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How to save us from climate-change doomsayers : Comments
By Crispin Hull, published 3/12/2012The change in public opinion is evidence that the world's scientists are failing us – badly. They are being far too cautious in their evidentiary requirements.
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Posted by halduell, Monday, 3 December 2012 9:43:17 AM
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The question more aptly is "How to save us from the climate-change deniers."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-03/annual-report-shows-carbon-emissions-continue-to-grow/4403778 Posted by Poirot, Monday, 3 December 2012 9:50:33 AM
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stevenlmeyer
Please think before you link material. Of course the two reports you linked assumed global warming. Consultancy on these matters is big business, and those organisations are both consultancies. Both organisations also released reports before the year 2000 which assumed that Y2K would result in a computer meltdown. You're basically linking marketing material. Robert LePage I don't agree that the extreme events have changed opinions. the extreme events gave those pushing this stuff another excuse to peddle the same other theories that are losing their scare power. This has been going on for more than 20 years now (the first IPCC report was in 1990, and that organisation was formed due to a scare campaign), and its difficult to think of any change in all that time that people might actually notice. Not even temperatures. Yes, go and look at the main temperature indexes. How much change has there been in the past 13 years or so? How much change has there been in sea levels? In fact sea levels have increased 62mm, and are increasing at a steady, average rate of 3.1 mm a year (University of Colorado site..) Peter Lang is quite right to say that there is no economic case for limiting emissions. In fact, among the advanced economies which may be the only ones that do try to limit emissions, there may be no economic damage from global warming at all - if and when it does occur - if the economies are simply permitted to adjust. Posted by Curmudgeon, Monday, 3 December 2012 9:55:36 AM
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Crispin Hull -wrote 3 December 2012:
> The change in public opinion is evidence that the world's scientists are failing us ... No, scientists and other professionals, can present evidence, conclusions and make recommendations, but they can't force public, the government or industry to act. I am a member of the Australian Computer Society (ACS), which commissioned studies into the carbon emissions from computers and telecommunications. The results were presented widely and confirmed by other national and international bodies. The ACS made recommendations to government and industry for action. Some of those recommendations have been acted on. The ACS commissioned me to design a course on how to estimate and reduce emissions using ICT. The course was first run in 2009 and is now also run by the Australian National University and Athabasca University (Canada). A few weeks ago I was discussing a version for Indonesia: http://tomw.net.au/technology/it/sustainable_development_through_green_ict/ As part of the course I teach the students how to make a good case to their boss on the need for action and how this can save money. Where the students are employed by government and industry I encourage them to write a real report to their real boss. The course notes are published free online as "ICT Sustainability: Assessment and Strategies for a Low Carbon Future": http://www.tomw.net.au/ict_sustainability/ Posted by tomw, Monday, 3 December 2012 10:13:10 AM
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@Poirot -
"The question more aptly is 'How to save us from the climate-change deniers.'" (!?) Yes, it's shocking, isn't it Poirot? And even worse. It looks like those deniers are starting to win, check this out - Reuters EU climate fight hit by new record low carbon price http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/30/us-carbon-price-idUSBRE8AT0U020121130 What can people be thinking of? Posted by voxUnius, Monday, 3 December 2012 10:29:47 AM
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According to the palaeoecological record,
90 million years ago, the world warmed by around 5C! 5C was enough to very nearly wipe out all life! [And we are on track to see global warming of around 4-6C by the turn of the century, and the formerly frozen tundra is already melting.] The palaeoecological record confirms this outcome, with a mother Hubbard, bone bare cupboard! Should we listen to the endless detractors, and just sit on our asses waiting for an environmental Armageddon, or take what actions are actually available for us; now today, to mitigate against history repeating itself! And what are the chances of that, when some of our more puerile politicians, think that climate change is all BS. And or, that we should mine and export more coal! Or self defeating, disturbed environmental activists/bewildered cloud dwellers, who refuse to countenance, carbon free nuclear power! Or incredibly ignorant detractors, who routinely ignore measurable upward temperature trends, measurable increasing acidification of our oceans, increasing measurable ocean current temps, some by as much as 2C! Measurable and increasing record ice melts, and a tundra that is now visibly thawing! Something none of us can recall, even as we consult verbal history, from long before we had written words, or scholars who could decipher them? A friend confided that they had to abort planting, because the seed was going in too deep, meaning the planter had to be recalibrated. This meant a delay of just two or three days, which finished with a drownpour. And a field knee deep in water, which would have simply drowned any emerging grain crop. We can hunker in a bunker, but if we can't grow food, due to record flood events, or heat waves or violent storms, hail wind, wild fire, etc/etc, we can and will starve; and, long before our world becomes little more than a wind swept, salt laden, bone dry desert. Rhrosty. Posted by Rhrosty, Monday, 3 December 2012 10:46:55 AM
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However, Australia is in a unique position to actually do something about this. We can (1) stop mining coal, (2) start mining uranium and (3) get a wriggle on with harnessing the sun.