Saving the earth from human induced environmental destruction is a lot simpler than changing beliefs and attitudes about the science, something I've found nearly impossible to do because of various biases. No matter what people believe there's no question that global population control is at least 75% of the solution to any environmental issue and possibly 100% if the limitations are a low enough number. Limiting the world's population to a certain agreed upon number obviates the need to change any other attitude, belief, or environmental policy. This is so obvious and simple it mystifies me why no one else writes about it. Our slogan is "Limit the number of PIGS and we can all be PIGS." I think no one will disagree that humans are inately pigs. Limit the number of pigs and we can all be scientifically illiterate and wasteful pigs. Don't limit the number of pigs, even if scientifically honest and informed, nothing we do or believe will save the planet.

According to the dictionary a conservative is a person who believes in traditon and social stability. In other words the status quo. They resist change and especially change that involves government regulation and change that interferes with profits of the corporations that support their election and re-election to the Congress and the Senate. This should be exposed. They are not "true conservatives". They are reactionary and obstructive. They are not fulfilling and living up to their oath of office to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" or passing legislation to benefit the "general welfare" of all of the citizens of the United States, not just Exxon/Mobile, Halburton/KBR, BP, Texaco, Shell etc. Taxes and government regulation are not evil. Corporate control of the government is the problem. When will the people wake and rise up against the reactionaries who are not representing them?

From http://bhanwara.blogspot.com/2008/06/whats-global-warming-got-to-do-with.html

"In essense, many opinion-heads see science and fact as their personal domain. They cannot understand the science and math behind it, but since it is their personal domain, they feel free to twist it into whatever they do understand. And what do they understand? If you guessed "liberal vs conservative" you are right!"

Click at the sig for full article.

wrote:The human race's maximum output of energy into the environment is a mere 1% of what the sun puts out that hits the Earth.

But that has essentially nothing to do with the problem. It is the retention of more energy (yes, almost all from the sun) that is the problem. It enters the atmosphere at visual wavelengths and is absorbed. This warms the earth, causing longer wavelength radiation (infrared). How much of this escapes depends on the concentration of green house gases. Anthropogenic global warming has very little to do with how much energy man dissipates on earth, but rather results from upsetting the thermal balance by preventing energy from escaping.

Harrer: "It is easy to dispute that there is a scientifc community consensus about the cause of global warming"

Only if one resorts to disinformation when doing so, as you have done here Harrer.

Harrer: "I, along with well-known and respected scientists, take issue with the representations of those who argue homeogenetic global warming causation"

"Consensus" in this context does not mean 100% approval - it means "general agreement." And there is general agreement amongst climate scientists that global warming is both real and man-made, the disagreement of a relatively very small number of "well-known and respected" climate scientists notwithstanding.

The scientific consensus is expressed by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and many other national science academies:

There is now strong evidence that significant global warming is occurring. The evidence comes from direct measurements of rising surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures and from phenomena such as increases in average global sea levels, retreating glaciers, and changes to many physical and biological systems. It is likely that most of the warming in recent decades can be attributed to human activities. This warming has already led to changes in the Earth's climate... Increasing greenhouse gases are causing temperatures to rise... The scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action.

http://nationalacademies.org/onpi/06072005.pdf

Harrer: "For example, Dr Richard Lindzen, Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at MIT shoots some pretty big holes in the scientifc basis of man-made global warming."

Lindzen is probably the most well-known and respected climate scientist who disputes the scientific consensus on global warming, but he has not "shot some pretty big holes in the scientifc basis of man-made global warming" - he has instead provided an alternate theory that relatively few other climate scientists agree with.

Harrer: "Consequences of applying rectifying remedies can have disastrous tertiary impacts"

And if one were to apply that standard as a reason to not act on serious threats like say global warming and fighting terrorism then no serious threats would ever get addressed or acted upon.

If the scientists are wrong about anything, its about when awe are likely to reach the tipping point of no return. We are not moving as slowly toward catastrophic events as anticipated, but are instead racing toward disaster.

The last few years have been startling. The North Pole was not supposed to be ice free in the summer until sometime in the 22nd century. It now appears it could be ice free by about 2023. With that comes a much more rapid global warming and the likelihood that Greenland ice sheet could melt in this century - and many of the world's coastal cities will vanish. Not to worry, only 70 percent of the world lives in those coastal cities.

I live in Nashville where average temperatures have increased to a fairly consistent 15 degrees above normal. Winters are much less cold - rarely is there winter snow - and summers are becoming blistering hot. It feels more like Florida.

With weather records being broken nearly every day in each consecutive year, one has to wonder how people can still argue it's all a fairy tale. I just pray we have not already crossed the point of no return.