Global Warming

[LoveHistory]

Found an interesting article that got me thinking about whether or not anyone can be trusted when there is money involved. While the letter printed in the article does not explicitly claim that global warming itself is fiction, it does point out that certain bodies at least do not want open discussion about the point. Here is the link:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/james ... long-life/

I thought maybe we could discuss it. Anybody have opinions?

[annis]

We have to accept that there are a lot of vested (and often rabid) interests, especially in the oil energy business (ie the Koch Brothers et al) who would love us to believe that global warming is a fraud and it's business as usual. Unfortunately this is not the case, as shown by recent alarming discoveries about the rate that the ice sheets in Greenland and the Antarctic are melting. There a well-written article in the Rolling Stone which discusses this:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/208775

Delingpole is a right-wing conservative with trenchant views on a number of subjects including climate change , and is linked with loony tunes Lord Monckton, who quite blatantly fabricates data to suit his case.

[LoveHistory]

Seems like everybody fabricates data to suit their case these days. But there should be room for discussion of all theories.

I believe that it's happening, I'm just not so sure it's man made.

[annis]

I certainly agree that we should be discussing global warming, LoveHistory, and it's great that you've brought it up. I'm afraid that I do get hot under the collar about people like Monckton who are doing us a disservice by lulling people into a false sense of security. Naturally we like to be told what we want to hear - people don't want to have to change the way they live.

I personally believe that it is a tragedy for our world that the issue of global warming has become a political football for right-wing lobby groups. Nature is not worried about who’s right or wrong. While we sit about debating whether global warming is happening or not, it is in fact happening regardless. Instead of vilifying climate scientists and sticking our heads in the sand we need to be thinking about how we are going to deal with the extremes of weather which accompany global warming and changing our lifestyles accordingly. Do we wish this had happened on someone else's watch? You bet.