The Climate Change Debate Thread

[Eddiepops]

Since there's so many threads started on this topic, making it nigh on impossible to follow them and leading to large amounts of repetition, I thought it would be best to start a stickied thread on the Climate Change/Global warming issue, for all those who would like to discuss whether it is true or not, the arguments in favour and against, etc. This can thus serve as the definitive thread on the issue and all relevant information, developments and views can be posted here. New threads on the issue will thus not be allowed. This is in line with the moderation policy of politics.ie that does not allow duplicate threads on the same topic.

Let the games begin

[zakalwe]

Since there's so many threads started on this topic, making it nigh on impossible to follow them and leading to large amounts of repetition, I thought it would be best to start a stickied thread on the Climate Change/Global warming issue, for all those who would like to discuss whether it is true or not, the arguments in favour and against, etc. This can thus serve as the definitive thread on the issue and all relevant information, developments and views can be posted here. New threads on the issue will thus not be allowed. This is in line with the moderation policy of politics.ie that does not allow duplicate threads on the same topic.

Let the games begin

climate change = weather.
its been happening longer than we've been burning fossil fuels.

[lyingeyes98]

When did we stop calling it Global Warming and start calling it Climate Change. anything Frank Luntz is associated with has got to be dodgy.

[ballot stuffer]

While acknowledging the climate may be changing I am highly sceptical of our level of involvement and the accuracy of climate models that predict the future.

I am also dismayed at some of the more extreme "Eco fascists" that are intentionally polarising the debate in order to promote their own extreme views.

[blinding]

I dont trust scientists, politicians,media so...........................

[rockyracoon]

The ideologoical (if you like) change from "Global Warming" to "Climate Change" seems to indicate that the agenda of the ecologocial-political groupings are trying to extend their orbit of influence while being unable to rely on their original premises. Are we not experiencing global warming now? Why the change in the name of the potential catastrophe we're facing?

The fact of the matter is that we are facing into strident competition for diminishing natural resources. The greatest diminishing natural resource that pops to mind is oil.

On the top of diminishing natural resources is the emergence of a new world order at the beginning of this century; namely the emergence of the BRIC nations who are demanding and obtaining use of the diminishing natural resources. The sheer population numbers of China and India alone, if they were to achieve our Western standard of living, can potentially alter the distribution of wealth and resources across the globe. How much of the eco-pol policies are really about curtailing BRIC nations demand on resources while scrambling for alternative fuel sources in order to prop up our Western standard of living?

[By the way, good idea for a one stop shop for the topic. Some of these broader topics can really take off.]

[humperdink]

I think it's great that we can individually contribute to making a difference and can recycle our household waste and have it picked up outside the door. But am I throwing that empty coffee jar into the brown bin becasue I want to save the planet, or because the glass is kindof heavy and is going cost me a few extra cents to throw it in the pay by weight rubbish bin?

[Evestown]

I know that I'm going to sound like my parents here but we're too well off. We're so insulated from the effects of climate change that we don't really care about it.

I know that the weather is terrible here at the moment so I'll go on a sun holiday. When it gets cold in the winter I'll turn up the heating. true, I'll gripe about the cost of gas or heating oil but I won't be in a situation where I have to decide on whether to eat this week or to heat the house. At worst I may have to cancel my gym membership or, god forbid, my Sky subscription.

The same goes for the cost of fuel. I'll moderate my driving a bit but I still think of replacing my car with a 4X4 or perhaps a Qashqai or something safe, like a volvo. but not a smaller more efficient model.

Fortunately, we're not subsistence farmers or something like that so the immediate effects of climate change go unnoticed. It will only be when our houses get flooded more than once (so we can't excuse it as a 100 year flood) and heating becomes a serious drain on our budgets that we might stop and think about the environment. But by then it will probably be too late.

BTW I realise that there are lots of people in the country where the cost of fuel, heating etc is prohibitive but most of us are middle class, comfortable and well off enough to bear a few price increases.

[zakalwe]

I know that I'm going to sound like my parents here but we're too well off. We're so insulated from the effects of climate change that we don't really care about it.

I know that the weather is terrible here at the moment so I'll go on a sun holiday. When it gets cold in the winter I'll turn up the heating. true, I'll gripe about the cost of gas or heating oil but I won't be in a situation where I have to decide on whether to eat this week or to heat the house. At worst I may have to cancel my gym membership or, god forbid, my Sky subscription.

The same goes for the cost of fuel. I'll moderate my driving a bit but I still think of replacing my car with a 4X4 or perhaps a Qashqai or something safe, like a volvo. but not a smaller more efficient model.

Fortunately, we're not subsistence farmers or something like that so the immediate effects of climate change go unnoticed. It will only be when our houses get flooded more than once (so we can't excuse it as a 100 year flood) and heating becomes a serious drain on our budgets that we might stop and think about the environment. But by then it will probably be too late.

BTW I realise that there are lots of people in the country where the cost of fuel, heating etc is prohibitive but most of us are middle class, comfortable and well off enough to bear a few price increases.

none of the above has anything to do with climate change, just the scarsity of oil.

unless you're saying that without air travel, people will change their energy consumption habits in the hope of turning ireland into a sunnier/warmer island.

[JCSkinner]

Climate change is what eco-nuts call weather in order to use it as an excuse for increased taxation and the retarding of Third World developing economies.
The climate is changing all the time, and always has done, ever since the mega-monsoon climate of Pangaea ended with the splitting of the continents in the mid-Jurassic period.
But there is no debate permitted. It's a faith-based religion with true believers in the political classes who well see how to harness the Hobbiton dreams of delusionals to their aim of maintaining the gap of privelige in their own favour.