[ExI] Curves on a graph (was Re: Richard Lindzen onclimatehysteria.

[Alfio Puglisi]

On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 7:06 PM, John K Clark<jonkc at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> "Alfio Puglisi" <alfio.puglisi at gmail.com>
>
>> All current evidence points to warming in a medium timescale (100s of
>> years)
>
> 100's of years! To hell with my great great grandchildren, let them fend for
> themselves;

That's a moral issue and I don't have graphs for that. :-) We'll just
have to disagree.

> More expensive energy doesn't mean fat cats make less money, it means
> billions of poor people will control less energy than they do now. A lot
> less.  And that means billions of people will become even poorer than they
> are now. A lot poorer. And that means people are going to die. Millions and
> millions of people.
>
> If the Iraq war has taught us anything it's that trading a hypothetical
> future problem that might not even be real for a present horror that most
> certainly is real is not a very good idea. You want to start a preemptive
> war on the poor. I don't.

It seems that you have ignored the distinction I made a few posts ago:
pointing out that global warming exists, and why, is one thing. What
to do, and if something must be done at all, is another.

Up to now most of the discussion has been on whether global warming
exists, and what could happen in the near future. I fail to see how
describing current trends, and likely future ones, amounts to starting
a preemptive war. It's rather an observation, like describing the
orbit of an asteroid. It's true that these observations will be the
base for world-reaching policies, but even if the asteroid is going to
hit the planet, you don't accuse the astronomer who pointed out the
trajectory.

On the policy part, my ideas are much more confused and I don't think
I can make many good points. So I'll let your remarks unanswered.

But at least I'm clear on one thing: to make sensible policy decision,
good information is required. If you start saying that merely pointing
out the possible warming amounts to a war, you'll be tempted to
dismiss facts on the ground of ideology. That's never a good idea.

Alfio