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[wombat]

My boss doesn't believe either of those. There are many times when someone says they will never come back and spend money again and she couldn't be more pleased. It's a big part of why I am still there despite wondering whether those two afternoons a week wouldn't be better spent looking for writing work. And another part is how much I learn about how bizarre people can be.

[pmcd9]

How true or false is this?

CARBON TRADING.....WHAT CARBON TRADING?

Professor Ian Plimer could not have said it better! If you've read his book you will agree, this is a good summary.

Are you sitting down?

Okay.  The volcanic eruption in Iceland, since its first spewing of volcanic ash has, in just FOUR DAYS, NEGATED EVERY SINGLE EFFORT you have made in the past five years to control CO2 emissions on our planet, all of you.

Of course you know about this evil carbon dioxide that we are trying to suppress, that vital chemical compound that every plant requires to live and grow, and to synthesize into oxygen for us humans, and all animal life.

I know, it's very disheartening to realize that all of the carbon emission savings you have accomplished while suffering the inconvenience and expense of: driving Prius hybrids, buying fabric grocery bags, sitting up till midnight to finish your kid's "The Green Revolution" science project, throwing out all of your non-green cleaning supplies, using only two squares of toilet paper, putting a brick in your toilet tank reservoir, selling your SUV and speedboat, vacationing at home instead of abroad, nearly getting hit every day on your bicycle, replacing all of your 50 cents light bulbs with $10.00 light bulbs...well, all of those things you have done have all gone down the drain in just four days.

The volcanic ash emitted into the Earth's atmosphere in - yes - FOUR DAYS ONLY by that volcano in Iceland, has totally erased every single effort you have made to reduce the evil beast, -- CARBON.  And there are around 200 active volcanoes on the planet spewing out this crud, I mean carbon, any one time - EVERY DAY.

I don't really want to overload you with too much reality, but when the volcano Mt Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines in 1991, it spewed out more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the entire human race had emitted in its entire YEARS on earth.  Yes folks, Mt Pinatubo was active for over one year.

Of course I shouldn't spoil this touchy-feely tree-hugging moment and mention the effect of solar and cosmic activity and the well-recognized 800-year global heating and cooling cycle, which keep happening, despite our efforts to affect climate change.

And I do wish I had a silver lining to this volcanic ash cloud but the bush fire season across the western USA and Australia this year alone will negate your efforts to reduce carbon in our world for the next two to three years.  And these bush fires happens every year, and been with us since dinosaur days. It is part of nature to get rid of dying old vegetation to enable the re-generation of new growth.
In parts of the world, government has imposed, and other governments are talking about imposing, a whopping carbon tax on you on the basis of ''human-caused'' climate change scenario.

Isn't it interesting how they don't mention ''Global Warming'' any more, but just ''Climate Change'' - you know why?  It's because the planet has COOLED by 0.7 degrees in the past century and these global warming scientists got caught with their ##### down.

And just keep in mind that you might yet have an Emissions Trading Scheme (that whopping new tax) imposed on you, that will achieve absolutely nothing except make you poorer.  It won't stop any volcanoes from erupting, that's for sure.

But hey, RELAX, we have survived and evolved since the dinosaurs extinctions and other world calamities. This global warming hysteria will soon pass to make way for new ones.

Give the world a hug and have a nice day!

PS: Hmmm, I wonder if Iceland is buying carbon offsets like Al Gore does? I'd like to sell them carbon credits to pay for the beer party I am planning to have on the weekend...

[theinevitable]

"beer party." This wasn't written by a human.

[Choop]

[Doc]

Choop has the right of it.

[theinevitable]

yeah, it has never been clear to me what people's theory is of WHY these scientists are inventing the idea of climate change.

[AugustWest]

yeah, it has never been clear to me what people's theory is of WHY these scientists are inventing the idea of climate change.

Why, it's the millions of dollars in research grant money that has corrupted these scientists.

Pay no attention to the trillions of dollars flowing to our transnational energy company overlords behind the curtain.

[greenkoolayd]

Energy industry note: There's a jillion dollars worth of clean/green energy projects sitting shelved. What do you think it will take to shake them into activity? Take a one-word guess, daddy-O's.

commercial viability

[AugustWest]

Ain't no side wearing the white hat in this deal, that's a known issue going in.

I ain't never seen anybody wearing a pure white hat anywhere, but I've damn sure seen some that are a lot blacker than others.

[AugustWest]

You're free to think that, but Joe Science ain't dropping 28 billion to bring a shale extracting plant on line in northern Alberta and looking at a thirty year ROI.

Yeah, but there's an ROI.  No R, no I. And you can rest assured that they will make sure there's a big fuckin' R by any means necessary. Also, Joe Science ain't got 28 billion to invest.   Joe Science, like virtually all the rest of us Joes, has nothing but his blood, sweat, toil and tears to invest.  People make this their life's work.  $28 billion is how many hours profit?

Implementation and development time, people. You can't have this in your lifetime, but your grand-kiddies ought to see some fruit from it.

The momentum is already there, many regional and international players have already spec'd out non-petro based projects. But this shit takes decades not years to implement. When we were discussing the Japan nuclear issue and someone linked to the China pebble-bed reactor design did anyone do a little follow up on when it began and where it is on the delivery spectrum now? That sucker has been in development for near a decade.

I'm not saying that the pressure for change in how we produce our energy needs should reduce. Much as in our personal life, their are benefits of economy in doing so to the point that it is worthwhile and necessary.

But engaging in the forced histrionics of climate change is no longer needed now that the initial inertia has been overcome. In fact, that pressure point setting an artificially early deadline is counterproductive, as it will only increase resistance to change from a practicality of implementation standpoint.

Short version: Fuck You climate, we'll do it anyways.

I don't really disagree with much you've said here, but it has nothing much to do with whether or not energy companies behave ethically.

[AugustWest]

The world don't run on ethics. Last I heard Ethics was 0 for several thousands of years.

Clearly then we should begin to rape and pillage.

You wanna get something done or do you want people (businesses, institutions, governments) to act the way you think they should? Because you can chivvy them into one of those while the other, well, we're still waiting...

'Course, it could be argued that the big mono-blocks you're hating on are acting ethically in pursuing the necessary means to protect and promote their leadership, employees and investors. Those are people too, right?

What is the difference, ethically, between a large business concern promoting the interests of it's active parties (people) and a public employees union? I don't see one.

So what you're suggesting is that every group's mission is equally acceptable and admirable?  What the difference between the Nazi party (Godwin'd!!!) and the Roman Catholic Church?  They're both promoting the interests of their active parties, aren't they?  And don't we have to consider the methods employed to promote those interests?

[AugustWest]

I don't care what a group's mission is particularly (in a personal sense I might, but not in a policy sense), since we have referees in place to blow the whistle on them and mark off the penalty yards when they step in it. Now, if you're unhappy with their influence on the referees and think the playing field is being tilted in their favour because of that...again, they represent the interest of how many millions of people?

How many millions more people's interests are they trampling on?

You can't argue that it's ok that the companies are amoral because we have referees to rein them in AND that it's ok that they choose and co-opt those very same refs.

[AugustWest]

The problem with this:

Energy company F isn't accountable to me but D-48th District sure as heck is.

Is this:

Now, if you're unhappy with their influence on the referees and think the playing field is being tilted in their favour because of that

[AugustWest]

Is there a difference between any entity promoting the interests of its members?  How many millions of people do you have to represent before it's OK to act amorally?  Is anything the Chinese government does automatically OK because they represent more people than anybody else?

[jaydub]

Near as I can tell, the Chinese government doesn't represent anyone other than their party cronies.  They're in power because they've held all the cards in their country since 1949, and you'll get disappeared, shot, or shipped to the boonies if you say otherwise.