sleepkreep’s Recent Comments

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Of course

  I've actually had this argument with a few of my friends recently. They keep saying that forcing energy efficiency on people will solve the problem.  However, history has not reflected this.  Every time we increase efficiency of something, people just buy the next size up because they can now afford it.  It's sad, but it's reality.  Combined with the fact that 40% of Americans don't believe that global warming is man made, and that 20% of those who do aren't willing to significantly change their lives, we can expect consumption to increase no matter what kind of efficiency we reach.  The only way to solve the problem is to solve where people get they're energy.  Let's hope projects like Google's can help.  On Energy efficiency just leaves more money to squander, says study posted 2 years ago 9 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Don't forget about global dimming

  The comments above about how 1934 is the hottest year on record talks about how that was during the Great Depression and since CO2 levels (manmade) were at an all time low, manmade global warming must be busted.  However, we can't forget about the global dimming effect.  Visible pollutants like ash and sulfur dioxide create an effect called cloud seeding.  These pollutants generate more clouds in the atmosphere.  In the last 100 years we've decreased the amount of solar energy reaching the surface of the earth by 20%.  This fights against the greenhouse effect and takes energy back out from greenhouse gases.  The problem was getting very severe in the late eighties (the Ethiopian drought).  In the 1991 the amendment to the Clean Air was enacted and visible pollutants were dramatically decreased from America.  The Ethiopian drought immediately got better.  It still was there however. This was caused by the clouds not being so heavy that they drop their load before reaching inland.  Same concept in the 30s.  The cloud cover was decreased since less fossil fuels were being burned and the greenhouse gases built up since the Industrial Revolution were able to show their true power.  Since the build up of the Asian markets, cloud cover has again increased and the temperature spikes (or lack thereof) tend to reflect that.  However, of course the greenhouse effect will overtake the global dimming effect as we saw in 2005 and are now seeing today.  It's funny no one recognizes that if we immediately switch to clean sources like solar and wind that we would almost instantly see a very dramatic rise in temperatures since all of the sun's energy will be hitting us. Not to say we shouldn't switch though.  On 'The temperature record is unreliable'--But temperature trends are clear and widely corroborated posted 2 years ago 8 Responses