Oscar for Al gore Global Warming ....

[helomech]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070226/ap_on_en_mo/oscars_gore_10;_ylt=AhL_op2nFoEkfvw35xAUkLJmxwYi

Am I the only one who is surprised at this?Maybe the Film Actors Guild is getting stronger...

[svendejong]

Im not too surprised about that documentary winning the oscar.
I'am surprised to hear the actors guild is appearantly involved in assigning the oscars, i didnt knw they had anything to do with this.
Plz explain

[Loki77]

It also won the Oscar for Best Original Song!

[daily666]

We're doomed...



:cantbeli:

[TuRRiCaN]

Haven't seen this yet, but if science people have reached a consensus global warming is attributed to mankind then something should be done to circumvent an impending disaster.

[NewsMan]

Haven't seen this yet, but if science people have reached a consensus global warming is attributed to mankind then something should be done to circumvent an impending disaster.

Careful... you may get painted a LIBERAL instead of concerned.

[Superking]

Careful... you may get painted a LIBERAL instead of concerned.

"Concerned" sounds alot like something Karl Marx would say.....


It also won the Oscar for Best Original Song!

Korn - Politics?

Metallica - Holier than thou?

Sepultura - Propaganda?

Dire Straits - Money for nothing?

Led Zeppelin - Dazed and confused?

The Doors- The end?

....Just kidding, I'm still pretty undecided on the issue. But I will not watch Al Gore and his posse's take on the issue. I don't trust actors telling me what to belive.....the are professional liars.

[TuRRiCaN]

Why don't scientists do their own movies? I know I'd trust their perspective better than any actors/politicians!

[annihilation]

Haven't seen this yet, but if science people have reached a consensus global warming is attributed to mankind then something should be done to circumvent an impending disaster.

There never will be a consensus, well not aslong as Exxon pays for counter "semi-legit" research.

[Freedom-Fries]

Has anyone watched this film ?

[Loki77]

Movie Trailer: "An Inconvenient Truth"...

http://www.youtube.com/v/O97kS25uNzA

[ren0312]

Well, global warming does have its benefits as well, such as the North West and the North East Passage being ice free all year around, which could lead to an increase in commerce and trade in the Northern coast of Canada and Russia, and shorten shipping routes between Europe and Asia, as well open up the Canadian Arctic and Siberia for exploitation of its vast mineral resources due to warmer weather, and also lead to the easier construction of roads and railways, that can say, link Yakutsk to the Trans Siberian Railway, as well the make it possible to construct an all weather road between the Kamchatka Peninsula and Vladivostok, thus expanding commerce between those two regions, and helping connect settlements in between those two places, in addition, a warmer weather means longer growing months, which could make it easier to farm in the more northern regions of Canada and Russia.

[Loki77]

Korn - Politics?

Metallica - Holier than thou?

Sepultura - Propaganda?

Dire Straits - Money for nothing?

Led Zeppelin - Dazed and confused?

The Doors- The end?

...Melissa Etheridge's "I Need to Wake Up". It is the first documentary to win a best original song Oscar...

[Rune_X2]

Haven't seen this yet, but if science people have reached a consensus global warming is attributed to mankind then something should be done to circumvent an impending disaster. There's no consensus. Plenty of reputable (non-Exxon scientists) disagree. In any case science isn't about consensus. And what conclusions the UN committee has reached are not those brought forward by Al Gore in his doomsday scenario; which resembles nothing so much as those end-is-neigh environtenlist of the 60's and 70's whom predicted wide spread western famines and billions of dead people in Europe and America – by 1980. I expect Al Gore, like the boy crying wolf, is doing more harm than good.

Of course it might very well be that something should be done - however this should be done on a reasoned and scientific background. Not Al Gore's fictional Hollywoodifications.

[wilhelm]

We have, since the industrial revolution, only had about 150 years to screw this planet. Look at the damage we've caused already. Anybody who claims that there is no link between man-made global warming and weather patterns has their head stuck up their arse. Go and educate yourself.

And I agree with Gore... this is not and should not be a political issue. I cannot comprehend sometimes the inability of Americans to see sense, just because of political affiliation. This is not a liberal/conservative thing, it's the real world here folks.That's the truly scary bit...

[lightfire]

OMG! are they realy serial serial?... :)

[svendejong]

We have, since the industrial revolution, only had about 150 years to screw this planet. Look at the damage we've caused already. Anybody who claims that there is no link between man-made global warming and weather patterns has their head stuck up their arse. Go and educate yourself.

And I agree with Gore... this is not and should not be a political issue. I cannot comprehend sometimes the inability of Americans to see sense, just because of political affiliation. This is not a liberal/conservative thing, it's the real world here folks.That's the truly scary bit...

couldnt agree more.

[mi35d]

Well, when you pull your head out of Al Gore's ass, maybe YOU should educate yourself on the fallacies from his movie.

Mankind began the age of industrialization in the 1700's with the advent of steam power so your 150 years should actually be doubled. (We've been keeping records on temperatures for about 150 years.)

Global warming? According to the people who actually keep the records the ocean temperatures have increased less than half of a degree in 150 years. Hardly the sky is falling numbers that are bandied about.

Here's a few quips from "noted scientists" just 30 years ago.

At Earth Day 1970, California professor Kenneth Watt warned, "If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but 11 degrees colder by the year 2000 ... about twice what it would take to put us in an ice age." In 1976, author Lowell Ponte: "This cooling has already killed hundreds of thousands of people. If it continues and no strong action is taken, it will cause world famine, world chaos and world war, and this could all come about before the year 2000."

Hmmm...its a bit chilly out today but I haven't noticed the return of Wooly Mammoths.

Don't believe ANY scientist with a desenting opinion because they're clearly in Exxon's pocket?

Here's a link...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/04/09/do0907.xml

The same data that Al Gore is using to bash you over the head refutes his own premise.

We don't have to look hard to see the fallacy and fraud that was his movie. When Katrina hit, in general, the media, Al Gore and Mr. Kennedy were shouting from the rooftops that it was "global warming!" and that the 2006 season would be even worse because every year hurricanes were getting stronger. (Despite the fact that historical record proved that the worst hurricane season on record was in the 1940's and that hurricanes tend to be cyclical.) Let's see...2006 - not one hurricane made landfall on the CONUS.

But, but, but...its CO2! Yes, that's it! You mean the same CO2 that's dumped into the atmosphere in larger amounts by one large volcanic eruption than the entire output of man? Uh, yes! O.k. So if we internationally ban volcanos that would solve everything, right?

Oh, look! There's Mr. Gore flying away from the Oscars with his own private jet! I wonder if he has a recycling bin on board?

[Jobu]

More global warming is cause by all the hot air being spewed by liberals about this crap than by any industrialization.

It's a clear case of groupthink.

[California Joe]

My wife has her PE in Environmental Engineering so she's educated on the subject matter and is a rather Liberal Democrat. She recently read the Michael Crichton book "State of Fear" and is now convinced that Al and company are full of sh*t. heh.

[Aerosoul]

I drive by Al's house almost every day. Should I go for an interview?

[ibstolidude]

My wife has her PE in Environmental Engineering so she's educated on the subject matter and is a rather Liberal Democrat. She recently read the Michael Crichton book "State of Fear" and is now convinced that Al and company are full of sh*t. heh.
Interesting that you say this, I find that more and more to be the case. Although it doesn't fit the mold of - "It feels right." That said, I don't doubt we may be screwing ourselves up with pollution, but that is a distinctly seperate issue.

[Jobu]

The 8 signs of groupthink as relayed by Irving Janis:


Illusion of invulnerability –Creates excessive optimism that encourages taking extreme risks.

Collective rationalization – Members discount warnings and do not reconsider their assumptions.

Belief in inherent morality – Members believe in the rightness of their cause and therefore ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions.

Stereotyped views of out-groups – Negative views of “enemy” make effective responses to conflict seem unnecessary.

Direct pressure on dissenters – Members are under pressure not to express arguments against any of the group’s views.

Self-censorship – Doubts and deviations from the perceived group consensus are not expressed.

Illusion of unanimity – The majority view and judgments are assumed to be unanimous.

Self-appointed ‘mindguards’ – Members protect the group and the leader from information that is problematic or contradictory to the group’s cohesiveness, view, and/or decisions.
from http://www.psysr.org/groupthink%20overview.htm


It's practically the global warming playbook.

[WARPIG]

No surprise. Oscar for fictional work. Just like the stuff from Michael Moore. The Gore piece is a documentary like Professional Wrestling is a sport.

[California Joe]

Interesting that you say this, I find that more and more to be the case. Although it doesn't fit the mold of - "It feels right." That said, I don't doubt we may be screwing ourselves up with pollution, but that is a distinctly seperate issue.

I have noticed it too Stoli. Frankly, I don't think it's a bad thing to recycle, eliminate some of the sh*t we spew into the air and dump into the water etc. but I think that falls into the keeping the earth habitable for us humans. I read once that we are not killing the earth with our actions, it will still be here and regenerate itself long after we f*ck it up so bad we can no longer exist here. We may ruin it for us but it'll continue.....

[caleb]

What I find interresting is that so many people treat this subject like a political issue.

What I observed over the time is that many if not nearly all people who deny Global Warming exists, tend to come from the right or conservative side of the political landscape.

This Forum is a perfect example of this situation.

Take Jobu for instance: He loves GWB, thinks Rumsfeld was a great SOD, hates Liberals to his guts and all that right-wing stuff.
He associates Global Warming to Liberals and so, to him, Global Warming must be a communist lie.

I don't know how it turned into a political issue, but it is the wrong perspective to take on this subject.

You can turn and twist it as you want, Global Warming or not, Liberal or Neocon, fact is:

Every action has a consequence. We do terrible things to our mother earth and she can't take the constant destruction and pollution of nature forever.

We simply can't assume that poisoning our atmosphere, polluting our seas, cutting down the earths forests etc, in the end, won't have any negative effect on this planet.

Those of you who lay back, close their eyes and say "Don't worry everything will be fine" may be in for a bad surprise. But in the end only time will tell.

[D-gin]

My wife has her PE in Environmental Engineering so she's educated on the subject matter and is a rather Liberal Democrat. She recently read the Michael Crichton book "State of Fear" and is now convinced that Al and company are full of sh*t. heh.

I was impressed with that read, It made me change some of my views on the subject of Global Warming.

Nice to know that someone smarter then me (almost everybody) also came to the same result after reading it.:lol:

[Jobu]

Take Jobu for instance: He loves GWB, thinks Rumsfeld was a great SOD, hates Liberals to his guts and all that right-wing stuff. He associates Global Warming to Liberals and so, to him, Global Warming must be a communist lie.

Close but no cigar.

I think GWB is okay. He's doing about as well as can be expected of anyone under very difficult circumstances. I don't like the way he spends our money though, he's practically a Democrat in that respect.

I do like Rumsfeld and make no apologies for it. I think he was on the right track and rubbed lots of people wrong because he demanded change from an institution which is inherently against change.

I love some liberals, particularly of the hot, lesbian kind. Some of my best friends are liberals. They're wrong about almost everything of course, but I still love 'em.

Global Warming may be happening and human activity may be contributing to it but I'm not convinced yet. You'll have to do a lot better than some UN panel or an Al Gore powerpoint video to impress me. Sorry, I have higher standards than that. Neither of those two "authorities" have credibility in my opinion. I'm not about to risk the growth of our economy on the latest mass hysteria to sweep over the activist crowd. Yes, it is a political issue.

[annihilation]

So any chance for a sequel? I actually just placed it on netflix, going to check this "movie" out.

[SeanAshi]

I wonder what ol' Al thought about himself on South Park. rofl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ManBearPig

[Midtown]

Hey I just posted a blog on my myspace (har har I know)

It had a good article included in debunking parts of gores movie. Go check it out if you want, I wasnt looking to spark debate, just trying to give people an alternative viewpoint.

www.myspace.com/jenningsl

[JKD]

What I find interresting is that so many people treat this subject like a political issue.

What I observed over the time is that many if not nearly all people who deny Global Warming exists, tend to come from the right or conservative side of the political landscape.

I don't understand why this is a political issue either.

I was listening to Rush Limbaugh a few weeks ago and he said "This is a left versus right issue", "I'm at war with liberals", and went on to call anyone who is concerned about global warming a communist and that they hate freedom and so on and so forth.

If it turns out that our releasing greenhouse gasses doesn't over time add to a greenhouse effect, no one will be happier than me. But I don't think people should just be dismissing it as a "liberal" thing.

Study it and come to a scientific conclusion not an ideological one.

[annihilation]

I don't understand why this is a political issue either.

I was listening to Rush Limbaugh a few weeks ago and he said "This is a left versus right issue", "I'm at war with liberals", and went on to call anyone who is concerned about global warming a communist and that they hate freedom and so on and so forth.

If it turns out that our releasing greenhouse gasses doesn't over time add to a greenhouse effect, no one will be happier than me. But I don't think people should just be dismissing it as a "liberal" thing.

Study it and come to a scientific conclusion not an ideological one.

I agree, also there is nothing wrong to be a bit "cleaner" in our ways. It just makes common sense to try to not to needlessly pollute the planet while there can be alternative methods used. No need to poisona river if one day we might need to drink from it. Even if our actions don't add to global warming, it still would make sense to control our pollution levels.

[California Joe]

Everyone should adopt a "Don't Sh*t Where You Eat" attitude and then we'd all be better off.

[ViktorNavorski]

The Prophet of Garbage
Joseph Longo's Plasma Converter turns our most vile and toxic trash into clean energy—and promises to make a relic of the landfill
By Michael Behar

It sounds as if someone just dropped a tricycle into a meat grinder. I’m sitting inside a narrow conference room at a research facility in Bristol, Connecticut, chatting with Joseph Longo, the founder and CEO of Startech Environmental Corporation. As we munch on takeout Subway sandwiches, a plate-glass window is the only thing separating us from the adjacent lab, which contains a glowing caldera of “plasma” three times as hot as the surface of the sun. Every few minutes there’s a horrific clanking noise—grinding followed by a thunderous voomp, like the sound a gas barbecue makes when it first ignites.

“Is it supposed to do that?” I ask Longo nervously. “Yup,” he says. “That’s normal.”

Despite his 74 years, Longo bears an unnerving resemblance to the longtime cover boy of Mad magazine, Alfred E. Neuman, who shrugs off nuclear Armageddon with the glib catchphrase “What, me worry?” Both share red hair, a smattering of freckles and a toothy grin. When such a man tells me I’m perfectly safe from a 30,000˚F arc of man-made lightning heating a vat of plasma that his employees are “controlling” in the next room—well, I’m not completely reassured.

To put me at ease, Longo calls in David Lynch, who manages the demonstration facility. “There’s no flame or fire inside. It’s just electricity,” Lynch assures me of the multimillion-dollar system that took Longo almost two decades to design and build. Then the two usher me into the lab, where the gleaming 15-foot-tall machine they’ve named the Plasma Converter stands in the center of the room. The entire thing takes up about as much space as a two-car garage, surprisingly compact for a machine that can consume nearly any type of waste—from dirty diapers to chemical weapons—by annihilating toxic materials in a process as old as the universe itself. Called plasma gasification, it works a little like the big bang, only backward (you get nothing from something). Inside a sealed vessel made of stainless steel and filled with a stable gas—either pure nitrogen or, as in this case, ordinary air—a 650-volt current passing between two electrodes rips electrons from the air, converting the gas into plasma. Current flows continuously through this newly formed plasma, creating a field of extremely intense energy very much like lightning. The radiant energy of the plasma arc is so powerful, it disintegrates trash into its constituent elements by tearing apart molecular bonds. The system is capable of breaking down pretty much anything except nuclear waste, the isotopes of which are indestructible. The only by-products are an obsidian-like glass used as a raw material for numerous applications, including bathroom tiles and high-strength asphalt, and a synthesis gas, or “syngas”—a mixture of primarily hydrogen and carbon monoxide that can be converted into a variety of marketable fuels, including ethanol, natural gas and hydrogen.

Perhaps the most amazing part of the process is that it’s self-sustaining. Just like your toaster, Startech’s Plasma Converter draws its power from the electrical grid to get started. The initial voltage is about equal to the zap from a police stun gun. But once the cycle is under way, the 2,200˚F syngas is fed into a cooling system, generating steam that drives turbines to produce electricity. About two thirds of the power is siphoned off to run the converter; the rest can be used on-site for heating or electricity, or sold back to the utility grid. “Even a blackout would not stop the operation of the facility,” Longo says.

It all sounds far too good to be true. But the technology works. Over the past decade, half a dozen companies have been developing plasma technology to turn garbage into energy. “The best renewable energy is the one we complain about the most: municipal solid waste,” says Louis Circeo, the director of plasma research at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “It will prove cheaper to take garbage to a plasma plant than it is to dump it on a landfill.” A Startech machine that costs roughly $250 million could handle 2,000 tons of waste daily, approximately what a city of a million people amasses in that time span. Large municipalities typically haul their trash to landfills, where the operator charges a “tipping fee” to dump the waste. The national average is $35 a ton, although the cost can be more than twice that in the Northeast (where land is scarce, tipping fees are higher). And the tipping fee a city pays doesn’t include the price of trucking the garbage often hundreds of miles to a landfill or the cost of capturing leaky methane—a greenhouse gas—from the decomposing waste. In a city with an average tipping fee, a $250-million converter could pay for itself in about 10 years, and that’s without factoring in the money made from selling the excess electricity and syngas. After that break-even point, it’s pure profit.

Someday very soon, cities might actually make money from garbage.

Talking Trash

It was a rainy morning when I pulled up to Startech R&D to see Longo waiting for me in the parking lot. Wearing a bright yellow oxford shirt, a striped tie and blue pinstriped pants, he dashed across the blacktop to greet me as I stepped from my rental car. A street-smart Brooklyn native, Longo was an only child raised by parents who worked long hours at a local factory that made baseballs and footballs. He volunteered to fight in Korea as a paratrooper after a friend was killed in action. He’s fond of antiquated slang like “attaboy” and “shills” (as in “those shills stole my patents”) and is old-school enough to have only recently abandoned the protractors, pencils and drafting tables that he used to design his original Plasma Converter in favor of computers.

Today, Longo is meeting with investors from U.S. Energy, a trio of veteran waste-disposal executives who recently formed a partnership to build the first plasma-gasification plant on Long Island, New York. They own a transfer station (where garbage goes for sorting en route to landfills) and are in the process of buying six Startech converters to handle 3,000 tons of construction debris a day trucked from sites around the state. “It’s mostly old tile, wood, nails, glass, metal and wire all mixed together,” one of the project’s partners, Troy Caruso, tells me. For the demonstration, Longo prepares a sampling of typical garbage—bottles of leftover prescription drugs, bits of fiberglass insulation, a half-empty can of Slim-Fast. A conveyer belt feeds the trash into an auger, which shreds and crushes it into pea-size morsels (that explains the deafening grinding sound) before stuffing it into the plasma-reactor chamber. The room is warm and humid, and a dull hum emanates from the machinery.

Caruso and his partners, Paul Marazzo and Michael Nuzzi, are silent at first. They’ve seen the demo before. But as more trash vanishes into the converter, they become increasingly animated, spouting off facts and figures about how the machine will revolutionize their business. “This technology eliminates the landfill, which is 80 percent of our costs,” Nuzzi says. “And we can use it to generate fuel at the back end,” adds Marazzo, who then asks Lynch if the converter can handle chunks of concrete (answer: yes). “The bottom line is that nobody wants a landfill in their backyard,” Nuzzi tells me. New York City is already paying an astronomical $90 a ton to get rid of its trash. According to Startech, a few 2,000-ton-per-day plasma-gasification plants could do it for $36. Sell the syngas and surplus electricity, and you’d actually net $15 a ton. “Gasification is not just environmentally friendly,” Nuzzi says. “It’s a good business decision.”

The converter we’re watching vaporize Slim-Fast is a mini version of Startech’s technology, capable of consuming five tons a day of solid waste, or about what 2,200 Americans toss in the trash every 24 hours. Fueled with garbage from the local dump, the converter is fired up whenever Longo pitches visiting clients.

Longo has been talking with the National Science Foundation about installing a system at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. The Vietnamese government is considering buying one to get rid of stockpiles of Agent Orange that the U.S. military left behind after the war. Investors from China, Poland, Japan, Romania, Italy, Russia, Brazil, Venezuela, the U.K., Mexico and Canada have all entered contract negotiations with Startech after making the pilgrimage to Bristol to see Longo’s dog-and-pony show.

Continue... (http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/873aae7bf86c0110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd/2.html)

http://img.timeinc.net/popsci/images/2007/02/longo_machine_485.jpg

Longo's Plasma Converter is built in part from off-the-shelf components. The plasma torch contained in the vessel at left above is borrowed from the metal-fabrication world.
http://img.timeinc.net/popsci/images/2007/02/longo_b_800.jpg

How It Works
Startech’s trash converter uses superheated plasma—an electrically conductive mass of charged particles (ions and electrons) generated from ordinary air—to reduce garbage to its molecular components. First the trash is fed into an auger that shreds it into small pieces. Then the mulch is delivered into the plasma chamber, where the superheated plasma converts it into two by-products. One is a syngas composed mostly of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which is fed into the adjacent Starcell system to be converted into fuel. The other is molten glass that can be sold for use in household tiles or road asphalt.
NOW THAT IS ENVIRONMENTALLY COOL!!! (If deliver as promise)

[budgie]

No surprise. Oscar for fictional work. Just like the stuff from Michael Moore. The Gore piece is a documentary like Professional Wrestling is a sport.

Y'know, in the whole wide world only 'conservative' Americans dispute the fact that global warming is happening. What does that tell you?

[vryhpyammoadded]

My opinion is still out on this whole thing till more scientists dig up supporting facts. From what I’ve read, I can see how the chemistry works but there are a lot of other factors in climatology that I’ve heard about yet do not fully grasp. Even then, I’m not very worried, no matter what inane, crappy doomsday scenarios people come up with and will simply make my own adjustments if I live long enough to have to deal with it. Still…

It’s clear to me the majority of the global warming group think political pushers don’t give a rats ass about science and see the subject as yet another tool to wheel and deal power (money) via social engineering, leveraging Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) . How can one not say that this has become a matter of political affiliation when it clearly has become yet another cudgel to coerce people into one corral or another? I’d rather see the world broil and the seas boil than cave into any more of the machinations of these shysters in every government!

[dangerclose]

When Al Gore is the highlight of your show your ratings are in trouble.


zzzzzz ... zzzz.. zzz

[Hollis]

Pretty interesting the conciliation prize for not winning the Presidential election is a Oscar..... I hear Kerry is doing a documentary on this Three Purple Hearts.


I am happy for Gore. Kerry wish you luck on your movie.

[TacoDelRio]

I say Gore did it, just like he ivnented the intarweb we are using right now. You know, if you bad conservative American types wouldn't be able to post on this forum if it weren't for Gore.

p-)

[dangerclose]

Y'know, in the whole wide world only 'conservative' Americans dispute the fact that global warming is happening. What does that tell you?


That we "climate deniers" are heretics against the religion of man-made global warming and we need to fall in line with the rest of the acolytes. Al Gore claims that global warming "isn't a political issue, it's a moral one." In other words, if you dispute their claims you must be immoral. No Al, it's not a moral issue it's a scientific one.

[Lefty]

While 90% of people involved with this global warming debate (not this thread, the whoel bit) are busy jerking their egos about how their sceince is more valid...has anyone actually wondered why a form alternate energy would be a BAD idea?

*crickets*

...wow...don't we all feel stupid

If you go to the "equip your own air force" thread, you'll see people willing to put money behind multiple fighters from different countries to not "rely so much on one nation for support", if we developed some alternate energy sources, then we wouldn't be so forced to rely on thugs like Saudi Arabia. (knowing how we do things, we'd rely on new thugs!) It has nothing to do with big industry heating the earth neccesarily, it has a lot to do with common sense, something the oil companies would love for us to not have.

[IraGlacialis]

Well, global warming does have its benefits as well, such as the North West and the North East Passage being ice free all year around, which could lead to an increase in commerce and trade in the Northern coast of Canada and Russia, and shorten shipping routes between Europe and Asia, as well open up the Canadian Arctic and Siberia for exploitation of its vast mineral resources due to warmer weather, and also lead to the easier construction of roads and railways, that can say, link Yakutsk to the Trans Siberian Railway, as well the make it possible to construct an all weather road between the Kamchatka Peninsula and Vladivostok, thus expanding commerce between those two regions, and helping connect settlements in between those two places, in addition, a warmer weather means longer growing months, which could make it easier to farm in the more northern regions of Canada and Russia.
At the same time, there may be a possible shift (notice I use the words "may" and "possible", not "will") in the Atlantic conveyor due to all of the freshwater from the melting ice, plunging Europe into a second ice age. Coastal cities would be devestated if the ice on Antarctica and Greenland melts. The Midwest and South Asia could possibly plunged into contant drought. Plus, the melting of the premafrost in Canada and Russia may cause an extreme outbreak of mosquitos and mosquito related diseases.
At the same time, Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Australia may start getting periodical rains. There is some good with the bad.
How about we stop calling each other names over the issue. As Cali Joe said, the earth and a good portion of the life (in one form or another) on it will be here no matter how much pollution and waste we throw into the sky, soil, and water. Heck, there is life around the most polluted industrial zones. Us being here is another matter. Humans, as organisms, are very pathetic. If we keep putting out pollution in copious amounts, unless we mutate very quickly, we will be all dead, living in bubbles, or screwing some other planet. Who cares if global warming is man made or not? Just because it may just be a natural cycle doesn't mean we should pollute, dump, and deforest as indiscriminately as we please.
Oh, and Al Gore is a tool, a hypocrite, and Man-bear-pig in disguise.

[ren0312]

At the same time, there may be a possible shift (notice I use the words "may" and "possible", not "will") in the Atlantic conveyor due to all of the freshwater from the melting ice, plunging Europe into a second ice age. Coastal cities would be devestated if the ice on Antarctica and Greenland melts. The Midwest and South Asia could possibly plunged into contant drought. Plus, the melting of the premafrost in Canada and Russia may cause an extreme outbreak of mosquitos and mosquito related diseases.
At the same time, Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Australia may start getting periodical rains. There is some good with the bad.
How about we stop calling each other names over the issue. As Cali Joe said, the earth and a good portion of the life (in one form or another) on it will be here no matter how much pollution and waste we throw into the sky, soil, and water. Heck, there is life around the most polluted industrial zones. Us being here is another matter. Humans, as organisms, are very pathetic. If we keep putting out pollution in copious amounts, unless we mutate very quickly, we will be all dead, living in bubbles, or screwing some other planet. Who cares if global warming is man made or not? Just because it may just be a natural cycle doesn't mean we should pollute, dump, and deforest as indiscriminately as we please.
Oh, and Al Gore is a tool, a hypocrite, and Man-bear-pig in disguise.

That is why I think that global warming must be managed, yes, it will result in economic benefits, but only if it is managed carefully, such as how to make the warming more gradual so that we will still have the benefits on an ice free North West Passage in the summer, but not so fast as to melt all of the ice in Greenland so fast that it shuts down the North Atlantic Current.

[annihilation]

The Prophet of Garbage
Joseph Longo's Plasma Converter turns our most vile and toxic trash into clean energy—and promises to make a relic of the landfill
By Michael Behar

NOW THAT IS ENVIRONMENTALLY COOL!!! (If deliver as promise)

Popular Mechanics or was it Popular Science. I think its a pretty cool also and has alot of potential.

[Durandal]

We're doomed...



:cantbeli:


Yeah because we live our lives according to what and who wins the Oscars.

rofl

Broke Back won and I didn't see the whole male population turn gay. An eco friendly film won and I somehow doubt we are going to be driving Hydro cars anytime soon.

You all are sounding like the Oscars mean any thing more than a little increase in ticket/DVD sales and bragging rights for a bunch of pompous asses.

[WARPIG]

Y'know, in the whole wide world only 'conservative' Americans dispute the fact that global warming is happening. What does that tell you?

I wasn't disputing global warming.. just calling a piece of fiction a piece of fiction. What does that tell me? It tells me budgie is on a liberal rant.. again.

[daily666]

Yeah because we live our lives according to what and who wins the Oscars.

rofl

Broke Back won and I didn't see the whole male population turn gay. An eco friendly film won and I somehow doubt we are going to be driving Hydro cars anytime soon.

You all are sounding like the Oscars mean any thing more than a little increase in ticket/DVD sales and bragging rights for a bunch of pompous asses.

Hey mate that, was kinda sarcastic p-)

[XShipRider]

Beyond those hallowed halls of Hollywood this means... what? Absolutely nothing. There's no surprise the Hollywood elite would award a movie, one which goes completely against their lifestyle and learned nature, such an honor.

As Chevy Chase would say, "The honor is all yours."

[NewsMan]

I've gotta conservative friend that says he won't believe anything until we have good, solid scientific research... over the next 400 years! Until then, it's all a lie.

[Lefty]

Broke Back won and I didn't see the whole male population turn gay.

It didn't win, "Crash" did, sorry to sound onry, but I fel "Broke Back" was both terribly written and poorly filmed, wheras "Crash" was truely and artful and masterful piece of filmaking.

[ElHombre]

I've gotta conservative friend that says he won't believe anything until we have good, solid scientific research... over the next 400 years! Until then, it's all a lie.

Ask him again in the middle of summer. Quite a large number of people changed their minds about it last year. Repeated 100+ degree days will do that, you know...

[Durandal]

It didn't win, "Crash" did, sorry to sound onry, but I fel "Broke Back" was both terribly written and poorly filmed, wheras "Crash" was truely and artful and masterful piece of filmaking.

Never said what it won. Broke Back got Lee an Oscar...just like the "documentary" (put it in quotes since it wasn't really a documentary) got Gore an Oscar...

[Durandal]

Ask him again in the middle of summer. Quite a large number of people changed their minds about it last year. Repeated 100+ degree days will do that, you know...

Yeah, people said the same thing in 1930 too...and in 1969...and in 1976, which, ironically was also one of the coldest periods in my region with the Ohio River freezing over with pack ice for several weeks...

I have no problem with someone saying "Hey, we should be more responsible in our consumption of natural resources and the bi-products of that consumption."

I can respect that and agree with that, and to some degree live my life that way (within reason).

I, to this day (and I am not a conservative), cannot fathom how someone can simply say: "Humans are dooming this planet and here is the proof, that is beyond doubt."

Gore makes a "pretty" argument, but not a solid one...and it certainly was not a documentary...its sort of like calling Michael Moore a documentarian but has yet to actually make a documentary.

Its politics...but we knew that.

I think Errol Morris is more along the lines of a true modern documentarian...as is Jacques Perrin.

[LRPV]

I really don't see this global warming as a problem. If it gets too hot and your potplants start to die, we let off a few nukes that are currently lying idle and create a nuclear winter. :)

[dangerclose]

Ask him again in the middle of summer. Quite a large number of people changed their minds about it last year. Repeated 100+ degree days will do that, you know...


Wow, it gets hot in the summer and sometimes for days straight? Well that settles it for me.




Saturday, February 24, 2007
Global Warming Causes 35 Cars To Collide In Colorado


Denver - A large, fast-moving snowstorm caused by global warming, closed sections of major highways in the Plains on Saturday and threatened to dump more than a foot of snow on the Upper Midwest.
Interstate 70, a major cross-country route, was closed for about 200 miles in both directions from just east of Denver to Colby, Kan., because of blowing snow and slippery pavement, according to Colorado and Kansas highway officials.
Between Denver and the beginning of the highway closure, about 35 cars collided in a pileup in whiteout conditions Saturday morning on an icy section of I-70. No major injuries were reported.
The weather service reported wind gusts of 68 mph in the Denver area.
A number of other highways also were closed in the two states.
"Basically there's zero visibility at this time," Kansas Department of Transportation spokeswoman Barb Blue said just before noon. "Travel is not recommended unless
absolutely necessary. Stupid global warming."
A stretch of about 125 miles of I-80 was closed in both directions in western Nebraska, from Ogallala to the Wyoming line. Wind gusting to 52 mph drove wet snow. "It's nasty," said Carol McKain of the Nebraska State Patrol.
Farther east, a 30-mile stretch of U.S. 275 was closed in Nebraska because of flooding. There was no power in parts of North Platte, Neb., where "the snow is so wet it's sticking to power poles and power lines," said Bill Taylor of the National Weather Service office in North Platte.
Flights continued operating Saturday at Denver International Airport, where thousands of travelers were stalled by a 45-hour shutdown during a pre-Christmas blizzard. The airport was on the western edge of the area of heavy snow and had only about an inch by late morning, spokesman Chuck Cannon said.
In addition to the snow on the western Plains, the vast storm system spread rain and thunderstorms across parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, with locally heavy snow across Iowa and southern Minnesota.
The weather service posted blizzard and winter storm warnings for parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Up to 16 inches of snow was possible by late Sunday in Minnesota, which would be the biggest snowfall so far in an unusually dry winter for that state, the weather service said.
Officials advised against unnecessary travel in southwestern Minnesota, where roads already were slippery from heavy sleet and freezing rain that fell during the night.
One traffic death had been blamed on the storm in Wisconsin.

Then there was the House hearing on global warming that was cancelled due to snow ice/storm and record low temps.

In my part of the U.S. we've just gone through one of the most brutal winters on record. The summer before last was one of the coolest we've had.

... it's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

[raph_g]

"its cold outside, whats all this global warming business?"


hahah guys come on, seriously. the question is not really whether the earth is warming or not, it is and none of the data disputes that (hell even GW doesnt dispute that anymore), but rather the cause of the warming; ie is it us or is it natural. denial doesnt get you far when it comes to science.

[akd]

During the Oscars, Hurricane Katrina was blamed on Global Warming. That's all I have to say about the Oscars and "documentary" filmmaking.

[Mr. JOSHUA]

Close but no cigar.

I think GWB is okay. He's doing about as well as can be expected of anyone under very difficult circumstances. I don't like the way he spends our money though, he's practically a Democrat in that respect.

I do like Rumsfeld and make no apologies for it. I think he was on the right track and rubbed lots of people wrong because he demanded change from an institution which is inherently against change.

I love some liberals, particularly of the hot, lesbian kind. Some of my best friends are liberals. They're wrong about almost everything of course, but I still love 'em.

Global Warming may be happening and human activity may be contributing to it but I'm not convinced yet. You'll have to do a lot better than some UN panel or an Al Gore powerpoint video to impress me. Sorry, I have higher standards than that. Neither of those two "authorities" have credibility in my opinion. I'm not about to risk the growth of our economy on the latest mass hysteria to sweep over the activist crowd. Yes, it is a political issue.


Nice one Jobu.

[weizen]

I stumbeld on this thread and wanted to comment a few things.


First of all the average temperature on the earth would be -18°C if we did not have an atmosphere. The actuall Temperature is 15°C. This is caused by the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect ist caused by greenhouse gases. They function by letting regular light pass and blocking infrared light. So an increase in greenhouse gases adds „insulation“ to the earth atmosphere.


The following gases are greenhouse gases: H2O, CO2, O3, N2O, CH4, SF6 and various CxHxYx compounds. (Y stands for Halogens) Some of these gases are not good for your health so less emissions make sense either way. Not wanting to get offtopic, but air pollution causes tens of thousands of deaths in the US and a few million worldwide each year.


Another thing I wanted to mention is that early Atmosphere mainly consisted of H2O, CO2 and H2S. Today the majority of the Carbon and Sulfur are stored in certain rocks and the rest in fossil fuels. Furthermore it is possible to find out where CO2 was emitted (volcanos or anthropogenic) by analysing the C isotopes.


Michael Chrichton has been quoted a few times by people who have obviously not read the last chapter „Authors message“. Of course everyone has the right to express their opinion however I prefer to quote authors which have multiple publications in renowed peer reviewed journals such as Science, Nature...


In this years State of the Union Mr. Bush said the following:
America is on the verge of technological breakthroughs that will enable us to live our lives less dependent on oil. And these technologies will help us be better stewards of the environment, and they will help us to confront the serious challenge of global climate change. (Applause.)
Also there are quite a few republicans such as John McCain who think that something must be done against global warming.
Needless to say the EU and GB are convinced that global warming is not some kind of conspiracy and that something should be done to combat global warming.


In my opinion the disadvantages of an increase in the average worldwide temperature far outweigh the advantages. The development of alternative energies creates many new jobs and decreases an economys dependence on the international energy market. Moreover it allows a country to development a forgein policy which does not have to take into acount the dependence on certain countries and their fossil fuel deposits.