Global Warming

[Kire]

Hey, today's Earth Day and stuff.

Considering Penn & Teller made it cool to disbelieve in global warming, what are your thoughts? I know the majority of scientists will tell you it's a real thing, but what should realistically be done?

[Ryner]

I think we had more snow this past winter than I can ever remember.

[Czechs Mex]

mF_anaVcCXg

[Leish]

I'd like to think man has a lot to do with global warming because it makes me feel powerful. Man has slowed the Earth's rotation (Three Gorges Dam), poked holes in the ozone layer (poking holes in gas takes talent), drastically altered many ecosystems, and I'd like to think we're responsible for melting hundreds of miles of ice that are miles thick. You think you're so smart, dolphins? Yeah, I don't see you creating black holes.

Of course though, pollution sucks (just ask those living under the Asian brown cloud), and energy costs are high in my area, so I selfishly do little "green" things like turning off lights and unplugging things not in use. Seriously, the best way to make people go green is to give everyone asthma and $170 energy bills.

[Kefka Jr.]

I think we had less snow this past winter than I can ever remember.

[Sampson]

Assuming that it is caused by man and that it will play out as they say, you're not going to solve it through voluntary carbon reduction. Even if you limited carbon emissions in the US, you still have the problem of India and China.

If its going to be solved, it will be through engineered solutions like the sulfur cannon.

[The Toecutter]

Hey, today's Earth Day and stuff.

Considering Penn & Teller made it cool to disbelieve in global warming, what are your thoughts? I know the majority of scientists will tell you it's a real thing, but what should realistically be done?

If you were to somehow cut the resource consumption of the top 1% by about 90%, and the middle class top 20% by about 50%, you'd have a very good start.

I managed to use less than 120 kWh/month of electricity when I lived in Texas, rode a bicycle back and forth to work, and my living standard didn't change any significant degree.

If you believe in lessening your impact on the environment, buy less ****. This effect works two-fold; not only does it reduce your consumption, but if enough people do it, the rich will have less revenue and by proxy be forced to reduce theirs.

The problem, especially in the U.S., is that consumption is damn near mandatory for people to go about their lives(eg. needing a car to go back and forth to work thanks to the U.S. government having dismantled a very advanced mass transit system generations ago). This is by design; the elite of society want you to consume, even when you don't want to. This is also apparent in our tax structure; the money we are spending on defense is responsible for much of the environmental pollution we have(the U.S. military consumes more oil than the nation of Greece), nevermind subsidizing unsustainable factory farms with taxpayer dollars is encouraging a model of food production that is highly carbon intensive.

The individual alone, even if large numbers of them act together, is not going to be enough to solve this. We need a change in government policy as well and an economic model that redistributes income earning potential so that the super-rich don't horde all of the resources for themselves(this in conjunction with addressing poverty in the 3rd world would also have the effect of reducing the birth rate, reducing carbon emissions further in the long term).


In our lifetime, things such as running water, electricity, and central heating will be a distant, unaffordable luxury, unless our species reduces its resource consumption. The weather effects of global warming and the resultant food and fresh water scarcity it will bring will be even worse.

[Alex]

More snow/less snow --
It's Climate Change.

The term Global Warming only gives fodder for dumbasses to say,
"Hur hur hur, where's your global warming now, Al Gore?" whenever it's chilly.

Read the top comment in this Reddit Thread (http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/b20b8/im_a_global_warming_skeptic_and_i_invite_you_to/).

[Adrian Foley]

Earth day at the U of M = Free concerts and free ****.

Recycling wut?

I drive a diesel car and get 50 miles to the gallon, AND ride the bus to school. That's eco-friendly right?

[Eschaton Orochi]

There is nothing we can do to save the planet. It is all about what we will not do. The only way to save the planet would be to end all human progress, but that will end terribly.

[American Hero]

It's not real guys. It's all an illusion so the Government can make money. Duh.
And adding to the above post, there is no way to save the planet. All things end sometime or another. I mean once the sun burns out that's the end of Earth anyway.

[Valkysas]

The only way to save the planet would be to end all human progress, but that will end terribly. No.

We just have to quit being retarded.

The problem is that we have a severe lack of progress. we're still burning things for fuel and using the ocean as a dump. We need to move beyond that.

[Eschaton Orochi]

We can't stop being retarded. It's in our DNA. Then again, we can always colonize and **** up another planet capable of supporting life!:explosion

[John Mora]

There is nothing we can do to save the planet. It is all about what we will not do. The only way to save the planet would be to end all human progress, but that will end terribly.

You saw Arjuna, too, huh?

[Eschaton Orochi]

Nope. It's simply the way I see things.

[IamPinhead]

We're still burning things for fuel and using the ocean as a dump. We need to move beyond that.

I think we all know how this will end, Valk.
http://msp225.photobucket.com/albums/dd259/SupernaturalMonkey/Hedorah.jpg

[Leish]

There is nothing we can do to save the planet. It is all about what we will not do. The only way to save the planet would be to end all human progress, but that will end terribly.

Pollution in many ways is a reflection of inefficient devices and industry. If you associate efficiency and productivity with pollution control, you open up a huge area of investment reallocation and the transformation of industrial commercial processing. i.e. our cars will run off pee. Progress!


If only we had a more efficient digestive tract that doesn't launch methane in our atmosphere. Cow farts are also a significant factor of global warming, so we either need to start eating less cow meat or start making cyborg cows.

[Valkysas]

or we could harness cow farts for energy.

[Cutter De Blanc]

Looks like things are really starting to heat up

:csimiami

[Jamos]

The problem is that we have a severe lack of progress. we're still burning things for fuel and using the ocean as a dump. We need to move beyond that.
Exactly. We have an entire universe out there. Launch the trash into outer space. :thumbs

[Eschaton Orochi]

That is a good idea. Too bad the world economy is so bad we can't afford a giant space trash compactor. We can't save the world either way. If we stop doing everything, society will go to hell, and if we try to make progress, the world monetary system (except those tribal areas) will go to hell.

[Czechs Mex]

Just because you are choosing between two potentially unpleasant outcomes doesn't mean you should avoid making a choice.

[Eschaton Orochi]

I'm just throwing 2 possible outcomes to the Pavilion.

[Bones]

spam removed

[Caciss]

So when is it a good time to kill myself?

[Wavelength]

Penn and Teller also made it cool not to believe in recycling, even though their half-truths were the real "Bull****" being thrown about.

Regarding that episode, I once read a blog from one of the experts who was featured, who basically said that Penn & Teller completely distorted his message via clever editing.

Now, I believe we might be overdoing the scare on Global Warming a little, but even so, THERE IS NO UPSIDE to ignoring it and continuing to emit heavy greenhouse gases. Certain political hacks (e.g. Republican Senators and shock jocks) are so dead set on "winning the argument" that they will try to convince you otherwise, but they have no leg to stand on. We really should be erring on the side of caution...

...If for no other reason than the fact that most sources of greenhouse gas emissions are also sources of other pollutant emissions (carbon monoxide, methane, CFC's, smog, and the extremely harmful emissions of unfiltered cargo ships) that we KNOW are harmful to humans.