Global Warming

[jminnis]

I've always been something of a global warming skeptic who was willing to accept that reducing CO2 levels was generally a good thing. I've moved hard away from global warming in the last year because of a few things.

Comments

[akjdg]

1. On alt energy costs, I have focused on Alaska, where alternative energy sources abound, and the costs of fossil energy are typically extreme. In Alaska, the future of alternative energy is bright.

For global energy concerns, all I can offer is that geological and technological realities (collectively, 'peak oil') do not care about economics. We can either pay a lot more for energy or use less energy. Over the coming decades, I do not think that our current energy pricing regime is likely to be sustained.

So what are the alternatives? Nuclear? Sure, makes sense to me. Wind/solar/hydro/biomass/geothermal? Sure. None of these are a solution, but where they are viable and economically rational, do 'em. R&D makes sense, because if the cost of a spray-on roof for my house and the cost of a spray-on solar roof for my house are the same, I'll take the solar one, thanks.

What we cannot do is continue to rely so heavily on oil because there will not be enough left (both in terms of total mass and extraction rates) to sustain the contemporary pace of oil consumption and the economic activity it enables over the coming decades. Of course, this is not a crisis. Oil will remain vital to core activities for decades to come. The point is that the available volume will diminish, and either something else will fill that gap, or we will do without.

3. I think you missed my point. Stop thinking of people like highly rational, hard thinking individuals, and start thinking of them like busy folks who don't pay much attention, generally believe what they're told, and generally act accordingly. They've already bought into global warming as an inevitable reality. Tell them its happening here and now, and heat waves will be the miracles that confirm the gospel, while cold snaps become meaningless anomalies. USE this to steer their behavior to address real problems.

You can either try to stop the waves, or you can surf on them. One's futile and potentially deadly, the other is useful (transportation, right?) and fun.