Finally. News that doesn't make me sick! Al Gore Awarded Nobel Peace Prize

First an Oscar, and now this! Congrats, Al!

Okay, so maybe this can't make up for the presidency being snatched out from under his nose.

Or can it?

Not for Amercia , it can't.

I was sooooo happy to hear this on the radio as I drove into work this morning.

It restored a microscopic bit of my faith in humanity... Then they had to go and spoil it by talking about how Bush has been denying global warming as a man made effect until very recently. All I could think was: "If only the Bush family hadn't practically owned the supreme court at the time of the Bush/Gore election"... or "If only Florida hadn't had such a crummy election process at the time."

I blame it on global warming...all that hot air addled the brains of Florida.

It doesn't make up for anything...but it's a great wake up call. Just because our current president is not interested in global warming does mean it should fall of the political radar. Is any presidential candidate talking about it seriously?

Here's the bad news. It may be too late. Recent studies up here show that lakes are a major source of methane production. Under normal circumstances, the methane is just part of a cycle.

But now, the lakes are evaporating faster, and producing more methane, which produces stronger green house gases, which makes things warm up faster, which produces more greenhouse gases.

IF people took this seriously, there is a way to get energy from the methane, and convert the gases to carbon monoxide, which is much less potent as a green house gas.

But it is not like we have a lot of time on this.

Perhaps the next President-elect will have the intelligence to tap Al Gore for the position of Secretary of the Interior.

Arctic - just curious, too late for what? I hear a lot of mixed things. I once overheard a scientist argue that at some point (at like a 2 degree increase) the warming takes off on an unstoppable fast track. But, I don't know what to make of isolated comments like these.

But, regardless of what there is to do, where is the will? Where are the resources? Why is it not a hot topic in American politics? (... pun not intended)

Probably because a) the research is fairly new, and b) the research comes from Alaska, and although we are on the fast track when it comes to climate change, we still have to stand in line behind bigger schools to get notice.

Too late in terms of doing anything to slow climate change.

And the hot topic among republicans seems to be who can waterboard better, and among dems...can anyone stop Hilary. The first casualty in an election year it seems is real issues.

BTW, what do YOU think of John Edwards hair?

It's not a hot topic because the people in charge of hot topics don't want to talk about it. they want to talk about Nancy Holloway or whatever her name was or the North Carolina field hockey team or whoever they were or whether Don Imus will get his job back or whether soldiers against the war are phony soldiers or not.

The hot topic people are much more invested in giving us bread and circuses while fleecing us under the covers.

Besides, global warming is part of the normal cycle of life on earth. Ten thousand years ago it was global freezing, now it's global warming. If you don't like the weather now just wait 10,000 years, it'll change again.

The main thing is if we take steps to decrease our culpability business will be impacted. It is far more important that we protect business than our environment. After all God gave us dominion over the earth and all that is in it, so who are you to tell me I can't do what I want with the earth.

What people don't understand is the earth is a self-correcting dynamic system and will inexorably follow whatever natural laws come into play as it returns itself to equilibrium and what happens to us during this process is totally immaterial.

>The main thing is if we take steps to decrease our culpability business will be impacted. It is far more important that we protect business than our environment. After all God gave us dominion over the earth and all that is in it, so who are you to tell me I can't do what I want with the earth.

It could be even simpler than people thinking like this. I think that most people, they just want to get home and kick off their shoes and watch something light and entertaining on TV, something that makes them feel better about themselves and their crappy life/crappy job/bills to pay/noisy kids... people are depleted and thinking is an effort, especially if the thoughts are scary and they feel impotent to do anything about it. By nature, we humans tend to be gullible and don't want to be forced into divesting ourselves of our illusions. If the culture itself feeds into this bubble each individual gets into, it becomes harder for activists and educators to get people to do something about it, but it isn't impossible. It's just harder.

If we could find a way to convince Americans that Bin Laden is the force behind global warming.... then fighting (and handling) global warming would become a true obsession. But, as our modern society is the cause, I think MissTrudy's argument applies. People would rather avoid the guilt and instead believe the problem doesn't exist, or better yet, find proof it isn't actually happening....or just forget about it.

We tend to be anti-catastrophic at heart. It will all turn out ok in the end.

Global warming? what's the big deal? So what if we lose some ice up north?

So what if a few african farmers can't get water because Kilimanjaro has melted?

So what if we get a few more hurricanes a year...in New Orleans of North Carolina?

Maybe this years summer and drought will convince a few more people.

(Aside: TOTALLY ASIDE) My fun reading for the week was World War Z: an oral history of the zombie wars. Usually zombie movies ...stop laughing, I am being serious dammit!...usually zombie movies make some kind of political or social statement. This book could be our attitude to global warming in many ways. Plus, it is a fun read!

#12
"If we could find a way to convince Americans that Bin Laden is the force behind global warming...."

I'm afraid if that happened then Bush would just reinstate the draft and start a few more wars to help combat global warming.

#13 - I'm intrigued.

#14 - Now you have me trying to think of ways how Bush et al. could use global warming to justify the potential upcoming war against Iran.