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Climate Change? Yes Isaac Send a noteboard - 04/05/2011 02:48:08 PM
I guess I just question: why is this an indication of political affiliation? Why is it that Republicans believe X, and Democrats believe Y? I feel as though this should now be an issue of common ground, where people don't search for Professor Ornery from Out There University who can show you calculations indicating that we'll be just fine, but rather say: yeah, let's do something about this and stop using it as a tool to divide, or, for that matter, a tool to be divided by.

I'd like to - I don't know - bridge the divide here, if possible, or suggest that the divide is bridgeable. I know part of it plays into global economics (hey, if China's not going to play by the rules, we shouldn't either) but I think that's a very shortsighted viewpoint. Let's build some levees and shit like that. This should be an issue of rationalism and not a platform issue in American politics, which I continue to find very disappointing.


To most people on the right, Climate Change is just a new term for global warming, and they feel the term was switched because the models were wrong, they believe climates change and that those changes occur following natural scientifically explainable cause and effect processes. After that, there is virtually no unity on the matter. Why? Simple, 99% of the people on the right and left have absolutely no idea how thermodynamics works, so they listen (usually badly and miss stuff) to what scientists they trust tell them. There are plenty of respected scientists who have various degrees of skepticism on this subject.

The actual issue on the table is simply this: Write out a function T(CO2) = where T is temperature and CO2 is the amount of CO2 present in the air. Demonstrate that that function can predict the average Temperature of the planet to within 0.1 degree Celsius without failure for one decade in a row. When someone does that, the right will accept - or the vast majority of it will which is all that matters - that the model is accurate to make predictions, obviously such a model would also have to predict solar activity's effect, but the model would only have to have that accuracy once the measured solar activity for a year was included. That's it, that's all it would take, some might prefer 0.1 Fahrenheit I suppose, the right expects and will accept only a model capable of making meaningful predictions, that doesn't mean it has to nail it flat down a decade in advance, it just means the equation would have to be right when the real data for a timespan after the equation is presented is fed in, recent volcanoes, major oil spills, any variance in the Planet's albedo, total solar illumination. The right believes that that is a reasonable demand for claims of scientific accuracy in a model, and they assume that if such a model can not be presented, then too many uncertainties currently exist to make predictions, and if you can't make accurate predictions you shouldn't discuss trillion dollar overhauls.

Of course, convincing us it's definitely true is not the same as convincing us that the proposed solutions, which invariably seem to bare remarkable similarity the Socialist Utopia concepts, are the only or best solutions, or even that there is a need for a solution. And the lefts habit of trying to portray any skeptical scientist on the subject as being in the pocket of big oil or utterly insane doesn't help, it just makes us further distrust the left.
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
- Albert Einstein

King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
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Are People still denying Climate Change? - 04/05/2011 02:28:36 AM 625 Views
i don't think there are many who deny climate change outright - 04/05/2011 02:43:43 AM 346 Views
Of course not. - 04/05/2011 05:13:00 AM 355 Views
Do you truly believe this? Obviously climates have always changed. Why would that stop? - 04/05/2011 07:10:55 AM 382 Views
You know he just likes to be contrary. - 04/05/2011 11:46:13 AM 339 Views
Let's put it this way. - 04/05/2011 03:34:25 PM 360 Views
Those who politically oppose it do, I fear *NM* - 04/05/2011 08:26:17 AM 145 Views
Just like those who were politcal drawn to it rushed to accept it as soon as they heard about it - 04/05/2011 05:23:07 PM 352 Views
I don't even see how it ever turned into a thing US conservatives refuse to accept - 04/05/2011 05:34:09 PM 372 Views
well since it is being used to promote what the liberals wanted it can't be surprising - 06/05/2011 04:47:41 PM 287 Views
We're not embracing it - 06/05/2011 04:52:30 PM 298 Views
Big business, and Big Oil in particular. - 07/05/2011 03:15:00 AM 382 Views
Climate Change? Yes - 04/05/2011 02:48:08 PM 442 Views
Part of the problem is the scientist decided to play priest - 04/05/2011 05:20:31 PM 391 Views
"Science" never said we were slipping into an ice age. - 07/05/2011 03:18:35 AM 270 Views
I do - 06/05/2011 12:39:08 PM 331 Views

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