Trains.com

what will replace coal? Locked

19225 views
215 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    March 2012
  • 493 posts
Posted by DwightBranch on Thursday, June 12, 2014 9:03 PM

Randy Stahl
Yes , according to NOAA the Greenland ice caps are already melting on account of volcanic activity.

Okay, I'm done here, this is getting to be like a Blues Brothers skit, looking for excuses that have no basis in scientific fact.

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: roundhouse
  • 2,747 posts
Posted by Randy Stahl on Thursday, June 12, 2014 8:55 PM

Yes , according to NOAA the Greenland ice caps are already melting on account of volcanic activity.

 

Iceland used to have lots of ice too, global warming didn't melt them away, volcano's did. I saw Greenland from the air on a trip to Helsinki ten years ago then again two years ago on my way to Denmark and they are certainly changing. Finnair is one of my favorite airlines next to Lufthansa.

  • Member since
    March 2012
  • 493 posts
Posted by DwightBranch on Thursday, June 12, 2014 8:50 PM

Randy Stahl
Greenland is also volcanic.. just saying..

Yeah, well, that is the point, it is composed mainly of obsidian and volcanic glass, which are black. Uncover them and they will absorb solar radiation.

  • Member since
    March 2012
  • 493 posts
Posted by DwightBranch on Thursday, June 12, 2014 8:48 PM

dakotafred

DwightBranch

... we now have the highest percentage of CO2 in known history.

This is an incredible assertion. Granted that "history," technically, is limited to man's recorded observations. BUT ... the geologic record, which warmers are so fond of citing when it suits them, shows that we had TEN TIMES the CO2, or about 5,000 parts per million, when plant and animal life exploded on this planet millions of years ago.

As a tree would tell you today, if he could talk: CO2 is our friend, the friend of LIFE. People who don't like it should stop exhaling. (I would never say drop dead.)

That would be fine if we were trees, but we (and our food sources) evolved to live in the current environment, with the current climate. If you are looking at the issue from the standpoint of, wow there were some neat plants in the Cambrian period, that would be fine. But we are humans. Could we live in a climate drastically different than the one we live in? "While diverse life forms prospered in the oceans, the land was comparatively barren – with nothing more complex than a microbial soil crust and a few molluscs that emerged to browse on the microbial biofilm." Why in the world would we want to try?

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: roundhouse
  • 2,747 posts
Posted by Randy Stahl on Thursday, June 12, 2014 8:45 PM

DwightBranch

Deggesty
What is the "scientists" basis for determining that 400 ppm is a catastrophic threshold?

Scare quotes? Are you arguing that people with PhDs in chemistry, physics, etc and who have published peer reviewed articles aren't scientists? What is your training to make such a claim?

Here is James Hansen's paper, he is the NASA scientist who argued that 350 ppm should be our target, he and other scientists have argued that 400ppm is unsustainable. Among the reasons, at that level the temperature of the atmosphere will rise to the point sufficient to initiate changes that will dramatically increase the rate of warming, including: melting of the Greenland, Arctic polar ice caps (ever pass over Greenland in the summer, it is as black as onyx, mostly covered in ice even in summer, so is the Arctic under all that ice, if exposed it will absorb a great deal solar radiation, further accelerating global warming) and of methane trapped in the ocean seabed, which is a very strong greenhouse gas, more so than CO2, held in place by the cold temperature of the sea currently, if warmed it will be released into the atmosphere, further accelerating global warming.

 

Greenland is also volcanic.. just saying..

  • Member since
    December 2009
  • 1,751 posts
Posted by dakotafred on Thursday, June 12, 2014 8:41 PM

DwightBranch

... we now have the highest percentage of CO2 in known history.

This is an incredible assertion. Granted that "history," technically, is limited to man's recorded observations. BUT ... the geologic record, which warmers are so fond of citing when it suits them, shows that we had TEN TIMES the CO2, or about 5,000 parts per million, when plant and animal life exploded on this planet millions of years ago.

As a tree would tell you today, if he could talk: CO2 is our friend, the friend of LIFE. People who don't like it should stop exhaling. (I would never say drop dead.)

  • Member since
    March 2012
  • 493 posts
Posted by DwightBranch on Thursday, June 12, 2014 8:29 PM

No, are you? I am a political economist, and the credentials system works very similarly, and there is no basis questioning a person's credentials just becasue you disagree with them. I wouldn't put myself forward as an expert , but can only repeat the conclusions of those who are: AGW is settled science, and the world isn't too big or complex to understand, or to break down discrete causes.

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: roundhouse
  • 2,747 posts
Posted by Randy Stahl on Thursday, June 12, 2014 8:26 PM

DwightBranch

Randy Stahl
There are now a little over 600 coal fired power plants in the US. In the past every heavy industry and some light industry had their own power plant. In 1945 there we more than 11,000 large coal power plants in service in the US including private steam and electricity generating plants.

Documentation? The total electrical output of coal fired power plants is roughly 20 times greater than it was in 1945, it rose every year until the recession of 2008. Here is the raw data. There may be fewer plants, but they are producing far more output and using far more coal, and producing far more CO2.

 

Yes  , you are quite correct. New plants do produce more electricity and use a lot of coal. However neither of us can quantify the amount of coal used for steam and power in 1945 vs 2014 I certainly can't. However, I have to believe that 11,000 points of emissions is ALOT of coal. I will not believe that we are using more coal for steam and power generation today than we were in 1945. Most of the big mills are gone along with their pollution.

  • Member since
    December 2009
  • 1,751 posts
Posted by dakotafred on Thursday, June 12, 2014 8:14 PM

DwightBranch

Deggesty
What is the "scientists" basis for determining that 400 ppm is a catastrophic threshold?

Scare quotes? Are you arguing that people with PhDs in chemistry, physics, etc and who have published peer reviewed articles aren't scientists? What is your training to make such a claim?

And what is your training? Are you a climatologist or even a meteorologist?

  • Member since
    March 2012
  • 493 posts
Posted by DwightBranch on Thursday, June 12, 2014 8:10 PM

Randy Stahl
There are now a little over 600 coal fired power plants in the US. In the past every heavy industry and some light industry had their own power plant. In 1945 there we more than 11,000 large coal power plants in service in the US including private steam and electricity generating plants.

Documentation? The total electrical output of coal fired power plants is roughly 20 times greater than it was in 1945, it rose every year until the recession of 2008. Here is the raw data. There may be fewer plants, but they are producing far more output and using far more coal, and producing far more CO2.

  • Member since
    December 2009
  • 1,751 posts
Posted by dakotafred on Thursday, June 12, 2014 8:07 PM

schlimm

There is really no argument; man-caused GCC is settled. 

 
Hardly. CO2 is a "trace" gas, accounting for less than one-half of 1 percent of atmospheric gases. Of that, man -- polluting as hard as he can -- accounts for between 3 and 4 percent.
 
Earth is bigger than we are, and is still doing a pretty good job of taking care of itself. (C02 still has the half-life it always has, 10 years.) You people who have trouble living with weather cycles need to live a little longer -- and experience more -- before laying down economic and political agendas for the rest of us.  
  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: roundhouse
  • 2,747 posts
Posted by Randy Stahl on Thursday, June 12, 2014 8:03 PM

DwightBranch

Randy Stahl

DwightBranch

Randy Stahl

OK , I'll play. What is the percentage of human caused CO2 in the atmosphere and how do they prove it?

 

The BIGGEST source of atmospheric CO2 is the planet itself (mostly oceanic). CO2 emission is natural and changes with sunlight.

Since the 70s we have been cleaning up powerplants, heavy industry is nearly gone and those that survive are under strict rules regarding pollution. I argue that human caused CO2 had been steadily dropping for the last 40 years. Sure , in other countries there are less strict rules but they will never rival the size and scope of industry in the US prior to 1960. So if the theory had actual basis it would show a reduction of human caused CO2 reflecting the reduced heavy manufacturing in the last 40 years world wide, instead they are showing steady increases ?? Gimme a damn break .

 

These is one gap in the theory. There is little information on the sun's radiation prior to modern observation. There is a direct correlation between the planets production of CO2 and the activity of the sun.

Completely untrue, prior to last week there was no restriction whatsoever on the amount of CO2 that could be emitted by power plants, the Clean Air Act initially only mandated the removal of certain hazardous (in themselves, meaning they are poisonous to humans) air pollutants including acetaldehyde, benzene, chloroform, phenols and selenium compounds, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and oxides of nitrogen. Over the years scientists have pushed for mercury to be regulated (initially successfully but the Bush administration removed it) and ozone (partially successfully). CO2 was not initially regulated under the CAA, this only changed in 2007 when the USSC mandated that the CAA be interpreted to cover atmospheric CO2 in  Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, 549 U.S. 497 (2007) )and the EPA only last week announced how they would do so in coming years. So at present there is no limit whatsoever on the amount of CO2 gas a power plant can produce, there have been no meaningful efforts to reduce  and that amount is still roughly equal to what it was in the 1970s. We just last year crossed the 400 ppm (parts per Million) of CO2 in the atmosphere that most scientists consider to be a catastrophic threshold, we never were above that in human history.

 

In recorded human history perhaps. what about before that ? If we are at the catastrophic levels then we lose. Game over. Why are we still alive ? Catastrophic implies we have passed the point of no return ?

 

Even though power plants are not regulated for CO2 emissions, there aren't as many as there was 50 years ago.

There are far more coal-fired power plants now than in the 1970s, becasue our population has risen from 240 million just 30 years ago to 300 million now, and every new person requires electricity for consumer goods, heat, ac, etc., and until just a few years ago that was mainly accomplished by coal burning plants.

To paraphrase Chekov in the old Star Trek "we'll live, but we won't be happy", some of us anyway, not billions, why go through such a cataclysm if we don't need to?

 

There are now a little over 600 coal fired power plants in the US. In the past every heavy industry and some light industry had their own power plant. In 1945 there we more than 11,000 large coal power plants in service in the US including private steam and electricity generating plants.

  • Member since
    March 2012
  • 493 posts
Posted by DwightBranch on Thursday, June 12, 2014 7:58 PM

Deggesty
What is the "scientists" basis for determining that 400 ppm is a catastrophic threshold?

Scare quotes? Are you arguing that people with PhDs in chemistry, physics, etc and who have published peer reviewed articles aren't scientists? What is your training to make such a claim?

Here is James Hansen's paper, he is the NASA scientist who argued that 350 ppm should be our target, he and other scientists have argued that 400ppm is unsustainable. Among the reasons, at that level the temperature of the atmosphere will rise to the point sufficient to initiate changes that will dramatically increase the rate of warming, including: melting of the Greenland, Arctic polar ice caps (ever pass over Greenland in the summer, it is as black as onyx, mostly covered in ice even in summer, so is the Arctic under all that ice, if exposed it will absorb a great deal solar radiation, further accelerating global warming) and of methane trapped in the ocean seabed, which is a very strong greenhouse gas, more so than CO2, held in place by the cold temperature of the sea currently, if warmed it will be released into the atmosphere, further accelerating global warming.

  • Member since
    March 2012
  • 493 posts
Posted by DwightBranch on Thursday, June 12, 2014 7:44 PM

Randy Stahl

DwightBranch

Randy Stahl

OK , I'll play. What is the percentage of human caused CO2 in the atmosphere and how do they prove it?

 

The BIGGEST source of atmospheric CO2 is the planet itself (mostly oceanic). CO2 emission is natural and changes with sunlight.

Since the 70s we have been cleaning up powerplants, heavy industry is nearly gone and those that survive are under strict rules regarding pollution. I argue that human caused CO2 had been steadily dropping for the last 40 years. Sure , in other countries there are less strict rules but they will never rival the size and scope of industry in the US prior to 1960. So if the theory had actual basis it would show a reduction of human caused CO2 reflecting the reduced heavy manufacturing in the last 40 years world wide, instead they are showing steady increases ?? Gimme a damn break .

 

These is one gap in the theory. There is little information on the sun's radiation prior to modern observation. There is a direct correlation between the planets production of CO2 and the activity of the sun.

Completely untrue, prior to last week there was no restriction whatsoever on the amount of CO2 that could be emitted by power plants, the Clean Air Act initially only mandated the removal of certain hazardous (in themselves, meaning they are poisonous to humans) air pollutants including acetaldehyde, benzene, chloroform, phenols and selenium compounds, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and oxides of nitrogen. Over the years scientists have pushed for mercury to be regulated (initially successfully but the Bush administration removed it) and ozone (partially successfully). CO2 was not initially regulated under the CAA, this only changed in 2007 when the USSC mandated that the CAA be interpreted to cover atmospheric CO2 in  Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, 549 U.S. 497 (2007) )and the EPA only last week announced how they would do so in coming years. So at present there is no limit whatsoever on the amount of CO2 gas a power plant can produce, there have been no meaningful efforts to reduce  and that amount is still roughly equal to what it was in the 1970s. We just last year crossed the 400 ppm (parts per Million) of CO2 in the atmosphere that most scientists consider to be a catastrophic threshold, we never were above that in human history.

 

In recorded human history perhaps. what about before that ? If we are at the catastrophic levels then we lose. Game over. Why are we still alive ? Catastrophic implies we have passed the point of no return ?

 

Even though power plants are not regulated for CO2 emissions, there aren't as many as there was 50 years ago.

There are far more coal-fired power plants now than in the 1970s, becasue our population has risen from 240 million just 30 years ago to 300 million now, and every new person requires electricity for consumer goods, heat, ac, etc., and until just a few years ago that was mainly accomplished by coal burning plants.

To paraphrase Chekov in the old Star Trek "we'll live, but we won't be happy", some of us anyway, not billions, why go through such a cataclysm if we don't need to?

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 9,610 posts
Posted by schlimm on Thursday, June 12, 2014 7:37 PM

Randy Stahl

You have an opportunity to state your discipline in science on the BIO thread . If you have credentials I won't argue with you .

 

I have the right to come to my own conclusions based on what I read and understand. At least I'm not a robot jumping on Al Gores wagon before I am convinced beyond doubt.

I am not a climatologist but I have a sufficient science background to respect the opinions of the research specialists in climatology.  You can believe in a flat earth or that the sun god drives a chariot around the earth daily if you wish, but that won't change the facts.   Unlike some matters, it isn't a case of belief.   It is empirical science. And Al Gore has nothing to do with this, except folks like yourself want t make this political.

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: roundhouse
  • 2,747 posts
Posted by Randy Stahl on Thursday, June 12, 2014 7:32 PM

DwightBranch

Randy Stahl

OK , I'll play. What is the percentage of human caused CO2 in the atmosphere and how do they prove it?

 

The BIGGEST source of atmospheric CO2 is the planet itself (mostly oceanic). CO2 emission is natural and changes with sunlight.

Since the 70s we have been cleaning up powerplants, heavy industry is nearly gone and those that survive are under strict rules regarding pollution. I argue that human caused CO2 had been steadily dropping for the last 40 years. Sure , in other countries there are less strict rules but they will never rival the size and scope of industry in the US prior to 1960. So if the theory had actual basis it would show a reduction of human caused CO2 reflecting the reduced heavy manufacturing in the last 40 years world wide, instead they are showing steady increases ?? Gimme a damn break .

 

These is one gap in the theory. There is little information on the sun's radiation prior to modern observation. There is a direct correlation between the planets production of CO2 and the activity of the sun.

Completely untrue, prior to last week there was no restriction whatsoever on the amount of CO2 that could be emitted by power plants, the Clean Air Act initially only mandated the removal of certain hazardous (in themselves, meaning they are poisonous to humans) air pollutants including acetaldehyde, benzene, chloroform, phenols and selenium compounds, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and oxides of nitrogen. Over the years scientists have pushed for mercury to be regulated (initially successfully but the Bush administration removed it) and ozone (partially successfully). CO2 was not initially regulated under the CAA, this only changed in 2007 when the USSC mandated that the CAA be interpreted to cover atmospheric CO2 in  Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, 549 U.S. 497 (2007) )and the EPA only last week announced how they would do so in coming years. So at present there is no limit whatsoever on the amount of CO2 gas a power plant can produce, there have been no meaningful efforts to reduce  and that amount is still roughly equal to what it was in the 1970s. We just last year crossed the 400 ppm (parts per Million) of CO2 in the atmosphere that most scientists consider to be a catastrophic threshold, we never were above that in human history.

 

In recorded human history perhaps. what about before that ? If we are at the catastrophic levels then we lose. Game over. Why are we still alive ? Catastrophic implies we have passed the point of no return ?

 

Even though power plants are not regulated for CO2 emissions, there aren't as many as there was 50 years ago.

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: At the Crossroads of the West
  • 11,013 posts
Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, June 12, 2014 7:29 PM
DwightBranch

Randy Stahl

OK , I'll play. What is the percentage of human caused CO2 in the atmosphere and how do they prove it?

 

The BIGGEST source of atmospheric CO2 is the planet itself (mostly oceanic). CO2 emission is natural and changes with sunlight.

Since the 70s we have been cleaning up powerplants, heavy industry is nearly gone and those that survive are under strict rules regarding pollution. I argue that human caused CO2 had been steadily dropping for the last 40 years. Sure , in other countries there are less strict rules but they will never rival the size and scope of industry in the US prior to 1960. So if the theory had actual basis it would show a reduction of human caused CO2 reflecting the reduced heavy manufacturing in the last 40 years world wide, instead they are showing steady increases ?? Gimme a damn break .

 

These is one gap in the theory. There is little information on the sun's radiation prior to modern observation. There is a direct correlation between the planets production of CO2 and the activity of the sun.

Completely untrue, prior to last week there was no restriction whatsoever on the amount of CO2 that could be emitted by power plants, the Clean Air Act initially only mandated the removal of certain hazardous (in themselves, meaning they are poisonous to humans) air pollutants including acetaldehyde, benzene, chloroform, phenols and selenium compounds, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and oxides of nitrogen. Over the years scientists have pushed for mercury to be regulated (initially successfully but the Bush administration removed it) and ozone (partially successfully). CO2 was not initially regulated under the CAA, this only changed in 2007 when the USSC mandated that the CAA be interpreted to cover atmospheric CO2 in  Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, 549 U.S. 497 (2007) )and the EPA only last week announced how they would do so in coming years. So at present there is no limit whatsoever on the amount of CO2 gas a power plant can produce, there have been no meaningful efforts to reduce  and that amount is still roughly equal to what it was in the 1970s. We just last year crossed the 400 ppm (parts per Million) of CO2 in the atmosphere that most scientists consider to be a catastrophic threshold, we never were above that in human history.

What is the "scientists" basis for determining that 400 ppm is a catastrophic threshold?

Johnny

  • Member since
    March 2012
  • 493 posts
Posted by DwightBranch on Thursday, June 12, 2014 7:25 PM

Randy Stahl

OK , I'll play. What is the percentage of human caused CO2 in the atmosphere and how do they prove it?

 

The BIGGEST source of atmospheric CO2 is the planet itself (mostly oceanic). CO2 emission is natural and changes with sunlight.

Since the 70s we have been cleaning up powerplants, heavy industry is nearly gone and those that survive are under strict rules regarding pollution. I argue that human caused CO2 had been steadily dropping for the last 40 years. Sure , in other countries there are less strict rules but they will never rival the size and scope of industry in the US prior to 1960. So if the theory had actual basis it would show a reduction of human caused CO2 reflecting the reduced heavy manufacturing in the last 40 years world wide, instead they are showing steady increases ?? Gimme a damn break .

 

These is one gap in the theory. There is little information on the sun's radiation prior to modern observation. There is a direct correlation between the planets production of CO2 and the activity of the sun.

Completely untrue, prior to last week there was no restriction whatsoever on the amount of CO2 that could be emitted by power plants, the Clean Air Act initially only mandated the removal of certain hazardous (in themselves, meaning they are poisonous to humans) air pollutants including acetaldehyde, benzene, chloroform, phenols and selenium compounds, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and oxides of nitrogen. Over the years scientists have pushed for mercury to be regulated (initially successfully but the Bush administration removed it) and ozone (partially successfully). CO2 was not initially regulated under the CAA, this only changed in 2007 when the USSC mandated that the CAA be interpreted to cover atmospheric CO2 in  Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, 549 U.S. 497 (2007) )and the EPA only last week announced how they would do so in coming years. So at present there is no limit whatsoever on the amount of CO2 gas a power plant can produce, there have been no meaningful efforts to reduce it on a plant by plant basis and that amount is still roughly equal to what it was in the 1970s. We just last year crossed the 400 ppm (parts per Million) threshold of CO2 in the atmosphere that most scientists consider to be catastrophic, we never were above that previously in human history.

  • Member since
    August 2004
  • From: St. Paul, Minnesota
  • 2,116 posts
Posted by Boyd on Thursday, June 12, 2014 7:22 PM
CO2 is a very small part of our atmosphere. Plants live off of it and it is necessary. Most of the atmosphere is water vapor. One environmental group in England got in trouble a few years ago for fudging the numbers upward to make it look like warming. In the USA they have been closing rural weather collecting stations and keeping open urban locations which are within a heat island,,, in order to collect more data from warmer locations. There are billions being spent on global warming research. There is a huge amount of money and socialist political agenda behind this. Remember Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines going off in the early 90s? It was a huge eruption and I remember the next summer being noticeably colder. Some of the Russian climate scientists think we are headed for another little ice age. When the mega volcano at Yosemite goes off,, throw away your summer clothes,, as if you survive you will be wearing winter clothes the rest of your life

Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: roundhouse
  • 2,747 posts
Posted by Randy Stahl on Thursday, June 12, 2014 7:19 PM

FYI, I read both sides , pro and con. I don't listen to the Limbough or any talk radio for that matter.

 

Now unless I am arguing with an ACTUAL climate scientist  here on the trains magazine forum my understanding and my opinion is just as valid as any.

 

You have an opportunity to state your discipline in science on the BIO thread . If you have credentials I won't argue with you .

 

I have the right to come to my own conclusions based on what I read and understand. At least I'm not a robot jumping on Al Gores wagon before I am convinced beyond doubt.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 9,610 posts
Posted by schlimm on Thursday, June 12, 2014 7:09 PM

Randy Stahl
OK , I'll play. What is the percentage of human caused CO2 in the atmosphere and how do they prove it?

It is not a game, Randy, it is science. There really isn't any argument.    I suggest you do some reading of some of the scholarly research.

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: roundhouse
  • 2,747 posts
Posted by Randy Stahl on Thursday, June 12, 2014 7:06 PM

OK , I'll play. What is the percentage of human caused CO2 in the atmosphere and how do they prove it?

 

The BIGGEST source of atmospheric CO2 is the planet itself (mostly oceanic). CO2 emission is natural and changes with sunlight.

Since the 70s we have been cleaning up powerplants, heavy industry is nearly gone and those that survive are under strict rules regarding pollution. I argue that human caused CO2 had been steadily dropping for the last 40 years. Sure , in other countries there are less strict rules but they will never rival the size and scope of industry in the US prior to 1960. So if the theory had actual basis it would show a reduction of human caused CO2 reflecting the reduced heavy manufacturing in the last 40 years world wide, instead they are showing steady increases ?? Gimme a damn break .

 

These is one gap in the theory. There is little information on the sun's radiation prior to modern observation. There is a direct correlation between the planets production of CO2 and the activity of the sun.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 9,610 posts
Posted by schlimm on Thursday, June 12, 2014 7:04 PM

There is really no argument; man-caused GCC is settled.  People who want to stick their heads in the sand and be in denial, make inane jokes and repeat the nonsense of such notable "scientists" as Limbaugh and Beck and Hannity are not going to be convinced by actual facts.  

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

  • Member since
    March 2012
  • 493 posts
Posted by DwightBranch on Thursday, June 12, 2014 6:44 PM

Randy Stahl

schlimm

The consensus is overwhelming:  from NASA

http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus

W. R. L. Anderegg, “Expert Credibility in Climate Change,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Vol. 107 No. 27, 12107-12109 (21 June 2010); DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1003187107.

 

But NASA will also confirm that the polar ice caps on are are melting at an alarming rate as well.

 If you ask my ex wife this is also my fault.

 

Maybe the sun is a little warmer ?

 You had me fooled , this winter was bloody cold on clear days!

The last I heard from the alarmists in Kyoto was that cow farts were killing the planet

Sigh, this is tedious, you people do not understand science. One more time: the theory of AGW is NOT derived from observation, it is derived from deductive logic, from an understanding of the physical properties of the components of the atmosphere, PRIOR TO ANY SUCH OBSERVATIONS ACTUALLY OCCURRING. Do I really need to repeat this one more time? The theory (and for physical scientists such as , "theory" means "proven") is not based primarily upon observation, indeed it has existed since the 1970s (I first heard of it in the 1980s LONG BEFORE the effects could be measured). It is quite simple: change the composition of any entity by adding a larger proportion of any chemical (in this case CO2 gas to the atmosphere) and you change its physical characteristics. It can be tested on a small scale and then extrapolated from for the entire atmosphere.  Fill a clear cylinder with the components of the atmosphere, expose it to IR, measure the temperature, change its composition by adding the quantity and percentage of total CO2 gas, expose it to IR again, the temperature will rise according to a well defined and long understood standard. Do the same thing with the atmosphere: determine the overall volume of the atmosphere, the current or previous composition of CO2 gas (we know by various means, including ice core samples taken from the Antarctic from millions of years ago, sealed containers from 10k years ago, 5k years ago etc.) the changes in the amount and percentage of the CO2 content due to human influence (primarily the burning of fossil fuels, we now have the highest percentage of CO2 in known history) and its temperature will rise the same as the cylinder in the lab, ie. at a clearly understood and defined rate. Differences between the lab and the surface of the earth (areas like cities absorb IR, whereas the Arctic and Antarctic are reflective now, but won't be if their ice caps melt, which will accelerate the process) can be accounted for in making calculations  That's science. THIS IS NOT DERIVED FROM OBSERVATION. And so far the predictions made from this deductive, mathematical modelling have come to pass in recent years, at a very early stage in what will be a very ugly process.  So your "gee, anything could explain the weather we are having" is irreverent.

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: roundhouse
  • 2,747 posts
Posted by Randy Stahl on Thursday, June 12, 2014 6:12 PM

schlimm

The consensus is overwhelming:  from NASA

http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus

W. R. L. Anderegg, “Expert Credibility in Climate Change,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Vol. 107 No. 27, 12107-12109 (21 June 2010); DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1003187107.

 

But NASA will also confirm that the polar ice caps on are are melting at an alarming rate as well.

 If you ask my ex wife this is also my fault.

 

Maybe the sun is a little warmer ?

 You had me fooled , this winter was bloody cold on clear days!

The last I heard from the alarmists in Kyoto was that cow farts were killing the planet

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 9,610 posts
Posted by schlimm on Thursday, June 12, 2014 5:59 PM

The consensus is overwhelming:  from NASA

http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus

W. R. L. Anderegg, “Expert Credibility in Climate Change,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Vol. 107 No. 27, 12107-12109 (21 June 2010); DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1003187107.

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

  • Member since
    January 2014
  • 8,217 posts
Posted by Euclid on Thursday, June 12, 2014 5:52 PM

DwightBranch

... around 97% of all scientists endorse the existence of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) .

I looked at the link video and find it hard to come away with a clear conclusion.  So let me ask just a simple question to help me visualize the basis of the conclusion: 

How many scientists are there? 

Just give me the number. 

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 9,610 posts
Posted by schlimm on Thursday, June 12, 2014 5:48 PM

The 97% is based on a meta-analysis of peer-reviewed articles published by independent scientists in the field of climate studies, i.e., climatlogists.  97% of them are in agreement that:  1. The earth's climate is warming; and 2. The warming is partly/mostly caused by man's increasing use of fossil fuels resulting in more carbon (CO2) in the atmosphere.

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: roundhouse
  • 2,747 posts
Posted by Randy Stahl on Thursday, June 12, 2014 5:44 PM

dakotafred

DwightBranch

... around 97% of all scientists endorse the existence of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) .


 
This is what the warmers so often spout in lieu of logical or scientific argumentation. I don't know who did the head count, but it's a fact that most of the true-believer scientists are not climatologists ... and it matters little what a chemist or astronomer thinks or endorses concerning climate.
 
I'm sure this 97 percent will be about as easy to find as the Ice Agers of 40 years ago when their hysterical forecasts fall as flat over the next 15 years as they have over the past 15.

 

Does that mean the 3% of the scientists are stupid? (I hope their not the ones holding needles to go in my veins) Maybe that 3% are the actual climatologists and think that the other 97% are stupid ?

  • Member since
    December 2009
  • 1,751 posts
Posted by dakotafred on Thursday, June 12, 2014 5:31 PM

DwightBranch

... around 97% of all scientists endorse the existence of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) .


 
This is what the warmers so often spout in lieu of logical or scientific argumentation. I don't know who did the head count, but it's a fact that most of the true-believer scientists are not climatologists ... and it matters little what a chemist or astronomer thinks or endorses concerning climate.
 
I'm sure this 97 percent will be about as easy to find as the Ice Agers of 40 years ago when their hysterical forecasts fall as flat over the next 15 years as they have over the past 15.

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy