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Scientists Say Climate Change Has Reached the ‘Point of No Return’ – 5 Things You Can Do Today

Posted by dbhalling 8 years, 9 months ago to Science
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Notice the logical contradiction in the headline?


All Comments

  • Posted by plusaf 8 years, 9 months ago
    Or read SuperFreakonomics and discover why those five suggestions will never produce the results they hope would happen.

    ah, forget it... once you've tried the Kool-Aid, there's no going back.

    Ciao!
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  • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I gotcha beat @ 81. I feel exactly as you do. If things deteriorate at the rate they seem to be accelerating to, assuming room temperature may be a blessing.
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  • Posted by NealS 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It's really sad, we've gone a long way since then. I left Wisconsin in 1953, went to S. California, wonderful, family atmosphere, clean, and law abiding. I left S. California in 1976, as my neighbors were all installing bars on their windows and doors. Now I'm looking to move from western to eastern Washington before I lose my cool. Mostly car prowls are taking over even the best neighborhoods, and break-ins seem to be increasing. Seattle (even the eastside communities) will eventually look like Detroit. I actually thank God that I'm 73 and won't be around to see all of it.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Left Detroit area in '89. I was saddened to see the city I grew up in turn into a cesspool. Let me just quote from a brochure written when postage was 1.5 cents. "The industrial achievement of Detroit Seems incredible.It is the 4th largest city in the United States and it produces 94% of all American passenger automobiles such as Ford, Dodge, Plymouth,Cadillac, Hudson, Graham, Desoto, Chrysler, Packard and Chevrolet. Among the 2,300 other industrial plants are U.S. Rubber, Kelvinator, Burroughs, Fisher Body, Parke Davis, and Great Lakes Shipbuilding.
    ....Detroit has many beautiful parks and five million travelers come here every year. Belle Isle Park is famous the world over being located on the Detroit River and having every feature needed for the enjoyment, such as casino, yacht club, boat club, bath houses, and a horticultural building." That was an abbreviated except. Today, under 70 years of liberal rule that same city stands as a monument to ruin and despair.
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  • Posted by XenokRoy 8 years, 9 months ago
    Sounds like an inconvenient truth all over again. How many of the predictions in that bit of fiction have come true?
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years, 9 months ago
    Second Comment - I couldn't get past Rolling Stone as a source and five regurgitations of Al Bore.

    The only interesting part was the rest of the comments.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years, 9 months ago
    Gore announces he's available and all of a sudden gains a new out for his inconvenient falsehoods. Let's go look and see what the scientists said and who they are and what they are asking for - in dollars and cents terms.
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  • Posted by NealS 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Can I reply to my own reply, is that allowed? I just looked at my post count. That last post was number 1969. That's got to be a sign, a good sign that I be getting "out of this place" soon, just like the last time, in late August 1969. Wow, where have the last 45 years gone?
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  • Posted by NealS 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It doesn't take scientists to prove to me that man under some of the described conditions (big cities) we're starting to experience today will resort to the primitive like animals. I agree it is not the answer, it's just a fact. The proof, Chicago, Washington DC, Ferguson, Baltimore, and others that just haven't exposed their true nature yet. I feel Seattle will be going in that direction sooner than later with the crazies that are infiltrating the city council. They will soon divide the residents into small dissenting groups, eventually fighting each other. But Seattle has great plans, interest free loans for Muslims, $25 additional tax on arms sales, 5 cents tax on each round of ammunition (just passed by a vote of 8:0), even .17 and .22 caliber rounds, and now rent control. Like I said once back in 1969, "I've got to get out of this place, if it's the last think I'll ever do." I don't even live in Seattle, but I know the psychos will soon spread to the eastside. They're big on climate change too over there, spending more money on bicycle lanes than fixing the roads. I just wonder what local laws will change because of climate change. Now were short of water because they dump the reservoirs in case there's too much snow melt, of which we didn't have a lot this year. We spent last weekend looking for a new home about 5 hours further east, but so far haven't found the one.
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 8 years, 9 months ago
    Hmmm..
    At least they had the good grace to call it "Clamate Change: and not "Man made induced destruction Global Warming". My rebuttal would be:
    1. Fossil fuels: If this was a viable idea the market would address it. There is some movement, I am buying an Elio 83mpg car for commuting. But the same people they rely on (glorious government) is never satisfied with anything, they are now jamming big taxes on "clean" cars because they are not paying their fair share of gas taxes. Make up your mind please. They say, no nukes, wind has not been commercially viable in large enough capacity, and so?
    2. I have 13 acres of trees out of 20. Horses need some grass folks. Go stop the deforestation of the Amazon if you care so much, not much happening there.
    3. Organic and local is good, when available and affordable. Once again, they need to go fix their government buddies who make it incredibly painful and expensive to go organic.
    4. Waste: Again, their government allows companies to run dumps with little or no controls. We have a waste site near us that is well engineered and uses the methane for energy. Bigger issue is all the heavy metals from 100 years leaching into the water table.Look at Richmond Virginia, they have a 800 foot high mountain where the city piles it's crap up, right next to a river they get water from..oopss..
    5. Again, your government has blocked off huge areas from grazing, with the desired result of lots og stuff grew, them propmtly caught on fire. Look at Spokane and Lake Chelan for how well all that worked out. Animal production can be done effectively. The Climate change panickers could run a Kickstarted for cow fart bags and cheaper manure converters. A lot of dairys are trying to move to a better management system, with no help from these whiners.
    Climate change is a natural progression. They were crying tonight that we had the hottest summer (measured as days above 90 degrees) ever. Yet looking at the chart I see a roughly 6 year cycle for the NW Oregon area,, amazingly, it seems to be roughly 1/2 the solar cycle. Maybe they are connected? Maybe the sun is putting out .00001% more energy? If it is so ad, why do we not pursue a space program with colonization program? I do not believe in the simple solution, it never seems so simple. I saw an article that pointed out that one large container ship uses the fuel and puts out the emissions of 10,000 cars/yr in one 7 day voyage. Why do they not go protest them?
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  • Posted by Owlsrayne 8 years, 9 months ago
    It's all such BS! By the way that is it! Cow dung and more coming right out of the Congressional Building. You should see black and brown goo rolling down the steps, gasp, they're no-longer white. Democrets and Republicans start leaving they turn into crap! Soon DC streets will be covered. Talk about methane gas and oderific decay into carbon! I can see it now, Al Gore(d) trying to lecture the world will the goo lapping at his ankle. The Chinese have mounted humongus fans blowing the carbon laced clouds towards the west coast of the US. BHO is trying to run the country from a dingy in the Atlantic, because the current east coast has become the New Grand Banks.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I agree that humanity as a group is not particularly rational. I don't think that resorting to the primitive like animals is the answer. I just don't know, and it is far from any expertise that I have. So I'll leave it to those scientists who are truly scientific with no agenda to accomplish.
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 8 years, 9 months ago
    1) Not using [so called] fossil fuel, might help the environment in developing countries but will do nothing for c(lie)mate. Co2 is a coolant for our ionosphere and it doesn't come from Co2 release at ground level anyway. Co2 is also an electrical dispersent, which is a good thing seeing our magnetic shielding is weakening. Not to mention, life on earth depends upon carbon and carbon dioxide.

    2) Planting a tree will likewise do nothing for c(lie)mate. Ox-day/Co2-night is a wash.

    3) Organic food is a good thing for our health and our environment; but will not do anything for the c(lie)mate.

    4) Yes, we could do a lot better with our waste for a more healthy environment but STILL, it will not change our c(lie)mate.

    5) 60% of our population depends upon clean red meat for good health...and cows do not effect our c(lie)mate.
    The most abundant of all so called warming gasses is water vapor...but low and behold! it doesn't come from ground level, [the lower troposphere] It comes upon the cosmic winds, creates clouds and rain.
    Species will still go extinct, happens all the time and will happen again with or without our help...it's nature.

    The environment is just that, where we live.
    Weather happens every day and night.
    C(lie)mate is consistent weather patterns over a long period of time and is not the same everywhere.
    During the major ice ages, Co2 was 3000ppb and our warmest period in c(lie)mate history was a whole lot warmer than it is now;
    and guess what?...Again!...there were a whole lot less ''Footprinting" and we had no SUV's burning [so called] fossil fuels...

    I rest my case.

    Everything we are experiencing c(lie)mate wise is a natural cycle, sometimes it's not pleasant, but guess what? We're all still here to talk about it.

    Check out: http://suspicious0bservers.org. [edited for extra content]
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  • Posted by SaltyDog 8 years, 9 months ago
    I'm so old I remember when 'Climate Change' was called 'weather'. And yes, it did change. All the time.
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  • Posted by NealS 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    If we throw more money at it in taxes, don't you think it will stop. That might get pretty boring, no climate change, just 68 degrees and moderate sun shine. I kind of like a few clouds, living in Washington, the one on the west coast, or the left coast). Just think if we spent all our money (in taxes) on it we might be able to make it totally stop changing. It could be 68 degrees everyday and all night. Unfortunately however we'd never be able to agree on what temperature to set it at, and could we agree on what day it should rain?
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  • Posted by NealS 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I'm really not on a diet, so to speak, I just eat a lot less and eat a better choice of lower calorie items. Still love the brats and my wife's famous ribs. just eat a lot more vegetables and fruits for dessert. When I need a snack between lunch and dinner I may eat a tomato now. I still have my late evening scoop of ice cream, but just one scoop now, not two or three. What ever you're doing just keep it up, but enjoy a reward here and there too. Maybe I'll post my 100 day weight loss graph some day, it goes up and down, but overall up. It's those overnight 5 pound up swings that are hard to swallow.

    The earth in itself could support a lot more people if it was only up to the earth, but I don't think people can support many more people. Too many tend to gather in large communities and that's where most of the troubles start, and then someone wants to control everyone else and half the population disagrees. Eventually we'll probably just destroy ourselves, perhaps by nuke or some other means. Perhaps the plague was natures way of refreshing the earth from man. If man had the mentality of other wild animals we might stand a better chance of survival.
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  • Posted by ycandrea 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I do not believe we have reached the population limit for this planet. There are vast acreages of land that are not inhabited. The blm alone owns approx 250 million acres.
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  • Posted by UncommonSense 8 years, 9 months ago
    I guess I can go out and get my Challenger SRT8 and floor it as often as I like.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I'm also dieting. In my case it is a matter of longevity. So far 16 lbs. Another 30 to go. I hate it. I must disagree with your scenario. The earth has plenty of room to support twice the current population. Just look at what Israel has done with that tiny strip of desert. Pretty much nothing man can do will destroy earth environmentally. Radioactivity might destroy most life, though.
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  • Posted by NealS 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I always go to Rolling Stoned for my scientific news. And me too, I'm still enjoying my Corvette that took me to age 69 to finally decide to buy one. As far as Ribeye’s, Porterhouse, Flatiron, and Delmonico's, I've recently cut back to save the environment, well actually to save my own environment, my belly. I've lost 30 plus pounds as of this morning, but I still reward myself at least every 5 pounds. I've set a new goal now of just 10 more mainly as a 10 pound buffer to be able to pig out at least once or thrice a week a week.

    I don't worry too much about an ocean rise of 10 feet by 2065, I'll long be converted to ashes by then. Besides I don't really know too many people that live on the coast, and I do have 3 nasty liberal sisters-in-law on the east coast but that's their problem. If I was still around, God forbid, my house might just become waterfront property, and the people below me on the lake would just have to leave. It would also increase the value of my home. Such is life and death.

    The whole scenario of the End of the Earth really has more to do with population, we may have just reached the Earth’s population limit. Maybe war will be the ultimate solution, a big one, bigger than we've ever seen before. Then it can all start over again as the earth recovers and then it will just repeat itself again in another few centuries. How's that for a sadistic scenario?
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