An Inconvenient Truth

[kcoursolle]

I''m not going to get into the movie too much or politics either, but I think the main point gore was trying to make is that we should live more careful and thoughtful lives. How to live a thoughtful life is up for debate and personal preference. Everyone has something they care about, and I think that we could all make a small difference in the positive direction whether that''s helping people, animals, or this planet. Cudos to those who have mentioned that they are already making efforts!!

My contribution is to not drive a car for 5 years of my life. I live in LA, and if I can do it many can. So far, I have lasted 9 months without getting behind the wheel. Yes, it''s inconveinient, but to me it''s a win win. I save thousands of dollars each year by not driving and this is a definitely a perk. This money adds up so fast, think of car cost, depreciation, gasoline, insurance, parking, car repairs, etc. Think of all of the diamond $ that is generating LOL!!!
More importantly, I''m making a contribution by lowering CO2 emissions which in my personal humble opinion is important. Lastly, for those who think there are more important things to worry about I am helping animals and humans as well. Gasoline is related to animal deaths (oil spills, habitats taken over). Oil is also related to human deaths as well due to political conflict, oil accidents, etc. While oil is also a miracle for many reasons (some countries benefit greatly due to the sale of oil, and all of the machines that help our lives that run on oil), to me it is still a contribution to limit my consumption.

I would urge others to live thoughtfully in whatever ways they see fit. This might be increasingly recycling, volunteering at shelters, donating $ to charity...whatever that might be. Perhaps I am wrong, but living a thoughtful life on this planet is what I took from gore''s movie.

 

[portoar]

WOW. 9 months so far in LA without a car? I''m impressed. The auto barons of LA would be turning over in their graves if they knew about you.

 

[partgypsy]

I''m glad that people feel comfortable about expressing their views, but yes, pink flamingo, what exactly did you mean by saying "it''s a hoax?" global warming, the movie, the urgency of global warming?

I would have to disagree with you about both the existence of global warming and it''s urgency. I was going to answer with a flip response of, ask the coral reefs, or the polar bears whether global warming is a problem...
The problem with global warming is not that half a degree difference in the next 10 years will impact us so dramatically, but that slowing or reversing the problem should have begun like, yesterday, because even when corrective action is taken it will take awhile for us to see the effect of it. Not arguing for addressing global warming is akin for waiting till you are 100 feet from shore before turning around an oil tanker, you just can''t wait till it becomes an emergency because then it is too late.
The more information that has been obtained (air, water, ice core samples) going farther back in time has only increased the certainty that the warming of the earth is an abnormal signal.
To me the scariest thing about global warming is that it could shut down the ocean currents (and there is indication that these currents are already weakening) which could plunge us into another ice age. All indications show that a shift from warming to an ice age could happen in a matter of decades (i.e. our lifetime). Last ice age the human population was a fraction it is now. It is hard to contemplate what effect an ice age would do with the current human population.
My last point is that there is limitations on what individuals can do to mitigate the effects of global warming. There needs to be national initiative on this matter.

 

[fire&ice]

I don''t think ANYONE is disputing the fact that we should conserve, recycle, etc - our resources. Should Global Warming be the reason? No - it''s just called being responsible and a practical approach.

But, PF has an opinion many scientists share - and was rather jumped on for it.

Me, I find it hard to imagine that one can predict what the weather will be like in 50 years. With all the technology/radar, etc we have now, the weathermen are 50% right with what is going to happen tomorrow. 50 years from now - I don''t think so.

But, if raising the issue of urgency to conserve, recycle, etc means being chicken little about global warming - I''m all for that.

Our natural resources are not limitless. I had a conversation yesterday with a friend - we contemplated - who thunk up encasing meat in a tube (sausages)? It goes back to a better time when we got the best use of ALL of the meat. In other words, no waste. I don''t think people have that mentality anymore. It takes more thought than our cool whip brains are able to process. And, at some point, we are all guilty of it.

JMHO - just don''t get me started on plastics.

One disposable diaper will not degrade in our lifetime.

I do want to see the movie; but, I will wait until it comes out DVD.

 

[BigToque]

Nobody can debate that the world is heating up. It''s not a hoax and it''s not misrepresented data, it''s happening.

Two things that I take from the movie:

1. Most of the data presented seems quite accurate, but only deals with time periods of less than 100 years. This is simply not a long enough period of time to make any reliable predictions about what is actually going on. That said, it''s a great place to start to give us things to look at and what to monitor.

2. I found the data from the ice cores to be extremely interesting. Going back 650,000 years you can clearly see cycles of warming and cooling and how the level of CO2 fit almost perfectly with the earths temperature. In the last 50 years, C02 emmissions have increased exponentially with our increasing level of consumption. This is the biggest piece of data that people use to say that WE (humans) are responsible for the increase in the earths temperature. To this I say once again, the huge increase in C02 has only taken place over an extremely small time period. It would be wrong and irresponsible to just assume that this is the cause of our planets warming. There are a multitude of factors that are completely out of our control that may be responsible for most of the warming, and we shouldn''t rule them out.

All of that aside, the one thing we can control is our own emmissions. Whether we have a small or large effect on our planet''s overall well-being, we should still be responsible with what we do. That way, if our world heats up too much and we all die, at least we go with a clear conscience :p

 

[FireGoddess]

Date: 7/13/2006 1:25:24 PM
Author: BigToque

All of that aside, the one thing we can control is our own emmissions. Whether we have a small or large effect on our planet''s overall well-being, we should still be responsible with what we do. That way, if our world heats up too much and we all die, at least we go with a clear conscience :p

True dat.