A Sensible Article About Global Warming

A fair point, but one on which our views differ slightly. For the moment what is most obviously hampering useful measures against global warming is a lack of consensus, among businesses, the public as well as the politicians representing them. If it is impossible to convince everyone that greater steps must be taken the only alternative open is to work on points all can agree on and build from there.

Certainly the risk is present of measures failing or not producing the desired effects, but working on such measures as opposed to vigorously debating stronger approaches and ultimately implementing nothing seems to me the better option; at the very least it keeps the interest in the issue going without polarising viewpoints and preventing effective action.

And yes, 'draagvlak creëeren' was indeed the phrase I was trying to convey... I guess inburgeren has claimed yet another victim.

I would have thought the Dutch have the most to lose if sea levels rise, seeing as they are practically below sea level as it is.

Originally Posted by BDC

I would have thought the Dutch have the most to lose if sea levels rise, seeing as they are practically below sea level as it is.

It's an acquired taste.

Last month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change announced [PDF] that the Earth is definitely warming and that human emissions of greenhouse gases (principally carbon dioxide) are almost certainly an important cause.

We have a problem. But what sort of problem?

Hmmm. His total acception of this report strikes me as a bit off, considering how the summary was rewritten by politicians and the like.

Just as conveniently, the most efficient way to get started is also the simplest, albeit not the easiest politically: tax carbon emissions. "At around $30 per ton of CO2 over a 25-year horizon, experts seem to think this is the kind of price that will encourage the kind of technologies that are necessary," says Billy Pizer, an environmental economist at Resources for the Future, a Washington think tank.

Why are these necessary? If climate change isn't a crisis, and thus man-made changes won't really affect anything, why is it necessary to hurt the economy doing this contrived trading model?

That would translate into an additional 27 cents or so on a gallon of gasoline and about a 20 percent increase in residential electricity bills (more like 34 percent for industrial users). Unpleasant, but hardly radical. Perfectly do-able, in fact.

So, a 10% increase in the cost of transportation of most everything in the economy? That's a big increase, and 20% plus electricity increases? How can he say that's not huge? Do-able for him, perhaps, but not for businesses or the poor, or people barely getting along with gas as it is.

It is pleasant that he's not ranting off about imminent disaster, though.

Crazed Rabbit

Can't really understand why people have to argue over co2 and global warming...

I mean, if you want to see if pollution is something we have to fight against, just look out your window! See the dust layers besides the roads, the murky waters, etc etc.

You don't have to argue about the big things, there isn't any real conclusion yet. If you want to make a stand for/against environmentalism, just take a look outside your house.

Originally Posted by HoreTore

Can't really understand why people have to argue over co2 and global warming...

I mean, if you want to see if pollution is something we have to fight against, just look out your window! See the dust layers besides the roads, the murky waters, etc etc.

You don't have to argue about the big things, there isn't any real conclusion yet. If you want to make a stand for/against environmentalism, just take a look outside your house.

Pollution and CO2 are not really the same thing. One of the few things Bush hasn't messed up over here is the clean air. Ironically, some say having fewer particulates in the air is one reason it's gotten warmer.

Originally Posted by drone

Pollution and CO2 are not really the same thing. One of the few things Bush hasn't messed up over here is the clean air. Ironically, some say having fewer particulates in the air is one reason it's gotten warmer.

They certainly are related. For example, to reduce CO2, you can put filters on your factory pipes. That also reduces pollution.

But it is true what you say. And I really can't see why we have to stress about something scientists are still debating how it affects the environment, when we could instead focus on the things we KNOW destroys our environment and we see every day?

In my opinion, the CO2-thingy is hyped way too much, and it draws attention away from things we know is bad, and it also makes people skeptical, even to "normal" pollution.