Which is your favourite BS denial argument for global warming?
a) The sun is causing the current warming trend (even though solar irradiance is lower now than 50 years ago)
b) Cosmic rays are causing the warming (despite the falsified data and faulty logic used by the 'scientist' proposing this idea)
c) There is no warming - the instrumental record is wrong. (because things are only true if I want them to be true)
d) Warming is natural (so we should accept the disaster with stoic determination and die quietly)
e) It's a conspiracy (after all, if so many people are convinced by the avalanche of evidence, it MUST be fake)
f) Liberals are concerned about it, and I'm a conservative, so I have to oppose anything they support (because the issue of global welfare is all about party policies)
g) It's been warmer before, so we don't need to worry (even though previous climate change episodes are associated with mass extinctions).
Please say which you find most amusingly moronic, and why.
2007-05-18T06:33:02Z
Silly me, here's a few more:
h) Mars is warming too (even though this is based on less than one martian year's worth of data at one pole and represents seasonal variation only) i) We won't be affected in our lifetime (which should make the inhabitants of New Orleans, Australia and Tuvalu have a good belly laugh) j) The world is constantly changing (odd one this - not sure how saying things are changing refutes the idea that things are changing in an unusual way at present) k) They can't predict the weather, so climate predictions are useless (showing a complete disregard for the difference between weather and climate) l) No-one has proved that CO2 causes global warming (even though it was clearly demonstrated over 100 years ago as a physical property of the gas)
jj2007-05-18T07:00:01Z
Favorite Answer
although i do have to laugh at the Mars argument considering where it is usually preached, i would have to say my favorite arguments against it are:
1) scientists are wrong about global warming because 50 years ago(when technology wasn't near as advanced) they were claiming the earth was cooling and we were all going to freeze to death. They were wrong then,(even though the upper atmosphere is cooling while the lower atmosphere is warming) and they are wrong now.
and
2) the 145-255 per million tons of CO2 per year emitted by volcanoes is much more than the 30 billion tons of CO2 per year caused by humans, so humans can't be causing Global climate change. since volcanoes cause more greenhouse gases than humans(even though they don't) there is nothing that we can do.
3) it is a natural cycle of the planet, because something had to trigger the thaw of the last ice age. and since CO2 levels are relatively at the same level as that time (and rising), humans weren't around(even though the planet was covered by rotting plant debris) so it couldn't be caused by humans, even though we are surpassing the prehistoric levels without any ice age present.
and last but not least: #4 global warming is nothing to worry about because it doesn't exist, even though global CO2 concentrations are at nearly 400ppmv(nearly 100ppmv rise in the last 100 years) and the lethal concentration to humans in under 3 hours of exposure is 800ppmv.
Top Ten Policies Necessary to Ensure a Global Apocalypse Following are the most urgent policy prescriptions necessary to maximize the likelihood of a collapsed global ecosystem. They are listed in order of importance. To have any chance of hastening the end we really must get at it. No. 1 - POPULATION - Human population is not relevant to our current situation. We can make as many people as we wish and there will be no consequence. Human ingenuity can solve any conceivable problem. When we run out of room here we can colonize the Moon, then Mars, then the whole Universe! No. 2 - GREENHOUSE GASES – Global Warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated. The Environmentalist / Socialist / Secular Humanist Axis of Evil must be destroyed at all cost. No. 3 - PROTECT ECOSYSTEMS? –Nature will regenerate itself endlessly no matter what we do. A lot of the stuff we do is better than nature anyway. No. 4 - CONSUMPTION – We have a God given economic right to consume what we want. Period. I worked hard for my money and I’ll spend it as I please. No. 5 - AGRICULTURE - God gave us dominion over the earth. It is ours to use as we see fit. We can tinker with the genes of our food, and heck with everything else for that matter. When all that is left is green slime, so long as it's nutritious and tastes good, who cares! No. 6 - ECONOMIES - Markets are the purest form of Natural Law. Let the cream rise to the top and let the rest eat cake. No. 7 - TECHNOLOGY - Technology is the Holy Grail. By God, what Man would ever want to stick his hand down into the dirty Earth, the smelly slimy Sea. The end state of humanity should be to live in a hermetically sealed bubble with all his wants and needs artificially provided. No. 8 - ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION? – We already give up too much to the crazed hippy environmentalists. We have a God Given Right to take the last 2% of world that hasn't been spoiled and make some more money off it. When Antarctica unfreezes, I want first dibs there too. No. 9 - POVERTY- Poor people are lazy and deserve their lot. No. 10 – DEMILITARIZATION? - If I can’t defraud you out of what you have, I’ll make laws that make cheating you out of it legal. And when that fails I’ll just kill you and take it.
There is really no question that the Earth is warming up, so there can be no denial of this fact. There can, however, be resonable debate as to the causes of warming and as to what we should do about it.
For my part, the data show that in prehistoric times, global maximums reached levels of about 3 degrees celsius above current global average temperatures. These occurred without any contribution from man made green house gases. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that in this current warming trend, temperatures will reach this level, even if we some how stopped burning all fossil fuels and removed all of the excess CO2 we have added to the atmosphere.
It is possible that the additional CO2 we have added to the atmosphere will cause the current maximum cycle to exceed past maximums, but this is by no means a proven fact. It is also possible that what ever causes CO2 levels (and temperatures) to fall soon after peak temperatures are reached will come into play as normal and completely overwhelm our puny effects.
In summary then:
1) Global temperatures have been much hotter in the past than they are now.
2) There is no reason to believe that they will not reach these historical maximum levels again regardless of what we do to try and prevent it from happening.
3) Since further warming is inevitable, we would be better served if all of the energy and resources being spent on name calling, finger pointing, hand wringing and attempting to stop global warming were spent on getting ready for the inevitable effects.
I like to compare global warming to the following scenario:
You and your family are crossing a rail road track when the car stalls. You see a train approaching you on the track, but you have a few minutes before it is going to hit your car. What do you do:
a) Get out of the car, stand between the train and your family, hold up your arms and try and stop the train?
or
b) Use the time you have to get your family out of the car and out of harms way.
To me the answer is obvious.
Oh yes, didn't your mother ever tell you that starting a conversation with an insult is not the best way to engage people in dialog?
An analysis of peer-reviewed literature shows that there is indeed consensus in the scientific community on anthropogenic climate change. Rather than focusinig on one issue, more thinking, discussion, and action need to center around the fallout from the convergence of multiple factors. In a world rapidly getting hotter that is over-populated, deforested, has shrinking fresh water supplies, whose soil is eroding, whose genetic diversity is being lost,whose fisheries are being destroyed, and where unprecedented masses of humans are migrating, we've got a lot of thinking, planning, and acting to do. We don't need everyone to accept the idea, just enough.
Anyone who believes in global warming should wear a tin hat. 3rd grade science teaches that plants use CO2 for growth. Most Marijuana grows pump in CO2 to increase output. I have yet to see an explosion of plant over-development to support the supposed increase in CO2. Second, humans and human output are infinitesimal in comparison to the HUGE star that effects our planet and its seasons. You crazies need to stop acting like you are so important and learn how to turn a wrench on your Prius.