Freddie P.
June 21, 2011 / 16:21

If climate change is reality, it's got sweet "f" all to do with humans.

It's cyclical.

Was it dinosaur farts that caused the end of the ice age?

Freddie P.
June 21, 2011 / 16:25

Check this out! Carlin nails it.

http://youtu.be/arbpu1xKAow

Wandering Penguin
June 21, 2011 / 16:40

It's not often that the very first comment on a blog backs up one's generalizing claim. Well done. :)

Ajax Mike
June 21, 2011 / 17:13

Of course it's cyclical, and no (reputable) scientist disputes that. The trouble is that the current rate of climate change is far faster than previous cycles, according to all the evidence available. Humans are by far the most likely cause.

elvis
June 21, 2011 / 17:24

What does Bev think of climate change?

Sam from England
June 21, 2011 / 18:47

Carlin is right in that video, the Planet is and will be fine. It may not be inhabitable, but the planet itself will be fine and will still be here long after we're gone. Which might be soon by all accounts.

However, I'm not sure about the whole thing- like most other people, I don't know enough to really argue, but I'm cynical about the whole global warming religion, people who disagree being called 'deniers' and grant money being awarded to scientists depending on their hypotheses- it makes it very difficult for reputable scientists to make counter arguments and commit professional suicide.

If you have time, they showed a documentary called The Great Global Warming Swindle over here that was quite interesting (search youtube), although a lot of it is to be taken with a pinch of salt. Still, it's so difficult to find any impartial criticism of the general consensus.

Gump
June 21, 2011 / 19:24

Why can't this be looked at like insurance? Oh sure, there might be a (very very slight) possibility that climate change isn't real, but do we want to take the chance that it isn't?
Do you have house insurance in the (very very) slight chance that your house will burn down?
Do you want to take that chance?
As an engineer I'm always amazed that people don't believe in science. Astrology and the paranormal/UFOs, sure those are real, but actual scientific proof... nah, too difficult to comprehend.

Argie
June 21, 2011 / 19:53

Yes, Mike the climate is changing. Its much warmer now than it was in February. That's about all there is to climate change.

Even if it was man-mad (which its not), there is very little a bunch of guilt ridden white liberal western wanks could do about it. Their collective effect would be so small, its not worth discussing.

CQ
June 21, 2011 / 22:35

re: Mike's twitter column, 4 softball team names.
Er, try Jets, Falcons, Moose, and Thrashers.

Romy
June 22, 2011 / 03:07

Well Mike, intentional or not, the usual crowd above make your point for you. It's all political. What do climate scientists, who peer review all of their serious research, know? Much better to listen to paid lobbyists from Big Oil, car manufacturers and airlines.

Run along now people. Off to make sure that we bail out some more banks and keep the plutocracy healthy. After all, as we know, big business cares first and foremost about the good of us all.

Hi ho.

Bob Cole
June 22, 2011 / 08:02

I miss you Romy!! Reading your above post makes me and Harry wonder what are you smoking in jolly ol'England?

Oooh Baby!!

Buffalo Boy Mike
June 22, 2011 / 08:25

So I guess this news from yesterday is all full of crap too?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110621/ts_afp/environmentclimatewarmingoceansextinction_20110621041127
Come all you naysayers if you don't believe 99% of scientists out there on global warming and the much agreed upon fact that it is manmade then I will tell you this, the next time you go to your doctor why bother listening to him he is by all means a scientist he must be full of crap too. This is not a political issue. Its science, its 2011 not 1500 and someone with no proof trying to convince the medieval King that the World is actually round. There are facts and data to back up what is going on, the real problem is we live in a "fast food" type of technological world where everyone gets their information not by actually reading articles and reading books but by reading headlines and short video clips and making up their collective minds based on bits and chunks, if you read the actual peer reviewed scientific literature and educate yourselves instead of listening to Rush Drugster Limbaugh or Sean fagboy Hannity you might actually learn something useful

LEW
June 22, 2011 / 10:06

Also the magnetic poles are changing, which has nothing to do with mankind, however Argie will now have to wear his silver foil hat as a seat cover.

Hector
June 22, 2011 / 10:22

Yes the climate is changing. Human impact is neglible.

Cambo
June 22, 2011 / 10:29

I agree with Freddie. Climate Change may be happening, but it's happening on such a HUGE scale, humans could not have as big an impact the enviro-whack's would have you believe.

The world has always, and will always go through change. Most of it, I believe, is due to the cyclical patterns of the sun.

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-10-07/world/solar.study.climate.change_1_solar-cycles-magnetic-activity-solar-activity?_s=PM:WORLD

Specifically, this quote:

"The sun has been behaving very strangely. Its magnetic activity is lower than it has been for several hundred years, perhaps. And so the fact that it's doing strange things in its spectrum is perhaps not that unexpected," she said.

Ben Vidal
June 22, 2011 / 11:45

Great point Fred...... Insert sarcasm here. I forgot that a comedians schtick is much more valid a point than what scientists are saying. HIs point that the earth will be here no matter what, is valid in that as it stands right now we won’t destroy the planet. That said the term of human life on the planet is something else, we may be living longer, but we aren’t any healthier. People are suffering more environmental affects than ever. Smog kills how many people a year? I forgot smog is nature right or its man made????

The point that scientists are trying to make is that we need to stop spilling CO2 into the air and to conserve the resources in the world. It's the greenhouse gases trapped into our atmosphere that’s a problem you seem to ignore. So keep watching that clip and thinking that everything is going to be fine. Hop on Ford's train that we need more cars on the road and less transit. IT's the common sense revolution right???

That said I will agree on one point that Fred has made before. Everyone likes to say they care about the environment, but at the end of the day it better not inconvenience them to become more environmental. I watch as lazy assholes at my work don't bother to recycle products even though we have the program in place. They love to complain about the air quality but they drive a Ford 250 and have never hauled anything in it ever. What’s even better is that they sit in their car idling for 20 minutes with the AC blasting waiting for their kid to finish a soccer game. They worry about the oilsands, but they drink 100's of bottles of water a day, when we have a water filter system in the building. Look at energy in Ontario, we want it to be clean, but we can't put wind turbines where you can see them. So instead of admitting they don't want to look at them they look for other excuses. People complain about big electricity bills, but buy bigger houses where they don't use half of the house, but need a bigger AC/Furnace unit to maintain temperatures.

It's sad that things like this have become a political standpoint, that if you are on the right it's nature or gods hand that guides things, but on the left there is the problem they like to say they are concerned about the environment, but don't want it to terribly impact their life. I think it's even sadder that Fred and his sycophants will use scientific or mathematical facts when it suits them, but call scientists liberals if it goes against what they want to think. As for Argie your point about its warmer now than it was in January makes you look childish and a non-value add.

Mike from Lowville
June 22, 2011 / 16:46

@Mike,Ben,Romy and BB Mike. Your just making too much sense! So, your points can't possibly be valid. Tongue planted firmly in left cheek! ;0o

Buffalo Boy Mike
June 23, 2011 / 00:41

Heres another way of looking at this too for you naysayers, I will provide two examples oh How humans HAVE directly impacted the environment on a large scale: First, in the US we almost took the Bald Eagle, a symbol of our national heritage to the brink of extinction back in the 60's and 70's with our use of DDT and other pesticides....how embarassing would that have been for the US to have the bald eagle on our money yet extinct.....a local example the Love Canal, take the drive over the border and come to Love Canal Niagara Falls USA an hugh area of Niagara Falls essentially uninhabitable, yeah there are people living on the edges of it still but I used to live there and wouldnt be within a mile of it personally. I was sick as a kid daily from living there. point being we can and do ruin our environment daily and for those of you who think we are not capable of destroying this planet on a global scale are kidding yourselfs and ignorant. Acid rain? Ozone holes which btw we have reversed by subsitituting for CFCs and have solved the global issue with the Ozone holes. How about the floating island of Garbage in the pacific ocean, you can go on Youtube and see videos of that.
Yes we are very capable of changing the are and water we breath and drink not just locally but globally...don't kid yourselves, Freddie, you have to remember when Lake erie could be literally lit on fire....come on.

Drew
June 23, 2011 / 13:47

We'll know the answer to this question in about 1000 years!

Irvine
June 23, 2011 / 14:41

Forget climate change and start worrying about Peak oil. World oil production has been flat at 86 million BPD for 5 years. The energy industry can't increase production & Saudi oil production is LOWER than it was 5 years ago. We've run out of low hanging fruit and now the energy industry chases the "rind". Think oil sands. Think deep water. Think far north. We're talking very lower ERoEI which is why gas prices are so high.

Well what happens when energy production falls into decline? The immediate response is a rapid increase in price (hmm, seem familiar). Small marginal players will go offline causing massive price spikes (think Libya). Rapidly rising prices will cause a slowdown in economic growth (except in oil producing regions). As energy is a component of ALL products, inflation will appear most notably in food (hmm, has food gone up recently).

And then? Airlines will start failing. Large vehicles will be sold for rock bottom prices. Travel will be curtailed. High energy prices will act like a tax on the economy. Economic growth will be nearly non existent except in energy producing regions (which will become rich). And for those countries that buy oil? They'll export trillions of dollars to other nations. The best example is the USA. Buying foreign oil costs the USA FOUR TIMES what the Iraq war costs.

And farther down the road? The general public, afraid of change & losing their way of life will elect whackjob politicians who might use their military to take control of energy sources. I mean, that IS what Iraq was about. They caught Hussein years ago how come they are still there?

We need to STFU about climate change. We'll never agree. We need to start looking at the imminent threat of peak oil to our livelihoods. You can't have the same standard of living with $200 dollar a barrel crude.

Use renewable energy. Not to save the polar bears. But to save the economy and our standard of living. It's a much easier sell too.