Dear JBowyer

I believe global warming is real. It just makes plain sense that the increasing rate of burning fossil fuels by an exponentially increasing world population is producing greater quantities of greenhouse gases which in turn cause an increasing warming of the planet. To me having a degree in mechanical engineering it's basic thermodynamics and fluid dynamics.

The debate seems to be between those who fear the effects of global warming especially adverse climate change and those who owing to their belief in conservative politics do not want to have any change that might affect them. I don't see myself as belonging to either group. In my view it is too late to stop the unstoppable and I believe that what we are witnessing is the beginning of a mass extinction process due to increasing global warming making the Earth too hot to support life. There's nothing anyone can do about it. I don't think it will be CO2 etc that will push the the temperature to destructive levels but plain old water vapour will attain a dynamic of its own and will race away unaided by humans in replicating itself as the greenhouse gas that causes the extinction.

Mr O my challenge is that if we are doomed then sell me your house for $10. This $10 offer is open to anyone who sees us as "Doomed"!
I am not expecting any rush of waterfront property from Flannery or that other Professor Karoly who has a waterfront apartment in Melbourne.
Still here's hoping.

Dear JBowyer

Not likely. I'm taking all of my possessions with me to use in the afterlife.

Just been reading this thread. Mr O, is it your position that instead of reading a thermometer yourself you should ask someone else what the thermometer says? And if on reading the thermometer yourself and finding it has a different temperature from what your substitute thermometer reader told you, you would still accept his or her reading so long as they had a degree in science, and you did not?

Your question about who has a science degree is only relevant if you answer yes to both these questions. But I would hope that you are a sane person, prepared to argue and research your case, and you would regard someone else's observations as only advisory, and you will realise your mistake and withdraw your question on qualifications.

Whether one has a science degree is neither here nor there to whether you are qualified to comment on climate change. It is such a cross-disciplinary area that virtually no one has qualifications in all the areas you would need, apart from an ability to research and analyse, in which case we all have qualifications.

Ad hominem fallacy http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/ad-hominem.html

An Ad Hominem is a general category of fallacies in which a claim or argument is rejected on the basis of some irrelevant fact about the author of or the person presenting the claim or argument. Typically, this fallacy involves two steps. First, an attack against the character of person making the claim, her circumstances, or her actions is made (or the character, circumstances, or actions of the person reporting the claim). Second, this attack is taken to be evidence against the claim or argument the person in question is making (or presenting). This type of "argument" has the following form:

Person A makes claim X.
Person B makes an attack on person A.
Therefore A's claim is false.

The reason why an Ad Hominem (of any kind) is a fallacy is that the character, circumstances, or actions of a person do not (in most cases) have a bearing on the truth or falsity of the claim being made (or the quality of the argument being made).

Example of Ad Hominem

Bill: "I believe that abortion is morally wrong."
Dave: "Of course you would say that, you're a priest."
Bill: "What about the arguments I gave to support my position?"
Dave: "Those don't count. Like I said, you're a priest, so you have to say that abortion is wrong. Further, you are just a lackey to the Pope, so I can't believe what you say."

It is usually those who are gullible, follow cultist beliefs and practist Cult type behaviours that have to resort to ad hominen fallacy instead of debating the substance of the argument.

Graham

You do not need a thermometer to understand something strange has been happening lately.

Prior to Christmas, European ski fields had no snow; I'm not sure whether any snow has fallen in the last few days; but, it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
A few days ago rain was falling on Arctic sea ice., clearly too warm to be snowing.
A buoy, with a thermometer read a temperature of 1C above freezing after having jumped in temperature by 20C. The buoy is placed in close proximity to the North Pole just less than 5 degrees lower.

Scientists have told us that a warmer atmosphere carries more moisture; the Missouri River has just broken a record, and the Mississippi could very well break the all time flooding recorded record. A Washington Post article suggests the flooding is completely out of season, normally flooding happens when snow is melting or with heavy summer rainfall.
Numerous anomalous weather situations have happened over the last couple of decades.
I do not recall as a young adult 45 years ago constant news bulletins about weather disasters.

Mr Opinion you have a dismal view in relation to extinction.
When in dangerous situations people either freeze or try to do something.
We need to be doing everything possible to mitigate against, and adapt to the future in relation to carbon output.