Climate Change, 'Greenhouse' effects: DENIAL

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Message 1482314 - Posted: 27 Feb 2014, 15:30:15 UTC - in response to Message 1482305.  
Last modified: 27 Feb 2014, 15:35:12 UTC

"enforced economic equality has prevented the rise of Communism in Western Europe."

Wouldn't an Advanced People's have found, or at least tried, a different way?

What could have been better than the government enforcing some degree of economic equality and social security, thereby robbing the Socialists/Communists from their agenda, ensuring that they had little to offer to the workers, further co-opting those Socialist/Communists and making them lose their radical elements, all without the use of excessive violence or turning into some authoritarian dictatorship?

Really the only other way of preventing a communist revolution would have been to hunt down all communist sympathizers and jailing/killing them.

And in any case, we are getting really off topic here.
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Message 1482319 - Posted: 27 Feb 2014, 15:55:56 UTC

Does it bother you to hear and see the assertion that "there is a consensus on global warming; 97% of scientists agree".

Well I don't believe there is any consensus except among the IPCC non-climate-scientists who phonied (to coin a word) up the data and conclusions.
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Message 1482364 - Posted: 27 Feb 2014, 17:30:10 UTC - in response to Message 1482319.  

Does it bother you to hear and see the assertion that "there is a consensus on global warming; 97% of scientists agree".

Well I don't believe there is any consensus except among the IPCC non-climate-scientists who phonied (to coin a word) up the data and conclusions.

Scientists can't even agree what temperature water boils at. Speaking as a scientist, i'd be worried if 97% all agreed about something as complex and hard to model as the global climate, it suggests we're taking too simplistic a view of it.
97% of climate scientists, whose grant funding depends on there being a problem to solve, agree. There's a statistic i believe.
Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.
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Message 1482537 - Posted: 27 Feb 2014, 23:25:47 UTC - in response to Message 1482294.  

That's not actually what I was suggesting, but um...thanks for the tip. :)

Yes

and Yes

Just a change in our priorities would be nice. Being nicer would be nice!!
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Message 1482820 - Posted: 28 Feb 2014, 16:48:26 UTC - in response to Message 1482364.  

Does it bother you to hear and see the assertion that "there is a consensus on global warming; 97% of scientists agree".

Well I don't believe there is any consensus except among the IPCC non-climate-scientists who phonied (to coin a word) up the data and conclusions.

Scientists can't even agree what temperature water boils at. Speaking as a scientist, i'd be worried if 97% all agreed about something as complex and hard to model as the global climate, it suggests we're taking too simplistic a view of it.
97% of climate scientists, whose grant funding depends on there being a problem to solve, agree. There's a statistic i believe.


Totally agree with your statement, The Simonator. +1


I don't *DENY* that humanity is having an effect on global climate via CO2 emissions. My own opinion is that it appears to be quite likely that we are having at least some small effect. Also, my opinion is that we are affecting global climate through other of our activities. However, the 'science' is far from settled. There are some major inconsistencies in the data that we collect that indicate that we do not yet fully understand the process. All *anyone* can have at the moment is opinion on the subject.

It never ceases to amaze me that the same 'Warmists' (yes, it seems to have become more of a religion than a science) that condemn the opinions of some scientists because of who they work for (oil/gas industry, etc.), fail to see the same issue on the other side. As you pointed out, a lot of the *climate* scientists depend for their grant funding on at least the possibility of the existence of a problem to be solved. Both sets of scientists may be somewhat biased in their viewpoints. Scientists, just like non-scientists, kinda need money to provide things like feeding and housing their families, and they don't want to bite the hand that feeds 'em.

Now, I don't work as a scientist currently, but I *do* have a strong background in the sciences (especially physics), and have worked in the sciences in the past. Around 40 years ago, I happened upon a textbook on climatology, studied it, and have maintained an interest ever since. I know enough on the subject to spot some glaring holes in the current models I have seen. Some of their predictions just don't match up with data being collected. In fact, the data shows the opposite of that the models predict. Yes, the scientists have too simplistic of a view of it.

Also, the non-scientists have WAY too simplistic of a view of it. Many seem to believe that the scientists will figure out some 'magic bullet' of a solution to the 'problem'. They seem to think that the problem (if there is one) can be solved without much pain on the part of humanity. This does not match reality.

If the 'Warmists' are correct, and humanity is fast approaching a tipping point for a horrible disaster, then there is only one viable solution. Turn out the lights, the party is over. Yes, I know, there has been great progress in the so-called renewable sources of energy. But since, per the 'Warmists', CO2 is a big, bad, boogie-man, and since there is only 1 way that it can be reliably removed from the atmosphere (conversion into Carbonate minerals), and this one way is so slow (atmospheric half-life >500 years), we would need to stop all use and drilling/mining of oil/gas/coal ASAP. Then ride out the damage that has already been done.

The so-called 'renewable, green' power sources all have some fairly serious opposition and problems.

1. Nuclear fission - many people object, produces some fairly nasty radioactive waste (dangerous for over 200,000 years).
2. Nuclear fusion - much cleaner, but much more difficult. 60 years ago it was 30 years away. Today, it is still 30 years away. Not to mention that the easiest fuel to use is the isotope He-3 (2 protons, 1 neutron in the nucleus) which is extremely rare on Earth, but somewhat more common on the lunar surface due to the solar wind. Do you *really* wanna strip-mine the moon?
3. Geothermal - Not available everywhere, and uses techniques similar to 'fracking' gas and oil. Injecting water down into fractured hot rocks under the earth's surface, and spinning turbines (which drive generators) with the steam. Due to caustic other things in the steam, it is also very high maintenance.
4. Hydroelectric - somewhat clean, but most all sites suitable are already developed. Plus MANY other uses for the water. Plus, changes in rainfall due to climate change may affect them.
5. Wind turbines - Got people that object to them. Kills the little (and some not so little) birdies. Also, they spoil the view. Plus they use certain rare-earth elements to get magnets strong enough to be viable. These same rare-earth elements are used in a great many other things... Oh, did I mention they are *rare*?
6. Solar panels - somewhat expensive to make, plus a lot of pollution (heavy-metal). Plus, there is also 'spoiling the view'.
7. Tidal power - some argue it hurts the marine life. Plus they are also gonna be high maintaince. Plus, tides are not continuous. They are only periodic (2 to 4 per day).
8. Solar mirror-furnaces - uses mirrors to concentrate the sun's energy onto boilers which drive turbines which drive generators. Rather expensive and spoils the view. Plus gonna fry the bugs and birds.

Another note on 5, 6, and 8: In any given spot, the wind does not blow all the time, nor does the sun shine all the time. So you need other sources for when that happens. Furthermore we cannot have some sort of 'planetary power grid'. Transmission losses would be rather high, further increasing the needed generation capacity. To eliminate the problem of transmission line losses, we would need a 'room temperature' superconductor with a high current capacity. Guess what, there aren't any. So, since people tend to not live near the best sites for solar (the high desert) or wind turbines (mountain passes), we can either build more capacity to cover the (non-global, shorter) transmission line losses, or we must locate other generation plants nearer to where the people do live. So, for the foreseeable future, we need some sort of base-level generation (sure, renewables can help, but for the most part can't replace it). And for the foreseeable future, it is abundantly clear that the mix *must* include some level of fossil-fuel use.

Remember, if the warmists are right, we would need to *eliminate* oil/gas/coal use... totally. Not just use for transportation, not just use for electrical generation, but totally... everything. And a great many things use oil/gas/coal in their production. Plastics and pharmaceuticals just to name two (the carbon will eventually wind up as CO2 in the air). Just cutting down on their use just puts off the 'warmist' doomsday, but doesn't avert it. Good luck convincing the People in the developed west that have 'the good life' now, and the People in the developing nations that want it, that they can no longer have it or have it at all. We are talking about a return to pre-industrial revolution subsistence-level farming for the great majority of people. Of course, especially here in the west, there would be massive die-offs of people due to starvation, thirst, and disease. Also, there would be the issue of who gets how much of what power remains. Who decides what uses are high-priority enough to get power 24x7, and what uses won't get any?

I am not a 'denier'. I think that there is the possibility that we are having some level of effect on the global climate. But I am also not a 'warmist'. I am not sure that the level of effect on the global climate will be as bad as it is made out to be. I guess you could call me a skeptic. I think that we need a LOT better of an understanding of what is going on before we can decide on what to do (especially since the only cure is quite a drastic thing).

Is there something to be concerned about at all? Will its effects be bad enough to warrant essentially killing civilization? Will the 'cure' be worse than the 'disease'? Would it be better to spend multi-trillions of US$, Euros, and other currencies trying to avert the potential crisis? Or would it be better to spend that money to learn how to adapt to it?

I do not have the answers to any of these questions, and currently I don't think anybody else does either. Should we be concerned/worried? Yes, I think so. Should we do 'the cure' before we understand things MUCH better? Heck no.
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Message 1482837 - Posted: 28 Feb 2014, 17:38:37 UTC - in response to Message 1482820.  

Finally a post that agrees with my thinking and makes sense.

Add to this the underlying warming since the last Ice age and the documented warming since 1650 its obvious that the climate is warming with or without man made influences. I am not a denier either but see the evidence for what it is, without the hysteria. Are humans making things warmer, yes. To the degree the "warmists" say, probably not.

Does it bother you to hear and see the assertion that "there is a consensus on global warming; 97% of scientists agree".

Well I don't believe there is any consensus except among the IPCC non-climate-scientists who phonied (to coin a word) up the data and conclusions.

Scientists can't even agree what temperature water boils at. Speaking as a scientist, i'd be worried if 97% all agreed about something as complex and hard to model as the global climate, it suggests we're taking too simplistic a view of it.
97% of climate scientists, whose grant funding depends on there being a problem to solve, agree. There's a statistic i believe.


Totally agree with your statement, The Simonator. +1


I don't *DENY* that humanity is having an effect on global climate via CO2 emissions. My own opinion is that it appears to be quite likely that we are having at least some small effect. Also, my opinion is that we are affecting global climate through other of our activities. However, the 'science' is far from settled. There are some major inconsistencies in the data that we collect that indicate that we do not yet fully understand the process. All *anyone* can have at the moment is opinion on the subject.

It never ceases to amaze me that the same 'Warmists' (yes, it seems to have become more of a religion than a science) that condemn the opinions of some scientists because of who they work for (oil/gas industry, etc.), fail to see the same issue on the other side. As you pointed out, a lot of the *climate* scientists depend for their grant funding on at least the possibility of the existence of a problem to be solved. Both sets of scientists may be somewhat biased in their viewpoints. Scientists, just like non-scientists, kinda need money to provide things like feeding and housing their families, and they don't want to bite the hand that feeds 'em.

Now, I don't work as a scientist currently, but I *do* have a strong background in the sciences (especially physics), and have worked in the sciences in the past. Around 40 years ago, I happened upon a textbook on climatology, studied it, and have maintained an interest ever since. I know enough on the subject to spot some glaring holes in the current models I have seen. Some of their predictions just don't match up with data being collected. In fact, the data shows the opposite of that the models predict. Yes, the scientists have too simplistic of a view of it.

Also, the non-scientists have WAY too simplistic of a view of it. Many seem to believe that the scientists will figure out some 'magic bullet' of a solution to the 'problem'. They seem to think that the problem (if there is one) can be solved without much pain on the part of humanity. This does not match reality.

If the 'Warmists' are correct, and humanity is fast approaching a tipping point for a horrible disaster, then there is only one viable solution. Turn out the lights, the party is over. Yes, I know, there has been great progress in the so-called renewable sources of energy. But since, per the 'Warmists', CO2 is a big, bad, boogie-man, and since there is only 1 way that it can be reliably removed from the atmosphere (conversion into Carbonate minerals), and this one way is so slow (atmospheric half-life >500 years), we would need to stop all use and drilling/mining of oil/gas/coal ASAP. Then ride out the damage that has already been done.

The so-called 'renewable, green' power sources all have some fairly serious opposition and problems.

1. Nuclear fission - many people object, produces some fairly nasty radioactive waste (dangerous for over 200,000 years).
2. Nuclear fusion - much cleaner, but much more difficult. 60 years ago it was 30 years away. Today, it is still 30 years away. Not to mention that the easiest fuel to use is the isotope He-3 (2 protons, 1 neutron in the nucleus) which is extremely rare on Earth, but somewhat more common on the lunar surface due to the solar wind. Do you *really* wanna strip-mine the moon?
3. Geothermal - Not available everywhere, and uses techniques similar to 'fracking' gas and oil. Injecting water down into fractured hot rocks under the earth's surface, and spinning turbines (which drive generators) with the steam. Due to caustic other things in the steam, it is also very high maintenance.
4. Hydroelectric - somewhat clean, but most all sites suitable are already developed. Plus MANY other uses for the water. Plus, changes in rainfall due to climate change may affect them.
5. Wind turbines - Got people that object to them. Kills the little (and some not so little) birdies. Also, they spoil the view. Plus they use certain rare-earth elements to get magnets strong enough to be viable. These same rare-earth elements are used in a great many other things... Oh, did I mention they are *rare*?
6. Solar panels - somewhat expensive to make, plus a lot of pollution (heavy-metal). Plus, there is also 'spoiling the view'.
7. Tidal power - some argue it hurts the marine life. Plus they are also gonna be high maintaince. Plus, tides are not continuous. They are only periodic (2 to 4 per day).
8. Solar mirror-furnaces - uses mirrors to concentrate the sun's energy onto boilers which drive turbines which drive generators. Rather expensive and spoils the view. Plus gonna fry the bugs and birds.

Another note on 5, 6, and 8: In any given spot, the wind does not blow all the time, nor does the sun shine all the time. So you need other sources for when that happens. Furthermore we cannot have some sort of 'planetary power grid'. Transmission losses would be rather high, further increasing the needed generation capacity. To eliminate the problem of transmission line losses, we would need a 'room temperature' superconductor with a high current capacity. Guess what, there aren't any. So, since people tend to not live near the best sites for solar (the high desert) or wind turbines (mountain passes), we can either build more capacity to cover the (non-global, shorter) transmission line losses, or we must locate other generation plants nearer to where the people do live. So, for the foreseeable future, we need some sort of base-level generation (sure, renewables can help, but for the most part can't replace it). And for the foreseeable future, it is abundantly clear that the mix *must* include some level of fossil-fuel use.

Remember, if the warmists are right, we would need to *eliminate* oil/gas/coal use... totally. Not just use for transportation, not just use for electrical generation, but totally... everything. And a great many things use oil/gas/coal in their production. Plastics and pharmaceuticals just to name two (the carbon will eventually wind up as CO2 in the air). Just cutting down on their use just puts off the 'warmist' doomsday, but doesn't avert it. Good luck convincing the People in the developed west that have 'the good life' now, and the People in the developing nations that want it, that they can no longer have it or have it at all. We are talking about a return to pre-industrial revolution subsistence-level farming for the great majority of people. Of course, especially here in the west, there would be massive die-offs of people due to starvation, thirst, and disease. Also, there would be the issue of who gets how much of what power remains. Who decides what uses are high-priority enough to get power 24x7, and what uses won't get any?

I am not a 'denier'. I think that there is the possibility that we are having some level of effect on the global climate. But I am also not a 'warmist'. I am not sure that the level of effect on the global climate will be as bad as it is made out to be. I guess you could call me a skeptic. I think that we need a LOT better of an understanding of what is going on before we can decide on what to do (especially since the only cure is quite a drastic thing).

Is there something to be concerned about at all? Will its effects be bad enough to warrant essentially killing civilization? Will the 'cure' be worse than the 'disease'? Would it be better to spend multi-trillions of US$, Euros, and other currencies trying to avert the potential crisis? Or would it be better to spend that money to learn how to adapt to it?

I do not have the answers to any of these questions, and currently I don't think anybody else does either. Should we be concerned/worried? Yes, I think so. Should we do 'the cure' before we understand things MUCH better? Heck no.

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Message 1482967 - Posted: 28 Feb 2014, 23:00:05 UTC - in response to Message 1482837.  
Last modified: 28 Feb 2014, 23:00:49 UTC

That makes for a good juncture to jump to a follow-on thread before this thread becomes too large even for our planet!

Please follow on on: Climate Change, 'Greenhouse' effects: DENIAL (#2)


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