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Obama is key to a better plan on climate change

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Published Date: 24 January 2009
By Dr Richard Dixon
THIS will be a make-or-break year for a new international deal on climate change. Against a background of global recession, the election of Barack Obama is one of the main reasons I have some hope the world's governments might do the right thing at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen at the end of the year and deliver on a promise to come up with a substantive emissions targets deal.
Although George W Bush's father signed up to the Kyoto targets, the United States never ratified them and US emissions have steadily risen through both Democrat and Republican administrations. But the US has been particularly obstructive for the eig...



The full article contains 762 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
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1

2dogs in D.C.,

24/01/2009 03:36:51
It was 32degress F in Titusville,Florida this morn. Here in D.C.,our high temps are what our lows usually are. Climate change (according to my old parka),doesn't seem in the upward direction to me. I guess that's climate change.
2

2dogs in D.C.,

24/01/2009 03:38:05
I nevr kud spel.
3

First Virginian,

USA 24/01/2009 04:28:34
Dear Dr Dixon,

We, the people of the United States, have no intention of placing our sovereignty in the hands of environmental-globalist fanatics such as yourself.

In fact, the greatest increases in emissions are the result of all the hot air and bombast from your busybody groups.

"The right thing" for you to do is to mind your own business and quite trying to play God. He knows what He's doing and you do not.

Kind regards,

Virginian
4

First Virginian,

USA 24/01/2009 04:45:07
#3-Correction-

Should read,"...and QUIT (not quite) trying to play God."
5

Unimpressed one,

24/01/2009 09:26:00
Should have known it. Tweedledee, aka McLaren of FoE gets a rant yesterday so Tweedledum gets the chance to peddle an even more fanciful pile of trip the next day. If the US adopts the EU attitude to 'climate change' by penalising its heavy industries and power producers, its economic recovery is doomed.

FFS, is there no real news about silly wee problems such as the recession to report on?
6

Yocal,

24/01/2009 09:31:02
Dear Virginian (comment 3),

Had you thought that you might be playing 'god' by not paying attention to the impact you are having on the environment around you?

'God' has never suggested that you have a right to do what you like with the environment, especially when it has an impact on your neighbours, even if those neighbours are on the other side of the world.

eg. i bet you wouldn't pump CO2 into your neighbours house and suffacate your neighbours would you?
So i would like to know how you can justify pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, when you know it would cause serious problems for the poor of the world, who have never met you?

Maybe you can tell me why 'God' gave you two legs?
Would it be because 'God' intended you to walk rather than drive a car?

Unfortunately your interpretation of the bible is clouded by decades of modern technology use and peer pressure.
7

Yocal,

24/01/2009 10:15:25
Following up to my first post I would like to pose this to Virginian (comment 3):

In the Christian religion it would be absolutely wrong to pump CO2 into a neighbours house as it would be unhealthy for his neighbours (potentially lethal).
You would have changed your neighbours home environment to a potentially lethal internal atmospheric cocktail.

If you pump CO2 from fossil fuels and other greenhouse gases into the earths atmosphere (a different system) then there may be serious consequences for many millions of people.
Is Virginian so confident that his/her interpretation of the scriptures is so rock solid that he/she can confidently do what they like without the risk of getting it wrong?

I don't believe it is. One of the key points about the Christian religion is that someone should be responsible for their actions. If you are not sure, then logically it makes sense to play safe, or claim ignorance.
Ignorance removes your opinion from the discussion and knowledge implies that you have a moral choice.

Virginian could say that the home incident is proven and we know people will become ill or even die for a lack of oxygen. But then that is only true due to Virginians 'knowledge' of the situation, he/she knows CO2 at very high levels would can be healthy. It is down to experience, observation and what Virginian has LEARNED, that he knows CO2 in a confined space would not be healthy.
He subsequently would make a moral choice. eg. knowledge allows Virginian to choose right or wrong.

Virginian can not say for sure that God will control the situation of the earths environment. The home with CO2 in it would be a part of Gods world in Virginians eyes yet the people in the home would suffer. On a larger scale the earth is a big globe and a confined space, whatever we do to the atmosphere will have consequences and from a Christian POV, Virginian doesn't actually know what those impacts are or what God will do.
8

Itchy,

24/01/2009 12:57:51
#6 "Had you thought that you might be playing 'god' by not paying attention to the impact you are having on the environment around you?"

No, he isn't playing God and 'Climate change' is simply recycled communism with the belief that the state can not merly control the economy but can control the global climate as well.
9

Yocal,

24/01/2009 13:46:45
Itchy said:

"No, he isn't playing God and 'Climate change' is simply recycled communism with the belief that the state can not merly control the economy but can control the global climate as well."



Yocal said:

Well firstly, you need to say why you believe Virginian is not playing god?

Secondly Climate Change is an environmental issue and has an impact on all politics. That is it doesn't matter if you are Communist, Capitalist or whatever, you have to fit in with what is environmentally sustainable.

The real issue is change whether you lean to the right, left, your political colour is blue or red etc.

Communism in fact has an incredibly poor record when it comes to the environment, with a record of producing horrendous levels of emissions and a complete lack of concern for people or their environment.

Unions in particular have double standards when it comes to the environment, with some unions both supporting a cut in GHGs and at the same time supporting industries that increase atmospheric GHGs.

So your idea that climate change some sort of commie conspiracy is an uneducated one.

The fact is all the old political ideologies are failing us and we need to look at new ideas.
10

nabodican,

Rural Scotland 24/01/2009 19:18:00
Climate change aka global warming scaremongers such as Yocal are making a huge and unsubstantiated assumption that co2 is the big bogeyman. He seems to forget that we are all emitting co2. It strikes me that he/she has fallen hook line and sinker for Al Gore's creation of a state of fear. Al Gore who makes lots of cash from his carbon trading company.
Anyone who thinks that they can do anything that will have the slightest effect on the climate are deluding themselves.
Despite 10 years or more of having the global warming swindle pushed down our throats and seeing massive hikes in our electricity prices we are having one of our coldest winters in many years. Germany reckons it is having its coldest winter in a hundred years, many parts of the sates are also suffering.
Climate getting warmer or cooler is perfectly natural as has been happening ever since the earth was created and always will do.
11

Slioch,

Scottish Highlands 24/01/2009 22:43:23
#10 nabodican

You have been talking nonsense about global warming for years nabodican, and continue to do so.
12

Dunnie,

Canada 25/01/2009 02:07:35

Yokel - study and apply the word brevity.
13

Yocal,

25/01/2009 11:03:37
nabodican said:

"He seems to forget that we are all emitting co2."

Yocal said:

CO2 emitted by humans does not add carbon to todays ecosystem/natural carbon cycle. Through breathing we just return carbon to the atmosphere where it originally came from.




nabodican said:

"It strikes me that he/she has fallen hook line and sinker for Al Gore's creation of a state of fear."

Yocal said:

For your information i know very little about Gore or his film. It is Americans that are obsessed with him.



nabodican said:

"Seeing massive hikes in our electricity prices we are having one of our coldest winters in many years."

Yocal:

The issue is Global Warming, not local Northern Hemisphere weather.
I suggest you have a look at temperatures in Australia, take the average between that and your own local readings, you'll get a nice warm average between the two.
eg. local weather is bound to vary.




nabodican said:

Climate getting warmer or cooler is perfectly natural as has been happening ever since the earth was created and always will do.

Yocal:

Tell us something that we don't know!
14

Yocal,

08/02/2009 22:22:01
nabodican said:

"...we are having one of our coldest winters in many years"

Yocal:

Over 100 dead in Australia's worst heatwave for 100 years.
I think you need to learn more about the planet, energy etc. Start with the basics of understanding seasons on a global scale, not just where you happen to have your butt planted.

 

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