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Tea Party luring US into adventures in irrationality
- Thread starter Shanadeus
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The Librarian
Banned
Then they're not rational nor have they thought everything out.dskillzhtown said:
Ether_Snake
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When will it stop? The US has been a bastion of science and freedom, and now it is becoming a nutcase country where the dumbest put the dumbest in power.
I thought rational people the good guys?:|
Or is this just one final war-cry from a nearly extinct species?
I thought rational people the good guys?:|
Or is this just one final war-cry from a nearly extinct species?
Ok so I live in Georgia. (Yes I know huge conservative state but i'm a liberal so imagine how difficult it is for me here.
I don't know what to think of man-made climate change.
Can someone set me straight on this?
Is it a fact that we are experiencing man-made climate change right now?
I don't know what to think of man-made climate change.
Can someone set me straight on this?
Is it a fact that we are experiencing man-made climate change right now?
Ether_Snake
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Kad5 said:
I hope the answer will allow you to chose between Republicans and Democrats.
Zero Hero
Member
Let America get what it wants. Let's take back all the go-karts, hearing aids, rent, money for food, prescriptions, and health care.
Let them take it back.
Then, finally, will these people get voted out once and for all!
I can sum it up like this:
It's taken millions of years to create all the fossil fuels we enjoy now, but only about 150 years to put a huge amount of it in the air. Think about it.
Let them take it back.
Then, finally, will these people get voted out once and for all!
Kad5 said:
I can sum it up like this:
It's taken millions of years to create all the fossil fuels we enjoy now, but only about 150 years to put a huge amount of it in the air. Think about it.
Zero Hero said:
This is pretty much my opinion. If America thinks voting in these nut jobs will magically fix the economy, drive down the deficit and "give them their country back", then this country deserve whatever happens post Nov 2nd. And I will not be the least bit sympathetic.
Kad5 said:
The IPCC (International Panel of Climate Change) pulls the best scientists from a huge number of countries and tries to summarize previous studies done into an understandable format (mostly for world leaders and political powers).
All the scientists they pull sit in the same room and they read over every word of the document and if any scientist has an objection with any part of the document, they strike it out or try to replace it with something that everyone agrees on.
They've concluded that they can say with very high confidence (a chance of 9 out of 10, the highest confidence rating they can give; they don't use absolutes) human-related CO2 release has heated the planet about 3/4 of a degree Celsius globally. It doesn't sound much but the difference between an ice age and what we have now is about 5 degrees Celsius globally.
I learned this all in my undergraduate Environmental Science class. :lol
Kad5 said:
When we say global warming we're usually talking about greenhouse gases. What's happening is that when we have a certain amount of CO2 (there are others, people just talk about CO2) the heat that the Earth gives off is trapped and reflected back to Earth instead of being released into space. So no, it doesn't give us colder winters, it gives us warmer everything.
There is no one who will deny that greenhouse gases exist or anyone who will deny that they are necessary. Without them we would be frozen right now. The problem is that CO2 levels are at a point that is higher than it has been in the last 600,000 years (CO2 levels fluctuate naturally, our planet changes climate naturally, but it has NEVER been this quickly before. It takes millions of years to raise the temperature of our planet half a degree Celsius. So even if the culprit isn't CO2 emissions, something is WRONG with our climate, something is throwing it completely off.) We know what the CO2 levels (and other atmospheric conditions) were in the past because of ice cores which have ancient air bubbles trapped in them. We date the ice then measure the air inside to see.
People who claim that the whole global warming thing exists that certain people can make a profit are... right in some sense, but global warming is a real thing. Of course the people who pioneer new technologies will make money, but it's important to understand that the people want to dispel the idea that global warming exists are also people who want to make money.
Take this example: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/us/17pollute.html?_r=1
California passed a bill to curb greenhouse gases that are produced by factories/companies in order to become more environmentally friendly. Now on the upcoming ballot, we have Prop 23 which wants to delay the greenhouse gas law until unemployment hits about 5% (as the article says, this is pretty rare and passing this prop will basically kill the greenhouse law). The "idea" behind it is that energy companies will have to spend a lot to make their production cleaner and that this spending will cause them to lay more people off to afford it. Sounds kinda believable?
So, who is behind this prop? Civil groups who want to create more jobs? Nope, 95% of the 8 million raised to support this prop. comes from people who are/connected to the energy industry.
If the public believes in global warming, it's going to be VERY costly for oil/coal/natural gas companies. Those fuels just burn dirty (especially coal), there is only so much you can do to make them clean, it becomes very expensive for them. The people fighting to keep people ignorant want to avoid having to spend money because of environmentally friendly laws. Big business doesn't give a fuck about the environment, they care about the bottom line. It's the tragedy of the commons, everyone in the world has to suffer the negative consequences of sticking to fossil fuels, but the oil companies get to sit pretty on top of mounds of cash. And anyone who tells you anything about money trickling down from the rich to the poor can go jump off a cliff. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, and this problem is just getting worse because now the American people are now championing stupidity as the solution to their problems.
Just a quick piece of math for you. The highest guess for how much oil there is left on the planet that we can reach is provided by the U.S. Geological Survey. They say it's about 3 trillion barrels. Two other sources say about 1.2 trillion and 1.6 trillion.
Globally, we use 80 million barrels a day (American uses 20 million, fuck yeah!). If we use the HIGHEST estimate of 3 trillion and just do simple division we come out that we have about 100 years of oil left.
However, we haven't taken into consideration that the rate we consume oil is increasing (currently at about 2% a year) and also that our global population is exponentially growing and also that China and India are upcoming industrial powers which want to use magnitudes more oil than they already do to support their people.
With all these things put together, a conservative estimate puts us at around 35-55 years before we run out of oil. Fun times, eh? I guarantee that we will see a shit storm about this in our life times.
We can't even trust wikipedia articles, Let's base our society on old writing from barely literates dudes about the crazy adventures they had walking around with a long haired guy for a couple of years, 2000 years ago. I basically look down at those weird religious-based movements in the USA the same way I look down on extremist religious movements in obscure parts of Pakistan and other countries.
What's scary is that those extremist religious movements are created by power hungry clerics ruling over farmers and sheep keepers, that due to lack of money, cannot afford an education, while for some reasons, the same kind of extreme twisted interpretation of old texts are used and believed by people from all walks of life in America.
What's scary is that those extremist religious movements are created by power hungry clerics ruling over farmers and sheep keepers, that due to lack of money, cannot afford an education, while for some reasons, the same kind of extreme twisted interpretation of old texts are used and believed by people from all walks of life in America.
Nostalgic Nightmare
Member
So is anyone here considering the Libertarian Party for their upcoming ballots?
I'm really not too much into politics as I should be, but I really cant stand the back and forth between the two party system any more. I suppose I'm more for personal responsibility and less government involvement in all aspects. I just don't know what to think any more, I find many things I can agree with via the LP stance, and the choice for Gov here in Illinois, but are they just going to be all talk? Regardless, I'm not about to feel I've thrown away a vote if this is the path/party I choose.
http://www.lp.org/platform
http://www.lp.org/issues
http://www.electlex.com/issues.php
I'm really not too much into politics as I should be, but I really cant stand the back and forth between the two party system any more. I suppose I'm more for personal responsibility and less government involvement in all aspects. I just don't know what to think any more, I find many things I can agree with via the LP stance, and the choice for Gov here in Illinois, but are they just going to be all talk? Regardless, I'm not about to feel I've thrown away a vote if this is the path/party I choose.
http://www.lp.org/platform
http://www.lp.org/issues
http://www.electlex.com/issues.php
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