Denying human induced climate change is the same as denying evolution.
I already replied to this somewhere but I cannot find the link, so here
it is again;
Global warming is very real and man-made. The 'experts' who don't
agree are all funded by the Oil industry. Especially by companies like
Exxon, who unlike other oil companies does not invest in renewable energy. They
are funding a huge misinformation campaign. The deniers have various
tactics, such as; >>
a. Denying the existence of global warming. Which is no
longer sustainable, given the overwhelming consensus in the scientific
community. Note that the current US administration holds this position- making
them factual Lysenkoists. [Note that this has recently changed- Now even the Bush administration admits it] As a side note, saying that 'in the 70s they feared
an ice age, so today we can dismiss global warming' is ridiculous.>>
b. Denying the human causes of global warming (attributing it to
natural temperature fluctiations). Which ignores the physics of greenhouse
effect.>>
c. Denying the dangers of global warming. Which is the position
I'd go for if I was an Oil company propagandist, but nevertheless wrong, and
not to mention dangerous.>>
Here are the answers;>>
a. Global warming is a fact. It is not disputed any longer in the
scientific community- except for a corporate funded 'research' fringe. For
instance, the website 'www.globalwarming.org' [Note: someone gave this link as a reliable source in the previous discussion] belongs to the Cooler Heads
Coalition. The director of that coalition is Myron Ebell, who was the
Former National Policy Director, 'Frontiers of Freedom' (an organisation which
calls itself 'the anti-thesis of Green movement', and received 467,000 USD funding from
Exxon since 1998). Ebell also happens to be the Director of Global Warming and
International Environmental Policy at the 'Competitive Enterprise Institute' (a
conservative think-tank 'at the centre of global warming misinformation campaign',
which received 1,465,000 USD funding from Exxon since 1998).>>
b. Some people deny the human causes of global warming. This
is again the consensus in the scientific community. Questions from George
Monbiot (he's a famous columnist/political activist/environment expert);>>
1. Does the atmosphere contain carbon dioxide? >>
2. Does atmospheric carbon dioxide influence global temperatures? >>
3. Will that influence be enhanced by the addition of more carbon
dioxide? >>
4. Have human activities led to a net emission of carbon dioxide?>>
'Yes' is the answer to all these questions- answering 'no'
means you're 'parting your ways with basic physics'. >>
c. Is climate change something to be afraid of. It is insane to
think otherwise. Even Pentagon claims that it is the greatest danger to
security worldwide. The climate is a delicate and chaotic system and so many
things can go so wrong that you wouldn't believe. Certain things are
already happening- like areas becoming 'uninsurable' due to hurricanes and
forest fires, thousands dying from heat waves, crop failures due to draught and
rising of the sea levels (goodbye Netherlands!), melting of glaciers on
mountain ranges. >>
Larger scale catastrophes may also happen in the
future. To list some from memory;>>
- Massive melting of the Antarctic Ice (it is already melting)
disturbs the Golf Stream, turning Europe into Siberia or Canada (take a map and
look where NW Europe corresponds in the American continent, compare their
climates). >>
- It is estimated that the global temperature increase can reach 6
degrees celcius by the end of the 21st century. What does that mean? Well, 4
degrees is the temperature difference between now and the last ice age.
And the last time the temperature increased by 6 degrees, some chemical
reactions were triggered, details of which I forgot (things like release
of the carbon trapped in tar pits, or the methane in seabed), accelerating the
greenhouse effect to no end and subsequently causing a total collapse of the
climate system. As a result 90% of all species were killed. That's of course
the worse case scenario. >>
So, what can we do about it? We don't need to dismantle the whole
industrial economy, but we need to curb certain emmissions. Kyoto treaty
is just a tentative first step, very insufficient, but some greedy countries
won't even accept that. Surely, the capitalist idiots who rule most
countries will never react to the danger unless their asses are on fire. Then
the people will make the companies comply, don't you worry. I hope it won't be
too late.>>
Here are my sources; >>
www.exxonsecrets.org (this
is like the best website I've ever seen, you should see it)>>
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/category/climate-change/>>
especially these articles;>>
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2004/04/27/the-fossil-fools/>>
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2003/07/01/shadow-of-extinct
ion/>>