DN watches Al Gore's movie and makes major life changes....

[ApeAttack]

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Science is wrong many times. Science is not always the truth. Science can not agree on this issue. Even if they did it wouldn't mean much. The Earth goes through cycles that are far larger than 100 years. Do a search on earth timeline. For huge amounts of time you need to break it down in millions of year piece. 100 years no pattern can be determined that has any value.

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I'm a graduate student and am in close contact with many scientists who work in atmospheric chemistry. One of my professors last quarter is an author in a section of the IPCC report that just came out (also in 2001).

The atmospheric scientists are looking at the concentration of CO2 and other greenhouse gases over hundreds of thousands of years, not 100. Global warming is not just some hypothesis a couple of scientists thought of... it is FUNDAMENTAL science. The debate among an OVERWHELMING majority of scientists who have spent their entire careers dealing with these concepts is that global warming IS happening. Now, the only debate is over the speed of temperature rise.

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No, that is NOT the only debate. There is debate over what the cause is. Seeing an effect, and choosing a convenient cause that you like without any proof, is junk science.

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Among the scientific community, global warming due to increased emissions of greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4 and N2O) IS the leading cause. That is why there have been calls to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Changes due to solar radiation, etc... have been discounted due to the time scales involved.

There is debate if OTHER gases, such as CFCs, are going to speed up the rate of global warming due to their larger global warming potentials.

Please provide a source of a paper from a peer-reviewed journal (the only reputable kind) that says otherwise.

[heater]

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Please provide a source of a paper from a peer-reviewed journal (the only reputable kind) that says otherwise.

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If you're going to require this from others, perhaps you should provide said source yourself.

[wrschultz]

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What is DN's status in the US? Is he a Canadian citizen who gets 6mo vacation visas and goes back for a week every 6mo and returns on a new 6mo visa? Does he have a greencard? You'd have a hard time telling from most of his political writing that he isn't a voting US citizen--he isn't, is he?

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I think he got some kind of permanent status thing at some point.. It is similar to what NBA players from other countries, and for a poker player you have to get some kind of statement from the WPT or WSOP... Pretty odd stuff.

[seemorenuts]

I believe we are toast as a species, and I felt our last chance to survive was a vast paradigm shift in the 90s.

I look forward to checking up on the skeptics in a few years and their underwater and/or frozen real estate.

P.S. It doesn't seem fashionable to defend Christians but I know at least a couple of them who are worldbeating scientists, and remember what fueled the Renaissance--that's right, Christianity (by no means is this representative nor a proof of anything):

1. I personally knew Victor Ling back in the 80s, a born again fundamentalist Christian. A few years ago I looked up how many publications/citations he had on cancer related research on a Canadian database. He was by far ahead of any other individual.

The only entity that outnumbered him was the collective work flowing from an entire institute in Montreal.

He does work on cell membrane transport... a really nice guy.


2. One of my uncles had 4 simultaneous NIH grants going on when I visited him in the 80s, he was only 35 at the time.

He constantly avoids journalists but he was one of the subjects of a Time magazine cover article about "America's Top Scientists" and he was mentioned several times in Christopher Reeve's books. (He'd be embarrassed that I mention these facts, it's the work that matters... lol...)

He didn't mince words in our conversations, to him, it is "obvious that there is a God" from (solely, perhaps) what he has discovered in the realm of science (neurophysiology, biophysics, medicine; avocationally: mathematics, computer science, history of science, among others).

I thought he was joking or speaking metaphorically.
However, I didn't dig further about whether he meant the God that Christians believe in ... so let's leave it at that.

BTW, these guys don't work because it pays well, both have eschewed huge paydays to do what they feel is important, something that I keep in mind when money is involved in one of DS's puzzles, albeit he's understandably simplifying.

I'd have to conclude that humans are too stupid to solve this problem. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

[burningyen]

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And the hate rolls on.

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What are you babbling about? There is no hate here. Is it hypocritical for Gore to be flying all over the place? Yes ... because the measures that they are advocating will have to mean less travel for everyone, by car and air, including Gore.

Look at what Prince Charles did ... he recently cancelled a trip to the US and used technology to accept an environmental award ... I think it was a meaningless gesture, but at least he practiced what he preached and is trying not to be a hypocrit. How about that for hate?

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FWIW, my response was directed at the OP, not you (Quick Reply). You make a fair point, but having participated in video conferences before, I would guess that the positive impact of Gore's actual presence in a room outweighs the incremental environmental cost of his travel to get there. I could be wrong.

[NCAces]

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And the hate rolls on.

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What are you babbling about? There is no hate here. Is it hypocritical for Gore to be flying all over the place? Yes ... because the measures that they are advocating will have to mean less travel for everyone, by car and air, including Gore.

Look at what Prince Charles did ... he recently cancelled a trip to the US and used technology to accept an environmental award ... I think it was a meaningless gesture, but at least he practiced what he preached and is trying not to be a hypocrit. How about that for hate?

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FWIW, my response was directed at the OP, not you (Quick Reply). You make a fair point, but having participated in video conferences before, I would guess that the positive impact of Gore's actual presence in a room outweighs the incremental environmental cost of his travel to get there. I could be wrong.

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Sorry for my tone. Your post does go to the point ... regardless of whether the situation is made better or not, Gore flying is going to be curtailed in the future as part of the solution. For Gore and other global warming scare-mongers to go around and tell us the world is going to end in 50 years, all the while living in big houses, owning multiple houses, vacationing all over the world, driving SUVs, using private jets, driving dozens of cars for their entourages, etc., is the height of hypocracy.

The impact of my business presentations - which are as important to me as anything Gore is doing - is better in person. But Gore is working to see that I am not able to do that in the future. Goose gander thing to me.

NCAces

[maryfield48]

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Man, the level of stupidity in some 2+2 threads never ceases to amaze me. There was a time I used to think to be a good poker player you needed some level of intelligence. Sadly, it looks like that is false and any good primate (as shown from so many people in this thread) can make a living playing this game.

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c.f. Jennifer Harman's reasoning that not voting for someone because he's an atheist <> being prejudiced against atheists.

As in many pursuits, apparently it is possible to be world class at poker and bottom of the class in other respects.

[grdred944]

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Plenty of people consider themselves 'environmentalists' but don't really walk the talk. They think that just preaching about it or writing checks makes them part of the solution - it doesn't.

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Yeah, like when Al Gore flew all over the country promoting his movie in a private jet. Things like that, huh?

[grdred944]

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Americans do not care about global warming, they are too busy watching paris hilton on youtube. The US Govt. and the Oil Cartel have an incentive to dispute the global warming findings. They even tried to pay scientists to dispute the findings.

While the rest of the world is working on shifting from the burning of fossil fuels to using nuclear power for mass energy, the USA is going to continue burning coal and consuming massive amounts of oil.

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The rest of the world. Ha! Have you been to Asia in the last oh, hundred years. The EU pays lip service to real pollution concerns by simply shifting pollution output to Africa. The African continent is in the middle ages thanks to the EU. Go ahead and bash the US because you are on target there. But don't pretend the rest of the world is somehow green. Not even close.

[grdred944]

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I wonder what Daniel's reaction would be if someone suggested that an excellent way to reduce greenhouse emissions would be to build more nuclear power plants.

Of course, he says astrology is witchcraft.

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This is the paradox that is Danny. Astrology is witchcraft (voodoo) but he believes in Jesus, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and all the other loveable childrens characters.