Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Global Warming Revisited

"Countries around the world, especially advanced economies, are stepping up their efforts to fight global warming. However, their action has not been enough ..." ~ Korea Times

An Interview with Ennyman
Question one: Are scientists in agreement that global warming is in fact occuring?
Answer: No
Question: Was there some global warming from sixties to somewhere in near past?
Answer: Yes, there was apparently some measurable global warming.
Question: Have there been periods of global warming in the past in human history?
Answer: Plenty, none of them related to greenhouse gases produced by man.
Question: So global warming and cooling is normal in earth history?
Answer: Yes.
Question: If melting polar icecaps were due to greenhouse gases, how does this explain the melting polar ice caps on Mars?
Answer: It would appear to be due to another phenomenon... maybe solar flares? Scientists do not know for sure.
Question: Then why do scientists want to mess with the atmosphere here on earth the way they have been messing with turning food crops into fuel crops (ethanol)? Could it be due to lobbysists who work for companies who stand to profit from such an adventure?
Answer: I do not know.
Question: Is Global Warming a true threat or Politically Correct?
Answer: The hysteria seems unfounded, but those who are not in agreement with the Politically Correct stance seem to be objects of scorn and vilification.
Question: What would Mark Twain say about all this?
Answer: Be afraid of the politicians.
Question: Is the Green Movement bad?
Answer: Of course not. I am totally against the irresponsible rape and pillage of Planet Earth. But the hysteria that the world is coming to an end because people drive big cars is a bit overboard. The smokestacks of Pittsburgh disappeared 100 years ago. And diesel engines are 98% cleaner than fifteen years ago… with EGR (Engine Gas Recirculation) and other advances, vehicles will get cleaner still.
Question: So you are saying that technical advances have been making a difference?
Answer: Factually, yes.
Question: Then why the hysteria?
Answer: Ask who benefits from global warming hysteria….
Question: Are you an authority on these matters?
Answer: No, I just read widely and with a fair measure of skepticism. The world is a mess right now, on many fronts, and I believe global warming should be the least of our concerns. But I'm just one voice... and I am grateful we still live in a land where free speech is theoretically a constitutional right.

4 comments:

LEWagner said...

"Ask who benefits from global warming hysteria…."

What I was thinking was: People who sell motor oil benefit if people start driving more, don't they?
A Hummer for everyone world-wide!!! Cut down more forests to make the roads wider so the vehicles can run faster!!! Blacktop over hundreds of thousands of acres of nature for superhighways and parking lots, and do it world-wide!!! More! More! More! Develope! Develope! Develope!
None of this has had any effect on world climate in the past, and none of it will have any effect on the climate in the future. Bet on it.
(It seems like a pretty dangerous thing to bet on, though, when about the ONLY people still denying global warming, ARE people who are connected with oil companies.)

Ed Newman said...

No question the attitude of development and expansion is impossible to sustain. I think believe there is an energy crisis and you can be sure powerful interests exist to sustain the status quo.

Oil change intervals are 3000 miles in U.S. and in Europe avg 10,000. 40% of cars in Europe use synthetic and longer drain intervals... But the president/CEO of Pennzoil said, in an interview in an oil industry trade mag, that if they could get people to change oil MORE often by 100 miles, Pennzoil would make 22 - 24 million dollars more a year.

Extended drain intervals results in less waste oil, less oil used, fewer oil filters to dispose of. Companies CAN make products last longer, but choose not to so they can sell more.

I still feel that global warming is a slightly separate issue from energy issue... The hard part is knowing what is true. When we read news story, is it information or disinformation? Which sources of information are accurate in a world where everyone is spinning. And if it comes out of Wash DC I trust almost none of it.

SBVOR said...

There is a great deal more I can and will (later) post on this topic. For now, you may find these two posts (and associated sub-links) of interest:
================================
CO2 is Not a Problem
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The Current Cooling Trend
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LEWagner said...

>>>>>>>I still feel that global warming is a slightly separate issue from energy issue... The hard part is knowing what is true.

I've found it useful to 'take things to their logical extreme" to help determine what makes sense.
If everyone on earth were driving a Hummer, and if there were enough blacktop roads on earth to accomodate all that traffic, would the temperature stay the same?
Even here in the Lao PDR, where there is only a modest amount of traffic compared to in the US, it gets noticeably warmer when you're riding a motorbike on out-of-town roads, and you approach a city or a town. There are a lot more trees in the country, while in towns and cities, there is concentrated traffic, lots of blacktop, and way fewer trees. This affects the temperature. (This same thing also happens in the United States, of course.)
This same thing multiplied over by, say, a million times, it seems to me, would affect the temperature of greater and greater areas. That's what I'd bet on, anyway. And, in fact, it's what we're undeniably seeing.

>>>>>>>>>When we read news story, is it information or disinformation? Which sources of information are accurate in a world where everyone is spinning. And if it comes out of Wash DC I trust almost none of it.

The Bush Administration has a poor reputation for veracity. Oil companies have an obvious agenda of selling oil. So, I tend to disbelieve them, especially when what they say goes against what I'm seeing with my own eyes.

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