is it worth the risk...

@jb78000 (15139)
December 5, 2009 1:39pm CST
becausre of a political agendeda? yep - this is is global warming, and since the worlds scientists tend to agree it is caused by us then i have to wonder at the handful of americans that get so angrry because cutting down on emissions might be awkward. the world is a mess, i do not want the next generatation to have a worse mess becsause of some rather silly konspiracy theory. what about you?
5 people like this
12 responses
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
6 Dec 09
I believe that their is a such thing as climate change but, I have a theory LOL I think that as the polar ice melts it cools the sea water bringing cooler temps for the inland. As many educated people know the water temperature affects the weather, it's just conservative Americans don't believe in that sort of thing. I guess it's probably a religious thing?
2 people like this
@jb78000 (15139)
21 Dec 09
hi zeph, well that is a new one. perhaps there may be cooler temperatures for a while with this. what will bring cooler temperatures over here is when/(well hopefully if)the gulf stream cuts off.
@celticeagle (159058)
• Boise, Idaho
5 Dec 09
I think Americans are spoiled. They have nice cars, cell phones and Ipods and all the little gadgets. Why should they have to do without them? And alot of young people today aren't having families so why should they have to give up anything? I am just playing the devil's advocate here. I think we could all do alittle refining of our own and give up something. And what about the well payed executives and legistlators? Do you really believe that they are going to give up anything? I don't think so.
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
7 Dec 09
Yep, I fully admit that we are spoiled. I will also tell you that if it's my dime, I have the right to spend it how I wish. I am really sick and tired of people b*tching and whining and moaning and groaning about me driving my economical car (not a hummer, not a suburban, and not a van) a mile to the store or idling in a parking lot because I don't want my daughter to roast when it's 110 degrees outside. I'm not even saying people specifically get on ME about it, but I don't like the ATTITUDE. If someone else wants to walk everywhere and not run the air and not use their cell phone and laptop and ipod, more power to them. They sure as heck are not going to tell me I shouldn't, berate or harrass me, or attempt to make it HARDER for me to do what I'm going to do anyway. Yes, I sure do get riled up about stuff like this. I don't tell people not to be environmentally conscious and not spend any money if that's how they want to live, but I won't be forced to live like they do.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (159058)
• Boise, Idaho
7 Dec 09
America is the land of the free, and, you have just proven my point. I was playing the devil's advocate.
@jb78000 (15139)
21 Dec 09
there's a balance between doing whatever you want and being responsible, and i'll agree that it is an individual decision.
1 person likes this
@bird123 (10632)
• United States
8 Dec 09
There is the technology today to get off fossil fuels and end pollution. The problem is that all some can see is the money things cost now.Narrow vision abounds throughout the land. We might save money initially using fossil fuel but add to that the medical costs along with the pain and suffering then going green sounds like a much better deal. Few things worth while come easy.We all need to look at other solutions rather than always taking the easy way our. The day you get cancer as a result of the pollution is the day you will know which is the right choice. LET'S ALL INSIST ON GREEN!!!IF WE CREATE ENOUGH DRAMA, THEY HAVE TO LISTEN!!!!!!
1 person likes this
• United States
9 Dec 09
We have the technology - they have the money. Either they (Big oil) will drown out the competition, much like lumbering and textile industries made a villain of industrial hemp, or, big oil will disappear the competition. Diesel created a clean burning fuel, and went missing, as did the creator of the original electric car. But, yes, we have to keep at it, go green however you can, and quiet down those who go around posting that global warming is a hoax.
@jb78000 (15139)
21 Dec 09
problem is they are so noisy and repeat rather spurious arguments so often that the easily influenced begin to believe them.
@Louc74 (620)
5 Dec 09
I think it's due to a sense of entitlement, Jb. Basically some people think "why should I? It isn't my problem", they seem to see it as doing something for others, instead of realising that it's going to affect future generations of their own family as well. I actually don't think "tree huggers" are doing us any favours either. People see this as another one of their crusades, and feel able to dismiss claims of global warming as such. People, also, speak about saving the world, but the thing is, the earth will survive and recover, after it's become uninhabitable by humans. The earth isn't going to die - we are.
1 person likes this
@jb78000 (15139)
21 Dec 09
well i am not a tree hugger - trees don't appreciate it. and while i might admire some of the things environmental groups do i am not going to get information on scientific issues from the greenpeace website (new scientist is slightly more reliable...)
• Romania
6 Dec 09
i think that if we could we shold prevent any posible threth to our existents you dont whant your children to live in a hell of a world :|
1 person likes this
@jb78000 (15139)
21 Dec 09
would be intergenerational theft if we were responsible for that
• United States
6 Dec 09
everyone should do their part to fix it. we all live here its our responsibility and we get affected just as mcuh as the people after us
1 person likes this
@jb78000 (15139)
21 Dec 09
which is responsable
@pergammano (7682)
• Canada
7 Dec 09
Very timely discussion..as today, 192 countries are meeting in Copenhagen, and my only comment is; HUH....can they NOT have this summit thru the internet? Create Global warming to "conference" on Global warming...shows the mentality of those who'se hands we have allowed to pretend to care! Cheers!
@jb78000 (15139)
21 Dec 09
i agree about all the flights involved with the summit (now over, and was a flop)
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
5 Dec 09
hi blue bunny yes a lot of Americans are so car crazy they will drive two blocks to get a cup of coffee, rather than walking that distance and maybe even using up a few calories, then they gripe because they cannot lose weight. If all car owners would just walk that two to six blocks instead of driving all the time it would cut down a lot on emissions. so much could be done easily if enough people really wanted to do it. And what about these humongous SUVs that are gas guzzlers and seldom do you see but one or two people in them,why not drive more energy efficient cars and not try to keep up or surpass the JOnes so to speak. there is a lot we could do but will we ever do it?
1 person likes this
@jb78000 (15139)
21 Dec 09
that is pretty excessive. and in certain locations it might be necessary to have a 4by4 but the middle of a city is not one of them - they are a wasteful status symbol and that is all.
• Australia
6 Dec 09
Not just the Americans. Our Conservative party was led by a climate-change supporter who laboriously forced his party into agreeing to support an amended ETS scheme, until the clkimate-change skeptics in his party this week forced a leadership spill and replaced him with a Bible-bashing free market fundamentalist who is virulently anti climate-change theory. The result will almost certainly be an election when they block the Government's ETS legislation, and it may be the best thing that ever happened in Australian polit6ics, as it is likely the Conservatives will be decimated in any such election. Just for the record, I myself am against the ETS scheme, but not because I don't believe in climate change, but because I see ETS schemes as faulty solutions. Lash
@jb78000 (15139)
21 Dec 09
faulty but better than nothing or not?
@benny128 (3615)
5 Dec 09
I have a bit of a problem with all this global warming yes it is happenning but each and every one of us is guilty of causing pollution no-one lives a carbon neutral life though lots claim too. Most of us have laptops or mobile phones most of us watch tv etc etc or drive a car. If we are all serious about global warming we need to get rid of all our luxuries mobile phones laptops etc etc and maybe then the goverments will actually follow the lead we set. The goverments are only supplying the demand which is where the emissions come from if there is no demand then goverments will need to change. People power, so lets all start doing it as I want my kids to have a world to grow up in, but sadly not many of us are willing to loose the luxuries of our lives.
1 person likes this
@jb78000 (15139)
5 Dec 09
i cut down on my consumtion a long time ago - more because of pollution then to be honest. what i find scary is americans and others using their 4by4s because they think the hmuman effect om climate is a myth. it is not guys. amd if it were please do not ruin the world for the next lot through paranioa
3 people like this
@thea09 (18305)
• Greece
5 Dec 09
I'd say because the handful don't appreciate any suggestions from outside their own country. Here we're going to be forced by taxes to cut down, and as a country can't afford the general waste of things like electric which other countries can get away with. I'm not on any side of science on this one, but it only takes a look around to see that climate change is not a myth. I do remember the furor at the thought of billions of Chinese being allowed to get fridges but its okay for everyone else to have them. At the very least you only have to see the muck they have to breathe in in over polluted cities to not want it get any worse. What I do object to is small countries like ours having to pay a financial price whilst other countries give no thought to drive their gas guzzling 4x4's on terrain they weren't intended for, like the school run.
1 person likes this
@jb78000 (15139)
21 Dec 09
not fair is it?
@wlee9696 (595)
• United States
5 Dec 09
I am not sure what the discussion is about rabbit. Are you agreeing that we have global warming or that we don't have it? I think global warming exist but not to the extent that has been represented. I think it's a matter of concerned people going overboard to prove their point.
@jb78000 (15139)
21 Dec 09
not necessarily, see my comment to lou above. i'll agree that certain groups may be prone to exaggeration but it is not hard to find more objective sources and if anything the problem is looking to be greater than at first thought.