A friend asked me if I thought climate change was a real threat? He pointed to an article at http://www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse/ countering the idea and went on to suggest that:
“…the issue (in my mind) is whether there is a political agenda and/or an effort to extort more of our hard earned tax dollars (and the more we have, the more “they” go after) to create bureaucracies (which creates black-holes for funding to disappear into) and put systems in place that do little or nothing to solve the problem (assuming we have one…).
I looked around the net and found more articles suggesting that climate change is a real threat than not. One great quote: “The future is not inevitable, but we have to work hard to avoid the scenarios described.” I would hope that 8-10 years comes and goes with no demise of the planet… as I plan to be around to enjoy my grandkids a lot longer than 2015.
** Climate change ‘real and severe’ **An expert panel convened by the BBC concludes that climate change is “real and severe”, but maybe not “catastrophic”. : http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/5150816.stm>
http://www.pewclimate.org/global-warming-basics
Seems to me that there are an awful lot of very smart people working on this question around the globe and just as many answers.
Example: The IPPC is a scientific body tasked to evaluate the risk of climate change caused by human activity.
If most of the planet as agreed that there may be an issue, I have to ask myself why the US and Kazakhstan are the only countries that haven’t signed the Kyoto Treaty. Could it be a profit question for US corporations? We can’t just be stupid.
The Kyoto Protocol now covers more than 170 countries globally and more than 60% of countries in terms of global greenhouse gas emissions. As of November 2007, the US, and Kazakhstan are the only signatory nations, not to have ratified the act.
We would all love to Know that there is no threat but are we willing to be wrong? What if the threat of climate change is real? Are we willing to leave the planet to Corbin and Zander to cleanup or will it be too late?
The good news is that there are more people working on the problem than sitting around getting fat(ter) talking on the radio.
1. Minnesota will be the 3rd largest provider of energy produced by wind in the 1st qtr of 2008. Link
2. Metro Transit is introducing 19 new hybrid buses – along with 150 more to follow over the next five years – to its fleet. The new buses, the cornerstone of the agency’s Go Greener initiative, deliver 22 percent better fuel mileage and produce 90 percent fewer emissions than the buses they replace, and they’re exceptionally quiet.
3. Etc…
From an article in USA today…
I the first of two reports earlier this year, the World Meteorological Organization-sponsored panel, which features thousands of climate scientists reviewing studies, included a best estimate that average surface temperatures will rise roughly 3° to 7°F this century. In the second report, the panel concluded that environmental impacts of warming were already apparent in migrating species, earlier springtimes and sea-level rise. The summary warned of a future of increased droughts, floods and species extinctions.
“We have three choices: mitigation, adaptation or suffering,” says Harvard’s John Holdren, co-chair of the National Commission on Energy Policy. “And we are already starting to do a little of each one.”
Lastly, did I miss it, or was there not an author’s name associated with the article in junkscience.com? Just wondering who wrote it so I could check on their credentials..
What do you think? Is climate change a real threat?
Congrats to Al Gore and the IPPC.