Comments StSwithin has made
Tobacco v Climate change
The tobacco/climate change analogy has one big weakness: the public perception of the way governments get money from taxes on tobacco and from so-called "green" taxes is different. If a government warns against smoking even though it will lose revenue it is likely to be believed. If a government warns of environmental disaster and uses it as an excuse to increase "green" taxation it will not be believed. Until governments "ring-fence" green taxes and use them for research into renewable energy, safer nuclear power and reduced energy waste no meaningful response to climate change will be possible.On Hansen wants the skeptics thrown in jail--Did James Hansen really want to try the climate skeptics? posted 1 year ago 6 Responses
Or, to put it another way...
...it has been the coldest October since 2002. Climate science is not based on a cold snap or a warm spell but detecting long-term trends. The trend for the last 10 years has been flat; whether it is a pause in the warming trend or the start on a new cooling trend only time will tell.On NASA says October is sixth warmest on record posted 1 year ago 3 Responses
Peak oil and its effect on climate change
There is an interesting division within the environmental movement at the moment. The half of it concerned with the depletion of natural resources is warning of "peak oil". The other half, concerned with climate change, is ignoring it and assuming that unless fuel is heavily taxed consumption will continue to rise and increase CO2 emissions. (See, for example, the monumental Stern report on the economics of climate change for the British government). On Geologists predict that oil production will decline within a decade posted 1 year ago 1 Response
As natural as breathing
When I read articles like this I understand why there are so many climate change sceptics. CO2 is a safe and natural by-product of life. To declare it to be a pollutant as a way of circumventing the democratic process is immoral. Present the facts to the elected representatives of government and let the facts speak for themselves.On The next president should use the Clean Air Act to control greenhouse gas emissions posted 1 year ago 3 Responses
Rhetoric and repitition, repitition,repitition
Where did Joseph Romm get his ideas from? Repitition, repitition, repitition sounds very much like the prescription of another Joseph "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." And that Joseph, incidentally, was working for a master of rhetoric.
Science has a bad reputation with the public precisely because it has gone for headline grabbing scare stories. An example was a prediction in 1996 that up to 10 million would die by 2010 from those already infected with vCJD. The role of science is to distill and explain the truth and nothing but the truth.On Why scientists aren't more persuasive, part 1 posted 1 year ago 12 Responses