A Question for all you Global Warming skeptics

TheRealCJ

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Okay, so first of all: I think global warming is absolutely happening. But I also respect those who have a strong opinion contrary to mine (Well, those who aren't arses about it anyway).

But my question is thus: You may not believe it's truly happening, but why are you so against preventative measures to stop it happening in the future? Surely you'd agree that to stop it from happening 100 years from now, which is entirely plausible, there should be some preventative measures taken now.

I've got people here in Australia, prominent people, people in Government, saying things along the lines of "Global Warming has not been proven as fact, so just keep right on doing exactly what you're doing now, because it's not causing immediate and noticeable damage."

That seems unnecessarily reckless to me. After all, doesn't the old idiom read "A stitch in time saves nine"?

EDIT: I feel that people are taking "global warming" point slightly too literally. I'm also talking about pollution in general. But that doesn't have as many obsessive back-and-forthers.
 

DRobert

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Who in government? Plenty in the opposition but none that I've heard from in the government (at least, not federal).

What I don't get is why people fail to see the benefit of transitioning away from fossil fuels aside from preventing global warming. Surely people realise that non-renewables are, by their definition, non-renewable. Move towards renewables and you avoid energy price spikes when the non-renewables run out (see the rising price of oil). Be an early moving country and your country is better positioned to capitalise when other countries make the transition later.
 

TheRealCJ

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DRobert said:
Who in government? Plenty in the opposition but none that I've heard from in the government (at least, not federal).

What I don't get is why people fail to see the benefit of transitioning away from fossil fuels aside from preventing global warming. Surely people realise that non-renewables are, by their definition, non-renewable. Move towards renewables and you avoid energy price spikes when the non-renewables run out (see the rising price of oil). Be an early moving country and your country is better positioned to capitalise when other countries make the transition later.
Right, right, sorry, I did mean opposition.

Of course, given the way things are blowing, they'll be majority come next election.
 

spartan231490

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TheRealCJ said:
Okay, so first of all: I think global warming is absolutely happening. But I also respect those who have a strong opinion contrary to mine (Well, those who aren't arses about it anyway).

But my question is thus: You may not believe it's truly happening, but why are you so against preventative measures to stop it happening in the future? Surely you'd agree that to stop it from happening 100 years from now, which is entirely plausible, there should be some preventative measures taken now.

I've got people here in Australia, prominent people, people in Government, saying things along the lines of "Global Warming has not been proven as fact, so just keep right on doing exactly what you're doing now, because it's not causing immediate and noticeable damage."

That seems unnecessarily reckless to me. After all, doesn't the old idiom read "A stitch in time saves nine"?
I agree. Be prepared, and all that.

Also, I don't care what anyone says, global warming is happening. Where I live, ducks and geese fly south for the winter, 2 months later than they did 30 years ago. I haven't seen a winter without heavy rainfall(instead of snow) in 5 years or more.(we still get snow, we just also get a lot of rain, which never used to happen. I live in the Adirondack park, where the average temperature in January is supposed to be like 10 degrees below zero(Fahrenheit) and 3 summers ago, I went fishing, golfing, and played tennis on January 5th. I've talked personally to one of the first people who started watching average temperatures and CO2 levels year to year(he was third I think, and started in the early 60s, both have been on a consistent rise since he started taking data. Global warming is happening, anyone who thinks it isn't is in denial.

I also take issue with the people who argue over whether we are causing it or not. Despite the obvious fact that we are at least contributing to it, does it really matter? If your house is on fire, do you argue about why it's on fire before calling the fire-department? NO! you do everything you can to save your house from burning down.

tl;dr
I agree with OP. Global warming is obvious to anyone with eyes. Don't argue about whether it's our fault or not.
 

Aulleas123

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I would call myself a skeptic of anthropogenic global warming theory, as far as actual global warming is concerned I have no problem with believing that.

I'm under the belief that many people who claim that "it's all our fault and we should punish ourselves for our sins" transcend scientific findings and promote a view that is political and even religious in nature. Should we have clean air and water, absolutely. Should we hold companies accountable when they pollute at an unacceptable level, yes. Should we destroy private industry out of blame and spite when an analysis of variance would suggest that human involvement might be much more manageable than doomsayers are suggesting? No, I don't think that's the answer.

To many people, this is about clean air and water, renewable energy, and general stewardship over the earth. I can respect that viewpoint because it makes sense to have a healthy environment for a variety of arguments. But when people take global warming and "going green" and turn it into a weapon to guilt us into doing what they want us to do, that's where I personally draw the line.

To me, there's very little difference between the college student telling me to pay to large foundations (i.e. corporations) for repentance for carbon credits and a Catholic priest telling me to pay a tithe to the church for repentance of my lack of virtue.

Sorry for the rant, I hope I got my point across without being obnoxious and without even being your target...
 

artanis_neravar

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Global warming is a natural occurrence, yes we are speeding it up a bit, but it has happened over and over throughout the history of our planet and attempting to stop it could have disastrous effects. No one (as far as i know) has looked into what might happen if we do stop global warming, just what might happen if we don't. Yes i believe in Global Warming but i also believe we need to let nature run it's course.
 

theheroofaction

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Make a container environment out of a material that you can see through. leave it in the sun for a few days. measure its temperature.
Then put some c02 in there, this will actually cool it down.

So really, the best way to fight heat? stop trying to fight it.
 

Sethzard

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Global warming is undeniable happening, humans are accelerating it though.
 

bdcjacko

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Here is Kansas City it has been on the coldest, snowiest years for like 3 years in a row. It sure is cold for Global Warming. Then I'm told Global Warming isn't the correct term, it should be called Climate Change. K, the have scientifically proved the climate has been changing for billions of years before man. Big deal.
 

sneakypenguin

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TheRealCJ said:
But my question is thus: You may not believe it's truly happening, but why are you so against preventative measures to stop it happening in the future? Surely you'd agree that to stop it from happening 100 years from now, which is entirely plausible, there should be some preventative measures taken now.

I've got people here in Australia, prominent people, people in Government, saying things along the lines of "Global Warming has not been proven as fact, so just keep right on doing exactly what you're doing now, because it's not causing immediate and noticeable damage."

That seems unnecessarily reckless to me. After all, doesn't the old idiom read "A stitch in time saves nine"?
It's just that many of the solutions are economically inefficient, or only achieve sinking quality of life.
 

TheRealCJ

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TestECull said:
TheRealCJ said:
But my question is thus: You may not believe it's truly happening, but why are you so against preventative measures to stop it happening in the future? Surely you'd agree that to stop it from happening 100 years from now, which is entirely plausible, there should be some preventative measures taken now.
Put simply, that emissions bullshit saps precious horsepower and makes things neednessly complex. It also means products don't last very long since they're designed with yuppie-tastic bullshit materials that literally rot in a month and a half. Oh and good god don't get me started on the fucknuggets who think the Prius is helping.....ohubhn


In short it's greenpeace hippie bullshit and I want my god damn horsepower back![footnote]I will run an exhaust catalyst on gasoline engines, but this is because the catalyst filters out genuinely harmful shit. Like raw, unburned fuel. Or Carbon Monoxide. Even helps with NOx emissions. On top of that they make high-flow models that don't sap but maybe half a HP. But that's as far as it goes. [/footnote]
Believe me, I'm no greenpeace nut. I spend most of my free time either playing videogames or destroying bushland in a big diesel fourbie.

My problem is all the people who think along the lines of "Global warming = Myth, so there is absolutely no reason to research renewable fuels, environmentally sound alternatives to current systems, or any forward thinking whatsoever"

Oh, and for the record, the Prius is a terrible car. Perhaps in the US where everything is petrol, but here, a decently-tuned diesel will result in less emissions a much higher mileage.
 

rokkolpo

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The way I see it: We didn't cause it, but we are helping it.

Like holding the hand of the man that shoots someone.
 

TheRealCJ

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Rosetta said:
There have been 6 major extinctions wherein the majority of the Earth's life died that we humans know of. All of them happened before we were here and all of them happened due to massive climate change. The ice age was the most recent.

Humans do not affect the climate.

The Earth will cool and warm long, long after we go extinct and the cycle of life and death will be unaffected.

The hippies are wrong. The science is right.
Of course. The hippies.

Remember in my OP, where I said as long as you're not an arse about it?
 

Belluavir

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They're against it because 1.) its what their enemies want 2.) they don't want any pittances going to waste on a bunch of liberal hokum when it could be going to their mortgages, churches or the military. It's not about science or principles, it's about power.

Sustainable energy and waste reduction (power and material waste) has strong arguments that go beyond global warming such as reducing the immediate health consequences caused by pollution, lowering fuel costs by reducing the amount of oil spent on power production, less dependence on highly limited, dangerous and difficult to acquire resources thereby providing more economic stability and security, some people can acquire a greater level of independence by not relying on grid power, the Moslum turrurists can't hold the world hostage by keeping all the oil for themselves and making strap on nucular bombs with it, etc. etc. Plenty of angles that can appeal to a lot of different people, but they don't give a fuck about any of that. Now all it is is a platform on which evil people can seize power.
 

electric discordian

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If it is happening then surely this is a good thing! Humanity has hit an evolutionary dead end we are like the Panda. Nothing threatens our reign as absolute masters of our reality so we will continue to slowly slide into a quagmire of our own making.

If the oceans do indeed rise and wipe out half of the planets humans maybe this is what is needed to kick start a "punctuation event" which will make us into the next step in our evolution we haven't changed for thousands of years after all!
 

Atmos Duality

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Given the usual degree of damage that human industry/development causes to the environment, it isn't at all absurd to consider the effects we have on a global scale.

Weather has certainly become more "Swingy" and violent in recent years.