“There is a solution, long term. Fusion energy. Absolutely clean. The fuel is in unlimited supply in seawater. The waste is water. — Dreadnaught

Actually, the “waste” is Helium, an inert (chemically unreactive) gas. I don’t know how much would be produced, or if it could present any problem in large quantities (it’s so light weight and so unreactive that it slowly evaporates into space, so accumulation shouldn’t be a problem even if large amounts were produced). Also, liquid helium is very useful.

But we need to invest in other sources of energy, like solar power. We have vast supplies out West where it’s seldom cloudy.

We also have the technology to burn coal with a minimum of polution. And, when was the last time you heard of a nuclear accident? We need more nuclear plants, the technology for which is much safer now than it was when existing plants were built.

Sure, the technology to make fusion an economically viable source of energy may one day exist, and we should pursue it. But we need to invest in other sources where the technology ALREADY exists, and which would bring us relief in the near future.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

“…take your ant-capitalist screed elsewhere” — democratgirl

It’s their blog. You, however, are just dropping by, little miss “elsewhere,” or should I just call you “your silliness?”

Like or Dislike: 0  0

If Democrat Girl really wants to save the planet she can set an example and sign up with this group:

http://www.vhemt.org/

Like or Dislike: 0  0

Interesting perspective, democratgirl, and you accurately describe some of the catch-22 aspects of modern society.

1) Our medical technology, which has advanced by leaps and bounds over the past 100 years, is largely responsible for the huge population growth. Diseases like Malaria and plague used to wipe out entire populations, now they barely register. Even AIDS and Bird Flu have been effectively contained.

2) Our transportation technology is also responsible. When people in East Africa can’t grow enough food, we can ship it there from anywhere in the world, dirt cheap.

3) Communications has also had an effect. 200 years ago, would anyone have cared that millions in East Africa were starving to death because of war and famine? Would they even have known? Now we have TV showing every crying, starving baby.

Communications, Transportation, and Medicine have effectively wiped out the Darwinian impact of nature on the human race. In the old days, only the strongest infants survived to become adults – maybe one in four. If you lived in a place that could not produce enough food, people starved to death until equilibrium was again found. Nature finds a balance.

But frankly I don’t particularly want to live like in the “good ‘ol days” you seem to like so much. I like the fact that if my children get sick, I have someone better than a village shaman to take care of them. I like being able to see the world. I like having air conditioning in the summer months and heat in the winter. I like the fact that if the local crops go bad due to floods or drought, we won’t starve in winter – we just buy it from a neighboring country.

If there is anything that should be done, it’s to bring the birth rate under control. But how do you do that? China is a communist dictatorship with ruthless control. They implemented draconian birth control methods 30 years ago with one family, one child, and now their population is 60% greater than what it was back then. If the Chinese can’t control their population, how will we do it? Forced sterilization? That would be fun when all the minorities and special interest groups start accusing us evil white people of targeting them more than anyone else.

You need to face something. The answer to this problem is MORE energy, not less. More energy allows more productive farming, transportation of more food where it’s needed, labor where it’s needed, etc.

There is no substitute for oil for many transportation uses. An electric-powered 747? I don’t think so. Hydrogen power? Fine in theory, but you have a huge weight problem for hydrogen storage, not to mention that usable hydrogen requires a lot more energy in its own production than you get out of it. How about ships? The only way to power ships is either with oil or nuclear, and nuclear plants are terribly expensive to install in a simple container ship.

There is a solution, long term. Fusion energy. Absolutely clean. The fuel is in unlimited supply in seawater. The waste is water. No polution, no limits. But it’s all theory at the moment, and it will take at least 50 years to figure out the engineering, at the current pace.

But your solution (and Obama’s by the way) of simply dailing back our usage and destroying our economy, while other countries like China and India make no such efforts, putting millions out of work and reintroducing starvation into a country that pretty much eliminated it decades ago, no thanks.

And if you would ask for all the details, you would know that if the Kyoto Protocols were ratified and followed completely, with a 30% decrease in worldwide emissions, it would result in a 0.28% net decrease in the level of greenhouse gases? Sorry, but I am not willing to destroy the economy for an insignificant change.

In any case, the idea that this global warming thing is permanent is stupid. But it is great business. Why do you think Al Gore promotes Carbon Offsets? Because he owns several companies that sell them! It’s a scam – tell people they are sick and sell them the snake oil. The UN is in on it because it’s an excellent propaganda tool to slow the industrialized powers down and “redistribute” wealth to poorer countries. Scientists get on board because if they sing the company song, they get grants and budgets. It’s all a business to make themselves rich at your expense.

Drill here, drill now. And invest in Fusion research.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

Tidemonster, thank you for saving me the time to respond to democratgirl…good job.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

Democratgirl: Wow! I guess you about covered it all.
The sad part is that people will so willingly accept a philosophy that has no basis in fact.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

As cited by Martin Durkin, the documentary filmmaker of ‘The Great Global Warming Swindle’, ” scares are the oxygen of the green movement.”

Democratgirl must be verrrryyyy scared.

Open your mind D.G. You’ve been lied to for too long!

Like or Dislike: 0  0

Democratgirl – what in the world are you babbling about? Considering your inability to spell correctly, use proper grammar, or even break up your diatribe into paragraphs, I am inclined to believe that your education was lacking in areas other than the obvious (science.) The gist of this article is that belief in global warming is essentially a false religion, lacking in basic facts, whose adherents must resort to ad hominem attacks since they are not supported by science. And then you come along, and completely prove the author’s point! And what’s with attacking evangelicals? Do you really consider them the worst environmental offenders? Seriously – try to argue with the facts of the article if you can, and if you can’t, then take your ant-capitalist screed elsewhere.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

while I don’t usually come on here and criticize, the truth of the matter is this destruction of the environment for oil thing and global warming is real. when you hire scientist to pad facts then hey they are going to give you want to hear. The fact is human beings are destroy the environment in more ways than in global warming the destruction of natural habitats isn’t just going to affect us, on the weather front, but on the biological/medical realm. that is something you can’t try to brush unders the rug. when more people start becoming infected with emerging viruses, when the irritating abuse of antibiotics send the medical system back to the stone age, then you won’t be so smug. It may take much longer for industrialist to turn our planet into it’s sister planet venus, but virus and bacterial don’t take that long to evolve. because death means nothing to them, but try, try, try, again. Personally i would have thought Saudi Arabia and friends blowing up the twin towers would have give you a practical reason to move away from oil and stop being so darn destructive, but it seem to me that people having your by the balls and keeping us from punishing these country and truly putting our foot into these peoples industry ad the means in which the fund terrorist operations has no effect on you. So how about bleeding out of every orphus in you body, or watching your entire family die in a manner of hours and knowing you will be next, sound to you. the bubonic plague, yellow fever, ebola, are all diseases that appeared after 1. increased mobilization and shipping things back and for the between countries, and the destruction of rain Forrest. Just like with AIDS it only takes one person, to spread a disease though out a large population, and considering the fact that you can just hop on plane these days means that the likely hood of richest man in the world who flies from port to port without complications can bring home a hum dinger. and Germs don’t attack you for mundane reasons, they do it to survive and thrive, and are very very democratic. So be smug if you like. I can’t tell you when global warming clearly reveals it self, but can tell you that right now in you news papers, there are potential deadly disease popping up everywhere all because you are destructive, irresponsible, negligent, proudly ignorant to the facts, and greedy. Keep chopping stuff down, keep destroying natural habitats of specialize creatures that carry these disease, and they will end up at your front door. I believe in God and I believe that he has placed with in this planet biological agents to lay low creatures who reach exceeds their grasp, and for all the Evangelicals out there, do you really thing that a god would approve of you destroying this wonderful home that he built for you. studying evolution actually come in handy because it explains to you why polar bears are white white grizzly are brown, the one that eats more lives, and there are viruses that are cousins to African and south American diseases, just waiting for you to chop a tree down, that produces the right flower, that produces the nectar that one specialized butterfly likes to eat, you get rid of the trees, kill off the butterfly, and then you start looking really darn tasty. republicans tick me off for the same reason the democrats are, our economy is so badly screwed that if they pick the wrong president it could affect me, so who do they pick a black man with zero experience who lies on a countinuing bases. and the same goes with you. You do stupid crap that can effect me. You share this home with 6.8 billion people, an what you do effects me, I do not look forward to catching something, just because you have not regard for anything alive except and unborn fetus, doesn’t mean the rest of us want to catch something horrible. Personally i wish we could send you to another planet that you could exploit the heck out of til your little hearts were content, unfortunately that is not currently and option. Once again I must press the point upon you Jesus is not going to rapture people who trash his fathers planet, look in the gospels, he goes berserk when people disrespect his father house. to destroy this special life giving planet just so a handful of people can get rich is not less disrespectful than turning a temple into a market place. think on it. Distroying the enviroment is disrespectful to god and a sin.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

PASADENA, Calif. – A team of NASA and university scientists has detected an ongoing reversal in Arctic Ocean circulation triggered by atmospheric circulation changes that vary on decade-long time scales. The results suggest not all the large changes seen in Arctic climate in recent years are a result of long-term trends associated with global warming.
…
The distribution and size of the decrease suggest that Arctic Ocean circulation changed from the counterclockwise pattern it exhibited in the 1990s to the clockwise pattern that was dominant prior to 1990.
…
Morison cautioned that while the recent decadal-scale changes in the circulation of the Arctic Ocean may not appear to be directly tied to global warming, most climate models predict the Arctic Oscillation will become even more strongly counterclockwise in the future. “The events of the 1990s may well be a preview of how the Arctic will respond over longer periods of time in a warming world,” he said.

Like or Dislike: 0  0