Is Global Warming a Hoax?
- Started
- Last post
- 136 Responses
- lowimpakt0
george - i don't try to be a mind fuck :)
you're right. I rarely give a solution either. I probably should have said. "you don't seem to think to think there may be a solution" I tend to be more positive on this front.
why am I more positive? i get to meet policy makers, business people and NGO's all the time in my work. I am always encouraged about the number of individuals that really want to (and actually do) positive things.
there are still massive barriers, perverse incentives and corruption etc. but I think you have to work through these - rather than let them always drag you down, make you angry/depressed to the point that you feel there is nothing you can do..
i'm off to bed. good night and respect.
- joeth0
The CO2 problem in 6 easy steps
- joeth0
I think deep down, most people know that we're probably fucking up the planet for future generations. We just like clinging to the shreds of denialism because it gives us an excuse to be lazy. It lets us tell ourselves (and eventually our kids) that we did all we could based on the knowledge that we had.
I say screw that. As designers, we should be able to look to the future and plan for certain outcomes. We don't know for sure what's going to happen, but we can try to avoid the worst possible outcomes by making a sustainable world the sexier, more convenient, more desirable outcome. If people don't have to think about science but still chose the greener option because they like it better, then designers will have succeeded.
"The best way to envision the future is to design it"
- R. Buckminster Fuller
- mathinc0
I can't say that I'm completely on board with the theory that humans are causing climate change. 30 years ago the same media/political factions we're clamoring on about the next ice age being upon us. It seems like every decade we're faced with new 'It' can't wait!' fear brewing dilemmas. ice age, rain forest, ozone, acid rain... list goes on. So maybe I'm just jaded into a 'this too will pass' frame of mind.
I do believe that we need to stop polluting and stop gorging ourselves on natural resources. It is unsustainable no matter which way you slice it. I think in a way we are working towards the end goal that we all ultimately want. Simply look back to the industrial period, when conservation wasn't even a thought. I think the biggest debate is how quickly we need to get to that end point. If we aim to get there quickly then there are huge costs involved, or if we provide modest incentives it will get there sooner than later. Honestly I don't think anyone has all the answers. There are too many pieces of the financial pie still up for grabs for us to assume we're getting straight answers from anyone. Besides, the science of this is still pretty young. I believe we need some levity and patience before we will know what needs to be done, then do it.
- Ozone and acid rain were very real problems. They didn't just go away.joeth
- Scientist brought our attention to them, and we dealt with them. Rain forests are still a very real problem.joeth
- They've been talking about global warming for 30+ years. It isn't new.joeth
- Oh trust me I know these things. It's the 'MUST FIX NOW OR WE DIE!' that passes.mathinc
- By talking about global warming for 30 years, that was right after they were saying that we were headed for a catastrophic ice age.mathinc
- age? All I'm saying is that we obviously don't know enough. Not that that should keep us from making legitimate changes.mathinc
- We weren't exactly watching the news 30 years ago. That is a second hand account of Ice Age freaks.DrBombay
- lowimpakt0
I know where you are coming from but as Joeth said the ozone layer, acid rain and rainforests are still problems.
as I see it, they are linked directly to climate change - i.e. symptoms of the actions and emissions (pollution) directly caused by how we produce and consume products (and services). In simple terms, a move to "low carbon" design (production & consumption) also leads to lower emissions elsewhere.
The issue about how do you build up enough momentum so that people change attitudes/lifestyles/policies/bu... practices is a big one. I think the doomdsday "do it or die" reporting is not useful but as we see from tobacco, even when people have the cold, rational science presented to them they still continue to kill themselves and those around them by smoking.
also, we saw the very same industry/political lobby groups out in force when government tried to deal with the Ozone layer. Eventually science won out. Hopefully it will be the same with this.
- ********0
_
If I ever meet a person who doesn't believe in Global Warming then I lose all respect I ever had and will ever have for them and rank them as a fucking imbecile who should barely even be acknowledged when they open their mouth.- you must have lots of friend,
if you can't even address those with whom you disagree,GeorgesII
- you must have lots of friend,
- BaskerviIle0
We need to stand above all this disagreement and use this most basic argument:
Maybe global warming is completely man-made, maybe it is partly man-made. Either way don't we all think that just in case, as a precautionary measure, we should change the way we do things right now anyway, whether its our fault or not.
If it's all part of a natural cycle then there's nothing we can do about it, but again we can stop fucking things up as much because it may help, we may as well do all we can right now, whether we have complete control of the situation or none at all. It's the last thing we can do.
Lets imagine a dog in a room, we all kick it every day, some people say that our daily kickings are killing the dog, some say the dog is old and dying anyway..... my argument is: why not stop kicking the dog and see what happens, if it's dying anyway then it will die, but maybe our stopping the kicking might let him get better, and maybe it might slow down the rate at which it's dying. hmmmm
- ********0
- bored2death0
The data speaks for itself. Everything else is theory.
- ********0
- ********0
Stubborn glaciers fail to retreat, awkward polar bears continue to multiply
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comme…
- ********0
http://www.inesad.edu.bo/mmblog/…
Bolivia’s rapidly diminishing Chacaltaya glacier has been widely used as a symbol of Anthropogenic Global Warming (1). However, it is an unfortunate choice of symbol, because the retreat of this specific glacier is demonstrably not due to increasing temperatures caused by CO2 emissions.
- ********0
Oops - West Antarctic Ice Sheet not losing ice as fast
as we thought
http://www.sciencedaily.com/rele…
- ********0
Greenland icecap thickens despite warming
http://abc.gov.au/science/articl…
- "But, they say, the thickening seems consistent with theories of global warming, blamed by most experts on a build-up of heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars."t_rock
- ********0
Indian Scientists Call UN Glacier Retreat Claim Unscientific
http://www.larouchepub.com/pr/20…
- ********0
- ********0
Climate change: The elements conspire against the warmists
An international team of scientists has used the latest electro-magnetic induction equipment to discover that the Arctic ice is in fact "twice as thick" as they had expected.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comme…
- ********0
ICE is expanding in much of Antarctica, contrary to the widespread public belief that global warming is melting the continental ice cap.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/…
- ********0
My bet is that we’ll be hearing about the shrinking ice caps again in August – which, of course, is when they should be shrinking. Funny how no one talks about the shrinking ice caps in January.
