Global Warming and Climate change thoughts

Well, I know we have been through this once already Teeray, however, I never got to post my rebuttal to your thoughts on global warming. In doing this, I remembered an article that I read in newsweek magazine a few weeks ago called "Global Warming is a Hoax". You can read the full article here . Also I found this timeline which helps to explain important events related to global warming. The timeline is here. To summarize the article in a few words, it details how the republican party along with funds from big oil and energy companies fuel the global warming debate and encourage skepticism on the issue in congress and with the general public. The facts are pretty concrete. The report issued by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), for instance, was written by more than 800 climate researchers and vetted by 2,500 scientists from 130 nations. Compare this with only a few handfuls of scientists who are skepticists of global warming, and you begin to see the real picture. Then take into account the fact that of these few handfuls, many are involved in studies which are being funded by the oil and energy companies. The truth is that President Bush, along with the rest of his party, seem to have problems when it comes to facing the truth, or perhaps they just cant understand it, so I"ll spell it out for them. The earth IS getting hotter due to the greenhouse effect, and the U.S. is fighting an unwinnable war in Iraq. The issues are unrelated except for the fact that our current administration seems to have the same problem as a alcoholic or addict, which is the refusal to face the truth. The only difference here is while the alcoholic or addict is only harming themselves and a few other people, our current government is harming an entire generation of people across the entire globe.

Canadian Penny for your thoughts, Teeray?



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Listening to: Three Days Grace - Never Too Late (Main Version)
via FoxyTunes

Answers To Global Warming - Alternative Power

Global warming...

...basically, when I hear the term 'Global Warming,' I think of pollution. Landfills, smoke, and factory chemical-belching...those are the only pollutant issues I am familiar with - because I live out in the Prairies. I know there are way more kinds of 'pollution' issues from the marine perspective and also in the woodlands and marshes, but I don't have a lot of knowledge of those. QUite literally, I live (happily and luckily so!) in one of the cleanest areas of the globe!

By contrast even with where you live, TBC, I am in a clean environment.

Global warming is a nasty topic that a lot of people don't allow to fall off their lips too often out here where I live! In Calgary Alberta, there is a common notion that we are a wealthy city and that we EARNED our rights to drive a car everyday even though there is a public transit system available. We have old-standing, old-fashioned work ethics in a lot of sectors, and with those ideals, people believe that hard work is rewarded by having choices after the work is done and that so long as something is not visibly harming someone else, we can choose to buy, do, and live the way we want. After all, we worked hard and did our job when we were supposed to. Since most people cannot 'see' visible problems in the environment right now and 'we' have a relatively clean environment in Alberta, pollution and other related environmental problems are other peoples' problems!

Even as a major city, Calgary has far fewer air pollution issues than one might expect. I can only remember a handful of 'air quality' warnings during my whole life. On the other hand, when I lived in Hamilton Ontario for a while, a few years ago, I listened to 'air quality reports' on the radio on a daily basis through the warm months and decided via the reports how long I might stay outdoors to do errands and activities at certain times. The only 'air quality' warnings we have had that I am aware of in the prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba) have occurred due to seasonal fires - or the occasional natural gas explosion or some kind of chemical spill accident.

So...sometimes 'environment' issues are difficult to discuss with a general public, out where I live, TBC. Many people just don't see a noticeable problem - therefore no problem exists, I guess. Not to mention that - in my area of Calgary Alberta in the Prairie Regions of Canada, our collective wealth is EXACTLY derived from some of the Earth's most feared pollutants! OIL AND GAS! On one hand - we don't 'SEE' a visible problem. On another hand, we PROVIDE the pollutants on a global scale, so at a certain level, there is a LOT OF government HUSH about certain levels of pollution, TBC. There is no wonder for many people - that a general public is unaware of TOXINS, POLLUTANTS, and things like that. In part, some of the general public who don't discuss the topic of Global Warming or pollution - simply don't believe there's a problem. And - RIGHTLY SO - because to their scope of knowledge, they've not been given the information to make them become concerned about certain issues.

A general public has access to many 'Reports' on the environment but this is how some of it works:

When we see a government research report on a certain pollution concentration and it is, say 9%...but we also look at a report from another country and it says 36% pollution problem...

We sit back and say, "Hey we're lower- no problems - the country with the 36% has problems."

Immediately OUTSIDE of my city, however, we've had people dedicated to environment issues for a surprisingly long time. Since I was a child, I can remember 'Windfields'/Windmill Fields out in the Southern Alberta (Pincher Creek) areas. Here's a photo page I found while doing a search on 'Southern Alberta Windmills'. It has factory and 'pollution' photos as well as some fantastic shots of windmills, some 'dumps,' and some people 'cleaning' the environment.

I'm still researching this topic - so I'll update this post within a few hours. I just KNOW I can find a more amazing picture of the Windmills! I remember driving by FIELDS of windmills when I was younger - and when I was grown, I had to take my son by those fields once he was about 7 or 8....and I was worried that the "Wind-Fields" would be 'smaller' when I was grown haha - and that I had only IMAGINED THEM with more than 3 or 6 units per field when I was a kid - but my son and I did find some fields with dozens and dozens of them!

Later........

teeray~~