Why do you think Global Warming is being ignored?

[Wondering]

Hi everyone! This is my first time on this site, and I was just wondering what you're thoughts are on Global Warming and why you think people (including politicians) may be ignoring this global issue. What is the reason for overlooking this? Is it fear? (That is if you think people ARE ignoring it). Do you think Global Warming, Climate Change, and Natural Disasters deserve more attention?

[jkellmd]

a. Pressure from big business to keep costs low, and to keep energy profits high.
b. Cost of alternative energies, which are not researched due to (a).
c. Greed of the average human who feels the need to drive alone to work, and have his precious family ride ten feet of the road in a tank. In this way, the greedy and least thoughtful live the longest, creating yet another negative selection force on the species.
d. Laziness.
e. Fear of admitting that the government has been wrong about global warming for at least the last fifteen years. Do they share science advisors with Phillip Morris?
f. So we can grow pineapples in Alaska (from King of the Hill).

[Racoon]

Originally Posted by jkellmd

a. Pressure from big business to keep costs low, and to keep energy profits high.
b. Cost of alternative energies, which are not researched due to (a).
c. Greed of the average human who feels the need to drive alone to work, and have his precious family ride ten feet of the road in a tank. In this way, the greedy and least thoughtful live the longest, creating yet another negative selection force on the species.
d. Laziness.
e. Fear of admitting that the government has been wrong about global warming for at least the last fifteen years. Do they share science advisors with Phillip Morris?
f. So we can grow pineapples in Alaska (from King of the Hill).

Nice Post JKMD..
But he/she double posted this earlier on as a bi-product of sometimes glitches..
theres another Copy of this thread with previous responses. from today.
You're in good company and you're post is Duly Noted!

Maybe we can start new from here....

A through F. ?

[Wondering]

Originally Posted by jkellmd

a. Pressure from big business to keep costs low, and to keep energy profits high.
b. Cost of alternative energies, which are not researched due to (a).
c. Greed of the average human who feels the need to drive alone to work, and have his precious family ride ten feet of the road in a tank. In this way, the greedy and least thoughtful live the longest, creating yet another negative selection force on the species.
d. Laziness.
e. Fear of admitting that the government has been wrong about global warming for at least the last fifteen years. Do they share science advisors with Phillip Morris?
f. So we can grow pineapples in Alaska (from King of the Hill).

Thank you very much for your reply! Its nice to see someone who agrees with me. I was worried for a while that my idea was a bad one. (im doing research for my first research paper for college)

By the way.. sorry for posting this message twice.. I didn't know about the search engine and all that.

[McGyver]

Originally Posted by jkellmd

a. Pressure from big business to keep costs low, and to keep energy profits high.
b. Cost of alternative energies, which are not researched due to (a).
c. Greed of the average human who feels the need to drive alone to work, and have his precious family ride ten feet of the road in a tank. In this way, the greedy and least thoughtful live the longest, creating yet another negative selection force on the species.
d. Laziness.
e. Fear of admitting that the government has been wrong about global warming for at least the last fifteen years. Do they share science advisors with Phillip Morris?
f. So we can grow pineapples in Alaska (from King of the Hill).

JKELLMD is correct in his/her noting of the above. But we have finally observed a "concensus" by all the leading nations that global warming is REAL.

The frustration is apparent upon examination of the slow pace of R&D into these new technologies, but I am encouraged. Clearly, the higher costs of crude and instability in the Middle East, have served to accelerate prospects. More recently, 60 Minutes (Feb. 26, 2006) aired a segment on the Montanna governor plans to do open mining of "coal fields" that would produce high grade diesel fuel - w/ the main downside of increased CO2 from this newer production method. Similarly, there have been numerous programs on vegetable oil mix in diesel fuel. I think this is the most clever! It takes used cooking oils from McDonalds and numerous restaurants and burns it with much less exhause pollutants, and solves the disposal ISSUE of used cooking oils! Yes, we've got a ways to go. But we have reason for encouragement. though not matter what steps we take - the Earth's warming would still continue as a result of the now-dimished ozone protective layer.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by McGyver

More recently, 60 Minutes (Feb. 26, 2006) aired a segment on the Montanna governor plans to do open mining of "coal fields" that would produce high grade diesel fuel - w/ the main downside of increased CO2 from this newer production method. Similarly, there have been numerous programs on vegetable oil mix in diesel fuel.

___I saw the 60 minutes piece; I understood them to say that while the burning of this coal derived diesel fuel produces less CO2, the process of making it produces more than petroleum derived diesel. They plan to ameleorate this by capturing the CO2 & selling it to oil companies to use in pressurizing oil wells.
___The vegetable oil can't be used straight from the fryer, but first must undergo a chemical treatment to remove the glycerin (I think its glycerin ) so it doesn't foul the engines. I don't know what they do with the glycerin and/or the chemical used to separate it.
____All in all it sounds like methane is as big a concern as carbon dioxide in terms of greenhouse gases. Clearly global warming is not ignored & in fact seems a rather popular topic of contention.

[jkellmd]

Really, the free market should take care of it, rather belatedly, unfortunately. People eventually will start voting with what counts, their money. More hybrid vehicles are being sold, and more are being designed. I just about wet my pants over an image Tormod posted to the gallery a few months ago regarding the air car.

In the seventies, improved gas milage was the prime reason Americans switched to Japanese imports, and their sales skyrocketed. When consumers start prioritizing the issue again, the industry will be forced to respond. The technology is already there, automakers just have to divorce their interests from those of the oil conglomerates - if they don't, they won't have enough sales to survive.

I worry more about home heating. What are we going to do with our furnaces over the next twenty years?

[InfiniteNow]

I'm so confused... just when I thought I've caught up with this thread, it's doppleganger pops back up!! It's gonna rip a hole in the spacetime continuum or something!!!

[iamnoman]

This may simply be sheer conjecture, or maybe just my own opinion since I do not have any scientific data to back it up, only personal observation. I don't think that global warming (aka "climate change") is being ignored. It is currently one of the hottest issues (no pun intended) around. A lot of the slow progress seems to stem from our own comfort zones. In first world countries we have become accustomed to a very comfortable lifestyle, which has been made affordable to us through the industrial revolution. Although we do not hold ourselves personally responsible for the creation of greenhouse gases, as consumers we have blindly fed the "terrible corporate monsters" who just won't stop polluting. I know that I myself couldn't bear to go one day without packing 4 children into my SUV and making that trip to the local discount store where we will purchase all of the wonderful items that are manufactured in China and packaged neatly into individual plastic and cardboard wrappers. Once back at home, the children will file off into their own rooms and turn on their televisions, xboxes, PCs, and Nintendos. I will sit down to watch a terrifying documentary on cable television that tells me how Greenland and Antarctica are going to thaw out within the next 10 to 100 years.
I don't mean to sound so sarcastic. It is simply an observation of my own lifestyle. The amount of energy consumed by the typical American household is ridiculous. The amount of waste created is even worse. I personally would love to switch over to renewable sources of energy such as solar or wind, but when I research the products that are available I find that in order to make any kind of impact, I have to shell out at least $50,000. After you add that to my 1st and 2nd mortgage, I think I'll just have to continue paying the big guys for gas and electric.
Once again, I really do not mean to sound sarcastic. It is simply a realistic point of view. You also have to consider that the majority of Americans who are not in the upper echelons of big business CEOs and Lawmakers, have to work for them to make ends meet. It is a vicious cycle. There is no magic bullet. Only slow progress. I can only hope that our governments can bring about some change by offering Tax incentives or renewable energy assistance programs for individuals in the residential sector as well as in the commercial. I am not aware of anything aside from a tax credit so far. As far as going "green" goes for myself and my family, I'll keep my lawn up, tell the kids to turn off their lights and televisions when they are not in use, maybe even plant a few more plants and trees around the house, but I won't be purchasing any equipment for renewable energy this year.

[iamnoman]

This may simply be sheer conjecture, or maybe just my own opinion since I do not have any scientific data to back it up, only personal observation. I don't think that global warming (aka "climate change") is being ignored. It is currently one of the hottest issues (no pun intended) around. A lot of the slow progress seems to stem from our own comfort zones. In first world countries we have become accustomed to a very comfortable lifestyle, which has been made affordable to us through the industrial revolution. Although we do not hold ourselves personally responsible for the creation of greenhouse gases, as consumers we have blindly fed the "terrible corporate monsters" who just won't stop polluting. I know that I myself couldn't bear to go one day without packing 4 children into my SUV and making that trip to the local discount store where we will purchase all of the wonderful items that are manufactured in China and packaged neatly into individual plastic and cardboard wrappers. Once back at home, the children will file off into their own rooms and turn on their televisions, xboxes, PCs, and Nintendos. I will sit down to watch a terrifying documentary on cable television that tells me how Greenland and Antarctica are going to thaw out within the next 10 to 100 years.
I don't mean to sound so sarcastic. It is simply an observation of my own lifestyle. The amount of energy consumed by the typical American household is ridiculous. The amount of waste created is even worse. I personally would love to switch over to renewable sources of energy such as solar or wind, but when I research the products that are available I find that in order to make any kind of impact, I have to shell out at least $50,000. After you add that to my 1st and 2nd mortgage, I think I'll just have to continue paying the big guys for gas and electric.
Once again, I really do not mean to sound sarcastic. It is simply a realistic point of view. You also have to consider that the majority of Americans who are not in the upper echelons of big business CEOs and Lawmakers, have to work for them to make ends meet. It is a vicious cycle. There is no magic bullet. Only slow progress. I can only hope that our governments can bring about some change by offering Tax incentives or renewable energy assistance programs for individuals in the residential sector as well as in the commercial. I am not aware of anything aside from a tax credit so far. As far as going "green" goes for myself and my family, I'll keep my lawn up, tell the kids to turn off their lights and televisions when they are not in use, maybe even plant a few more plants and trees around the house, but I won't be purchasing any equipment for renewable energy this year.