From Roger Jones.
AL Gore surely hit on a most apt phrase when he addressed the issue of climate change as ‘an inconvenient truth’.
Tackling its likely causes and effects are indeed inconvenient. To do so demands that each and every one of us changes our everyday behaviour – and that poses a threat to the interests of some big business (though it also offers opportunities to others).
Your correspondent Barry Breuilly (JEP, 30 November) quotes the Daily Mail which cites certain American scientists who maintain that climate change and its effect of global warming is a myth.
Dig a little deeper and it is likely that these particular scientists are in the pay of the enormously powerful US oil lobby, whose only concern is to sell as much oil as possible and for there to be no restrictions on their freedom to explore and extract where they wish.
President Obama’s modest plans for health care reform face similar obstacles, namely the hugely influential medical insurance business which wishes to protect its profits.
With melting ice caps, retreating glaciers, rising sea levels and more frequent and more severe extreme weather events around the world, a huge majority of the world’s scientists maintain that the evidence for climate change is overwhelming, though the dear old Daily Mail has yet to be convinced.
The concentration of man-made emissions of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is increasing year by year. This is a measurable phenomenon. These gases create an insulating effect on the planet, trapping heat in, thus leading to higher average temperatures.
This is scientifically established, like the fact that our moon’s orbit around the Earth causes tidal movements in the oceans. This began as a scientific theory and, like greenhouse gases and climate change, it’s now established science.
Perhaps there are those who maintain that the moon itself is composed of cheese. This, at least, has been disproved by spacecraft bringing back samples of the moon rock and, no, it’s definitely not cheese. Has anyone told the Daily Mail?
Other recent letters published in the JEP have attacked the proposal that gas guzzling cars should be taxed, but that extra duty be imposed on the fuel they consume. The fact is that the likes of Range Rovers emit three or four times the amount of CO2 that a small car does.
Taxes can be levied to encourage a change in behaviour. For example, every time the tax on tobacco is increased more people quit smoking. The idea of a vehicle emissions tax is that people might be deterred from acquiring a gas guzzler and choose a more environmentally friendly vehicle.
Gas guzzlers are bigger and heavier than average and cause more wear and tear on the Island’s roads, surely another reason to discourage their use.
Man-made climate change, that enormously inconvenient (but very likely) truth, presents us all with a personal challenge: are we to be part of the problem or part of the solution?
Article posted on 8th December, 2009 - 2.59pm
51 Article Comments
Dig even deeper and you’ll find a government wanting to raise taxes.
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I have never read such a load of drivel which appears to have been written by someone who thinks the Emperor’s new clothes are beautiful and that the earth is flat.
The last time I looked the principle of proof is always required in order to firstly promote and then satisfy/prove a theory and yet here we are in the 21st century with people like the writer wittering on about matters which have still yet to be scientifically proved.
Let me at once say that I do not disagree with the premise that mankind has had an effect upon the world as we know it but to make such unreserved judgement whilst the theory has not yet been proved just goes to show how much noise an empty vessel can make.
As to the writers argument that sceptics of man made climate change are all in the employ of big business or oil companies perhaps he would care to look at just look how much money Al Gore and his counterparts have made from events.
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If Global Warming is really happening then why has the global temperature been falling for the last ten years?
The climate is always changing but most of those who claim it is due to human activity are pushing a political objective. The rest are just being taken in by the politicians who have been fooled by Al Gore who is not a scientist.
The reason why we are being told about it is to reduce our dependency on oil from certain countries and to give the politicians another excuse to raise our taxes.
There is a direct relationship between climate and the sunspot cycle as described by the Australian scientist David Archibald and you can look at his web site for the details. When there was the Maunder Minimum, 1645 to 1715, in the sunspot cycle we had the Little Ice Age. The Dalton Minimum, 1790 to 1830, also produced cold weather and there was a smaller version about 100 years ago.
The sunspot cycle is now in another extended minimum that we should have come out of 2 or 3 years ago. Last winter was our coldest one for many years and my pond was frozen over for 2 weeks. It was last frozen about 10 years ago and that was just for 2 days. I am therefore predicting this winter to be another cold one based on the sunspot cycle.
If the only cause of climate change is human activity then we need less of these active humans. The world population is still increasing at a high rate and we know that is causing many problems including loss of wildlife habitat as well as poorer quality land for farming. If you really want to save the world then you have to find an acceptable way to reduce the human infestation on this planet.
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Let us do it in terms of simple science.
In the last 300 years we have pumped roughly half a trillion tons of additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Over the next 50 years it is estimated that if we continue the way we are going we will add another half a trillion tons of the gas.
We receive heat from the sun and radiate it back into space.
Carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere, adding carbon dioxide will trap more heat in the atmosphere and change the climate.
The effects could be mild, on the other hand they could be terrifying.
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Yes the climate is changing and has so, for 4.5 billion years. Long before humans were driving cars. We are still coming out of an ice age. That is why ice caps are melting and sea levels are rising. The English channel is only 7000 years old. Climates would still be changing if no humans were around.
Goverments around the world are only interested in controlling and taxing people by any means. They want to keep developing countries in the dark ages so they don’t get to powerfull and become a threat.
Some say… The goverment wouldn’t lie about this. But they lie about every thing. Even if it means going to war. Money money money is all it boils down to.
So don’t believe all that one sided news.
Climates are not at our control. They are natural.
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The goverments have failed to mention that as our earths climate is changing. So are some of our sister planets. Some are warming and some are cooling. Depending our Sun’s effect on them.
We do need to clean up the earth. But we also need to sort out over population, wars, murder, rape, bankers bonuses and other real man made problems. SNAFU!!
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They can,t even get the weather right from one day to another,never mind what is going to happen in 50 years time!
Every time they say its going to be fine and sunny i hang my washing out,and it pours down.
And when the forcast says rain tomorrow i avoid doing the washing only to find sun was out all day and it rains the following day and the washing piles up!
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1) We are materially changing the composition of the atmosphere of the planet where we live.
2) There is nowhere else to go.
3) In view of point two do you think continuing with point one is wise?
Answers on the back of your copy of the Daily Mail!
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While I would have no hesitation in defending Mr Roger Jones’s right to express his opinions, I do not necessarily agree with them.
A forum like this, to debate the issues of the day, is good, but we must do so with respect for others.
Cynicism and scepticism are fine. Just chucking unnecessary insults and invective does nothing for the discussion as a whole, and even less for the author.
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I think “overwhelming” ia a bit on the extravagent side.
More like “so-so”, with accompanying gesture of gently rocking hand, palm down.
For some reason pictures of melting ice seem to swing it for most people. Does anyone film it freezing again at the end of the short polar summer or have they gone home again by then?
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Udupi #9
I think you should add hypocrisy to your “Just chucking unnecessary insults and invective does nothing for the discussion as a whole, and even less for the author”.
remember “As for your bathetic (look it up) question” ?
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Welcome back PJG! How’s life in the Toy Town Police these days?
As for accusing others of hypocrisy,the words “pot” and “kettle” spring immediately to mind.
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In response to Roger’s comment that “Gas guzzlers are bigger and heavier than average and cause more wear and tear on the Island’s roads” this is not true. My car has a large engine but is an ordinary family saloon. Plus I do not drive it much so there for probably emit less Green House gases than say the average Jersey Cow in a year.
This is what makes me laugh, people bleet on about “Gas Guzzlers” wrecking the earth, lets start worrying about the fact that Agriculture contributes an estimated 14% to the UK’s greenhouse emissions…
Tax the cows!!!
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Anybody with a brain should be sceptical about any predictions concerning the climate. The truth is, the climate is immensely complex. Like nutrition, or the economy, or any other complex system with interconnecting factors, we are a long way from a holistic understanding of what causes what.
Those who, like Mr Jones, try to argue that the science is clear and proven cause immense damage. Because science by its very nature must be capable of being tested and verified and given the complexity of the climate some evidence will always emerge that seems contrary to the scientific prediction.
The crux of the matter is that we should be radical in our efforts to preserve the environment because it is valuable in itself. The scientific argument is like somebody saying “you should stop beating your wife because if you don’t you are likely to be caught and sent to prison”. The argument then becomes a statistical one about crime detection rather than a moral one about wife beating.
No, we should preserve the envirnoment because it is the only environment we have and is life enriching.
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The issue as to whether or not Global warming is true is totally irrelevant but has been seized on by politically correct “environmental” protestors as a safe campaign topic, by all those who are jealous that others have bigger and better cars then they can afford and by Governments as an easy way to raise new regressive taxes.
The real problem we face in overpopulation but because this is a taboo subject and an infringement of “human rights” very few campaigners have the guts to even mention this. Let’s face the fact that no matter how much we reduce our carbon footprint, by cutting down our forests and destroying the natural environment to feed and house all these additional people we impair nature’s ability to renew and repair our ecosystem.
Yes the Global warming issue will destroy us simply because by focussing on this one issue we have buried our heads in the sand and ignored the real danger.
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I have been aware of the threat of climate change (anthropogenic) since the late ’80s. Having followed the argument, mainly revolving over whether it is our fault, it is fair to say it has changed little. Involving such a plethora of disciplines, it can be easy to mislead those not fully aware.
One accusation heard often, as in #15, is that it’s leftist, ecoprotestor, government tax scam etc.
It would be wrong to assume that sceptics are right wing, wildlife hating tax dodgers. Imagine the furore if one was to make that point. Not all rich/influential people are sceptical about it either. Look at those who have been involved before what someone might term ’since it got fashionable’. Governments were slow, often obstructive, to see the problem of climate change. Now they are often accussed of conning us.
Some very high profile sceptical material have been shown, quite easily, to be wrong and misleading. Then there’s the red herrings of solar activity, and the confusion of natural cycles. It would be wrong to assume that natural processes are immune from perturbations caused by our activity.
The hacked emails from CRU at UEA do not show any terrible misrepresentaion of the data, in which to ensnare the population in a climate swindle. Yet they give more room for some to believe we can carry on, business as usual.
With a subject as large and important as this, please take the time to not just read/hear people’s opinions, but actually learn some science!
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Hasn’y anyone seen that documentary called “The Day After Tomorrow”?
That’s real that is you know
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If some scientists are under the thumb of oil companies then others are under the thumb of companies developing green technology, or, more likely, governments wanting to raise taxes! You don’t think a scientist would exaggerate a little if they were offered a prestigious advisory role to a Government? You’ll only get the truth fro m someone you know cannot have any alterior motive. Thankfully I have that option and while they believe that man is adding to a problem they don’t think that’s the whole story.
Maybe the biggest part of the problem is that the human race actually thinks the human race (and its continuation) is important. In the grand scheme of things it simply isn’t. Many species have come and gone and we will come and go. If we knew that our species was to become extinct before climate change becomes a major threat to the whole population would we still be trying to do something about it? or are we just doing this for our children and their children? If none of us had any then no-one would be around to suffer from the eventual effects of climate change so we could rest happily.
Bigger populations will equate to more pollution, pretty much regardless of what measures Governments try to put in place. So does anyone actually have the guts to start taking serious population control measures?
I do what I can in life, but like many people I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place caused by generations and generations that came before me. Technology moved on and people moved away and now we all have to travel to do things that once we didn’t need to travel to do. These advances are the very reason I had to move away to study, no study no job with good enough pay to live. Had I been born millenia ago I could have walked out into a field close to my house, and actually, I’m guessing that people were more content with their lives back then, knowledge can be a terrible thing. Should I now forgo having a life, seeing friends and family etc for the sake of the planet? Why?
Governments and technological advances are still causing people to move further away from each other and their jobs, thus causing travel. A slow reversal of this process is the only option I can see being of any real use, but it’s probably too late now.
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As for gas guzzlers, pricing only hurts those that ACTUALLY need theirs! Those rich people that have them as a status symbol will just see them as even more of a status symbol. Kind of counter-productive I would think.
Is it the fault of the person on the street that technological developments brought about cars, THEN we found out about climate chance, but even now ‘green’ cars are just not advanced enough to be of any real use to a lot of people?
I think people are getting a little sick fed up of feeling blamed for climate change and this runs the risk of pushing them away from caring about the issue, maybe for once the carrot method is the way to go!
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#3 Thank God! Now, hands up those who continue to try and grow the population?
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The world maybe damaged but mother nature will always repair and heal herself…it,s us human beings that should be concerned for survial!
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PC 49
I thought it was you who had been away.
“How’s life in the Toy Town Police these days”
If you mean the Honorary police, are you saying I “am” one of those fine selfless men and women ?
Pot and kettle, where and when ?
You appear to be as inaccurate as ever with your unsubstantiated facts, very unpolicmanlike, makes me wonder about your 30 year claims.
Anyway I will try to answer your questions as best I can.
Apart from the usual bigots blurting out unsubstantiated dribble about them I believe they are doing their job well. In fact only last night ACO David Warcop said If it was not for the Honorary police the SOJP would not have coped as well as they have and at the same function his chief legal advisor made good comments on the future cooperation of his department and the Honorary police in prosecuting and bringing to justice wrongdoers in the future.
I hope this helps !
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Its sad that many people cant see the ‘conspiracy’
Global warming is happening – no doubt about it. However, as somebody who studied Environmental Science, I know that there are many theories as to what is the cause. Greenhouse gasses emmitted from human activities is only one contributor. In any event, there are so many theories of homeostasis, that it is likely that globe will recover on its own in the future. The Earth has alays been in a state of change – hence the ice ages that came and went in the past – they weren’t caused by human activity were they?
What people must look at is what governments are getting out of this ‘global warming’. Its a great excuse to introduce plenty of new taxes.
It reminds me of the current ‘oil shortage’. People in that trade know full well that there is no shortage of oil as such – what is really happening (and many people dont realise) is that hundreds of tankers full of barrels of oil are being anchored offshore and waiting for oil prices to rise. They know that the longer they wait to supply the oil, the more profit they can make.
People need to stop believing everything they read in the media and think for themselves. Sometimes the representation of ‘global warming’ is particularly misleading.
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A useful comparison to make, Leah, would be between the profits of a large oil company and one developing green technology. There is probably a great difference. Also, developing – so as not to be producing, hence not profitable. The promise of profit, maybe.
We should all feel belonging to this planet, our home, regardless of progeny and future generations. I can not have children, but that is not to say i wish the Earth to disappear in a firey ball once i’m off!
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Leah, unfortunately the people who run this shambles of a world will never do anything about population growth.
To them and their cronies every birth is the greatest business opportuniy ever served before them on a plate.
It’s a worldwide concept. In Tobago a shop has a daily advert on the local radio “We sell everything from baby basket(crib)to marble headstone”. Where would they be if the birth rate dropped?
And that’s just the retail aspect covered, never mind medicine, law, housing, transport and -where did we start this thread – food supply!
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Oops! Wrong thread, I thought I was on the one about food wastage.
Not entirely unconnected, though!
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The earth is finite. As with all things finite there are limits on what can be taken from the system.How many people can it sustain? Is it 1B, 5B, 10B or more? Whatever the correct answer this is the limit for human population on the planet.
As per the human population it destroys natural habitats for other species causing them to have to live a degraded life, often leading to extinction. This is the direct results of mankinds actions.
A good example of this being orang utangs. What do you think they will do when all their trees are cut down to be made into furniture for your patio etc?
What do people think will happen when the Amazon is completely logged? Will it have any effect on the environment around the planet? Off cause it will but does anyone care about this? I believe that unless direct action is taken to protect the rainforests around the world from continual logging that vast areas of present day rainforest will eventually end up as desert.
So the planet could end up with much more desert areas than at present. Where do you think all the food will come from if much larger areas of the planet are unfit for food production and for people to live in?
At this point the population will be too great to be fed etc. What do you think will happen next?
As with all actions there are consequences. Unfortunately the human species is very self centred and is often only concerned with its own well being. Some within the human species are even more self centred and are only concerned with their own particular well being and maybe their immediate family.
I ask what benefit are these types to anything besides themselves? People need to realise that the planet is only able to support so many living things and can only be degraded so far before collapses in ecoco-systems threaten all life’s existance on the planet including our own. Until people get their heads around this idea and start to think about it then things are only going to get worse.
Yes the governments are exploiting green issues by bringing in taxes. However this is the remit of governments as far as I am concerned. In my opinion they have always caused money to flow uphill.
I ask the obvious answer why bring in green taxes to waste them on shoring up an unsustainable position? It is akin to putting a plaster on a road crash victim because they have a cut on their forearm, whilst ignoring the cut artery at the top of the leg as far as I am concerned.
It will however give very short term comfort before the inevitable happens. Then it will be too late to ask questions.
Capitalism and the way it has been used has been greatly responsible for this present state of affairs in my honest opinion. However the majority have been sucked in to the benefits allegedly derived form it whilst overlooking the very probable end result.
I only wish I am proved wrong however I believe the signs are there for those willing to see them.
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For once I completely agree with Adrian.
And I would just add that you don’t need hundreds of scientists chasing government grants by inflating scare stories to know that exploiting the environment or using natural resources at an unsustainable rate will have bad repercussions. It could be global warming, it could be global cooling, it could make the magnetic poles switch direction, it could reveal that the inside of the earth is SUPERBRAIN and that we are notpeople but hairs on the edge of a giant skull and a gigantic perm machine is about to be turned on.
But it won’t be good.
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If anyone has half a brain – click on this video: – - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zOXmJ4jd-8&feature=related
- and get the facts via Lord Monckton – Copenhagen is not about ‘Global Warming’, its about money and who is going to control the world’s money supply – it’s about creating the all time Corporate Collectivist Dictatorship known as the ‘New World Order’ in order to control global finance – Tough time ahead folks.
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#24 Should we all put our BSc after our name? Too many subjects to make it relevant.
It’s not that I want the earth to disappear into a fiery ball either, but maybe that’s what’s meant to happen. We’ve discovered all this information about climate change, however, as you’ll know science could in 20 years time discover that there is another much larger factor in climate change that is nothing to do with humans and will continue on regardless of our actions.
Never mind that if we’re that bothered about climate change we should be doing something about cows.
I don’t wish to intentionally harm anyone or the earth itself but I am happy to accept that as humans we are nothing really in this universe and the universe is ‘big enough and ugly enough’ to look after itself. It has done for billions of years anyway.
The earth was once uninhabitable for humans, it will become so again, possibly because the universe itself continually evolves. IF that is the way the earth is meant to go then who are we to stop it, even if we could!
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#25 I agree RB. And that’s why those of us that REALLY care about the planet SHOULD do something. I’m not going to bring kids onto a planet that when I’m gone they’ll be facing more problems than we already face today, why would I do that to someone?
Population is the biggest problem and the biggest cause of global warming. But it’s probably not a convenient enough truth for anyone to tackle
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#28 Wonders will never cease
and me too!
#27 Adrian, well put.
Time to start heavily taxing offspring numbers and put serious limits on IVF (if we don’t stop it altogether). Stop allowing couples to have more than two kids (naturally occuring multiple births aside).
While we’re at it, I rarely use the ‘gas guzzler’ I have access to. Some weeks it doesn’t even move. Then there’s the fact that over the last year the heating in my flat was on for less than a fortnight!
I’ve been in houses in Jersey that are constantly like a sauna, maybe it’s time to start regulating the use of heating in houses?
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27 Adrian
Excellent post
A good example would be to look at Easter Island (or Rapa Nui) and what happened there. I saw a documentary on this the other day.
In it’s prime (hundreds of years ago) it was home to 10’s of thousands of people (which was a lot back then) and boasted expansive forests and wildlife.
Eventually the population got so big, all the trees were cut down for housing, fire-making and whatever else they needed wood for. This meant there was no longer any shade to protect the land and it’s vegetation from the elements and salt spray from the sea and the vegetation gradually died and topsoil eroded making it impossible to grow anything. Lack of vegetation meant no food for the humans or the wildlife. No wood meant they could no longer build boats to fish or leave the island….eventually tribes had no other option but fight each other and resort to cannibalism.
Is this the future of mankind on a global scale Mad Max style??
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‘Is this the future of mankind on a global scale Mad Max style??’
Quite possibly, in a hundred or so years time all that could be left is a planet with the land covered in grass and the oceans filled with jellyfish.
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It’s funny BS (#32) There may be some species totally intent on wiping themselves out, yet humans continue to intervene and try and stop them becoming extinct. No matter what humans do to help they seem to find another way to try and end their existence.
Is it just possible that humans are actually doing the same? but unwittingly? Every time something is thrown at us, from the old well-known plagues to the more recent AIDS we develop more medical skills and technology and find a way to survive it and keep existing… yet if we delve deeply enough into the causes of these potential killers we are causing them (or at the very least not preventing them) in the first place by something else we’re doing. Maybe we are just intent on wiping out our species?
We moan about floods, earthquakes etc yet we insist on building on flood plains and building over fault lines as if the earth cares that we’re doing this and is going to think to itself ‘oh no, can’t have an earthquake, some humans might get hurt’. I’m beginning to think that as a race we’re a little bit dumb.
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Leah
I agree the human race is a bit dumb, but I am also very sceptical about all these new viruses that keep popping up. I think plague will cause the end of mankind rather than war……or robots
We are supposed to be living in cleaner more hygienic times. Just look at the other thread about food wastage….we can’t even buy food a day out of date. Yet we seem to be in the most unhealthy of times….we can catch anything from anyone, anywhere if you listed to the media.
I’m sure 21st century should be a healthier time to live in than say medieval times????
Why is this happening?
Are scientists (or the church) helping the government or large healthcare corporations with some sort of sinnister poulation control?
….it’s funny how some diseases only affect certain people. Aids started as the “gay” disease, Ebola and other similar diseases affected the poor African tribes, Bird flu started in poor parts of China and Swine Flu a poor village in Mexico……nothing seems to start in affluent parts of the world where it can be argued that cleanliness and hygiene aren’t all they should be. I’m sure these small villages in the 3rd world aren’t living their lives any differently to their predecessors so why weren’t these diseases around long ago……virus mutation cannot be a 21st century anomaly!!
Are our adventures into space bringing back alien bacteria and viruses?
Is the supposedly damaged ozone layer not protecting us from the space microbes and bacteria entering our atmosphere either?
Besides, the more drugs we create to combat these diseases the more our bodies immune system rejects them….one day I reckon there will not be a drug on this planet that will be anywhere near as effective as our own antibodies.
Apparently the new strain of Swine flu is already resistant to Tamiflu!
Sleep tight with these thoughts everyone, but please don’t breathe near me. I don’t want to catch any lurgy’s
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Let us once again Guilt Trip the public so we can tax them..tax is about money not climate, how will they save anything natural with our tax quids..? and if the climate is changing due to us then they’ve cried wolf too many times for now no one wants to know…and serve them right .
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21 deputy
Too right. Have you seen the documentary called “Life After People”?
It predicts how the world would recover once all of mankind has been removed…..it may not be accurate but it was very interesting nonetheless.
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#35 Too true. Can’t speak for AIDS but is the issue with viruses like swine flu not that they start in less developed countries because the initial cause is the animal-human infection and that is usually from direct contact with a dead animal. Once that’s happened it’s difficult to begin human-human infection but it will happen eventually. Presumably even if animals in Britain had such a bug there is still less chance it would cross to humans. Don’t know the last time I saw a child in Britain going near a dead, wild animal but if documentaries are to be believed it’s common place in some parts of the world.
Unfortunately our immune systems are generationally screwed also as most auto-immune diseases (now very common) are at least familial, if not outright hereditary. I was born in the era where you could eat mud as a child without your parents rushing you to A&E but my immune system is still rubbish because of generations and generations of whatever chemicals have been in food, water and containers. Funnily enough caffeine is a big issue with auto-immune diseases and it may be that its damaging effects can pass onto the next generation and on it goes.
The 21st century anomaly is surely most likely to be transport and the fact that we now know what’s happening elsewhere in the world, once upon a time we could be happy in our oblivion.
I’m with you on the plague thing, it’s got to happen at some point surely.
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For some of you who do not seem to believe that WE have a part to play in what is happening in the world….
Have you actually watched one of Al Gore’s DVD in regards to what WE are doing the our World??
HE has been pushing this stuff in our faces for years… It has nothing to do with TAXES
We are killing are planet and WE need to do some thing about it…..
Even small little changes can make a HUGE difference… For our future and a childrens future….
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Poster 35 Leah Holmes
Poster 39 Leah Holmes
“#35 Too true. ”
Nice one, Leah!
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#40 Michelina, for some of us it has nothing to do with taxes, but for Governments it has a lot to do with taxes. There is no way the car is disappearing, successive Governments have created a life that is nigh on impossible without it, and they continue to do so even in Jersey. So it’s a captive audience and they know they can tax it because they know that too many people are not in a position to give up their cars. And only the rich can afford to have many cars and have an environmental car for use sometimes and other cars for when it is no use. Most of us can only afford one and have to buy the one that can deal with most of our travel!
Also, there is no argument over the fact that cows are a massive cause of climate change and yet we’re not having a mass culling of cows. In fact, I haven’t heard a peep from any Government suggesting that we should lower our eating of meat from cows so that cow populations can be lessened, maybe you have? Nor are we controlling the population and that is clearly also a major issue for now and, even moreso, the future of climate change. Without population control we are on a hiding to nothing.
So Governments pick the issue that is the ‘easiest’ to tackle and the one they can make money from. That doesn’t mean we’re saying that climate change is a myth, just that how Governments handle it is about raising funds rather than actually tackling the real issue.
As for climate change, it is undoubtedly happening and we are undoubtedly contributing but I take that from my education not an Al Gore DVD. However, don’t be surprised if in 50 years time (our knowledge of the universe is always growing) we discover that there was nothing we could do after all and this is just part of the cycle of the Universe.
What we know just now, we KNOW, but what we know in the future could very well be different. Thousands of years of science show that to be true. Until Governments start seriously tackling the issue (cows and population control) I’ve had enough. I’ll keep doing my bit as best I can but one day I’ll be dead and I’m not leaving any kids behind to suffer.
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Should i be worried that i might be taxed for breathing heavier than others?
Perhaps we should all just breathe less – afterall, we actually pollute the air with 100x more CO2 than we breath in.
In all seriousness though, the earth is pretty much self harming – there are hundreds of underwater volcanos which surely when erupting are considerably warming the ocean/melting icecaps?
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GLOBAL WARMING – A great deal has been published about the effects of global warming and a good way to reduce our CO2 can be achieved if everyone fitted solar panels to their roof. Even on cold days as today for example mine are producing 57C and that is more than enough to provide very hot water for showering/bathing etc. In summer the water will boil. 80% of your hot water could be provided using this method. Whilst true it is expensive to fit, with the current world prices of energy they will pay for themselves in three years. After that heating your water is free. Governments around the world should be promoting this but of course this would bring down the price of oil etc., and that would mean less taxes being paid.
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Climate negotiations ’suspended’
Negotiations at the UN climate summit have been suspended after developing nations withdrew their co-operation.
The west is blaming the east. The east is blaming the west. This is just the usual political nonsense.
The western powers are just scared that China, India and other contries will become more powerful then them. The west just wants 3rd world contries to stay… 3rd world.
While 19 million brain washed suckers tune into X factor and all that other, one sided news rubbish on TV. They are an easy target in make believe land.
The trouble is most people have thier heads in TV La La land and hav’nt a clue what is going on in the real world. Only what the ONE SIDED news and these stupid climate adverts tell them.
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Global warming at the end of the last ice age, (approximately 20,000 years ago) was the catalyst for the dawn of civilisation, but it also unleashed devastation. In Europe, the rise in temperature prompted an agricultural revolution, while in North Africa, a drought led Saharan refugees to settle along the River Nile and learn new social structures, going on to found the Kingdom of Egypt
All this long before we started driving cars.
Like the headline… The evidence for climate change is overwhelming… proving through history, that humans are not to blame and have lived through climate change before.
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How convenient are the utterings of the ’scientist’ nay-sayers for those who wish to continue to act like spoilt, selfish chil-drun, doing exactly as they please with no care for the consequences (if we can’t really ’see’ it, it can’t be ‘happening, right…?), desecrating our planet with their pollution and over- population, safe in the ‘knowledge’ that no matter what atrocity we heap upon the ONLY place we have to live, it will apparently have ‘no effect at all’ and we can all just carry on as we are.
– forget the science bit, have none of them heard of the basics of cause and effect?!
I sincerely hope that when it all hits the fan, they reproduce the short sighted, inane comments of those who somehow persuade themselves of that ridiculous argument, and use them to demonstrate the sheer ignorance and denial that will eventually bring the world to it’s knees.
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has anybody been watching MAN ON EARTH with tony robinson ( monday nights ch 4 )
globel warming has been going on for 200,000 yrs, a bit before 4×4 were roaming this planet. it is very interesting and answers alot of questions about the globel climate.
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Inconvenient truth for Al Gore as his North Pole sums don’t add up.
The former US Vice-President, who became an unlikely figurehead for the green movement after narrating the Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, became entangled in a new climate change “spin” row.
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#47 “How convenient are the utterings of the ’scientist’ nay-sayers for those who wish to continue to act like spoilt, selfish chil-drun, doing exactly as they please with no care for the consequences”
Probably very!
Still, I will always prefer listening to a real scientist than someone who hasn’t studied the issue at hand. So there are scientists that disagree about global warming, we should be very careful before assuming that they are wrong, we should listen to what they say and allow intelligent debate over it.
Silencing, or trying to silence through bullying, is the completely wrong way to tackle such an important issue.
As for the politics of the issue, not everyone who is just getting on with their life is being selfish, we have to live after all because we have to earn to keep roofs over our heads. And people have every right to take note that Governments worldwide are completely FAILING to attack the main causes of climate change as we know them at the moment (that’s cows and increasing population) while managing to attack those which will bring them some nice income.
I will listen to fellow scientists but any politician can take a running jump until they do something about cows and take measures to curb the population from now on.
Until they do that it is extremely clear that they do no actually care.
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Fubar, unfortunately the people watching X-Factor will be stupid enough to be sucked in by the adverts and stupid enough to feel great about switching off their lights once in a while and driving a little less… alas, they’ll also be stupid enough to not have a clue about the many other things they do that contribute to global warming, like having children!
It would help greatly if the leading scientists in this field (both ‘for’ and ‘against’ climate change) would have a live TV debate about the journey the earth took before our arrival, there are a lot of questions to be answered. But I suspect we actually just do not have enough hard data. Nevermind that politicians would do their damndest to stop such a debate taking place.
All the years of scientific progress really teach us is how much more we still have to learn and understand. There are too many scientists thinking we already know it all.
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