Tony Blankley wrote in his column today the following. It sums up a lot for me. Having personally been educated as a scientist I see a lot of religiously based answers here on Yahoo posing as science. A big tipoff is when someone states that "a consensus of scientists supports global warming" or the equally unscientifc statement that "I believe in global warming....". From the standpoint of science either global warming is a demonstratable fact or it isn't and a belief in something like global warming does not make it true. Here is an except from Tony's well thought out column:
"Forty years ago, shortly after Rachel Carson launched modern environmentalism a Princeton history professor named Lynn White wrote a seminal essay called the Historical Roots of our Ecological Crises: 'By destroying pagan animism, Christianity made it possible to exploit nature in a mood of indifference to the feelings of natural objects. Since the roots of our trouble are so largely religious, the remedy must also be essentially religious, whether we call it that or not.' It was a prescient claim. In a 2003 speech Michael Crichton closed the circle, calling modern environmentalism 'the religion of choice for urban atheists a perfect 21st Century re-mapping of traditional JudeoChristian beliefs and myths."
Now, there is nothing wrong, and a lot right, with the human instinct to try to understand man within a larger transcendental context. The arrogant and monstrously dilated individual human ego is the direct cause of much of mankind's suffering throughout our benighted existence.
And while I have my own religious thoughts, I will not disdain any man's search for the transcendent. But a religion should be understood by both its adherents and others for what it is -- a religion. The trouble with global warming believers is that probably most of them delude themselves into thinking they are practicing science -- not religion.
2007-03-07 10:44:22
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answer #2
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answered by Flyboy 6
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The choice is between the great majority of the climate scientists around the world, backed by a large database and systematic professional and peer reviewed analysis.
http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf
http://www.realclimate.org/
(and many other sites)
And a "science writer" spouting his theory and a few random facts. Oh, and he's selling a book.
Not a tough call for me, personally.
2007-03-07 09:55:23
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answer #3
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answered by Bob 7
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there is science ,there is suposition ,there is theory
and there is reality
Is global warming a man-made menace?
not all there are natural cycles in the planets life
but a lot is influenced by mans existance ,and this is increasing with overpopulation,putting strains on Natural resources and increasing contaminations as well as destructions of essential componants the ensure living conditions for all life forms
some home truths
politicians and scientists who work for politicians have downplayed the facts because solutions are expensive and means change and change effects many people income,and most of the world is kept in the dark of the real things that are going on.
in North Africa,India,Mexico ,millions of people are effected by land loss and desertification
in recent times thousands of people have died because of exessive heat,usually old people.in India ,Mexico and France,
deforestation causing desertification,the desert conditions causing very cold nights and scorching hot days
in china, thousands of what used to be farmers are running for their lives from the dust storms that have burried their towns and turned their lands into dessert,the globe where they were got to hot for them .
and instead of producing food they are now needing it from some where else,and they will drastically effect the world food prices when they start buying water in the form of grains ,at any cost destabalising governments, in some countries ,could be the result
(are you seeing more Chinese around interested in agricultural lands ,we do here in Mexico)
,the Sahara is growing by 7 kilometers a year
and all of the desserts we know are a results of mans actions ,and they are increasing ,not getting less ,in the dinosaurs days ,there were no desserts.
collectively this planet is drying up because of bad farming practices like,over grazing and fertilizers,
as far as the food production is concerned, Global warming or some of its effects are serious,rising seas result in landloss
each degree rise in temperature means 10%crop loss
more landloss because of desertification every year,we have less areble land to produce food ,for an extra 70 million people ,
and there is less and less water (because of deforestation),to irrigate this production ,
and there are less and less farmers to do it..
who are overpumping deep carbon aquifiers
who are plowing more and more unstable lands because they have lost so many million hectares to desertification ,
because of bad farming practises ,such as using fertilizers and heavy machinary or over grazing
RISING SEAS
The northpole is melting ,and we will know it without ice in our life times.
this does not affect the sea level because it is ice that is already in the water.but the melting ice from Green land and the south pole ,are another matter.
Global warming is in theory reversable,but it will mean global co operation between all countries ,and taking into account human nature and the world politics ,it is unlikely that this will happen,
At least not untill we are all in the middle of planetary disastres and it becomes a battle for the survival of humanity every where.
SOLUTIONS
if you want to help the planet ,plant a tree every week ,if everyone on the planet did we we would be able to reverse the destructive processes
reduce carbon emisions,and they are already working on that by alternative forms of energy and regulations on carbon producing materials,aerosol cans,burning rubbish,industrial chimneys,powerplants etc.
the capture of carbon and the production of water and assist the aquiferous manta.
the world bank pays large subsidies for reforrestation to capture carbon and the best tree for this is the Pawlonia
Waterharvesting projects ,such as millions of small dams.to redirect over ground waterflows from the rains into the ground to supply subteranian water supplies.
the protection of existing forrests.
stop building more highways,urban planning to include vegetation stop building cities encourage people to return to the land to conduct their business from there which now has become possible thanks to the internet.
education to motivate people to auto sufficiency by building more home food gardens.
education on environmental awareness
education on family planning to curb over´populaion
Agricultural education and improvements to follow the principals or sustainability and soil management.
more environmental or land ,design to prevent bush fires,such as--fire breaks
,more dams.regulations and control for public behaviour
alternative effeciant public transport to discourage the use of the internal conbustion engine
recicling wastes,limit water use
i am a Permaculture Consultant for the department of Ecology for the regional government in Guerrero Mexico
http://spaces.msn.com/byderule
Source(s) Lester E Brown is the director and founder of the global institute of Environment in the United states .he has compiled a report based on all the satalite information available from NASA,and all the information that has
come from Universities and American embassies WORLD WIDE ,
his little book--a planet under stress , Plan B has been trans lated into 50 languages and won the best book award in 2003.
2007-03-07 21:21:43
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answer #4
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answered by Anonymous
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