Global Warming: Just a Big Hoax?
A big meme floating around right now is “We don’t really know how bad global warming will be.” The poster boy for this is Oklahoma Senator James “How Much More Unpleasant Could My State Get Anyway” Inhofe, who apparently views climate change as a fundraising ploy of Greenpeace and recommends Michael Crichton’s “State of Fear” as science enough for the masses.
Although this Wired article is just about old enough to drive, I think it’s worth a read … assuming you’re not easily depressed.
Wired News: Isn’t part of the problem that people associate “warm” with comfortable?
Kolbert: People think, “I won’t have to go to Florida anymore. Florida will come to me.” People should realize that warmth doesn’t mean Florida. It means New York is underwater. It may be that certain places like Siberia are more comfy, but it also means that they have no water. If people say, “Why should I be worried about global warming?” I think the answer is, “Do you like to eat?”
Wired News: You talk about David Rind’s work — predicting rampant drought conditions afflicting much of the continental United States within 50 years if greenhouse gas emissions continue at business-as-usual levels.
Kolbert: (In the book) he says that, “I wouldn’t be surprised if by 2100 most things are destroyed.” But he’s certainly a very cool guy, not a hysterical person. He’s a scientist, and he’s just looking at the evidence.
Read Global Warming: Be Very Afraid in Wired.
clofresh said,
July 26, 2006 at 2:36 pm
Global warming needs to reinvent itself, kind of like how Puff Daddy reinvented himself as P. Diddy. I propose that we go with Al Gore’s take on things and refer to global warming as “climate crisis” from now on. (www.climatecrisis.org)
isulong seoph said,
July 30, 2006 at 10:31 pm
global warming is yet to be a climate crisis for me. but it was such an issue before. but, for now, i guess it hasn’t exarcerbated a lot yet… since the news are plain going going gone.
i guess an ounce of prevention is really worth more than a pound of cure. the real global warming occurs online–the Internet. since, the latter, has become totally congested over the past few years.
uhm, is global warming tantamount to el niño phenomenon? :p
Neil Craig said,
January 31, 2007 at 2:08 pm
The advance news from the latest IPCC report is that they are downgrading sea level rise to between 5 & 20 inches. New York must be lower than previously believed.