore and his band of assassins are right and we stand back and do nothing? I do have a strong background in science so I do not believe I am talking out of my butt on this(major - Geography, minor- Geology, concentration in Environmental Studies). Now having said that I believe that we are affecting Earth's climate in a negative way. If we take steps to make the Earth a better place to live is that really a bad thing? I do not mean going overboard and screwing up our standard of living but we need to start taking steps to reduce the crap we put into our atmosphere, oceans and the like. Until we find a ship with warp drive this is the only world we have. Do we really need to turn it into more of a crap hole than it is right now? I do agree the climate goes in cycles but the recent warmth is unprecedented. Take the Maunder Minimum for example of a cyclical event. During this period the sun 'lost its spots' for a while and the earth went into a lengthy cooldown. An active sun keeps our earth's climate more stable.
If the Greenland ice sheet melts too fast the additional incoming fresh water will 'cap' the gulf stream and put parts of the northern hemisphere into an ice age. Funny, isn't it, global warming bringing back the ice but it could happen, and sooner than we think. The movie 'The Day After Tomorrow' may be a little bit overblown(It won't happen that fast) but the science it presented is there. Cold, fresh(not as salty) water heading south is not as dense as the warm Gulf Stream saltier water heading north and It can overpower the Gulf Stream. The northern hemisphere will lose the moderating effects of the Gulf Stream plunging it ibot a longterm cold spell until the situation corrects itself.
I have a friend, Dr. Diane Stanitski of NOAA who is presently a professor of Climatology at Colorado State and I am going to contact her and get her opinion about global warming. I will continue discussion on this topic in my blog when I get her opinion which I value highly.
Maybe its time we start trying to be kind to this planet before Mother Nature hires her own "Repoman" to get rid of us.
PS: I do not believe in the symbolism of turning out the lights for an hour as that is meaningless drivel.

King Dinglefritz said...

I know Mr. Repoman that once you form your opinion you won't change it but I have a couple of sites you can check out that my friend Dr. Stanitski recomends(and she actually read my blog about this.):

"Check out
http://www.twq.com/08winter/docs/08winter_stern.pdf
which is co-authored by the country's new diplomat on climate change
(see http://earth2tech.com/2009/01/26/todd-sterns-strategy-for-climate-negotiations-not-another-kyoto/). I appreciate your viewpoint and absolutely agree with your opinions."
Maybe, Repoman, illumination will be yours.