thomas malloy wrote:
Most importantly don't over look what you can do about anthropogenic climate change if it is happening, A: not a damn thing!
Oh give us a break, Tom! At least you can say: "I don't want to pay to fix the problem." Or: "I do not feel like paying an extra dollar per gallon to cut fuel consumption by half." Or perhaps: "I do not believe plug-in hybrid cars really save as much energy as the people at calcars.org claim they do." Please do not pretend that nobody has suggested solutions to these problems.
If you have read any books about energy, or any of the messages posted here by me over the last 10 years, you know darn well there are dozens of things we can do about anthropogenic climate change. Solutions range from building more fission reactors, to wind energy, to plug-in hybrids and solid-state lighting. Do you seriously believe that not a single one of these techniques can make any difference? I think that simple arithmetic proves these technologies could drastically reduce fossil fuel energy consumption. I also think that a $14 trillion economy the US can afford to pay for these things.
For that matter even if the change is purely natural, and caused by increased solar radiation, I and others have proposed ways to solve that problem, such as gigantic orbiting solar parasols. If that does not work, something else will. People have changed the whole face of the earth that we can change the solar system if we put our minds to it. We can tap the power of the sun for unlimited amounts of energy.
The only problem human beings cannot fix would be the Sun going super-nova, and even that, if we had a few hundred years advanced notice, we could work around by making a fleet of star-ships to evacuate the solar system.
Frankly, you seem to be a member of the "can't do it, won't try, everything's hopeless" school of Gutless Wonders. You think we should roll over and play dead instead of dealing with our problems. It is good thing you were not in charge when our ancestors first tried to settle in North America in the 18th and 19th century, or they would have given up after Jamestown. (Of course my ancestors were conquering Bermuda at that time, and I will grant that the Caribbean was not quite the same epic challenge as Virginia and New England, but hey, someone had to invent the Rum and Sun lifestyle.)
- Jed
