Yes, I suppose it was “historic.” The U.S. House of Representatives last Friday acknowledged that this climate change stuff may have a kernel of truth to it, and the U.S. and the entire planet might just have to consider others ways to produce energy.
The American Clean Energy and Security Act passed by a vote of 219 to 212, hardly a ringing endorsement. It's now on its way to the U.S. Senate, where legislation can be talked to death until the end of time. The esteemed members of that distinguished body do have their prerogatives.
I suspect this momentous vote occurred without a great many Americans being aware of it. After all we were engulfed in the media circus of the sanctimonious Governor Mark Sanford and the death of Michael Jackson. Who would get Michael's gloves and would Sanford's wife take him back? Weren't we “all Iranians” only a couple of days earlier?
This vote last Friday could end up being historic if passed by the Senate—soon--without its provisions being completely gutted and compromised, President Obama signs it into law, and corporate America, especially the hydrocarbon crowd, recognize another reality. Hm-m. This is asking a great deal.
Climate scientists continue to debate and argue over a great many things, but if there was ever solid agreement among scientists that climate change is happening—and happening faster than once thought possible—it is now.
Unfortunately, a large number ... a majority ... a significant minority of the citizenry are not exactly sure what climate change is or isn't. Members of Congress, well they run the gamut, from the genuinely ignorant to the clearly enlightened.
I'm inclined to believe that Obama may be the “smartest” person in the room, whether or not that says very much, but will he end up ultimately being the smartest politician in the room and manage to move all of us into the 21st century without us knowing it? Yeah the impossible takes a little longer.
But of course the world doesn't stand still while we Americans attempt to sort out what is important and wait excitedly for the next episode of “housewives of Bubble Town.”
Who among us has heard that there is a war of sorts going on right now between the U.S., China, and Japan over samarium and ceramic superconductors. I certainly didn't know that a rare, non-ferrous metal named neodymium is used for electric car motors and wind turbines—green technologies my fellow Americans. Who will be the manufacturer of these new products? Go to China's grip tightens on 'green' metals.
'green' metals.
As always, interesting article, Walt. Never heard of neodymium. Its this kind of thing that shows that we need to get our heads out of the sand pronto (what some might misrepresent as panicking), as I doubt that any solution will be the plug and play variety (Pickens Plan).
I would say that that answer
I would say that that answer pretty much sums up why we do not need the Cap and Trade Legislation. There are too many variables invovled to accurately determine if CO2 is actually causing the earth to warm. We do not need to panic and stop the emmission of CO2 at the expense of our economy. I do think that we should begin looking at moving away from oil, but their is not a rush to do it as we are being told right now. We (the people, not the politicians) need to think about what we use and how we use it. It probably makes sense for us to come up with a way to power our cars without using gasoline, as much for sovereignty as for the environment. However, it is not up to the gov't to determine what technology is best. Also, I don't understand how EV's help at all. If you have to plug the car in, you have to have a power plant that most likely emits CO2. To sum it all up, there are too many variables involved in climate to say that CO2 is the culprit and by eliminating that we will eliminate our effect on the temperature. I would argue that the big ball of fire in the sky that can burn your skin has quite a bit more to say about temperature than me exhaling.
There's lots of people
There's lots of people exactly sure that the cap and tax bill is a giant load of garbage, a power grab by the fedgov to micromanage every detail of our lives. These D-bags will not be satisfied until we live in a country where the gov't tells us where to live, how to live, where to work, how to work, what kind of car to drive, indeed whether or not we're ALLOWED to drive. We'll have some gov't flunky cubicle-dweller in DC, just back from his two-hour lunch, dictating who can have a prius and who has to ride the bus.
It will cost a fortune, kill jobs, and drive up costs for literally everything, in exchange for which we will achieve no measurable change on greenhouse gas emmissions and make no impact whatsoever on our climate. And now that the Democrats have their 60th vote in the senate, who by the way is a lying, cheating, dope-smoking, coke-sniffing buffoon, what's to stop them from passing this abomonation into law?
According to these clowns like Walt here, the planet has been on the brink of eco-disaster for the last 200 years. Global warming is just the latest scam.
I don't even recognize this country anymore.
"there's lots"
Yeah, I too sometimes miss those halcyon Eisenhower days when my privileges seemed assured forever and forever.
One Question
I have only one question for you regarding global warming. Once we start to slow down the increase in temperature and presumably begin decreasing the temperature, at what point do we stop? So, what is the temperature we are shooting for?
"one question"
I personally have no idea what temperature we're "shooting ing for." At this point I think most climate scientists are debating CO2 levels (ppm). NOAA last year said air temperatures in the Arctic were 9 degrees F above "normal." There are numerous feedback mechanisms involved. To what extent are El Nino and La Nina variability affecting global mean temperature, etc., etc.? How much ocean acidification is too much? Temperature is one variable. In terms of "slowing down" planetary temperature increases, well, who knows?