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• Warming (Score:1)

  by pudge (1)

  We don't know what is warming though ... some scientists said that the warming was localized, and that other nearby areas are colder now than they used to be. I say we bomb Ed Begley, Jr. for the most evil propulsion system ever conceived [platomic.com]!
  • Re:Warming (Score:1)

    by jjohn (22)

    You are correct, pudge. There is no agreement by scientists on the cause of the warming. Although that would be helpful to know the cause, the reality of global warming isn't questioned. What will be the effects of continued polar melting, we don't really know. In fact, the melt water could stop to the gulf stream and send Europe and North American into another ice age.
    
    As for bombing Ed Begley, I don't think we have any other choice. The problem is festering.
    • Re:Warming (Score:1)

      by pudge (1)

      Well, while there's no disputing global warming, there is no agreement on cause of it, nor continued effects. I am not saying your concerns are invalid, just that we don't know what will happen. I wish we did. Sorta.
      
      • Re:Warming (Score:1)

        by gizmo_mathboy (782) <reversethis-{moc ... } {yobhtamomzig}> on 2002.03.23 0:27 (#6253) Journal

        Well, a friend of mine stated the issue like this.
        
        What is the worst that could happen if we assume that global warming it true and we don't do anything about it? Compare that to what is the worst that could happen if global warming is true and we do something about it?
        
        We don't have definitive evidence either way. I think it would be safer for our species to assume global warming is true. If we do nothing we have to possible, fatalistic (for our species) consequences: ice age or severe rise in sea level. (just two outcomes, I think, of global warming).
        
        What is the downside to assuming global warming is here and we do things like: pass legislation to have more fuel efficient cars, alternative fuel sources, carbon taxes, conservation initiatives, etc. I'm guessing that many in the energy industry might get displaced. Maybe they get jobs in the new energy industry.
        
        Are we willing to gamble with the future of our species on whether global warming is true or not? I equate it with whether we should be on the look out for big rocks running into the earth. (That is a certainty it will happen, it's just a matter of whether I'll be around when it happens).

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        • Re:Warming (Score:1)

          by pudge (1)

          (BTW, no one contests whether or not there currently is global warming, as over the past decade or so there's been a measured increase in tempoeratures; the question is whether it was caused by man's hand or natural phenomena or is part of a recurring cycle, whether or not it will have permanent effects, what those effects will be, and whether or not we can do anything about it.)
          
          There are many things we could think might happen in the future that we could act on, many as reasonable or more reasonable than