http://www.theaustralian.news....,23411799-7583,00.html
Now, I'm not saying we should punish China and India for growing.
I'm not saying our lives should be dictated by fear of global warming.
I'm not saying whether global warming is real or not - I don't care.
In my opinion global warming is, if anything, very similar to religion.
Cicero wasn't a huge fan of religion per-se, but he saw it as a means of controlling the masses.
IMO global warming is the current best means of trying to get people to be concerned about the environment, until oil prices go even higher than they are at the moment.
It doesn't matter whether global warming is real or not, across the world we ARE wasting water, we ARE polluting, we ARE destroying habitats, and we ARE using non-renewable fuels which WILL run out.
Better than global warming stays around, even if it's not real, so it gives us a kick up the ass in terms of trying to address problems that ARE problems.
Even if you don't think the whole world needs to go eco-mad, it's not a bad thing that people are looking to make vehicles more fuel efficient, buildings more "green", and reduce consumption of finite resources like oil.
Lets look at China. Olympic runners aren't too happy about doing things like marathons because of all the pollution. Does global warming matter? Who cares. Emissions are causing serious problems anyway, even if they aren't causing global warming.
I like global warming because it's giving a considerable number of people pause for thought about pollution and emissions and use of non-renewable fuels, even if it's not necessarily doing it for the right reasons. That's why I hope that global warming doesn't go away.
Duffy asked Marohasy: "Is the Earth stillwarming?"
She replied: "No, actually, there has been cooling, if you take 1998 as your point of reference. If you take 2002 as your point of reference, then temperatures have plateaued.
[...]
If Marohasy is anywhere near right about the impending collapse of the global warming paradigm, life will suddenly become a whole lot more interesting.
[...]
With catastrophe off the agenda, for most people the fog of millennial gloom will lift, at least until attention turns to the prospect of the next ice age. Among the better educated, the sceptical cast of mind that is the basis of empiricism will once again be back in fashion. The delusion that by recycling and catching public transport we can help save the planet will quickly come to be seen for the childish nonsense it was all along.
The poorest Indians and Chinese will be left in peace to work their way towards prosperity, without being badgered about the size of their carbon footprint, a concept that for most of us will soon be one with Nineveh and Tyre, clean forgotten in six months.
[...]
Penny Wong's climate mega-portfolio will suddenly be as ephemeral as the ministries for the year 2000 that state governments used to entrust to junior ministers. Malcolm Turnbull will have to reinvent himself at vast speed as a climate change sceptic and the Prime Minister will have to kiss goodbye what he likes to call the great moral issue and policy challenge of our times.
It will all be vastly entertaining to watch.
Now, I'm not saying we should punish China and India for growing.
I'm not saying our lives should be dictated by fear of global warming.
I'm not saying whether global warming is real or not - I don't care.
In my opinion global warming is, if anything, very similar to religion.
Cicero wasn't a huge fan of religion per-se, but he saw it as a means of controlling the masses.
IMO global warming is the current best means of trying to get people to be concerned about the environment, until oil prices go even higher than they are at the moment.
It doesn't matter whether global warming is real or not, across the world we ARE wasting water, we ARE polluting, we ARE destroying habitats, and we ARE using non-renewable fuels which WILL run out.
Better than global warming stays around, even if it's not real, so it gives us a kick up the ass in terms of trying to address problems that ARE problems.
Even if you don't think the whole world needs to go eco-mad, it's not a bad thing that people are looking to make vehicles more fuel efficient, buildings more "green", and reduce consumption of finite resources like oil.
Lets look at China. Olympic runners aren't too happy about doing things like marathons because of all the pollution. Does global warming matter? Who cares. Emissions are causing serious problems anyway, even if they aren't causing global warming.
I like global warming because it's giving a considerable number of people pause for thought about pollution and emissions and use of non-renewable fuels, even if it's not necessarily doing it for the right reasons. That's why I hope that global warming doesn't go away.