put a fork in Australia

[fatmenace]

www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/the-truth-will-out-on-labors-carbon-scam/story-e6frezz0-1226197176697

[grubbi]

Coming to the good ol' US of A.

[gk]

""Uncertainty in the sign of projected changes in climate extremes over the coming two to three decades is relatively large because climate change signals are expected to be relatively small compared to natural climate variability," says the IPCC report. In other words, the effect of human-produced greenhouse gas on the climate is insignificant when compared to natural climate change."

This is the worst and most improper use of the phrase "in other words" imaginable. It should probably read "in some random words I just came up with." Because Point A has little to nothing to do with the mystical Point B that the author made up, I guess in her brain.

Argue about the policy, that's fine. But at the risk of going berserk: 1) Climate change and global warming is happening and 2) it's largely caused by humans. By how much is an open question (though models have underestimated how quickly global average temperature would rise. What to do about it is an open question. But, as Professor Denning (below) suggests: The big picture is what matters; details do not.

Here's a video of a talk my former professor gave to the libertarian Heartland Group laying it all out on the table in a very user-friendly manner: www.viddler.com/explore/heartland/videos/369/

If you don't feel like watching 16 minutes, here's a recap, starting with some facts, followed by some analysis, followed by some commentary:

* Billions of people will need more energy to lift themselves out of abject poverty
* Burning coal, oil and gas produces CO2
* CO2 emits heat
* Heat warms things up

Towards the end:

*Producing a decent standard of living to 3 billion extra people will quadruple CO2 (i.e. 400% increase relative to pre-industrial of 30% increase so far) if we chose to do it with coal.

*You can argue about the sensitivity, about whether the 30% increase caused a half or a whole degree of warming. But if you believe that heat warms things up, 400% will make a big difference, to you too.

And now for the relevance:

"We want decent quality of life for all
We need energy to provide health and well-being
Only a free market can bring this about
-If free-market advocates shirk their responsibility, others will dictate policy

Emphasis obviously mine. Bad policy stems from no policy. And if only one side acknowledges the basic science behind easily-understandable global warming, bad policy will result.

[mayor]

Put a fork in Geoff.

[grubbi]

Coming to the good ol' DVR playoffs.