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Thursday, April 3, 2014

OK, I’M CONVINCED, NOW WHAT?


OK, I’M CONVINCED, NOW WHAT?
Not the solution.  You know it...I know it!
Ever since the first time I heard the term “carbon footprint,” I have been skeptical about the Global Warming theory.  I have finally been convinced.

All the facts and numbers I have seen seem to validate this theory.  That did not convince me.  The vast majority of scientists, scholars and smart people believe in this theory.  That did not convince me.

I have really been more browbeaten than convinced, and I am just tired of raising doubts.  The first step to browbeating me was to stop calling it Global Warming and instead to call it Climate Change.  From that moment on, any storm or weather anomaly was blamed on Climate Change.   The final beat-down that changed my position was I was no longer a Skeptic of Global Warming, but I became a “Climate Change DENIER!

Skepticism is an intellectual process.  A skeptic wants more proof, a skeptic has questions that remain unanswered, a skeptic does not jump on the bandwagon and blindly follow what he has been told.  A DENIER is a person with his head in the sand.  A denier ignores all facts and figures, a denier looks at all the facts and in the face of irrefutable evidence refuses to acknowledge the obvious. 

A skeptic questions the existence of God; a denier votes not guilty at the OJ trial.

I will not be a denier. Climate change is real.  The planet is getting warmer.  Now what?

If we do nothing, the polar icecaps will melt, the coastal regions of the world will be under water, there will be droughts, flooding and general mayhem.  The world’s human population will be decimated.  With the population reduced by two-thirds, carbon dioxide will slowly be reduced, the overheated planet will allow growth of more plants which will further reduce carbon dioxide and the planet will cool.  It will cool after two-thirds of the human race is destroyed.  That is what generally happens in nature when a species dominates.  Oh yeah, we will also lose a bunch of polar bears.

I don’t like that scenario.  I think we are smarter than that. 

The smart people of the world tell us the solution is to conserve.  Drive less, set the thermostat low in the winter and raise it in the summer.  Stop eating beef.  Stop burning coal and gas, and instead use solar and wind power.

I guess that all makes sense, except it is not going to work.  You know it and I know it.  Even if we passed laws to enforce these changes, we cannot pass them globally.  They will have negligible impact.   There are other issues.  Windmills are killing hawks and eagles.  Lots of people don’t like that.  Solar farms take up large areas of land and they disturb their environment.  There are reports of birds being literally fried when they fly through a solar farm.  Lots of people don’t like that either.

If conservation and known alternative energy sources will not stop climate change what will?

The problem with really smart people is they will always tell you why things won’t work.  True vision requires a mind so void of facts and scientific knowledge that it can find solutions unencumbered by reality.  The world is round?  No way.  Voice delivered over a wire?  Impossible.  Radio, TV, internal combustion engine, and the internet all were considered pipe dreams.  A Polaroid camera?  Please…not going to happen.  Yet all these things came to pass.

The Cranky Old Man is just devoid of enough knowledge to offer a visionary solution to climate change.  Develop a technology that takes carbon dioxide and with a little sunlight converts it into energy while pumping water and oxygen out of an exhaust system.  Impossible?  Plants do it, why not us. 

Wait, don’t tell me why not, instead just figure it out and do it.  Smart people can do anything.  It takes a knucklehead to tell you what to do and smart people to do it. 

I’ve done my part.

19 comments:

  1. I'm doing my part by adopting polar bears. Thirty-seven of my new children are now sharing our guest room. Does anyone have a spare freezer I can borrow?

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  2. Remember that old Merle Haggard song?...."We'll all be drinkin' that free bubble up, and eatin' that rainbow stew." :)

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  3. It's sad to think the best thing we can do for our planet is kick the bucket.

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  4. You would think with all they can do now they would be able to figure this out.

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  5. i think this scenario happened once before - noah? :)

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  6. Human beings are foolish to believe they're above nature. The Earth will eventually correct the abuses of mankind, perhaps with a massive die-off of humanity. It's happened before. We still don't know what viruses are but now Ebola, arguably the most dangerous virus on the planet and for which there is no cure, has made it to a country's capital. Once upon a time people died of Ebola before they could leave the jungle but now infected people can reach airports. Spread Ebola around the world and humans will be more than decimated--problem solved.

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  7. Sadly, you left out one thing. That CO2 gobbling technology won't happen until someone can make money with it. Greed may not be, as Gordon Gecko would have it, "good,' but it is the only thing that will drive change.

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  8. Yet there are many scientists that do not believe global warming. Let's ask China and Japan. They have nice clean environments.

    All kidding aside. We need to care for our planet. Everyone around the globe, not just us.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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  9. I'm in agreement with all who've gone before, except Fish Ducky can keep the polar bears.

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  10. Pass all the darn laws you want.
    Who's gonna enforce 'em?

    There are already more laws on the books than can be enforced.
    Who can understand half of them anyway?

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  11. "Wait, don’t tell me why not, instead just figure it out and do it. Smart people can do anything. It takes a knucklehead to tell you what to do and smart people to do it.

    I’ve done my part."

    I doubt it. Guaranteed you still have money in your wallet/bank and we need all of that to afford to study to discover the fix!! So hand it over already ....

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  12. Who's to say the current, or recent conditions are "normal." Maybe Waterworld was more "normal" and we are returning to it. I say invest in boats and swim fins.

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  13. Sure am glad I am old-- just wish all my friends and family were old also. Too bad we can't pick who should go in the die off.

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  14. Your dad would be so proud of you!

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  15. If we (Americans) don't figure something out, another country who takes this whole thing more seriously will do it. It will be their technology, their know-how, their gain...and their money. For example, Germany is a small, cloudy country with a lot of cool and rainy days (I remember snow in June). Yet it captures almost six times more solar energy than all of the U.S. Why can't we do that?

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  16. The Earth has had four ice ages. The last one was 11,000 years ago. The glaciers have been receding since then. I don't think man has caused 11,000 years worth of warming. What about the other three ice ages before that? It's a cycle the Earth goes through. Period. We can do little to hasten or slow climate change. The Earth has it all figured out. Listen to Stephen.

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    Replies
    1. WOW, a really smart person is a DENIER!! Who would have guessed.

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  17. I'm a bit like you, I was skeptical for a long time but have more or less caved now because I don't want to be a denier. If I ever doubt myself I just think of those crazy anti-vaccination people and the crazy 911 truther people and I realise not believing in climate change at this point makes me equivalent to them...
    I think it's undeniable the planet has been warming and climate is changing.
    Whether we can arrest it - especially so late as it seems to be now - is another thing.
    But I agree with you that the solution must be technology based, and not small target stuff we do as individuals. Not that we shouldn't do these things, but we already are, and they're not enough. Visionaries have to come up with stuff and smart people have to make it happen!
    And I agree with Pixel Peeper - the biggest countries can always do more. Good point about solar power capture, that's an interesting statistic.
    Good, honest post.

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