Climate change controversy

[myp]

I am sure most of you have heard of the recently hacked and publicly-released emails between some of the leading climate change scientists that suggest data was manipulated and intentionally withheld if it was against their theory of climate change. People have had mixed reactions to the emails, but a lot of people are starting to be more skeptical on the whole issue.

What are your thoughts on this and what do effect do you think this will have on the global warming theory as well as potential policy? If you want to read the actual emails they are here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704779704574553652849094482.html#articleTabs%3Darticle

 

[DodgeFB]

I am sure most of you have heard of the recently hacked and publicly-released emails between some of the leading climate change scientists that suggest data was manipulated and intentionally withheld if it was against their theory of climate change. People have had mixed reactions to the emails, but a lot of people are starting to be more skeptical on the whole issue.

What are your thoughts on this and what do effect do you think this will have on the global warming theory as well as potential policy? If you want to read the actual emails they are here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704779704574553652849094482.html#articleTabs=article

I know we need to do better on taking care of where we live. Heck my dogs will not take a dump in their crate. But when anyone fabricates so called "facts" it only hurts their cause. When they stick in a lie here and there I must question their truthfulness in whole.

 

[deanhills]

There has to be scientists who are absolutely petrified as well as fuming over this. It takes such a long time to build credibility, and it takes just something like this to completely wipe out years of effort of building trust in their integrity. I myself am horrified by this. I've always been sceptical of the press as well as economists, but thought that we could at least trust our scientists, but looks as though we can't trust anything we see or read.

 

[Dirk]

looks as though we can't trust anything we see or read.

Of course we can't.

To be honest, I get the feeling they're hiding the worst from us. I also think the adverts are a bit pathetic. "Switch off your lights". Haha. The world is heating up - reading in the dark won't save us.

I think if the terrorist bogeyman and repeating the term "9/11" ever gets too old, they'll use combatting Climate Change as a means to control peope. But i don't think it's a made-up conspiracy.

 

[deanhills]

Of course we can't.

To be honest, I get the feeling they're hiding the worst from us.

I think it is the other way round. They are making it worse so that they can make a good case for the survival of their positions and organizations. Looks as though Phil Jones, the Director of the Climatic Research Unit of the East Anglia University in Britain is stepping down until the investigation has been completed.

I would be interested to see how the hacking occurred as that has to be a felony of sorts as well?

 

[ArghMonkey]

The rest of the world and their scientists are pretty convinced, climate change is a fact.

Its no coincidence that the only people opposing it are conservatives in the u.s., canada and australia and they each seem to have an ulterior motive for wanting people to think its not true, whether they end up belonging to some oil group or some business that is a known heavy polluter.

It seems to me that business is just using any dirty trick they can to stay in business and to make more money, look at the tobacco lobby, we have seen this before and there are plenty of evidence if people look around.

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Btw, I just had to throw this one in there, climate change deniers also tend to be people who think single payer healthcare doesnt work

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[myp]

The rest of the world and their scientists are pretty convinced, climate change is a fact.

Its no coincidence that the only people opposing it are conservatives in the u.s., canada and australia and they each seem to have an ulterior motive for wanting people to think its not true, whether they end up belonging to some oil group or some business that is a known heavy polluter.

It seems to me that business is just using any dirty trick they can to stay in business and to make more money, look at the tobacco lobby, we have seen this before and there are plenty of evidence if people look around.

I think most people, including many conservatives may agree that the Earth's climate is changing. The real debate is in whether this is man-made or if it is just a natural progression, as the planet has changed climate throughout its history.

Looking at this recent email controversy, even the most stern man-made warming believers need to at least consider that it may not be as bad as it is made out to be by people such as Al Gore. In fact, if you look at the actual data from the leading climate scientists, you will find that a lot of the media buzz about global warming has been mistaken. Furthermore, some of these scientists, even those who are very green themselves, are actually optimistic in geoengineering as a solution to the problem- the road block with that though is that the political figures who push the global warming agenda don't believe in it. I don't know about you, but I would trust the scientists and their data over the politicians any day.

And as for countries that have people who aren't convinced- you forgot several countries including the two of the fastest growing markets in the world- India and China.

 

[ArghMonkey]

I think most people, including many conservatives may agree that the Earth's climate is changing. The real debate is in whether this is man-made or if it is just a natural progression, as the planet has changed climate throughout its history.

This is part of what I mean, almost every expert in the world agrees that man is playing a key part in climate change because of the amount of pollution we create.

Looking at this recent email controversy, even the most stern man-made warming believers need to at least consider that it may not be as bad as it is made out to be by people such as Al Gore. In fact, if you look at the actual data from the leading climate scientists, you will find that a lot of the media buzz about global warming has been mistaken. Furthermore, some of these scientists, even those who are very green themselves, are actually optimistic in geoengineering as a solution to the problem- the road block with that though is that the political figures who push the global warming agenda don't believe in it. I don't know about you, but I would trust the scientists and their data over the politicians any day.

And as for countries that have people who aren't convinced- you forgot several countries including the two of the fastest growing markets in the world- India and China.

China and India are their own challenges, I agree completely.

We cant rely on technology to bail us out, we might as well pray if we are just going to wish or hope things away.

Noone has a crystal ball thats for sure, but the downside here is really bad while the upside for learning to live clean is huge for everyone.

What this comes down to for the deniers is money, if some money they were planning on having gets appropriated for something else thats just not acceptable for big business and if X to spread lies is less then X to fix the problem, they will spread lies.

Btw you replied fast!

 

[myp]

What this comes down to for the deniers is money, if some money they were planning on having gets appropriated for something else thats just not acceptable for big business and if X to spread lies is less then X to fix the problem, they will spread lies.

Btw you replied fast!

Oh yea, I just happened to be on as I was taking a break from some work I am doing. As for the business aspect, of course businesses don't want more regulations- no one is denying that. The problem is, that should some of these regulations be passed, it will hurt business and in turn the economy, Main St., and the common man who works at these businesses. Why not allow the market to come up with a solution the problem? In my opinion, the green movement is fine, but it should seek to grasp people at the individual level and compel them to voluntarily change their lifestyles. This has already been happening if we look at the last few years, especially with the higher demand for hybrids and green appliances.

Also, geoengineering should really be considered as it could potentially save the planet at an extremely cheap cost and without any economic hardship.

 

[David]

My issue is the OMG, the CO2 is going to kill us!!!!!111!!!!

In the meantime, methane floods into the atmosphere from thawing Siberian lakes and cows doing their thing. That's what we need to worry about. The last time methane levels got too high, 95% of all life was wiped out.

 

[Dirk]

My issue is the OMG, the CO2 is going to kill us!!!!!111!!!!

It's also misguided, it's not the CO2 that's the issue. It's more the Greenhouse effect and the deterioration of the ozone layer that's the issue.

 

[David]

It's also misguided, it's not the CO2 that's the issue. It's more the Greenhouse effect and the deterioration of the ozone layer that's the issue.

That's my point. Everyone gets so worked up over CO2, the most harmless of the greenhouse gasses. CO2 has nothing on the warming properties of H2O (in it's gas form).

 

[myp]

Since we were getting off track with the government intervention posts, I have made a spin-off thread for that topic, which you can find here: http://www.politicalfray.com/showthread.php?t=980