Energy bill, moderates, and other stuff
Jul. 4th, 2009 06:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vik_thorThis is probably going to be a bit long and ranty.
First off, I urge enveryone to contact your US Senators, and let them know how you feel about the American Clean Energy and Security Act (Cap-and-Trade Climate bill) (H.R. 2454.) Personally, I hope everyone tells their Senators to totally REJECT this bill. But let them know either way!
Here are what a couple of people I respect have had to say about it.level_head , here on LJ, and Jerry Pournelle, on his own daybook (blog).
Level Head talks mostly about the absurd amount of MicroManagement in everyday life this bill would create.
Jerry talks about more general stuff, like the fact that theGlobal Warming, (excuse me, they are saying Climate Change now, aren't they... )even though they still talk about temperatures getting higher.)) The Anthropogenic Global Warming theory is nowhere near consensus science yet. It is more an Anthropogenic Global Warming HYPOTHESIS, that the supporters have not been able to provide one testable, falsifiable experiment or data set. Their models do not work. If you plug in the conditions from 1960, or even from 1970, their models do not give the current conditions.
Then there is the fact that until recently (last few years or so) some of the data that is being used is "noisier" than they like to admit.
And how does one figure out a 1/2ºF rise in average temperature worldwide, over 120 years when in many places the average seasonal variation can be >100ºF.
Plus the fact that Earth's climate has changed before, radically, well before humans came on the scene, and even after, but before all the CO2 production that HR2454 purports to reduce to "Reduce Global Warming Pollution". (Google (or Bing! if you prefer) Little Ice Age and Maunder Minimum)
On to other stuff.
I assume y'all have heard about how Ms. Palin has resigned as governor of Alaska, effective later this month. I'm thinking this is signalling a true split in the Republican Party, between the Evangelical Christian conservative wing, and the more moderate wing of the the party.
I have said it before, and I'm sure I will say it again, but I am a mderate centrist, and I think both the Democrats and Republicans are getting too extreme, out towards the ends of the Conservative/Liberal spectrum. If the Republican party does split, hopefully we could get some true electoral reform in this country. two things I would like to see are Preferential Voting for all elections, and changing the Electoral College to be proportional at state level, rather than winner take all. I think both of these changes would move politics back toward the center.
Guess that's all for now.
First off, I urge enveryone to contact your US Senators, and let them know how you feel about the American Clean Energy and Security Act (Cap-and-Trade Climate bill) (H.R. 2454.) Personally, I hope everyone tells their Senators to totally REJECT this bill. But let them know either way!
Here are what a couple of people I respect have had to say about it.
level_head , here on LJ, and Jerry Pournelle, on his own daybook (blog).Level Head talks mostly about the absurd amount of MicroManagement in everyday life this bill would create.
Jerry talks about more general stuff, like the fact that the
Then there is the fact that until recently (last few years or so) some of the data that is being used is "noisier" than they like to admit.
And how does one figure out a 1/2ºF rise in average temperature worldwide, over 120 years when in many places the average seasonal variation can be >100ºF.
Plus the fact that Earth's climate has changed before, radically, well before humans came on the scene, and even after, but before all the CO2 production that HR2454 purports to reduce to "Reduce Global Warming Pollution". (Google (or Bing! if you prefer) Little Ice Age and Maunder Minimum)
On to other stuff.
I assume y'all have heard about how Ms. Palin has resigned as governor of Alaska, effective later this month. I'm thinking this is signalling a true split in the Republican Party, between the Evangelical Christian conservative wing, and the more moderate wing of the the party.
I have said it before, and I'm sure I will say it again, but I am a mderate centrist, and I think both the Democrats and Republicans are getting too extreme, out towards the ends of the Conservative/Liberal spectrum. If the Republican party does split, hopefully we could get some true electoral reform in this country. two things I would like to see are Preferential Voting for all elections, and changing the Electoral College to be proportional at state level, rather than winner take all. I think both of these changes would move politics back toward the center.
Guess that's all for now.
weather vs climate
Date: 2009-07-05 04:57 pm (UTC)Weather is the day to day stuff.
Climate is the longer term averages (usually starting with a minimum of 30 years of records, from my understanding.)
Not quite sure why you thought I didn't? Unless it's my comment about figuring the 1/2ºF rise over 120 years?
Sorry you boiled my rant/argument down to that.
I was trying to go for more of a "I understand science, and I don't want to wreck our economy over a hypothesis that can't provide any proof."
I am totally for reducing our use of imported petroleum, and increasing use of alternative ways of providing power.
(Imported oil: does anyone seriously think we would pay as much attention to the middle east, if we didn't get so much petroleum from them? [well, there is Israel, but that is a whole other kettle of fish...])
However, that doesn't mean I am totally against drilling for petroleum within our borders, or that I am totally for using Corn Ethanol to run vehicles on.
Is the climate of Earth changing? It's very possible that it is, after all it has changed drastically before.
Are humans totally responsible for it? No. see above.
I think that humans may be playing a small part in it, but not even a majority part.
I'm not against reducing CO2 emissions in a reasonable way.
However, I don't think this bill is a reasonable way.
I also think that as much effort should be being put into figuring out what we will have to do if the climate does change, (either hotter or colder) to survive.
It seems to me that all the focus is going into "We're putting CO2 into the air by burning stuff, so if we stop burning stuff, the Earth will be like it has been over the last 100 years."
What if the climate is changing without our help? That never seems to be mentioned.