An excercise

[JerrySeinfeld]

OK I stole this from Anthony Robbins (amazing guy by the way) but I'm using it for my point.

Close your eyes.

Now, while your eyes are closed name everything in the room that is blue.

Now open them. Chances ar you named smoe things but missed a few too.

Now while your eyes are still open, take note of everything that is green.

Now close your eyes. Name all the green things. Chances are you did much better.

Robbins' point is that we tend to notice what we focus upon. For good or bad. For him it's an excercise in positive thinking I suppose.

But think about this whole "climate change" thing for a moment. Now before all the eco-nazis get their tights into a big knot, relax. I'm necessarily in this post siggesting our climate hasn't changed perhaps slightly. Heck, given the fact that climate always changes, I'd be a little worried if it didn't

But think about the idea of noticing what we focus upon. Since Suzuki, Gore and their foot soldiers have gotten the media by the tail, it seems like everytime someone gets a little snow in may, we all get this urge to turn off our lights.

But come to think of it, I can remember weird weather decades ago. I think we all can. But we just weren't phased by it, because the "earth is coming to an end" crowd hadn't latched onto it as a way to get money and power.

I can remember a quote from a famous investor. When asked what the stock market will do he'd say "I know exactly what the market is going to do. It's going to fluctuate"

I played golf in a beautiful golf course in Washington State the other day. You cuold tee off from this big ridge down into this amazing valley. Your ball (if you hit it well) would sail out over this huge gorge and drop down into the fairway. Breathtaking. Through all 18 holes you'd work your way up and down into and out of this massive gorge. The gorge was filled with tremedously tall cedar trees and a huge diversity of foliage, the kind you can only see in the pacific northwest. When I remarked of the beauty to a staff member in the pro shop, the guy said "yeah - this place thousands of years ago used to be a lake."

I'm so glad that, when it began to dry up, the cavemen didn't ban fire.

'Nuff said.

[jester]

The planet has changed, is changing and will continue to change. It is up to us as a species,along with all the others to change with it. Adapt or die, simple choice really, always has been. Why are we wasting our intellect debating something that will happen whether we want it to or not? Either we change and adapt to the new world or sometime in the future something else will be digging up our fossils, after all the end result of most life is extiction.......

[JerrySeinfeld]

The planet has changed, is changing and will continue to change. It is up to us as a species,along with all the others to change with it. Adapt or die, simple choice really, always has been. Why are we wasting our intellect debating something that will happen whether we want it to or not? Either we change and adapt to the new world or sometime in the future something else will be digging up our fossils, after all the end result of most life is extiction.......

Actually, that's an excellent point.

Mercifully weare blessed to be living in a warm period.

But you raise maybe the best point of all.

What if the earth is headed toward a major ice age in 100 years and we don't know it. The argument that we need to cool down the world is predicated on the assumption that all else is equal - which we know to be false. We know that climate changes all the time.

We know for a FACT that in the future, regardless of what humans do, the earth will either get warmer or colder. And maybe alot colder.

So by trying (in futility) to control the climate, we are essentially rearranging chairs on the deck of the Titanic - or rearranging chairs on the deck of the Grand Princess - depending upon whether the earth - on it's own - gets warmer or colder.

We have no idea which direct the earth's climate will take in 100, 200, 400 years.

If the earth is warming anyway, then our contribution (if we have one) wil mean we'll have to build some sea walls and find a vaccine for malaria (according to Al Gore - but we know he's exaggerated or outright lied in his movie).

But it the earth is cooling - dramatically, then our contribution (if we have one) may in fact save us all.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I love it.

[M.Dancer]

OK I stole this from Anthony Robbins (amazing guy by the way) but I'm using it for my point.

Close your eyes.

Now, while your eyes are closed name everything in the room that is blue.

I win. I closed ny eyes and the only ting in my office I could think of was my recycling box. I opened and looked around and sure enough.....

Office beige rocks

[jbg]

But think about this whole "climate change" thing for a moment. Now before all the eco-nazis get their tights into a big knot, relax. I'm necessarily in this post siggesting our climate hasn't changed perhaps slightly. Heck, given the fact that climate always changes, I'd be a little worried if it didn't

***

But come to think of it, I can remember weird weather decades ago. I think we all can. But we just weren't phased by it, because the "earth is coming to an end" crowd hadn't latched onto it as a way to get money and power.

I can remember a quote from a famous investor. When asked what the stock market will do he'd say "I know exactly what the market is going to do. It's going to fluctuate"

Exactly. I remember, back in 1966 the US Northeast had a very hot, humid summer. 1967 was cool and rainy, as was 1969. 1968 was somewhere in between. No one thought anything of it.

In 1988, when we had a summer very similar to 1966, i.e. heat extending through most of Continental US (except no days over 38 in NYC, whereas 1966 did that about 4 times or so), people were clucking about "global warming".

[marcinmoka]

*Just on observation on your method*

Day and night, you write posts trying to illustrate global warming as a myth, a lie propagated by "Eco - Nazi's" and flying in the face of the vast majority of Scientific Research. Do you just spend your days scouring the internet looking for far flung support from the 5% of nay sayers? Odd, since upon seeing any supporting evidence or statements from the 95% majority, you systematically deny it as being the work of these so called "Eco Nazis". Sure GreenPeace people can be a little (or considerably) off their rocker, and many solutions unjustly target the developed world, but that does not mean it's wrong.

Even the most adamant industrialists have accepted that the "unknown" factor is something we should be concerned about. Perhaps we do not know the exact extent mankind is having an impact, but the rate it is taking place is worrying. And like insurance, it's better to offset a TINY fraction of present day income as means of ensuring some greater future stability.

I would imagine a few centuries earlier, you would be calling out Copernicus as one of those "Helio Centric Nazi's" propagating lies.

[marcinmoka]

With all due respect, why are you so obsessed with this one topic?

Your raison d'etre perhaps?

[buffycat]

To be frank, even the supposed 95% of yeah-sayers do not all support the standard hype of the Alarmists. The 'Deniers' aren't denying that the trend as of late is towards warming, what they question - not deny - is the amount to which human activity is to blame. It is clear that via a small time frame things seem to be warming - but the question remains - compared to what?

There is SO much misinformation about this whole debate, and it is further muddied by the scientific illiteracy of the average Joe/Jane. I posted this article and sadly it got very little attention. Even though it is pure and unadulterated science looking at climate change over a period of thousands of years. The research was exhaustive and very well done - and NOT funded by any oil industry lackies (much to the dismay of the 'sky is falling' crowd of Gorzukis).

It's too bad we don't teach science or history in classrooms anymore (read Critical thinking) - we are simply churning out a bunch of automotons, ready and willing to follow the company line!

Should we be addressing our use of fossil fuels? Absolutely - but not for the GW reasons. IMO this whole GW thing is distracting to what is far more important: chemical pollution of our environment via destruction of water resources - through plastics, drugs, overuse, and illegal dumping. Let's face it - oil we can do without, but WATER we cannot.

Just watch for the water wars - they will not be televised.

[August1991]

As a better poster than Jerry once said, "Anecdote is not the plural of data."

The argument supporting global warming doesn't depend on guys looking out their window to see if it's sunny.

For myself, the convincing argument has nothing to do with climatology and more to do with the Tragedy of the Commons. When something appears to be free, people overuse it.

[kimmy]

As a better poster than Jerry once said, "Anecdote is not the plural of data."

The argument supporting global warming doesn't depend on guys looking out their window to see if it's sunny.

Indeed. What's more, Jerry and some of the other critics of global warming theories rush to their computers whenever their neighborhood is stricken with unseasonably cool weather to write "It's cold outside. Global warming? LOL!!"

Now, while your eyes are closed name everything in the room that is blue.

Now open them. Chances ar you named smoe things but missed a few too.

Now while your eyes are still open, take note of everything that is green.

Now close your eyes. Name all the green things. Chances are you did much better.

Robbins' point is that we tend to notice what we focus upon. For good or bad. For him it's an excercise in positive thinking I suppose.

That's cool. Next time I'm at the Columbia Icefield and notice that it has shrunk by millions of tons since I first saw it as a little girl, I will close my eyes, open them, and look again. Who knows, maybe this time the vanishing ice will be back!

But if the earth is cooling - dramatically, then our contribution (if we have one) may in fact save us all.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I love it.

So, we should burn more fossil fuels! Because who knows, an ice-age could be on the way! So, on the one hand you hold that man-made contributions are too small to influence the climate if it's getting warmer... but on the other hand you're proposing that man-made contributions to climate could save us from an ice-age?

That's crazy, Jerry! Crazy!

-kramer

[JerrySeinfeld]

Indeed. What's more, Jerry and some of the other critics of global warming theories rush to their computers whenever their neighborhood is stricken with unseasonably cool weather to write "It's cold outside. Global warming? LOL!!"

I'm glad you touched on that because I think it's an important point.

Therefore can we ALL agree that whether it's an unusually dry summer or hot one or a hurricane hits a city chaped like a bowl, that we will not cite this WEATHER as evidence of our crisis - one way or the other?

Thank you.

[Topaz]

Jerry, I'm all for a "positive outlook" but it doesn't work all the time. When Noah was building the Ark, and using Jerry as an example, Jerry says Noah think positive, you won't need that Ark, it hasn't RAINED IN MONTHS. So, were do we find Jerry, when the Ark is filled and is starting to float?? Screaming at Noah, I was wrong please take me with you!! Jerry, the poles ARE MELTING and the oceans will raise and coastal shores will disappear sometime in the future, that's the one thing we don't know is WHEN!

[JerrySeinfeld]

Jerry, I'm all for a "positive outlook" but it doesn't work all the time. When Noah was building the Ark, and using Jerry as an example, Jerry says Noah think positive, you won't need that Ark, it hasn't RAINED IN MONTHS. So, were do we find Jerry, when the Ark is filled and is starting to float?? Screaming at Noah, I was wrong please take me with you!! Jerry, the poles ARE MELTING and the oceans will raise and coastal shores will disappear sometime in the future, that's the one thing we don't know is WHEN!

hmm.

The actual sea level rise has been minimal. So has the actual temperature rise in the past 100 years.

[jester]

Jerry, I'm all for a "positive outlook" but it doesn't work all the time. When Noah was building the Ark, and using Jerry as an example, Jerry says Noah think positive, you won't need that Ark, it hasn't RAINED IN MONTHS. So, were do we find Jerry, when the Ark is filled and is starting to float?? Screaming at Noah, I was wrong please take me with you!! Jerry, the poles ARE MELTING and the oceans will raise and coastal shores will disappear sometime in the future, that's the one thing we don't know is WHEN!

Do you have evidence that a person named Noah built anything at all or even existed? The Sahara used to be a fertile land, are you advocating that we stop global warming and keep it as a desert. The earth changes, always has done always will, get over it. There is NO chance of anything we do as a species that will stop or slow the system, the question is what we do about it. If the sea level rises so what, do you think that the people who live by the sea will sit there as it slowly gets above their knees? They will move, it is where they go that should be answered. It is only in recent geological times that the earth had frozen poles at all so the norm is for the poles to be ice free. Forget climate change it is a false arguement, we should be solving the results of change not trying a futile attempt to halt it. We are wasting time and arguing our way over nothing into extiction.

[jbg]

Forget climate change it is a false arguement, we should be solving the results of change not trying a futile attempt to halt it. We are wasting time and arguing our way over nothing into extiction.

You're touching on an important point there. The climate has always changed. In North America, climate change may have pushed the Inuits or FN's further north or south of where they are now. Nomadic people could move.

Moving a city like New York or Toronto might not be so easy. The global warming panic set is essentially copying King Canute's actions with regard to the tides.

[shoggoth]

The planet has changed, is changing and will continue to change. It is up to us as a species,along with all the others to change with it. Adapt or die, simple choice really, always has been. Why are we wasting our intellect debating something that will happen whether we want it to or not? Either we change and adapt to the new world or sometime in the future something else will be digging up our fossils, after all the end result of most life is extiction.......

Natural disasterous climate changes are very infrequent, and by the time one actually happens it's very likely that our technology will have progressed enough to deal with it easily. Perhaps by then we would have abandoned living on the planet surface altogether and will be living in space.

A more likely threat of climate disaster is one caused by ourselves before we have the technology to deal with it.

[ScottSA]

This whole debate is like one over religion. Nobody here has the slightest clue of whether we are causing climate change, or whether we can stop it, or whether it will even be bad. Yet one side is ready and willing to throw everything down the well in a sacrifice to the climate Gods. A lot of people are going to feel very foolish a few years down the road, when the sea has risen about a quarter inch and they've grown tired of jamming the panic button everytime a raindrop hits them.

[Sulaco]

But think about this whole "climate change" thing for a moment. Now before all the eco-nazis get their tights into a big knot, relax. I'm necessarily in this post siggesting our climate hasn't changed perhaps slightly. Heck, given the fact that climate always changes, I'd be a little worried if it didn't

***

But come to think of it, I can remember weird weather decades ago. I think we all can. But we just weren't phased by it, because the "earth is coming to an end" crowd hadn't latched onto it as a way to get money and power.

I can remember a quote from a famous investor. When asked what the stock market will do he'd say "I know exactly what the market is going to do. It's going to fluctuate"

Exactly. I remember, back in 1966 the US Northeast had a very hot, humid summer. 1967 was cool and rainy, as was 1969. 1968 was somewhere in between. No one thought anything of it.

In 1988, when we had a summer very similar to 1966, i.e. heat extending through most of Continental US (except no days over 38 in NYC, whereas 1966 did that about 4 times or so), people were clucking about "global warming".

Amusing you should bring up Copernicus. He too was a dissenter from a pseudo-scientific paradigm.

[jbg]

Amusing you should bring up Copernicus. He too was a dissenter from a pseudo-scientific paradigm.

Huh? Neither post you quoted mentioned Copernicus.