Rants: Climate Change

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July 13, 2010

01:59

Note: Adult Language

Whether you call it global warming, climate change, or global climate disruption, the state of health of our planet is a hot button issue. Not just in the US, where the Obama administration is poised to tackle major legislation before the mid-term elections, but around the world where science and industry go head-to-head in an ongoing PR battle - a battle science seems to be losing.

Because even though the so-called "climategate" scandal was recently debunked, again, by several independent sources, and even though Al Gore and the IPCC won a Nobel Prize, people are still stuck on one molecule: carbon dioxide.

But what about all of the other harmful molecules we pitiful humans release into our rivers, our landfills, and our skies? What about massive oil gushers that, while thankfully capped at the moment, leaked an entire stadium's worth or more into a thriving Gulf?

Science in Seconds takes a look at the debate from a different angle.

_{Host: Rheanna Sand

Photo Credits: Wikimedia users Kevin Dooley, Mila Zinkova; various unknown sources.

References:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_8758000/8758352.stm

http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/programs/atmosphere-energy/climate-change/ten-myths.html

http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/17661/global_climate_disruption.html

http://www.ipcc.ch/}

YOUR COMMENTS

GG on July 13, 2010

one of the best videos yet on S I S

Ryan Shannon on July 13, 2010

I am glad to see that finally someone wades into this mess with a common sense approach. Regardless of IF the plant is warming, cooling, losing species, not, going to turn into a toxic waste dump, or not - we're putting nasty substances into the natural environment. Isn't balanced reduction a good idea just on principle?!

The whole "greening" movement is somewhat laughable in terms of both validity and practicality, but only because people are again sitting common sense on a shelf. If we look at the problem from the perspective of "how can we do better now," versus "we have to STOP IMMEDIATELY or we're all going to die," why, things might actually improve.

The problem is that climate scientists are wading into the debate focused virtually on one greenhouse gas (a la IPCC), instead of bringing this to a big-picture publicly accessible issue. And so we have the quagmire that is the public debate and abundant misinformation on the subject.

But hey, we have wind power in Alberta! Let's just ignore the fact that it doesn't actually contribute to stable supply, blights the landscape, and kills birds. It doesn't put CO2 into the atmosphere, so it must be green!

*sigh*

You three lovely ladies need to start educating government. Seriously.

Chris Buzon on July 13, 2010

Cathy Bodmer on July 14, 2010

I think we are just another great civilization that is killing ourselves and our world. Remember Easter Island? Maybe we could start archiving our mistakes in a black box so in 10,000 years the next civilization will have a heads up. Imagine digging up our artifacts - there will be so many computers and cell phones!