Americans, are we not fortunate...?

Question

...to have so many self-appointed neocon experts here on Y! that are so much smarter and well informed than the scholars that award Nobel prizes and those that receive them!

according to Glenn Beck, Al Gore has canceled a speaking engagement today to make an emergency trip abroad for an event related to his work on global warming, perhaps to accept a Nobel award.

why don't you cons attack other Nobel award winners? (like Einstein, for instance). have you any idea how foolish you appear by asserting that the entire global scientific community is wrong about global warming and you and your few politicians and pundits are right?

just what evidence will it take to override your ignorant and stubborn ways?

wiseone-
would you like to offer any contrary evidence to the scientific fact of global warming, or continue with your hollow pontifications?

"thats not right" -
what a coincidence! i just fell asleep on my report button!

allie -
it wasn't Gore that couldn't spell potato. that was Dan Quayle. apparently they didn't cover that when you were getting your PhD...from a paper mill.

andy -
Hitler was a politician. not a scientist. you can't prove a political viewpoint "right" or "wrong". scientific theories can be tried and proven or disproved. bad analogy....try again, next time with something pertinent

david s -
sorry my friend, you are just plain wrong. virtually no independent research agency in any country (i.e. not on the payroll of an auto manufacturer, oil company, or Bush grant) disputes the fact of global warming or the fact that humans are GREATLY contributing. i would like a source for your 70%. it doesn't exist.

pfo -
acknowledging documented incremental global rises in temperature and C02 levels is not the same thing as predicting whether or not and how much it will rain tomorrow. this bad argument of yours might fool the mentally challenged, but few others.

Answer 1

Putting aside the 'pro' and 'con' views on "An Inconvenient Truth" for a moment, it is a very good title... the other side of the coin being the "Convenient Untruths". You're asking for people to put aside 'comfort news', the "convenient untruths", and for them to read, watch and listen to news that is 'uncomfortable' and 'inconvenient'.

It would mean putting aside the 'convenient untruth' that the state of the planet on which we live is a political issue, despite the fact that Al Gore is a Democrat and that Bush/Cheney are Republicans.

It would mean putting aside the 'convenient untruth' that the sun is the cause for Global Warming...
-- 'No Sun link' to climate change
"A new scientific study concludes that changes in the Sun's output cannot be causing modern-day climate change. It shows that for the last 20 years, the Sun's output has declined, yet temperatures on Earth have risen."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6290228.stm

It also would mean putting aside the 'convenient untruth' that the fossil fuels industry is subject to the market, rather than the other way around...
-- Out of Balance: ExxonMobil’s Impact on Climate Change
A powerful combination of archival footage, personal journey, scientific fact and disturbingly recent propaganda films, Out of Balance shows us the influence that the largest company in the world has on governments, the media and citizens. Along the way, scientists and activists alike suggest ways to combat global warming.
http://www.linktv.org/specials
http://www.linktv.org/programs/special_climate1
http://www.linktv.org/programs/special_climate2
http://www.exxposeexxon.com/

It would mean putting aside the 'convenient untruth' that scientific information is outside the influence of politics and acknowledge that the current administration has been suppressing and altering scientific information that does not support its goals and agendas. Global Warming is only one of such issues...
-- The Secret Campaign of President Bush's Administration To Deny Global Warming
"It is no secret that industry-connected appointees within the White House have worked actively to distort the findings of federal climate scientists, playing down the threat of climate change."
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/15148655/the_secret_campaign_of_president_bushs_administration_to_deny_global_warming/1
-- US cuts back climate checks from space
"President Bush is trying to convince the world the US is ready to take the lead in reducing greenhouse gases. But meanwhile, the administration is drastically scaling back efforts to measure global warming from space."
http://www.wlns.com/Global/story.asp?S=6610716&nav=5D7v
-- Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
"An unprecedented level of political interference threatens the integrity of government science."
http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/
http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/restoring/scientific-integrity-update-05-2007.html#UCS_Exposes_Climate_Science_Censorship

It would mean ignoring the relationship between Bush/Cheney and the fossil fuel industries...
Shortly after Bush took office, Cheney ordered a 90 day review of pending EPA violations cases. Instead of the EPA conducting the review, as was normal, the EPA was ordered conduct the review “in consultation with the energy department. The result of this review was the Clear Skies” initiative which (1) eliminated mandatory pollution caps for individual plants in favor of industry-wide levels allowing companies to buy and sell emissions credits and (2) states that no improvements in pollution levels would be required of any companies for at least 10 years and the pending cases were dropped. Bush and the RNC, in return, got 4.8 million dollars in campaign contributions from the electic utility industry to the Bush campaign, the Republican National Committee and the inagural committee. That total included 1.85 million from the four largest utilities facing NSR enforcement actions, and another $424,770 from five other utilities also facing NSR actions.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/apr2002/air-a05_prn.shtml
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/06/28/who_owns_the_sky.php
http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/documents/NSR_final.pdf
http://www.aep.com/newsroom/newsreleases/default.asp?dbcommand=displayrelease&ID=483
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2004/2004-10-14-10.asp

You're asking people to look and to think outside their comfort zone. Some folks get very defensive when asked to do that.

Answer 2

Great Points, and Great responses to some fairly ignorant responses. It amazes me as well, that people still deny Global warming when the rest of the world, not just Al Gore has embraced it as fact. Even, (and I almost hate to admit this) Pres Bush has stood up on TV in press conferences and at the UN and has said that "Global Warming is a fact, and we must take steps to combat it".
Now, I do believe that, yes the earth goes through a cycle and we are, as statistical evidence shows, trending towards a warmer, wetter, more tropical climate overall. Something more like the Cretaceous period our earth experienced about 100 million years ago. And that is normal and life forms on the planet, including us are "programmed" to respond to these changes over time. In short we adapt slowly to stay in sync with the planets climate. The problem we are experiencing now, with the pollution from fossil fuels, the incredible population increase and cars dumping CO2 into the air as well as increased deforestation of the rain forests which act as filter for pollution, is that we have sped up the process beyond what ourselves and other life forms are able to adapt and keep up with. So yes climate change is inevitable, but usually occurs over millions of years not a mere century.

People really need to wake up and understand this or they will be in for a very rude awakening.
The thing is is I hope everyone saves this in an archive and reads it in 20 years. Because this WILL occur in our lifetime and it is those on here now denying it that will look like fools, and we will all (god willing) be here to say I told you so. History, and close history at that, will prove us right.

Answer 3

Yassir Arafat, a Nobel recipient, is often criticized by conservatives. He is criticized because he essentially was a terrorist, although he did work towards peace later in life.

"have you any idea how foolish you appear by asserting that the entire global scientific community is wrong about global warming and you and your few politicians and pundits are right?"

That's just wrong, the entire scientific community is not wrong about global science because they don't agree on something to start with. I know you're going to cherry pick numbers and studies conducted where everyone agrees; but look who funds those studies. Also, READ the language in detail in all papers concerning global warming. They always use objective words like "might, maybe, could be, probably". They never say "is, will" when referring to a prediction. They don't know! Personally I think they grab for straws a lot, in the hope that anything they say coming true will scare people into believing. We hear so much about GW after a hurricane, tornado or big storm. Whenever its hot, it's all GW. Never hear about it in the winter; unless it's warmer than usual.

"just what evidence will it take to override your ignorant and stubborn ways?"

I'm glad you asked this. For starters, if they could predict this week's weather in my local area with 90% accuracy, I'd be impressed. Frankly I'm not going to believe a group of so called 'climate experts' predictions if they still can't tell me what THIS WEEK'S WEATHER IS GOING TO DO. How can any sane person believe a prediction that is to occur over the next several years from a group of people that can't accurately predict it for the next week? I mean, it's just common sense...

Answer 4

Dear Sir,

Einstein said that there are two things infinite: the Universe and human stupidity and he was not sure about the former. People in general are dumb in addition to that people in the US are highly undereducated (see Bush and Ms. North Carolina), getting highly upset about the fact that people don't see the obvious is an utter waste of your nerve cells. I think you should take a deep breath and relax on a couch with a good thought provoking book. There is not much else you can do here.

I would also look for a nice lot in Siberia - the temperature will be just right there in about 50 years, plus Russia will be able to start digging up all of its deep frozen mineral resources - it just might be the most livable place then.

:)

Answer 5

I guess someone's forgotten to tell people that even bush admitted a need to look at global warming in his UN speech. He was so desperate to change the subject from Iraq, that he was talking about things they've been denying exist!!
Oh and ROTFLMAO to the "Dr." who thinks Al Gore can't spell potato!!!! ;o) That just made my day!!!!

Answer 6

I think you are asking the impossible. Ignorance? Just read your answers. You've got one guy who thinks the Time Magazine Person of the Year is equal to a Nobel Prize, and another one who claims she's got a Ph.D. in Life who thinks it was Al Gore who couldn't spell potato when it was actually Dan Quayle. Not exactly the sharpest crayons in the box. The cynical but true answer? Conservatives don't like to sacrifice any of their goodies for the good of the world. Let someone else in the next generation make those sacrifices, they're holding on with both hands. To admit we have a problem means they have to make changes in their lives to help make it better, and that's never happening.

Answer 7

First of all your statement that the entire scientific community believes in global warming only shows that you ar uninformed or just plain blind. Approximately 70% of the scientific community believes that there is no such thing as Global Warming. They believe that what we are expierencing is simlpy a repeat of patterns in our weather that have been taking place for millions of years ie. Ice age too tropics at the time of the Dinosaures, and that in fact this is mearly a continueation of the natural process of climatic change that we have expierenced for millions of years. I do agree that many of the things that we do today do polute our enviroment and those things should be elimainted but as far as Mr. Gore's contention that Global Warming is their result, it is totally idiotic

Answer 8

Sad. You started off with some good irony, but quickly lost control: so your "question" became just one more witless harangue.
Anyway the Nobel Prizes became badges of mediocrity a long time ago. Now they are absolutely political: conferred on the basis of dogma (political correctness) rather than intellect or creativity.
I suggest that your reverence for the Nobel bureaucrats indicates your own stubborn ignorance. Good luck in dealing with it.

Answer 9

Yes, please, consider YOURself a fortunate American to be able to sit behind your computer and spew such crap as this at will.
For me it is not whether global warming exists but that it has become political. There are no two ways about that and its disgusting. You're only perpetuating it. Hey, if you want to ride your bike instead of drive a car, great. Use one square of toilet paper, excellent, good luck. Recycle. Do your part. Others will follow. Act! As the band Cracker so perfectly put it: if you want to change the world, shut your mouth and start this minute.
BTW there are MORE than enough LIB snobby elitist self-appointed experts on here to choke a horse, as my grandmother would say. Have a nice day.

Answer 10

I think that so many people are so stubborn that they will never back down when the obvious hits them right in the face. Stupid people will never admit that they are wrong. It is the person who admits when they are wrong, follows logic based on facts and research and is not brainwashed into believing what the majority believes that will get far in the country