Sir David Attenborough

[MoreCoffee]

Climate change will probably not impact me too much before I die but it may affect the younger members of CH.

 

[Lamb]

For those who don't have time to watch this almost hour long video:

Three Take-Aways From Sir David Attenborough's Climate Change Documentary

"Firstly, that fossil fuels are at the heart of the problem. That burning coal, oil and gas at the rates the world’s wealthiest have become accustomed to is going to lead to very bleak future for the planet."

"Secondly, that there is a second major cause of climate change – that of deforestation."

"Thirdly, that this is not about some distant future and could soon be something we can not control."

 

[Albion]

We cannot control it now! The main reason for certain politicians to keep up the doomsday talk is something else--to control every aspect of the lives of each of us.

The people who are not part of the ruling political class themselves but fall for this climate change/global warming hysteria are little different from those who fell for "witches" being the cause of everything that was going wrong a half-millennium ago or, in some countries, those people who really believed that all their problems were caused by "the Jews."

 

[MoreCoffee]

We cannot control it now! The main reason for certain politicians to keep up the doomsday talk is something else--to control every aspect of the lives of each of us.

I never thought of Sir David Attenborough as a politician. The video is good watching. One or two people in it make overly dramatic statements. On the whole it is factual.

The people who are not part of the ruling political class themselves but fall for this climate change/global warming hysteria are little different from those who fell for "witches" being the cause of everything that was going wrong a half-millennium ago or, in some countries, those people who really believed that all their problems were caused by "the Jews."

 

[Josiah]

I dislike discussing science in a non-science forum.... and where my graduate education did not address....


But it seems to ME global warming is real. It has been for over 20,000 years*. And it seems to be speeding up. I think this is pretty well documented.

To what degree this speeding up is because of human activity and what human activities could slow it down (and if identified, how to best employ such) that's where the controversy seems to be.




* BTW, our sun is getting hotter, and the rate in which it is doing so is increasing and will continue to do so. In the future, our planet will get too hot for water to exist in liquid form and the oceans will evaporate and for a variety of factors, we don't loose this water (as Venus largely did) but it will turn into a green house gas in our atmosphere driving the temps still higher: we will one day have average global temps of nearly 1000 degrees, hotter than Venus. And then, about 4 billion years from now, likely the entire planet will be burned to nothing. Global warming is real. Now we may have an ice age or two along the way but.... Now, does this mean I should junk my Honda Pilate and Subie Forester and get two horses? Does it mean that will return our planet to how it was 300 years ago? That's where the controversy lies....




.

 

[tango]

We cannot control it now! The main reason for certain politicians to keep up the doomsday talk is something else--to control every aspect of the lives of each of us.

The people who are not part of the ruling political class themselves but fall for this climate change/global warming hysteria are little different from those who fell for "witches" being the cause of everything that was going wrong a half-millennium ago or, in some countries, those people who really believed that all their problems were caused by "the Jews."

It's hard to take the claims seriously when the solutions proposed are typically nothing more than "introduce a new tax on...". You know, it's OK if a billion people with brown skin suffer as long as we pay a bit more so western governments can waste it. For bonus points the great and the good fly (first class, obviously) to exotic locations to discuss ways to stop the average person flying.

Perhaps global warming could best be fought by reducing the amount of hot air emitted from our political chambers.

 

[MoreCoffee]

You can take action yourself. Install solar panels if you live in a region that gets some sunshine. Install a wind turbine if you live in a region that gets some wind. Buy some batteries for storing the energy that your turbine and solar panels generate. Get an electric car. Buy less beef and less lamb because breeding and feeding those animals contributes about 1/3 or so of greenhouse gasses produced by human activity.

 

[Andrew]

I personally love global warming

 

[MoreCoffee]

I personally love global warming

That may be a sign of insanity.

 

[Andrew]

That may be a sign of insanity.

Blaming it on cow farts is insane

 

[MoreCoffee]

Seems the video in the first post was taken down. But never fear here's one for you all to enjoy

 

[Webster]

We cannot control it now! The main reason for certain politicians to keep up the doomsday talk is something else--to control every aspect of the lives of each of us.

The people who are not part of the ruling political class themselves but fall for this climate change/global warming hysteria are little different from those who fell for "witches" being the cause of everything that was going wrong a half-millennium ago or, in some countries, those people who really believed that all their problems were caused by "the Jews."

...what Albion said. If one is serious about dealing with "climate change", ask them this: do you support the use of nuclear energy as a mitigating weapon agst. "climate change"?

If they do, listen to them; if not, they are fools, frauds and hysterics.

 

[MoreCoffee]

...what Albion said. If one is serious about dealing with "climate change", ask them this: do you support the use of nuclear energy as a mitigating weapon agst. "climate change"?

If they do, listen to them; if not, they are fools, frauds and hysterics.

What matters is what is true not so much what some dodgy politician says. Donald says that climate change is fake half the time and the other half of the time he says it might be true and it might not. Dodgy politicians say stupid things. It is best not to follow them into the stupidity.

Climate change can be addressed by individuals. Buy LEDs for your lighting. Eat less beef and more legumes, have chicken instead of cow and sheep meat. You'll benefit from better health if you eat more vegetables and less cows.

You can walk or cycle more often so that you do not drive everywhere.

You can insulate your home so you need less heating.

There's a lot that people can do apart from politicians.

Buy some solar panels. Maybe a wind turbine too.

Be creative in your efforts to reduce your use of CO[SUB]2[/SUB] creating energy.

 

[Webster]

What matters is what is true not so much what some dodgy politician says. Donald says that climate change is fake half the time and the other half of the time he says it might be true and it might not. Dodgy politicians say stupid things. It is best not to follow them into the stupidity.

Climate change can be addressed by individuals. Buy LEDs for your lighting. Eat less beef and more legumes, have chicken instead of cow and sheep meat. You'll benefit from better health if you eat more vegetables and less cows.

You can walk or cycle more often so that you do not drive everywhere.

You can insulate your home so you need less heating.

There's a lot that people can do apart from politicians.

Buy some solar panels. Maybe a wind turbine too.

Be creative in your efforts to reduce your use of CO[SUB]2[/SUB] creating energy.

Honestly, I could care less about some of the inane things President Trump says; he's going to say what he wants and that's a whole other conversation. Thing is, though, is all the actions above cannot be forced onto society; at the end of the day, individuals will make their own decisions on what to do above.

I've read the health literature and still eat plenty of red meat, chicken and pork because of the nutritional value they provide; yes, I eat more veggies as well but as I told someone elsewhere, "it'd be a cold day in Dante's Ninth Circle before I went either vegetarian or vegan." To each their own.

I do my part elsewhere but living in a rural area you'd be either crazy, stupid or suicidal (or a combination of the above) to not have a vehicle to drive; the one I currently own, a 2000 Dodge Dakota Sport, has about 128,000 miles on it and I keep that sucker in pretty decent shape (regular oil changes, yearly maintenance, etc.). Yes, its' gas powered but given where most electric vehicles get their power from, that's a wash either way.

Wind and solar power? Pfft, please; when they stop taking subsidies from both state and federal governments (ironically, they're mostly the same complaints I have towards Big Oil and Big Nuke) I'll listen to their arguments; until then, not so much. The U.S. has the biggest energy reserves in the world (especially in the areas of oil and natural gas) sitting underneath and we shouldn't use them? Are you serious? As much as I don't want to use them, I'd rather our energy comes from here than either from outside the country or from sometimes unreliable sources.

 

[tango]

What matters is what is true not so much what some dodgy politician says. Donald says that climate change is fake half the time and the other half of the time he says it might be true and it might not. Dodgy politicians say stupid things. It is best not to follow them into the stupidity.

Climate change can be addressed by individuals. Buy LEDs for your lighting. Eat less beef and more legumes, have chicken instead of cow and sheep meat. You'll benefit from better health if you eat more vegetables and less cows.

You can walk or cycle more often so that you do not drive everywhere.

You can insulate your home so you need less heating.

There's a lot that people can do apart from politicians.

Buy some solar panels. Maybe a wind turbine too.

Be creative in your efforts to reduce your use of CO[SUB]2[/SUB] creating energy.

This is the kind of thing I've been saying for years, and it shifts the focus from a vague threat that may or may not be real and that is pushed hard by people who live as if it were a crock of something brown and smelly and into something that makes a very real, tangible benefit for me in the here and now.

If you can walk or cycle places, have at it. Forget carbon emissions, you'll save gas money and get exercise.

Insulate your home. Forget carbon emissions, you'll save money on heating and cooling.

Solar panels and wind turbines where they are appropriate. Forget carbon emissions, you'll save money on your electricity bill. Personally I'd quite like to have a place that was under several inches of earth, angled to catch the sun at appropriate times, and with a river nearby so I could put a water wheel and capture free hydroelectric power.

Put in these ways the whole green movement is about getting a benefit for me, now. Readers of my posts in the general chatter threads will know I've been insulating my house. I don't care about the carbon emissions, I care about saving money on my heating and cooling bills. Before I started addressing drafts and insulation I bought a thermal camera that cost something like $1300. In less than two years I recovered that much, in the form of reduced heating bills. I don't buy the endless waffle about the idea that cows farting will cause a billion people with brown skin to get flooded out of their homes, but I do care about how much money could save by living more efficiently. And what's more, fixing drafts and leaks and adding insulation makes my house more comfortable. 72 degrees with a chill hanging in the air is a lot less comfortable than 63 degrees with no chill and no draft. Each degree the heat gets turned down saves money, and the lack of draft makes the temperature more comfortable.

If only the tree huggers could shift their focus onto the immediate tangible benefits on offer for people who simply use less they might get more support. When most of the message is little more than "you can't do this any more" and "there's going to be a new tax on that" it's hardly surprising that people don't want to know.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Blaming it on cow farts is insane

This is the kind of thing I've been saying for years, and it shifts the focus from a vague threat that may or may not be real and that is pushed hard by people who live as if it were a crock of something brown and smelly and into something that makes a very real, tangible benefit for me in the here and now.

If you can walk or cycle places, have at it. Forget carbon emissions, you'll save gas money and get exercise.

Insulate your home. Forget carbon emissions, you'll save money on heating and cooling.

Solar panels and wind turbines where they are appropriate. Forget carbon emissions, you'll save money on your electricity bill. Personally I'd quite like to have a place that was under several inches of earth, angled to catch the sun at appropriate times, and with a river nearby so I could put a water wheel and capture free hydroelectric power.

Put in these ways the whole green movement is about getting a benefit for me, now. Readers of my posts in the general chatter threads will know I've been insulating my house. I don't care about the carbon emissions, I care about saving money on my heating and cooling bills. Before I started addressing drafts and insulation I bought a thermal camera that cost something like $1300. In less than two years I recovered that much, in the form of reduced heating bills. I don't buy the endless waffle about the idea that cows farting will cause a billion people with brown skin to get flooded out of their homes, but I do care about how much money could save by living more efficiently. And what's more, fixing drafts and leaks and adding insulation makes my house more comfortable. 72 degrees with a chill hanging in the air is a lot less comfortable than 63 degrees with no chill and no draft. Each degree the heat gets turned down saves money, and the lack of draft makes the temperature more comfortable.

If only the tree huggers could shift their focus onto the immediate tangible benefits on offer for people who simply use less they might get more support. When most of the message is little more than "you can't do this any more" and "there's going to be a new tax on that" it's hardly surprising that people don't want to know.

Gentlemen! A little more decorum please. It is not cow flatulence it is cow burping that produces the bulk of bovine methane. Those animals are ruminants and after initial chewing they swallow and into the first of their alleged four stomachs goes the masticated grass and there it is partially attacked/processed by bacteria which produce methane that the cows burp out. The other end, the posterior exit, produces very little methane.

Now, go buy your chicken dinners and eat them happily or have beans instead. I like beans. Very tasty they are when cooked with onions and spices and chilli and other tasty things.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Honestly, I could care less about some of the inane things President Trump says; he's going to say what he wants and that's a whole other conversation. Thing is, though, is all the actions above cannot be forced onto society; at the end of the day, individuals will make their own decisions on what to do above.

I've read the health literature and still eat plenty of red meat, chicken and pork because of the nutritional value they provide; yes, I eat more veggies as well but as I told someone elsewhere, "it'd be a cold day in Dante's Ninth Circle before I went either vegetarian or vegan." To each their own.

I do my part elsewhere but living in a rural area you'd be either crazy, stupid or suicidal (or a combination of the above) to not have a vehicle to drive; the one I currently own, a 2000 Dodge Dakota Sport, has about 128,000 miles on it and I keep that sucker in pretty decent shape (regular oil changes, yearly maintenance, etc.). Yes, its' gas powered but given where most electric vehicles get their power from, that's a wash either way.

Wind and solar power? Pfft, please; when they stop taking subsidies from both state and federal governments (ironically, they're mostly the same complaints I have towards Big Oil and Big Nuke) I'll listen to their arguments; until then, not so much. The U.S. has the biggest energy reserves in the world (especially in the areas of oil and natural gas) sitting underneath and we shouldn't use them? Are you serious? As much as I don't want to use them, I'd rather our energy comes from here than either from outside the country or from sometimes unreliable sources.

Educating individuals to avoid poorly insulated properties or have them insulated and draft cracks closed and using LEDs for lighting and so forth is helpful and government can help with that. Government is not the enemy despite the stupid remarks that Donald tweets. The enemy is waste, waste of energy, waste of money, waste of materials and so forth. These are the things that make the Earth less lovely, less bountiful, less pleasant to live upon. And solar panels and wind turbines are good if you can afford them and like the off-grid capability that they give.

I do not have any solar panels on or around the house that I live in but many of my neighbours do and I will likely buy some eventually not because of any philosophical commitment to Green party politics nor because CO[SUB]2[/SUB] scares me - I figure I'll be dead before world climate becomes too unpleasant for me to enjoy my current address - I'll do it because I like the idea of generating my own power on sunny days and because solar panels are inexpensive. And when batteries to store solar power generated from the panels are cheap enough I may buy some of them too just to make my home more comfortable in winter and summer when cold or heat would otherwise make it uncomfortable. My house is already partly insulated, making it more so would be to my own benefit anyway so that may happen too.

 

[Andrew]

Gentlemen! A little more decorum please. It is not cow flatulence it is cow burping that produces the bulk of bovine methane. Those animals are ruminants and after initial chewing they swallow and into the first of their alleged four stomachs goes the masticated grass and there it is partially attacked/processed by bacteria which produce methane that the cows burp out. The other end, the posterior exit, produces very little methane.

Now, go buy your chicken dinners and eat them happily or have beans instead. I like beans. Very tasty they are when cooked with onions and spices and chilli and other tasty things.

I respected you more when you weren't a troll... if you have become bitter towards CH just let us know or stop posting here.
It seems lately that if anyone here goes against your opinion you respond by mocking them and we cannot tell if you are being serious or not.
PM me please, I would like to talk

 

[MoreCoffee]

I respected you more when you weren't a troll... if you have become bitter towards CH just let us know or stop posting here.
It seems lately that if anyone here goes against your opinion you respond by mocking them and we cannot tell if you are being serious or not.
PM me please, I would like to talk

You worry way too much about what you think other people might possibly maybe be thinking.

Climate change is happening as I type, it is likely primarily caused by increases in CO[SUB]2[/SUB] in the atmosphere and that is chiefly coming from burning fossil fuels. What you make of it and decide to do as a consequence is up to you.

 

[tango]

Gentlemen! A little more decorum please. It is not cow flatulence it is cow burping that produces the bulk of bovine methane. Those animals are ruminants and after initial chewing they swallow and into the first of their alleged four stomachs goes the masticated grass and there it is partially attacked/processed by bacteria which produce methane that the cows burp out. The other end, the posterior exit, produces very little methane.

Now, go buy your chicken dinners and eat them happily or have beans instead. I like beans. Very tasty they are when cooked with onions and spices and chilli and other tasty things.

Whether it's cows farting or cows belching isn't relevant to the point being discussed. Beans make you fart as well, so they probably aren't the best suggestion if you want to reduce emissions.