There is a part in Mr. Gore's documentary that hits home every time I hear it. He says that the hottest year so far, in respect only to the global temperature, was in 2005. In 2005 a horrible devastation happened that crippled one of our most famous cities... New Orleans; and I was in the middle of it. As Katrina's winds died we were left with the evidence of what global warning can and is already doing. As a future politician and activist for a healthier and happier world, one of my biggest platforms will be energy conservation and energy independence. As a world we have the ability to better ourselves, we have the ability to conserve our resources; we have the ability to fight any environmental changes that cause global warming. Our children are counting on us; their kids are counting on us. So thank you Mr. Gore, I admire you beyond belief!

Many millennia ago, the earth was plunged into an ice age. Then, the ice melted. This was a global warming. And it was a biggie! Oceans rose, ice caps melted, I wouldn’t be surprised if a polar bear or two drowned.

Now I’m a fairly young man so I wasn’t there. You probably weren’t either. I don’t know what caused this monumental global warming. I DO know it wasn’t industrial waste and automobile emissions. We wouldn't see those until the 20th century.

Mr. Peterman is right that we don’t know what’s going on with Planet Earth. But we can pretty easily deduce what isn’t.

I agree with you Expat ~

"I think it's in our best interest to build "green", clean up the environment, preserve animal and plant life because it's the correct thing to do. We should be good stewards of the natural world. That's neither left nor right. It's not even middle of the road centrist. It just makes sense"

I also believe that in Eden "Man" was created to be the stewards of the animal world. also if you look at other world's religions the theme seems to be in all of them.

I do not particularly believe in Global Warming & I don't think anyone will ever make me believe that a Hurricane had happened by in the south becuase of it.

As Expat worries about Earthquakes & Fires I herein the midwest worry about Snowstorms & Tornados. Always have Always will ~ it part of the weather patterns that happen in this region. As hurricanes happen along the coast.

To: rings90,

Thanks. I'm glad to see I'm not the lone voice crying in the wilderness. A tornado seems to be more terrifying then an earthquake. We have building codes to help offset the earthquake's fury. We can retrofit an old building to survive, too.

Do you have tornado codes in the Midwest? The devastation I see on TV from a tornado is quite simply "devastating". How do you cope?

Thanks to everyone for their comments. It's a good, and timely, conversation to have in this election year.

ExPat

I believe as the article said, the truth probably falls somewhere in the middle. I do know enough about science to understand that some of the changes we're seeing are certainly man-made, and I believe the science is there to prove that. Even some of the harder disbelievers a few years back now accept this premise. I remember as a child in the sixties, being taught in elementary school that if the earth warmed just a few degrees, the sea levels would rise, and what the consequences of that would be. Those weren't liberals filling out heads with lies. They were teaching us science which was already known 40 years ago.

So the question becomes, what do you do about it? It took decades to get this far, and even if we slam on the brakes now, it would take decades to stop the process. Even now, cities along the eastern seaboard are developing plans to keep from being inundated by rising sea levels, something that is pretty much a certainty. It's no longer a question of if, but rather when. To save something like lower Manhattan for instance, may very well be one of the largest public works program in this country's history. Doing this for every city which is threatened will be a financial impossibility. And keep in mind, rising sea levels is only one aspect of global warming. Even using the more reasonable projections of the next 35-75 years, things ain't pretty over much of the country.

I don't think anyone with half a brain has said Katrina was caused by global warming. What we face isn't on the scale of ice ages or any of that. That argument is just a straw man. What we face is an incremental rise, the frog in a pan of boiling water if you will. Which is why even small changes here can make a difference. An average temperature rise of just a few degrees can mean crossing the tipping point. And if people put their minds to it, they can prevent that, just as easily as they can cause it.

I've listened to conservative commentators and politicians tell us that if we elect liberal politicians, the economy is heading south, only to watch it take off the opposite direction. I've heard conservative scientists and politicians tell me that smoking isn't addictive, that these chemicals used on our food are safe, that the change in temperatures is only a year or two blip, and seen them proven wrong time and time again. When a group of people are consistently wrong, I lose faith in their ability to give me the straight poop.

Granted, liberals are just as often wrong, but their mistakes usually just affect my pocketbook. I'd rather see error on the side of being safe, rather than continue down a path which a majority of scientists now say could lead to catastrophic results. Clean technology exists, and implementing that technology can give a lift to the economy, rather than a dent. Coming from the midwest, I've already seen that in the power industry, when they've been forced to clean up their plants. The power companies might take a financial hit, but the smaller companies providing these services spring up, providing jobs. That's not such a bad thing, is it?

T

I, too, vote with ExPat. Something that Gore never mentions is that the Max Planck (sp?) Institute in Germany announced a couple of years ago that the ice caps on Mars were melting... Is that our fault too? Have our Rovers caused the pollution that has led to an irreversible warming of that planet as well? In the Christian world, we decree, "...now and ever more shall be, world without end." We would like to have the comfortable belief that all is perfect now and will never change but alas, things DO change. The world has demonstrated time and again that it does indeed go through geological and climatic change. MAYBE this is one such period of change. We as a species have adapted to the world conditions as we now have them, but so had the dinosaurs... and ask them about what climate change can do to their environment. We definitely should do all we can to prevent our facilitating the speed of this change, but maybe we should also put some thought into just how we can adapt to the different conditions we could very well face in the future. Life does not remain static. Life is a process. One constant in our world is that there is change. Perhaps we should be putting just as much time into how to cope with that ongoing change as we are into how to prevent it. Maybe New Orleans should put as much thought into just where their city is located vs. the possible rise in sea level, as they are into rebuilding. And speaking of a rising sea level, what about NYC? Do they have their heads in the sand? Just a thought.

As to earthquakes, we are in KY and our kids are in the LA area. We have always been concerned about them dealing with earthquakes out there but after last week, maybe we should also retro-fit our place...! As to tornadoes, yes, the devastation is horrible but we don't have the wide-spread devastation that an earthquake can cause. However, I am sure you saw over and over again last week the pix of the "damage" here in Louisville from the earthquake. Well, that was one very small heap of debris from the fall of the facade from one very old building. Period. The pix had to have been taken quickly as it was very soon cleared away.

Well just to set the context of my opinion, I am not, nor do I claim to be, smart enough to know the answer to the many questions about global warning.

I do know ("I may be wrong but never in doubt") that regardless of which side of the scientific, ergo. the political spectrum one may find themselves to be, anything that can be done to protect the gifts of our planet, preserve it's limited resources, and improve the quality of all manner of life has to be a good thing in the end. As we used to say in my old South-Side Chicago neighborhood, "you pays me now or you pays me later".

I also do know that I am both saddened and disgusted that this has been reduced to yet another self-serving political issue that only serves to camouflage the facts even further.

It's always difficult, but not impossible, to get past the short-term problems with effective long-term solutions. SSDD just won't cut it for too much longer.

John

I definitely believe in global warming. The ice fishing in winter in Wisconsin has gotten worse and worse over the years. Each year, fall is warmer and warmer. In the 60's and 70's, there was usually snow, or at least freezing temperatures around Thanksgiving. Now, it is not uncommon to be out on the rider lawn mower in a t-shirt in late November. The fall and winter temperatures have gotten warmer each year, and there have been fewer and fewer "safe" days to be out on the ice in January and February. That, my friends, is global warming.

It seems to me that there is very little to lose by assuming that global warming is real and is taking place, but plenty to lose by assuming that it isn't. Everything that environmental pundits suggest as ways to stop global warming also benefits the planet and its people (us!) in positive ways.

- Curtailing fossil fuel usage also improves our landscape (by limiting development), our water, and our air (by reducing pollution). Those factors also improve public health and reduce the amount of money we spend on health care.

- Improvements in local transit options makes our cities more livable and less congested.

- Increasing our adherence to the "reduce, reuse, recycle" mantra produces less trash and keeps our cities cleaner, which is beneficial both to the eye and to our health.

These are some simple examples, but suffice to say I see no harm in improving the way we exist on our planet, even if the science turns out to be wrong about global warming. The actions we take against that threat will spill over beneficially elsewhere.

Let's agree there's at least an even chance human activity is causing global temperatures to rise. So what's the downside of addressing it? Worst case, we'll have dramatically reduced consumption of polluting, exported fuels while the Earth remains about the same temperature overall.

And frankly, there isn't that much scientific debate anymore. There's overwhelming evidence that human activity is causing global warming. The stray bits of evidence to the contrary -- loudly trumpeted by those who simply dislike Gore and other progressives or have a vested stake in preserving the destructive status quo -- merely show how difficult it is to fully evaluate a system as complex as our planet.

When I was in grade school in the 70's, I remember learning about the "new ice age" in my Weekly Reader. It's like deja vu now when I look in my kids' backpacks and see their generation's version of Time for Kids that they get in school. The only differences are that now it's all about global warming, and like everything else in their world, it has become "extreme", complete with ways that they can help to "save the planet" or stop "killing the rainforests".

I agree whole-heartedly with Expat. We definitely should be good stewards of the environment. This planet is a gift. On a personal level, I try not to waste, and I try to recycle as much as I can. I think this country, through technology, has come a long way towards reducing pollution.

When people say "even if global warming is not caused by human activity, what's the downside of assuming that it is?" Well I think we are beginning to see a downside of making hasty policy decisions based on a perceived global warming "crisis". Look how our politicians, in a frenzy to show their environmental concern, jumped all over biofuels. I don't think they thought that one through! Did anyone take a minute to think what would happen to the price of food when all of the sudden a large pecentage of our corn would be used for ethanol instead of food?

Can we all take a collective deep breath, cut the hyperbole, and stop the self-loathing. Whether driven by global warming fears or cost considerations, our energy problems will eventually be solved by technological advances, not by all of us resorting to using candles and living in huts.

To John:
Amen.
La Donna