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Ice Does Melt: An Inconvenient Truth
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E-mailMade Popular May 15 2009
Philippines :
Introspecting (yes, I indulge in it once in a while), I find 10 good reasons why I can’t seem to haul myself on the panic bandwagon of this global warming rabblerousing racket.
1) I come from the so-called Third World where we eat panic for breakfast.
2) This country lies on the typhoon belt and I’ve experienced really raging typhoons (in fact, far worse than what we get now) way before global warming became a rage. (If we are to believe the panic-peddlers, every storm nowadays is caused by climate change).
3) I’m quite used to floods as they are a common occurrence in these parts and they are caused not by a rising sea level (or a sinking seashore) but clogged drainage systems due to garbage (utterly inefficient solid waste management), illegal logging, and illegal mining (both either due to patronage politics or power contracts granted to wily multinationals by en even wilier government). Can’t seem to link it up to melting polar ice, sorry.
4.) I come from a country that is an archipelago. I’ve seen entire shores disappear during high tide. No wonder I can’t seem to attribute the ‘rising sea levels,’ yet once again, to melting ice caps.
5) Al Gore looked less gorgeous to me after reading about his mansion consuming more electricity in a month than the average American household uses in an entire year, more than 20 times the national average. (I should have known those guys at the Nobel Institute do not really do the perfunctory background checks.)
6) My carbon footprint is comparatively insignificant. I don’t eat meat so I’m not guilty of the spoils of the global meat industry (the ‘emissions’ from bovine are said to deplete the ozone layer, and that the transport of meat uses the fossil fuel gas. I really don’t source my stuff from the grocery store (again, products need to be transported around in fossil fuel-generated vehicles).
I rarely preen in the mirror, making me almost unaware that there’s such a thing as a hair dryer that uses electricity. I rarely iron my clothes. I never found the compelling reason to iron t-shirts and shorts. This is the tropics, for crying out loud.
My car runs on LPG. I’ll convert to CNG once that gets commercial around here.
If you care to know your personal carbon footprint, you can find the carbon footprint calculator here.
7) I just read that the ‘US Congress is now discussing an 80% reduction in U.S. greenhouse emissions by 2050.’ And that will ‘basically mean the equivalent of building 1,000 new nuclear power plants all operating by 2020.’ Besides learning that the move will only reduce global temperature ‘by only seven-hundredths of a degree by 2050 and fifteen hundredths by 2100,’ I’m also not a big fan of nuclear energy. It’s like choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea (even if I love the deep blue sea).
8) I also read that the evaluation of the corn ethanol and soy biodiesel productions in the US revealed that these are, in fact, a carbon catastrophe, producing more emissions than gasoline. There goes the heavily-subsidized corn ethanol industry under the Obama administration.
9) I live in a very warm city, making me conclude that what causes the rise in earth’s temperature is urbanization where trees and greenery had to give way to concrete and cement that absorbs heat. Besides, would there really be free-flowing air that can cool down the temperature when skyscrapers are stacked close to one another?
And lastly –
10) Ice does melt, doesn’t it? If this planet were covered in ice, then I’d panic.
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Mr. Waterandsewer,
I, on the other hand, have no problems with your comment. And there’s nothing mind-boggling about that.
The reason I filed this article under Politics & Society and not the Environment channel of IB is because I find this while global warming brouhaha too heavily politicized nowadays even for its own good.
I have total aversion to panic propaganda which self-serving lobbies have taken as the best trick in the trade. Whoever are the instigators of these obviously have a lot to gain when they achieve their desired end. Doomsday scenarios are concocted by these powerful lobbies that the real point of the matter is missed. Just briefly recall what happened to the AIDS scare and now the so-called Swine flu scare. The ‘scaring’ part is an overkill.
The real doomsday is when people do not change their lifestyles, thus harming their environment. I strongly believe that what should be accomplished must be done out of the right reasons and through the correct means, and not because of some power of nightmares. That part is insulting.
If we are to believe the doomsayers (who man the most powerful political lobbies about climate change), the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) will melt in no time at all, cause the sea levels to rise 6 meters, inundate San Francisco and New York, and obliterate a good part of Bangladesh.
Right after I posted this article a piece of breaking news came out. Here is the BBC version of it:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8050094.stm
“The collapse of a major polar ice sheet will not raise global sea levels as much as previous projections suggest, a team of scientists has calculated. Writing in Science, the researchers said that the demise of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) would result in a sea level rise of 3.3m (10 ft). Previous estimates had forecast a rise in the region of five to six metres.”
There is no doubt that the melting ice will cause sea levels to rise over the next 100 to 200 years, but creating a panic propaganda out of this is precisely what these powerful lobbies are taking advantage of. Honestly, their intended power of nightmares attacks our credulity.
I have certainly been doing my bit for Mother Earth. However, I do it out of logic. I’ve written against coal and the other fossil fuels. I know that energy generation from coal has ruined billions of lungs. I also oppose logging and mining, the real culprits in floods the world over.
I don’t deny global warming. I just happen to always take propaganda with a grain of salt. I also know that ice melts. It’s supposed to melt. That is why I simply can’t take what the global warming project propagandists seem to imply that melting ice is the end of the world.
The fact that ice does melt, unfortunately for them, has become an inconvenient truth.
Btw, 47th largest economy? I readily knew where you were coming from with all these when you used the IMF listing of global comparative GDPs.
“conjures images of coconut milk”? You’re ability to conjure up images without verifying is exactly what these global warming panic propagandists rely upon. They are most effective with people who can easily “conjure images.”
Waterandsewer… hmmm… is this your environmental project?
I, on the other hand, have no problems with your comment. And there’s nothing mind-boggling about that.
The reason I filed this article under Politics & Society and not the Environment channel of IB is because I find this while global warming brouhaha too heavily politicized nowadays even for its own good.
I have total aversion to panic propaganda which self-serving lobbies have taken as the best trick in the trade. Whoever are the instigators of these obviously have a lot to gain when they achieve their desired end. Doomsday scenarios are concocted by these powerful lobbies that the real point of the matter is missed. Just briefly recall what happened to the AIDS scare and now the so-called Swine flu scare. The ‘scaring’ part is an overkill.
The real doomsday is when people do not change their lifestyles, thus harming their environment. I strongly believe that what should be accomplished must be done out of the right reasons and through the correct means, and not because of some power of nightmares. That part is insulting.
If we are to believe the doomsayers (who man the most powerful political lobbies about climate change), the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) will melt in no time at all, cause the sea levels to rise 6 meters, inundate San Francisco and New York, and obliterate a good part of Bangladesh.
Right after I posted this article a piece of breaking news came out. Here is the BBC version of it:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8050094.stm
“The collapse of a major polar ice sheet will not raise global sea levels as much as previous projections suggest, a team of scientists has calculated. Writing in Science, the researchers said that the demise of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) would result in a sea level rise of 3.3m (10 ft). Previous estimates had forecast a rise in the region of five to six metres.”
There is no doubt that the melting ice will cause sea levels to rise over the next 100 to 200 years, but creating a panic propaganda out of this is precisely what these powerful lobbies are taking advantage of. Honestly, their intended power of nightmares attacks our credulity.
I have certainly been doing my bit for Mother Earth. However, I do it out of logic. I’ve written against coal and the other fossil fuels. I know that energy generation from coal has ruined billions of lungs. I also oppose logging and mining, the real culprits in floods the world over.
I don’t deny global warming. I just happen to always take propaganda with a grain of salt. I also know that ice melts. It’s supposed to melt. That is why I simply can’t take what the global warming project propagandists seem to imply that melting ice is the end of the world.
The fact that ice does melt, unfortunately for them, has become an inconvenient truth.
Btw, 47th largest economy? I readily knew where you were coming from with all these when you used the IMF listing of global comparative GDPs.
“conjures images of coconut milk”? You’re ability to conjure up images without verifying is exactly what these global warming panic propagandists rely upon. They are most effective with people who can easily “conjure images.”
Waterandsewer… hmmm… is this your environmental project?
(Local Perspectives)
Really my point was that you should be doing better research before writing an article. Don’t use CNN or the BBC for anything but initial research. If you want answers you need to look at peer-reviewed journals, and realize that science works by reinforcing or disproving previous research with further research.
”Whoever are the instigators of these obviously have a lot to gain when they achieve their desired end.” Is it obvious? Do you have any evidence? From my perspective the group you refer to doesn’t exist because no one can profit from global warming.
”The fact that ice does melt, unfortunately for them, has become an inconvenient truth.” What the hell are you talking about? Seriously. A physical property of matter is your rebuttal to GW? My rebuttal to that is that water freezes, which is, for you, an inconvenient truth. Water also can stay as a lquid. It can also be found as a plasma and in several other states. None of which is evidence for or against GW.
When I said ’conjures up images’ I meant that when I think of the country you live in, I think of vacations, not abject poverty. If you would like me to verify my mental image of the Philippines I could do that I suppose... yep, it’s still the same.
And I guess I apologize for the ease with which I can conjure images, or ’imagine’ as I like to call it. But I guess I can see how me thinking you don’t live in poverty, and having a fantastical imagination means that GW shouldn’t be paid as much attention to as it currently is.
I’m not really even defending GW. I care very little. What I’m really against is a lack of logic/evidence in argument.
Incognito: show me published scientists who are aginst GW.
”Whoever are the instigators of these obviously have a lot to gain when they achieve their desired end.” Is it obvious? Do you have any evidence? From my perspective the group you refer to doesn’t exist because no one can profit from global warming.
”The fact that ice does melt, unfortunately for them, has become an inconvenient truth.” What the hell are you talking about? Seriously. A physical property of matter is your rebuttal to GW? My rebuttal to that is that water freezes, which is, for you, an inconvenient truth. Water also can stay as a lquid. It can also be found as a plasma and in several other states. None of which is evidence for or against GW.
When I said ’conjures up images’ I meant that when I think of the country you live in, I think of vacations, not abject poverty. If you would like me to verify my mental image of the Philippines I could do that I suppose... yep, it’s still the same.
And I guess I apologize for the ease with which I can conjure images, or ’imagine’ as I like to call it. But I guess I can see how me thinking you don’t live in poverty, and having a fantastical imagination means that GW shouldn’t be paid as much attention to as it currently is.
I’m not really even defending GW. I care very little. What I’m really against is a lack of logic/evidence in argument.
Incognito: show me published scientists who are aginst GW.
(Global Perspectives)
1) ”Really my point was that you should be doing better research before writing an article.”
2) ”Incognito: show me published scientists who are aginst GW.”
It seems you’re the one who knows less. The BBC article is about the latest scientific study on the melting WAIS.
No one can profit from global warming? Think again.
For starters, Al Gore has already gone past the Nobel. He is the most clamorous campaigner for the new Climate Change Law that will revise the Kyoto Protocol. I dare not stretch my imagination.
I see that the figure of speech in the title was lost on you. ”An Inconvenient Truth” is the title of the Oscar-award winning climate change documentary of Al Gore. Watch it.
This whole global warming panic brouhaha is so much centered on the melting ice shelf.
I suggest you Google these things as I can only aggregate it for you at the moment since there are too many:
a) myth of climate change
b) myth of global warming
c) myth of melting ice shelf
The ice shelf is ”cracking,” not melting. It is estimated to melt in the next 100-200 years. Icebergs are starting to break away from the northern front of the Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
You should not ”care very little” about global warming. Do your share, do it now. But don’t believe alarmist propaganda.
2) ”Incognito: show me published scientists who are aginst GW.”
It seems you’re the one who knows less. The BBC article is about the latest scientific study on the melting WAIS.
No one can profit from global warming? Think again.
For starters, Al Gore has already gone past the Nobel. He is the most clamorous campaigner for the new Climate Change Law that will revise the Kyoto Protocol. I dare not stretch my imagination.
I see that the figure of speech in the title was lost on you. ”An Inconvenient Truth” is the title of the Oscar-award winning climate change documentary of Al Gore. Watch it.
This whole global warming panic brouhaha is so much centered on the melting ice shelf.
I suggest you Google these things as I can only aggregate it for you at the moment since there are too many:
a) myth of climate change
b) myth of global warming
c) myth of melting ice shelf
The ice shelf is ”cracking,” not melting. It is estimated to melt in the next 100-200 years. Icebergs are starting to break away from the northern front of the Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
You should not ”care very little” about global warming. Do your share, do it now. But don’t believe alarmist propaganda.
(Local Perspectives)
Did you read the BBC article? It still provided GW with evidence, it just revised the 30 y.o. estimate.
I probably shouldn’t have spoken in the superlative when commenting on the profitability of GW ’propaganda’. Someone can profit from anything if they want to. What I meant was that a propaganda machine isn’t self-sustaining financially. A handful of people can profit from it, whereas entire industries rely on downplaying GW.
I got the reference to the movie, it’s just a tired reference that wasn’t worth aknowledging. I’ve seen it. It seemed more alarmist than the websites you’re citing as environazish.
If you use terms like ’the myth of’ on a search engine like google, you’ll find ’articles’ on anything you want. Do me a favor: look up
The myth of evolution
The myth of solid state objects
The myth of gravity
The myth of colored socks
Even though I don’t think I care all that much, I’m fairly sure I do more than you. I don’t own a car. I bike everywhere in the summer. I have a garden, and I compost, both of which are strange for a person under forty. I also recycle several times more than the average person in my city, and put out less garbage than anyone I know. But I’ve never really been proud of it (in keeping with the tradition of this blog that is saying one thing and clearly doing/believing the exact opposite).
I probably shouldn’t have spoken in the superlative when commenting on the profitability of GW ’propaganda’. Someone can profit from anything if they want to. What I meant was that a propaganda machine isn’t self-sustaining financially. A handful of people can profit from it, whereas entire industries rely on downplaying GW.
I got the reference to the movie, it’s just a tired reference that wasn’t worth aknowledging. I’ve seen it. It seemed more alarmist than the websites you’re citing as environazish.
If you use terms like ’the myth of’ on a search engine like google, you’ll find ’articles’ on anything you want. Do me a favor: look up
The myth of evolution
The myth of solid state objects
The myth of gravity
The myth of colored socks
Even though I don’t think I care all that much, I’m fairly sure I do more than you. I don’t own a car. I bike everywhere in the summer. I have a garden, and I compost, both of which are strange for a person under forty. I also recycle several times more than the average person in my city, and put out less garbage than anyone I know. But I’ve never really been proud of it (in keeping with the tradition of this blog that is saying one thing and clearly doing/believing the exact opposite).
(Global Perspectives)
Then, be careful with first impression the next time. It’s so easy to give knee-jerk reaction. The world is a myriad of colors, not stark black and white.
Google the ’myths’ I gave you, and learn more about something you say you care little about. We’re not talking ”myth of colored socks” here.
By mentioning what you do for environmental conservation, you’ve never been more proud. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, tell others so you may set an example. Congratulations.
Btw, the BBC article that talks about the latest scientific study does not only revise the time table, it also revises the measurement of sea level rise by half of what has been previously believed. Read more closely.
Google the ’myths’ I gave you, and learn more about something you say you care little about. We’re not talking ”myth of colored socks” here.
By mentioning what you do for environmental conservation, you’ve never been more proud. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, tell others so you may set an example. Congratulations.
Btw, the BBC article that talks about the latest scientific study does not only revise the time table, it also revises the measurement of sea level rise by half of what has been previously believed. Read more closely.
(Local Perspectives)
Those peer review journals are on the receiving end of a lot more grant money than the BBC or CNN get off of advertising revenue for each story.
Who wants a HUGE grant funded by hysteria about global warming? Me, Me, Me!!!!
The fact that I am not actually a scientist doesn’t even matter as long as I am good at writing a convincing grant proposal.
Ice melts...we know this because glaciers melted and carved out canyons long before the first engine was ever invented. It melts with no help from humans at all. Come Jon, Stop playing dumb!
No one suggested that we should ramp up the CO2 emissions and dance on mountains of garbage in a consumerism induced euphoria.
All we are saying is that GW is just more bullshit politics as usual and it should be taken in that vein.
Who wants a HUGE grant funded by hysteria about global warming? Me, Me, Me!!!!
The fact that I am not actually a scientist doesn’t even matter as long as I am good at writing a convincing grant proposal.
Ice melts...we know this because glaciers melted and carved out canyons long before the first engine was ever invented. It melts with no help from humans at all. Come Jon, Stop playing dumb!
No one suggested that we should ramp up the CO2 emissions and dance on mountains of garbage in a consumerism induced euphoria.
All we are saying is that GW is just more bullshit politics as usual and it should be taken in that vein.
(Global Perspectives)
Nuya!
Hehe..
I’ve been avoiding the phrase ”grant money” for a few hours now.
Alarm=Need for Quick Solution=Immediate Project (Not to mention tons of press and doing the lecture circuit and personal appearance rounds, maybe on Oprah, too).
;)
Hehe..
I’ve been avoiding the phrase ”grant money” for a few hours now.
Alarm=Need for Quick Solution=Immediate Project (Not to mention tons of press and doing the lecture circuit and personal appearance rounds, maybe on Oprah, too).
;)
(Local Perspectives)
You should see some of the proposals that I have sat in on!!!! All cross disciplinary and not environmental science per say, but the process is exactly the same.
I wonder what the public would think of the ’use it or lose’ policy at all universities? That makes for some convoluted reasoning and creative financing right there. It makes for junk science in my opinion.
Keep up the good work.
I wonder what the public would think of the ’use it or lose’ policy at all universities? That makes for some convoluted reasoning and creative financing right there. It makes for junk science in my opinion.
Keep up the good work.
(Global Perspectives)
Oscar, mi amigo,
You know me quite well.
Hey, I linked up the news about the Tamiflu developer saying that the Influenza (H1N1) virus was hatched in a bio-experiment lab and leaked to the public.
I so wanted to dedicate that news link to you but there isn’t any facility to write anything much on a news link.
I still want to write about it and dedicate the article to you. I’ll fashion a way to do this, promise.
You know me quite well.
Hey, I linked up the news about the Tamiflu developer saying that the Influenza (H1N1) virus was hatched in a bio-experiment lab and leaked to the public.
I so wanted to dedicate that news link to you but there isn’t any facility to write anything much on a news link.
I still want to write about it and dedicate the article to you. I’ll fashion a way to do this, promise.
(Local Perspectives)
Thanks Gracie:
Reading this post, I felt I was ”at home”, except for number 2...we don’t have typhoons, earthquakes sometimes, but typhoons no. As for number 4, we’ve lost shoreline and an entire donut hole filled island as well...just gone M.I.A.
Speaking of carbon footprints and transportation emissions, I wonder what the Mexican narcos contribute to emissions with their trade..I guess I probably wouldn’t be able to find a carbon footprint for their business, but hey, maybe they too, have gone ”green”.
What we are doing to earth, weakening and destroying IS important, as you stated and we are ALL obliged to do our part...
I remember my wife said since she was little she was told California would no longer be a part of the U.S. as it would seperate due to warming...California is still connected, and thriving.
I think at times, people take our ”non-panicked” views as sign that we are non-believers...Personally speaking, that I couldn’t be further from the truth..But when one lives as we do, in so called third world countries filled with both luxuaries, culture and corruption, sickness, poverty, violence etc, it gives us a bit of an advantage of seeing and setting priorties and panic indexes.
Apart from that, I think we are a bit more skeptical, less apt to follow, more prone to individual movement and investigation.
The whole political mixing of each and every social and individual issue, to e, is the true and contamination of our earth and times...
Reading this post, I felt I was ”at home”, except for number 2...we don’t have typhoons, earthquakes sometimes, but typhoons no. As for number 4, we’ve lost shoreline and an entire donut hole filled island as well...just gone M.I.A.
Speaking of carbon footprints and transportation emissions, I wonder what the Mexican narcos contribute to emissions with their trade..I guess I probably wouldn’t be able to find a carbon footprint for their business, but hey, maybe they too, have gone ”green”.
What we are doing to earth, weakening and destroying IS important, as you stated and we are ALL obliged to do our part...
I remember my wife said since she was little she was told California would no longer be a part of the U.S. as it would seperate due to warming...California is still connected, and thriving.
I think at times, people take our ”non-panicked” views as sign that we are non-believers...Personally speaking, that I couldn’t be further from the truth..But when one lives as we do, in so called third world countries filled with both luxuaries, culture and corruption, sickness, poverty, violence etc, it gives us a bit of an advantage of seeing and setting priorties and panic indexes.
Apart from that, I think we are a bit more skeptical, less apt to follow, more prone to individual movement and investigation.
The whole political mixing of each and every social and individual issue, to e, is the true and contamination of our earth and times...
(Global Perspectives)
”Apart from that, I think we are a bit more skeptical, less apt to follow, more prone to individual movement and investigation.
The whole political mixing of each and every social and individual issue, to e, is the true and contamination of our earth and times...”
AMEN and AMEN!
I think some of us choose to think before we do, and think for ourselves. Really, one does better when one understands what he or she does, as well as why it should be done.
Politics is the scourge of this planet.
The whole political mixing of each and every social and individual issue, to e, is the true and contamination of our earth and times...”
AMEN and AMEN!
I think some of us choose to think before we do, and think for ourselves. Really, one does better when one understands what he or she does, as well as why it should be done.
Politics is the scourge of this planet.
(Local Perspectives)
Hi Travis,
Thanks for dropping by!
Yes, I believe you. ”We should make our individual contributions to lessen the effect of global warming.”
I’ve been doing what I can, but not out of panic.
Please continue to do what you can, as well, and spread the word around.
Thanks for dropping by!
Yes, I believe you. ”We should make our individual contributions to lessen the effect of global warming.”
I’ve been doing what I can, but not out of panic.
Please continue to do what you can, as well, and spread the word around.
(Local Perspectives)
bravo Grace!!
I always find it interesting that those who scream the most about man-made global warming are the worst offenders.. like Al Gore. And it is interesting that they are usually carnivores and have no intention of ever giving up meat. such hypocrisy. Not to say that those of us who haven’t jumped on the whole GW hysteria bandwagon don’t believe we should trash our earth.. no...i recycle everything.. but there are scientists out there who dispute the whole man-made aspect, so why should they not be listened to. You also read articles about how the ice caps aren’t melting.. so who do you believe.
I always find it interesting that those who scream the most about man-made global warming are the worst offenders.. like Al Gore. And it is interesting that they are usually carnivores and have no intention of ever giving up meat. such hypocrisy. Not to say that those of us who haven’t jumped on the whole GW hysteria bandwagon don’t believe we should trash our earth.. no...i recycle everything.. but there are scientists out there who dispute the whole man-made aspect, so why should they not be listened to. You also read articles about how the ice caps aren’t melting.. so who do you believe.
(Global Perspectives)
Nice to see your thoughts IC, if only more people felt the same..
Everything is about panic and doomsday nowdays. Of course, all te panic and doom, conveniently plays into each and every past, current, and upcoming campaign and election as if voting or not voting for one man will stop the so called count down to our final days.
I believe in environmental issues, I believe in humanitarian issues, I believe and follow political issues, but I do NOT believe they are all one in the same and to me, it seems that is exactly the era we have entered.
I think more people would be interested and willing to support many important causes if these issues were kept seperate.
Everything is about panic and doomsday nowdays. Of course, all te panic and doom, conveniently plays into each and every past, current, and upcoming campaign and election as if voting or not voting for one man will stop the so called count down to our final days.
I believe in environmental issues, I believe in humanitarian issues, I believe and follow political issues, but I do NOT believe they are all one in the same and to me, it seems that is exactly the era we have entered.
I think more people would be interested and willing to support many important causes if these issues were kept seperate.
(Global Perspectives)
Hi there!
Yup, I think Al Gore was the one who started making the environmental campaign a political one. I’m not sure, though. But he seems to have been the most conspicuous campaigner. He’s fiercely working on the lobbying for the new Climate Change Law, revising the Kyoto Protocol. And he wants it passed in 2009. He seems to be effective at lobbying for it because the US Congress is in the thick of discussing it now. There’s something uncanny about the haste of it all.
The trade-off is quite alarming. Growing the raw materials for ethanol production has overshadowed food production.
I think what is needed is a campaign for behavioral change. Change in lifestyle. A conscious effort from each and everyone to lessen the consumption of electricity and use of gasoline. These are doable things, in fact.
Honestly, most of those who hear about the melting ice shelf do not even know what that ice shelf looks like, as well as why and wherefore they should care at all whether it melts or not.
There is an education gap.
Yup, I think Al Gore was the one who started making the environmental campaign a political one. I’m not sure, though. But he seems to have been the most conspicuous campaigner. He’s fiercely working on the lobbying for the new Climate Change Law, revising the Kyoto Protocol. And he wants it passed in 2009. He seems to be effective at lobbying for it because the US Congress is in the thick of discussing it now. There’s something uncanny about the haste of it all.
The trade-off is quite alarming. Growing the raw materials for ethanol production has overshadowed food production.
I think what is needed is a campaign for behavioral change. Change in lifestyle. A conscious effort from each and everyone to lessen the consumption of electricity and use of gasoline. These are doable things, in fact.
Honestly, most of those who hear about the melting ice shelf do not even know what that ice shelf looks like, as well as why and wherefore they should care at all whether it melts or not.
There is an education gap.
(Local Perspectives)
Oscar, you’re right. If this environmental issue just stays as an environmental campaign, then it would work better and faster.
Honestly, even just for the sake of making people change their ways, it would be better to say that coal burning causes respiratory diseases because that’s something people can relate to.
But if they start mentioning ozone layer, melting ice shelf, and rising sea levels, not all people are educated on these. Hence, the environmental campaign is not moving as fast as it should be.
Honestly, even just for the sake of making people change their ways, it would be better to say that coal burning causes respiratory diseases because that’s something people can relate to.
But if they start mentioning ozone layer, melting ice shelf, and rising sea levels, not all people are educated on these. Hence, the environmental campaign is not moving as fast as it should be.
(Local Perspectives)
Mixing politics into the environmental campaigns, at least here in Mexico, causes great skepticism.
It has been tried before and people only saw it as an ”excuse” for politicians to give less to the much needed social programs and more to their ”green” programs, which tend to mean their pockets.
If it was kept as a pure environmental campaign it WOULD move quicker, people would take notice. Sometimes using words such as ozone, climate, etc, causes the lesser educated to turn away as they do not see any direct correlation in their lives or their loved ones. However, if like you said, more awareness was made regarding not only health issues, but the amount of money and resources that can be saved by INDIVIDUALS, especially, in these economically trying times, people would line up to jump on board and learn how to activly participate in the actions needed and true global environmental change would no longer be just a dream, but would become reality.
It has been tried before and people only saw it as an ”excuse” for politicians to give less to the much needed social programs and more to their ”green” programs, which tend to mean their pockets.
If it was kept as a pure environmental campaign it WOULD move quicker, people would take notice. Sometimes using words such as ozone, climate, etc, causes the lesser educated to turn away as they do not see any direct correlation in their lives or their loved ones. However, if like you said, more awareness was made regarding not only health issues, but the amount of money and resources that can be saved by INDIVIDUALS, especially, in these economically trying times, people would line up to jump on board and learn how to activly participate in the actions needed and true global environmental change would no longer be just a dream, but would become reality.
(Global Perspectives)
So true, Oscar.
One of the most efficient strategies used is teaching electricity conservation to school kids and household moms in the name of SAVINGS. Planting trees is encouraged in the name of ensuring homes to birds and providing cool shades. Proper garbage disposal is taught for the sake of general cleanliness and beautification of surroundings. All the reasons laid down are bite-size, perceivably doable, and immediately concretized.
They aren’t told about the calving of the West Antarctica Ice Shelf or the Wilkins Ice Shelf or that the countries of Kiribati and Maldives are supposedly sinking.
The environmental campaign has been lost in the jungle of too much jargon.
It’s behavioral change we’re aiming at, right? Then, we would do well to make the campaign ’emotional’ as opposed to ’intellectual.’
And if we want a multiplier effect, then the campaign has to spread to the grassroots. How many people can we mobilize if we become Al Gore’s mouthpiece and spread the panic that sea level will rise 20 feet in the next ten years?
One of the most efficient strategies used is teaching electricity conservation to school kids and household moms in the name of SAVINGS. Planting trees is encouraged in the name of ensuring homes to birds and providing cool shades. Proper garbage disposal is taught for the sake of general cleanliness and beautification of surroundings. All the reasons laid down are bite-size, perceivably doable, and immediately concretized.
They aren’t told about the calving of the West Antarctica Ice Shelf or the Wilkins Ice Shelf or that the countries of Kiribati and Maldives are supposedly sinking.
The environmental campaign has been lost in the jungle of too much jargon.
It’s behavioral change we’re aiming at, right? Then, we would do well to make the campaign ’emotional’ as opposed to ’intellectual.’
And if we want a multiplier effect, then the campaign has to spread to the grassroots. How many people can we mobilize if we become Al Gore’s mouthpiece and spread the panic that sea level will rise 20 feet in the next ten years?
(Local Perspectives)
Very nicely done Grace, it is so good to see cooler heads prevail. Here we are in the year 2009 and being bombarded with propaganda about TOO much water coming from GW. In 1979, we were hysterical that the world was running out of water. The government spent I don’t know how much, buying bricks and distributing them to households to put in their toilet tanks. Don’t even try to deny it... those bricks are still in the toilets at my mom’s house.
I remember growing up with knots in my stomach all the time because the end of the world was always right around the corner.
Forgive me if I call bullshit on GW, I have now lived long enough to spot dirty, agenda driven, fingerprints in almost every propaganda pie.
I remember growing up with knots in my stomach all the time because the end of the world was always right around the corner.
Forgive me if I call bullshit on GW, I have now lived long enough to spot dirty, agenda driven, fingerprints in almost every propaganda pie.
(Global Perspectives)
Thanks, Nuya.
I actually wrote this article on a lark. And mostly from the point of how I feel about this subject. I admit I thought twice about putting it up because I thought, oh God, I will be crucified because everyone seems to have bought into the alarmist trend.
It’s good to know that there are people like you, Incognito, and Oscar who see through the tsunami of jargon and glean the self-serving agenda of these panic-peddlers.
I actually wrote this article on a lark. And mostly from the point of how I feel about this subject. I admit I thought twice about putting it up because I thought, oh God, I will be crucified because everyone seems to have bought into the alarmist trend.
It’s good to know that there are people like you, Incognito, and Oscar who see through the tsunami of jargon and glean the self-serving agenda of these panic-peddlers.
(Local Perspectives)
I’m stunned. Can everyone who writes a comment on this blog do me a favor and put a (D) at the beginning of the comment if they are heavy drug users and (DD) if they are on drugs at the time of writing? Also, put an (R) at the beginning if you’re mentally handicapped. It would clear up a lot for me.
Nuya Bidness:
Who wants HUGE grants? Me too! Looks like we’re in the same boat and all we have to do is get a doctoral degree in something, then get tenure at an accredited university. Then once we scam the grat money out of them, we’ll use it to do only the research we’ve been told we can do. Then if our research has no merrit, an annonymous peer, who is an expert in the field and who has reviewed our work, will reject it for publication. It sure is easy to get grant money to use for our own purposes. I don’t know why everyone doesn’t take the route of 15 years of education and a lifetime of dedication instead of robbing a bank.
If you can get a single dollar of grant money in the next ten years , I’ll give you a million.
Also, the BBC is entirely publicly funded and is (almost) as much of a laughing stock as fox news is in america for their bias.
And one more thing, ’ice melts’. Yes. Sweet, sweet god, yes, ice melts. So does steel. How is that statement relevant? What is causing the ice to melt? Heat. The matter surrounding the ice is warming the ice, causing it to melt, and the matter surrounding that matter is also warming, ending with the earth itself that is essentially warming the ice, causing it to melt. I don’t see how that proves GW should be downplayed.
Grace:
Look up the meaning of the term ’first impression’
Do me a favor and ’Google Scholar’ the searches you gave me. You really missed the point of my colored socks comment. I was juxtaposing my stupid comments with yours to illistrate the stupidity of yours. You can find aything you want on google, and those articles should be taken with a grain of salt. Find me an article from the journal ’Nature’ or ’Science’ that proves your point and I’ll happily read it, since that’s where the news organizations get their well thought-out stories from.
And as for your latest comment: yay we’re all a big happy family of people who don’t buy into the ’bullshit’, based on the bullshit articles we’ve read. Now we can all sleep with a smug sense of self-satisfaction, knowing there are others out there who see through the ’tsunami of jargon’.
I’m not smug, I’m confused and worried by your thought process.
Nuya Bidness:
Who wants HUGE grants? Me too! Looks like we’re in the same boat and all we have to do is get a doctoral degree in something, then get tenure at an accredited university. Then once we scam the grat money out of them, we’ll use it to do only the research we’ve been told we can do. Then if our research has no merrit, an annonymous peer, who is an expert in the field and who has reviewed our work, will reject it for publication. It sure is easy to get grant money to use for our own purposes. I don’t know why everyone doesn’t take the route of 15 years of education and a lifetime of dedication instead of robbing a bank.
If you can get a single dollar of grant money in the next ten years , I’ll give you a million.
Also, the BBC is entirely publicly funded and is (almost) as much of a laughing stock as fox news is in america for their bias.
And one more thing, ’ice melts’. Yes. Sweet, sweet god, yes, ice melts. So does steel. How is that statement relevant? What is causing the ice to melt? Heat. The matter surrounding the ice is warming the ice, causing it to melt, and the matter surrounding that matter is also warming, ending with the earth itself that is essentially warming the ice, causing it to melt. I don’t see how that proves GW should be downplayed.
Grace:
Look up the meaning of the term ’first impression’
Do me a favor and ’Google Scholar’ the searches you gave me. You really missed the point of my colored socks comment. I was juxtaposing my stupid comments with yours to illistrate the stupidity of yours. You can find aything you want on google, and those articles should be taken with a grain of salt. Find me an article from the journal ’Nature’ or ’Science’ that proves your point and I’ll happily read it, since that’s where the news organizations get their well thought-out stories from.
And as for your latest comment: yay we’re all a big happy family of people who don’t buy into the ’bullshit’, based on the bullshit articles we’ve read. Now we can all sleep with a smug sense of self-satisfaction, knowing there are others out there who see through the ’tsunami of jargon’.
I’m not smug, I’m confused and worried by your thought process.
(Global Perspectives)
Since you are the only drug addled, mentally challenged person in this discussion, I suggest you take your own advice and mark your posts accordingly.
If you were not so busy thinking up your next witty bon mot instead of actually READING the posts you are responding to, you would have noticed that I said you don’t have to be a scientist to get a grant. Oh, and by the way, that is exactly how it works, the peer group of each discipline is very small and even if it is rejected, the juxtaposition of a few words is all it takes to be resubmitted and reviewed by a more...sympathetic panel.
From the headlines, just one of many... ”Investigation of Harvard psychiatrists highlights inadequate regulation of commercially funded research in academic institutions.”
Steel does not melt without a crucible, which by the way is man made. Which is the relevant point, ice melts and has been melting for a billion years, without any intervention from man, it is a process, it is natural and nothing to be alarmed about.
I have a better suggestion for you, don’t Google, the library at the nearest university has every journal you could ever need.... use ERIC
Yea, YEAH!!! for us, the ones who choose to do the right thing just because it is the right thing to do, not because we got caught up in hype that will fade when the next big hype comes along.
Remember the Y2K hype? People hoarded food, drove out to the desert, spent money on things they didn’t need and suffered later because of it and guess what happened on January 1, 2000, NOT A DAMN THING!!!!!
Don’t worry about our though processes, we are the sane ones, no blue sneakers or purple Kool-Aid for us.
Take a deep breath! let it out slowly and repeat after me...”The world comes to an end every 5 to 7 years, there is nothing to worry about!”
If you were not so busy thinking up your next witty bon mot instead of actually READING the posts you are responding to, you would have noticed that I said you don’t have to be a scientist to get a grant. Oh, and by the way, that is exactly how it works, the peer group of each discipline is very small and even if it is rejected, the juxtaposition of a few words is all it takes to be resubmitted and reviewed by a more...sympathetic panel.
From the headlines, just one of many... ”Investigation of Harvard psychiatrists highlights inadequate regulation of commercially funded research in academic institutions.”
Steel does not melt without a crucible, which by the way is man made. Which is the relevant point, ice melts and has been melting for a billion years, without any intervention from man, it is a process, it is natural and nothing to be alarmed about.
I have a better suggestion for you, don’t Google, the library at the nearest university has every journal you could ever need.... use ERIC
Yea, YEAH!!! for us, the ones who choose to do the right thing just because it is the right thing to do, not because we got caught up in hype that will fade when the next big hype comes along.
Remember the Y2K hype? People hoarded food, drove out to the desert, spent money on things they didn’t need and suffered later because of it and guess what happened on January 1, 2000, NOT A DAMN THING!!!!!
Don’t worry about our though processes, we are the sane ones, no blue sneakers or purple Kool-Aid for us.
Take a deep breath! let it out slowly and repeat after me...”The world comes to an end every 5 to 7 years, there is nothing to worry about!”
(Global Perspectives)
1. Way to turn my comments around on me like that. I never saw it comming.
2. bon mot = a witty saying, so a witty bon mot is fairly redundant.
3. I think you mean rearrange, not juxtapose.
4. Steel can melt without a crucible, and it doesn’t matter if the crucible is man made. You may mean a heat source? A crucible is a ceramic-like cup.
5. Is anyone actually affraid of the process of melting itself? I’m fairly sure the problem is the rate at which the melting is happening in relation to it being replaced.
6. I was going to suggest web of knowledge/web of science, but I figured google was better than nothing (nothing=cnn/bbc). I’ve never actually used a non-university-based journal searching program.
7. I remember the Y2K hype and I remember giving about as much of a crap about it as global warming: not much of one.
8. You sound like you should be making your second to last comment from an insane asylum in a straitjacket.
9. I don’t worry about global warming, mainly because I don’t care. I’m infinitely more worried my children will end up at all like you. I’m not trying purely to be an ass with that comment. It actually scares me much more that I’ll have to argue with someone like you for an extended period of time than that the earth is getting hotter, with possible bad consequences.
2. bon mot = a witty saying, so a witty bon mot is fairly redundant.
3. I think you mean rearrange, not juxtapose.
4. Steel can melt without a crucible, and it doesn’t matter if the crucible is man made. You may mean a heat source? A crucible is a ceramic-like cup.
5. Is anyone actually affraid of the process of melting itself? I’m fairly sure the problem is the rate at which the melting is happening in relation to it being replaced.
6. I was going to suggest web of knowledge/web of science, but I figured google was better than nothing (nothing=cnn/bbc). I’ve never actually used a non-university-based journal searching program.
7. I remember the Y2K hype and I remember giving about as much of a crap about it as global warming: not much of one.
8. You sound like you should be making your second to last comment from an insane asylum in a straitjacket.
9. I don’t worry about global warming, mainly because I don’t care. I’m infinitely more worried my children will end up at all like you. I’m not trying purely to be an ass with that comment. It actually scares me much more that I’ll have to argue with someone like you for an extended period of time than that the earth is getting hotter, with possible bad consequences.
(Global Perspectives)
#1. ...oh screw that...only the anal retentive number their points.
It was meant to be redundant
no, it was exactly what I said
When was the last time you saw steel spontaneously combust? Since it is an alloy it does not occur naturally in nature.
Ever hear of the ”ICE AGE”?
Yea right, likely story after the fact.
So what has your panties in such a twist about it now?
That wasn’t even witty....BEEEP!
Oh so you don’t want your children to grow up to be educated? That is a first I must say.
”””I’m not trying purely to be an ass with that comment.”””
TOO LATE!!!
Instead of making an ass of yourself on the internet, maybe you should invest your time looking into having your house retrofitted with solar panels, plant a few trees, lobby for a recycling center to be built in your town, anything but trying to gain attention with your Chicken Little schlock, Al Gore beat you to it.
It was meant to be redundant
no, it was exactly what I said
When was the last time you saw steel spontaneously combust? Since it is an alloy it does not occur naturally in nature.
Ever hear of the ”ICE AGE”?
Yea right, likely story after the fact.
So what has your panties in such a twist about it now?
That wasn’t even witty....BEEEP!
Oh so you don’t want your children to grow up to be educated? That is a first I must say.
”””I’m not trying purely to be an ass with that comment.”””
TOO LATE!!!
Instead of making an ass of yourself on the internet, maybe you should invest your time looking into having your house retrofitted with solar panels, plant a few trees, lobby for a recycling center to be built in your town, anything but trying to gain attention with your Chicken Little schlock, Al Gore beat you to it.
(Global Perspectives)
Are you 12? If not retarded or on drugs, being a child is the only explanation I can come up with for your line of argument and writing style.
It would take too much time to continue addressing each of your comments individually, and since most of them are childish and not worth addressing, I’ll recap one argument to illustrate the general theme of your comments.
The original statement was an attempt to persuade readers to stop overreacting about GW. It was ”The fact that ice does melt, unfortunately for them, has become an inconvenient truth”.
My problem was that the statement is wrong (no one would be taken aback about the fact that ice melts), and confusingly irrelevant (Water freezes, and all matter to my knowledge changes state based on temperature changes under normal conditions).
Then in response to my trying to make her comment look absurd by saying that steel melts, which is just as much of an inconvenient truth, you said ”Steel does not melt without a crucible, which by the way is man made.”
The first part of the statement is wrong, the second irrelevant. I tried to point that out, then you said ”When was the last time you saw steel spontaneously combust? Since it is an alloy it does not occur naturally in nature.” I never said or implied that steel spontaneously combusts (or vaporizes; vaporization and combustion being completely different processes), while steel being an alloy is irrelevant to any previous statement.
So, in trying to dissuade people from buying into the hype of GW, you’ve made several completely false statements based on what appears to be complete ignorance of the subject. Most of your arguments are like this and I’m saying people shouldn’t be persuaded by arguments like those you’ve presented, because they are mostly bullshit or irrelevant. If you came up with arguments that were persuasive, or at the very lease based in fact, I wouldn’t have commented in the first place.
It would take too much time to continue addressing each of your comments individually, and since most of them are childish and not worth addressing, I’ll recap one argument to illustrate the general theme of your comments.
The original statement was an attempt to persuade readers to stop overreacting about GW. It was ”The fact that ice does melt, unfortunately for them, has become an inconvenient truth”.
My problem was that the statement is wrong (no one would be taken aback about the fact that ice melts), and confusingly irrelevant (Water freezes, and all matter to my knowledge changes state based on temperature changes under normal conditions).
Then in response to my trying to make her comment look absurd by saying that steel melts, which is just as much of an inconvenient truth, you said ”Steel does not melt without a crucible, which by the way is man made.”
The first part of the statement is wrong, the second irrelevant. I tried to point that out, then you said ”When was the last time you saw steel spontaneously combust? Since it is an alloy it does not occur naturally in nature.” I never said or implied that steel spontaneously combusts (or vaporizes; vaporization and combustion being completely different processes), while steel being an alloy is irrelevant to any previous statement.
So, in trying to dissuade people from buying into the hype of GW, you’ve made several completely false statements based on what appears to be complete ignorance of the subject. Most of your arguments are like this and I’m saying people shouldn’t be persuaded by arguments like those you’ve presented, because they are mostly bullshit or irrelevant. If you came up with arguments that were persuasive, or at the very lease based in fact, I wouldn’t have commented in the first place.
(Global Perspectives)
To guess what the future will bring without the science or evidence but only speculation used to con peoples thoughts seems to be a bit dishonest to say the least. I find the special interrest groups that make millions of peoples fears and trust and the politicians using it as a ploy to gain election spread all kinds of missed facts
They use the chicken little method, the sky is falling ,the sky is falling
Earth may be destroyed by us because of nuclear war ,or by a force outside earth ,or by natural catastrophes, but not by the everyday movements and uses of material that us humans need to live
They use the chicken little method, the sky is falling ,the sky is falling
Earth may be destroyed by us because of nuclear war ,or by a force outside earth ,or by natural catastrophes, but not by the everyday movements and uses of material that us humans need to live
(Global Perspectives)
Mr. Waterandsewer,
Read more, right right, care more.
Read more, right right, care more.
(Local Perspectives)
Add your Comment
1 Since when is the 47th largest economy in the world the third world? The phillipines conjures images of coconut milk moreso than panic breakfasts.
2 You really miss the idea of global warming entirely. You’re rebutting idiotic comments with further idiotic comments. I don’t think any scientist thinks that any specific disaster or set of disasters is caused by global warming. Several degrees of change can screw up weather patterns and possibly increase their frequency and intensity though. (But that doesn’t mean that all storms or floods before the ’rage’ of global warming were milder and now all of a sudden typhoons exist.)
3 My main annoyance with this article, and generally anyone who attempts to deny global warming is: Who has to gain from claiming global warming exists when it doesn’t? Who’s rousing the rabble? On the other hand, any industry that pollutes has to gain their livelihood by convincing the public GW doesn’t exist.
4 It’s great that you rebut scientific articles with arguments like ”Can’t seem to link it up... , sorry”. So what if you can’t see it because you apparently live in a disaster zone already, which masks any effects global warming would have?
5 You seem to expect that global warming will kill us all in a matter of years. The planed is frigging HUGE. A species changing the climate of a planet has happened only with us and blue-green algae in the entire history of the world. Changing the temperature of the world, even by 14/100 of a degree is an enormous, enormous achievement. The world has a surface area 3.05 million times the area of Quezon City. Imagine trying to somehow change the temperature of the city, and the column of air 100k above it. Now try to imagine doing it 3.05 million times.
6 I don’t know why you care about a carbon footprint if there is no global warming. Carbon dioxide is effectively harmless if not affecting the atmosphere.
7 I don’t even know how to approach numbers nine and ten. Completely vapid.
You rarely preen in front of the mirrior, I’m guessing, because you get all your preening out on your blog, or because your appearance is as worth attending to as the ideas you haphazardly cultivate and vomit onto the page.
I don’t see it as Grace denying the whole ”We are melting” issue. I see her, as stated, taking measures to reduce further damage to the earth, but not jumping onto the ”end of the world global warming countdown”..
The world is changing, partially due to ignorance and partially due to evolution...Can we make changes, of course we can and we should, but in the end, what is, simply is..
Like Grace said, ice melts.
Do a favor to them at least!