Anthropogenic Climate Change ( title changed ) - Assertion & Denial

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Climate Change : Obama is Concerned

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[Bob Armstrong]

Keystone XL Pipeline

Hi Gary:

Unfortunately, it is my view that Obama will cave on this one - argue for and get a few technical improvements, and then let it go. He's not that green - USA wants the oil.

Also, it's another piece in the USA-desired North-South integration.

Bob A

[Zeljko Kitich]

Re: Climate Change : Obama is Concerned

"We want our children to live in an America that isn’t... threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet." Obama's victory speech.

Bob A

Well he can tick that one off as mission accomplished already.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Climate Change : Obama is Concerned

Well he can tick that one off as mission accomplished already.

Since the warming stopped 16 years ago he can thank Bill Clinton.

[Zeljko Kitich]

Re: Climate Change : Obama is Concerned

Since the warming stopped 16 years ago he can thank Bill Clinton.

He can thank Bill Clinton for a lot of things. Including a boost in this election when he couldn't rise to the challenge of the debate.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Climate Change ( 3rd Version ) - Assertion & Denial

I can only conclude that God wanted Obama to win. In the first election it looked like McCain/Palin was on its way to victory when McCain made the ill fated comment on the soundness of the economy the day before the financial collapse. This time it was hurricane Sandy which put the campaign on hold for a critical few days and allowed Barrack to look presidential.

David Moody, one of my chess friends from Michigan wrote:

So it's almost over. Tomorrow we will choose either four years of economic stagnation and lack of leadership, or four years of government by the rich oligarchy with further curbs on the rights of Average Americans. Sleep well over your choice.

I'll tell you exactly what we're going to get. Four years of further political gridlock, where bills passed by one chamber of Congress are "dead on arrival" in the other. Where those bills that somehow struggle through Congress are vetoed by the President. Where those laws which somehow get his approval never go into effect because they are promptly challenged and struck down in the courts. And where those which miraculously survive judicial scrutiny end up making no difference due to a lack of funding or the ingenuity of The Loophole Finders.

So why bother voting? Close to half don't feel it worth their time. But there is always the peculiar genius of American Problem-Solving.

You see, we're not that good at solving the Big Problems like Poverty and Inequality and Crime and War and Natural Disasters and Bad Television. But give us a smaller-scale disaster, like a child stuck in a well or a puppy stranded in the middle of a freeway or who should win on American Idol and we're all over it. The feeling Americans love best is the sense that they're doing Something to Help, and it is truly a wonderful and redeeming trait.

And that's why I think we bother voting. It's Something.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Keystone XL Pipeline

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[Paul Beckwith]

Re: Keystone XL Pipeline

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert...usaolp00000009

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Keystone XL Pipeline

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[Paul Beckwith]

Re: Keystone XL Pipeline

The world is rapidly retooling to get ever increasing amounts of energy from renewables. Without doing this lots of bad things will happen; in fact they have started already...

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/201...ide/?mobile=nc

[Paul Beckwith]

Re: Keystone XL Pipeline

332 to 203. Decisive. And the will of the American voter. Very decisive victory. Now we can roll up our sleeves and take solid action to reduce emissions and harden infrastructure to deal with climate change. And we need to regionally cool the Arctic to restore the sea ice and keep the ticking methane bomb buried in the permafrost and sea floor sediments.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Keystone XL Pipeline

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[Gary Ruben]

Re: Keystone XL Pipeline

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[Paul Bonham]

Re: Keystone XL Pipeline

... we need to regionally cool the Arctic to restore the sea ice and keep the ticking methane bomb buried in the permafrost and sea floor sediments.

You've heard of the Great Wall of China? How about a Great Wall of AC? A gigantic wall of air conditioners around the Arctic Circle, with the cool air blowing towards the North Pole and the hot air towards the populated regions south.

All powered by wind turbines and solar panels, of course.

Failing that, there could be a giant array of solar panels positioned in Earth orbit, all of them sitting at latitudes north of the Arctic Circle. Thus they block sunlight from reaching the Arctic ice, while also beaming energy down to receivers that are far from habitated areas. Planes would simply avoid flying through those zones.

[Alan Baljeu]

Re: Climate Change ( 3rd Version ) - Assertion & Denial

Is that a serious proposal by somebody? The problem with geoengineering proposals is that although it would be a huge feat to make it happen, once achieved they can easily cause more harm than good. For example, we deploy an array of solar reflectors to cool the earth by a degree on a hot year. How confident are we that it will be just one degree? What will happen to weather patterns? Will there be a consequent cooling that extends to the future? Serious question: Who really knows?

If a global cooling project is successful, what happens if natural events concur which also effect a cooling? Do we get an ice age from the cumulative effect?