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All IPCC definitions taken from Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Annex I, Glossary, pp. 941-954. Cambridge University Press.

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Comments 76651 to 76700:

  1. Settled Science - Humans are Raising CO2 Levels
    EtR#45: "CO2 is increasing and being dissolved in the oceans." Thanks for the clarification. I used the word belief (noun variant of the verb believe) because you stated what you believe. The CO2 increase in question is atmospheric CO2; the measured increase is a multi-year trend (~70ppm in ~50 years), distinct from regular annual cycles. CO2 increase in the oceans is also measured; there are local differences, but the trend is up. You stated here and Sphaerica provides research confirming that biomass is increasing. So now we have to provide a source for all this CO2; if not anthropogenic, where is it coming from? "There are a lot of measurements reported, some which contradict each other." This statement is too ambiguous. What measurements, where, when; how do they contradict? But your answer to the prior question is far more important to this discussion. Where is all that CO2 coming from???
  2. Tar Sands Impact on Climate Change
    @noble_serf #37: On Adapatation In a four-degree warmer world, adaptation means "put your feet up and die" for many people in the world, Oxford's Chris West said. Adaptation is expensive, difficult (don't know how or what is coming or when ) and impossible in many situations. FYI Mitigation means reduction in emissions ie no Keystone.
  3. Tar Sands Impact on Climate Change
    Tipping Point The Oil sands... great arial videos.. http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Shows/The_Nature_of_Things/1242300217/ID=1769597772
  4. Skeptical Science celebrates its 4th birthday
    John congrats on hanging in for four years and making SkS into an 'institution' in the best sense of the word. And bigger congrats on the appointment - we need way more CCSC fellows but good to start with one of the best.
  5. Settled Science - Humans are Raising CO2 Levels
    Muon, Ok, I will rephrase my statement: CO2 is increasing and being dissolved in the oceans. Not sure about your second paragraph though. There are a lot of measurements reported, some which contradict each other. If you can be more specific, then I could answer your question. I am not sure why you keep mentioning "belief" with regards to measurements either.
  6. Skeptical Science celebrates its 4th birthday
    John, you are a remarkable leader, always (well, almost always!) maintaining an "even keel" and bringing others along with you. May you go from "strength to strength" in your new position!
  7. Settled Science - Humans are Raising CO2 Levels
    EtR#42: "because I do not believe that CO2 is not increasing or being dissolved into the oceans" Can you rephrase this without a double negative? Do you believe that atmospheric CO2 is increasing? Do you believe that CO2 is 'being dissolved' into the oceans? Do you understand what it means if what you believe is in contradiction with direct measurement? Do you accept that others, possibly a vast majority of others, might say that measurement is more relevant here than 'belief'?
  8. Settled Science - Humans are Raising CO2 Levels
    40, Eric the Red, Here is a simple, factual discussion of carbon sinks (from the EPA). No hand waving and generalized, unproven statements of relative quantities. Anyone who actually wants to read about and understand this, rather than go with vague but unsupported pronouncements and claims, is directed to Trends in the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide (corinne le Quéré, Michael r. raupach, Josep g. canadell, gregg Marland et al., 2009) Note that CO2 uptake by land has generally been greater than ocean, and increasing over the past decades. This is a semi-permanent uptake (meaning an increase in biomass as opposed to an annual uptake and release), however as common sense will tell anyone, this increase cannot continue forever, and contrary to hopes and wishes, can and will actually reverse. Repeated claims that warming means more, better precipitation are just that, mere claims. Actual studies show quite the opposite. This is a good page to look at for a good, accurate summary of what the future will likely hold: Climate Change Drought which includes the following animation. You can figure out for yourself what is really going to happen to all of those carbon sinks without simply accepting the word of the hopeful and dangerously optimistic.
  9. Republican Presidential Candidates vs. Climate Science
    pbjamm is correct - this article is about the scientific accuracy of climate statements made by politicians, not about politics.
  10. Settled Science - Humans are Raising CO2 Levels
    Muon, I cannot answer your riddles, because I do not believe that CO2 is not increasing or being dissolved into the oceans. Someone else will have to answer them. The CO2 which re-enters the atmosphere from plants is that which is burned, whether for heat, food, or clearing. Looking around (as you suggest), most reports show increases in world forestation (in spite of the continued slash and burn policies), and carbon sequestration. The seasonality trend increases towards the northern latitutse, with Barrow, Alaska showing an annul difference of ~16ppm compared to the ~1 at the South Pole. In fact, the entire southern hemisphere shows very little seasonality, presumably due to the much larger emissions in the NH. http://www.geology.iastate.edu/gccourse/chem/gases/gases_lecture_new.html Since plants have expanded and sequestered more carbon during the recent warming, I see no reason for this trend to not continue. In fact, it should accelerate if temperatures and precipitation continue to rise. The last area of carbon uptake is calcification, although this most likely pales in comparison to plant and ocean sequestration
  11. Republican Presidential Candidates vs. Climate Science
    apiratelooksat50 "No politics. Rants about politics, ideology or one world governments will be deleted." While the article is about politicians, it is not about their politics. It is about their stance on AGW science and science in general. Also, it is not a political rant ($PARTY is evil and wants to destroy $COUNTRY!) but a list of statements made by politicians. While I would prefer that SkS stay away from politics discussing the statements of politicians is fair since they are so important to how policy will be shaped (or not) by the science.
  12. GHG emission mitigation solutions - a challenge for the Right?
    Some thoughts and possible approaches:- Appeal to the individualist I can imagine a pitch of micro-generation which emphasises independence (from government and from large power supply corporations) which could appeal to suburban and rural dwellers. Disadvantages: 1. You can’t sell micro-generation to people living in city apartments. 2. It’s an individual sales pitch, competing with all other sales pitches. Appeal to patriotism This is the large-scale version of the appeal to the individualist - we want a country that is independent from foreign sources of a critical supply. (This is a justification for a national underwriting of a smart grid mentioned by Lloyd Flack and others.) Approach to subsidy In general, the Right has a philosophical dislike for state subsidies. The difficulty here is that any new technology starts off expensive and only gets cheaper as volume expands (the manufacturing learning curve), so substituting a new technology for an old is difficult when the new technology is not inherently cheaper. Some technologies get cross-subsidised (I’m thinking of nuclear, kick-started for military reasons). There may be good reason for subsidising others - particularly things like a grid that need to be done at a national level - the issue is making a good enough case for national interest overcoming the distaste for state intervention. The other part of the subsidy issue is to ensure that existing technologies are not given unfair advantages by the state (by means of tax breaks, grants, etc.)
  13. apiratelooksat50 at 04:04 AM on 24 August 2011
    Republican Presidential Candidates vs. Climate Science
    I am seriously only curious, and not trolling. Is this not against the Comments Policy? "No politics. Rants about politics, ideology or one world governments will be deleted."
  14. GHG emission mitigation solutions - a challenge for the Right?
    PS to Badgersouth #84: Tokyo Tom's tome, "Towards a productive libertarian approach on climate, energy and environmental issues" was suggested reading by Grypo to his SkS post, The Libertarian Climate Conundrum. As it trns out, Tokyo Tom actually posted on the comment thread to Grypo's article.
  15. Settled Science - Humans are Raising CO2 Levels
    EtR#40: "If anything, plants are likely to sequester have even larger percentages in the future." Eric, Eric. Look around. Plants die; their stored carbon goes back into the atmosphere/soil - especially in those parts of the world still doing slash and burn. Look at the seasonal atmospheric CO2 cycle: decreasing during the active NH growing season followed by increasing in the fall. The magnitude of the peak-to-trough change is very consistent from year after year. That's not a sign of sequestration. The only plants that may store carbon for any length of time are trees, but we still deliberately burn them. None of that is about to change 'in the future' under BAU. And riddle me this: - If CO2 is not actively going into seawater, why is seawater increasing in acidity - due to the formation carbonic acid, for that matter? - Despite the sinking of some CO2 into increasing biomass and increasing ocean acidity, atmospheric CO2 keeps on rising. If its not coming from our emissions, where does it come from?
  16. GHG emission mitigation solutions - a challenge for the Right?
    @Sphaerica #82: A rather in-depth answer to the challenge question can be found in a blog post by a self-proclaimed libertarian. The post is: "Towards a productive libertarian approach on climate, energy and environmental issues" by Tokyo Tom. It is posted on the website: "TT's Lost in Tokyo: Unconventional analysis from a right-leaning enviro-libertarian." To access the article, click here.
  17. GHG emission mitigation solutions - a challenge for the Right?
    LloydFlack#80: "good at identifying the costs and undesirable effects" The US Libertarian Party platform (sec 2.2) states: Free markets and property rights stimulate the technological innovations and behavioral changes required to protect our environment and ecosystems. We realize that our planet's climate is constantly changing, but environmental advocates and social pressure are the most effective means of changing public behavior. This strikes me as a difficult framework for marshalling the funds and engineering expertise necessary to solve a climate-related problem, which will demand a large scale international effort. I wonder if there are examples of success in such projects when conducted without active government support. Of course, 'climate is constantly changing' is most likely code for 'natural cycles' -- in which case, they don't believe that the problem is ours to solve.
  18. Republican Presidential Candidates vs. Climate Science
    Suggested reading: "Republican Presidential Candidates on Climate Change" by Timothy Hurst posted Aug 22 on Ecopolitology. While his profiles are not as detailed as Dana’s, Hurst does provide some valuable insights. In addition, the caricatures of the candidates done for the Hurst article are a hoot!
  19. Tar Sands Impact on Climate Change
    Unexpectedly, this post has been re-published by The Guardian.
  20. Tar Sands Impact on Climate Change
    @noble_serf #37: You’ll also want to check out the Climate Change Library of the Climate Change Economics website. The library is chocked full of good stuff about climate change adaptation and mitigation.
  21. Tar Sands Impact on Climate Change
    @noble_serf #37: An excellent primer on climate change mitigation and adaptation is posted on Climate Change Economics. You should give it a careful read. The title of the post is “Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation: What's the difference, and how do they relate to each other?” You can access it by clicking here
  22. Tar Sands Impact on Climate Change
    Badger, Thanks for that link. I especially liked Palin's hair. I feel that climate change will only be an issue in the coming election with regards to its impacts on the economy. I echo Canburn's statement that a carbon tax has virtually no chance of passage, especially in this economy in an election year.
  23. Settled Science - Humans are Raising CO2 Levels
    Sphaerica, While temperatures and lack of precipitatino could become too high for certain species in certain regions, much of the world's plantlife exists in Northern latitudes well below limiting temperatures. Prediction temperature and precipitation increases in these areas would be more than sufficient to counter any potential losses in the more arid regions. My point was a counter to Doug statement about all the missing CO2 from the atmosphere making its way into the world's oceans. Apparently more is being sequestered by plants. I strongly disagree with your contention that all the extra carbon will eventually get back to the atmosphere. If anything, plants are likely to sequester have even larger percentages in the future.
    Moderator Response: [Dikran Marsupial] "Prediction temperature and precipitation increases in these areas would be more than sufficient to counter any potential losses in the more arid regions." reference please. Note the Amazon is not in Northern lattitudes, neither are the central African rain forests. The arid regions tend to be in mid-lattitudes. "If anything, plants are likely to sequester have even larger percentages in the future." reference please.

    Note Sphaerica is correct in that much of the CO2 used by the biosphere for photosynthesis is released back to the atmosphere by plant respiration and by the decay of dead plant matter. CO2 is only sequestered by permanent increases in plant biomass. This is unlikely to increase indefinitely as human population increases and puts pressure on the land available for forrest. However if you have a verifiable source that suggests otherwise, I would be glad to hear about it.
  24. GHG emission mitigation solutions - a challenge for the Right?
    81, Badgersouth, I suppose the modern analogy, however, would be how many angels can fit on a CO2 molecule, and when they try do they singe their wings? But yes, the conversation has turned more to why they don't, rather than actual suggestions of what they should do, or practical, defensible, considered answers to the challenge.
  25. Settled Science - Humans are Raising CO2 Levels
    38, Eric the Red, That's pretty common knowledge, that some portion of the CO2 has gone into extended plant growth, due both to reclamation of land (such as farmland that has again forested in the U.S. Northeast) and some plants simply growing larger (for now) in what are, at this fractional point in the path towards dangerous CO2 levels, slightly better growing conditions (more CO2, slightly warmer temperatures and longer growing seasons, with only slightly worse or more common drought/precipitation conditions in just a few, contained areas). That will change, and there's only so much additional growth that can take place before plant life is no longer a sink. Eventually, as temperatures become too high for some regions and species, and drought and negative precipitation changes transition ecosystems (forest to savanna or prairie, or the expansion of current deserts), plants will become a source of additional carbon instead of a sink. All of the extra carbon that is being sequestered by plants may get back into the atmosphere and oceans, and possibly/probably even more than that. What's your point?
  26. Tar Sands Impact on Climate Change
    I trust the opinions of the experts who are saying things like it would be the equivalent of lighting a fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet. Or that we are now looking at 2-3 C, maybe 4 C, before any serious CO2 reductions. So is the Keystone XL approval the signal to go ahead and focus on mitigation? Does it mark the moment when the AGW community increases their focus on helping people survive? (I'm curious about such things, and I don't see much written about mitigating the effects of AGW. Perhaps I look in the wrong places.)
  27. Skeptical Science celebrates its 4th birthday
    Happy Birthday to SkS and Congratulations on the new job. I discovered SkS after Climategate and I am so glad I did. You and all the regulars do a fantastic job of making the science accessible to anyone who is interested in learning it. Every scientific discipline should should have an equivalent. Thanks to all who contribute.
  28. Tar Sands Impact on Climate Change
    To amplify the point made by Andy S, I highly recommend: "Republican Presidential Candidates on Climate Change" by Timothy Hurst posted Aug 22 on Ecopolitology. The caricatures of the candidates done for the Hurst article are a hoot!
  29. Skeptical Science celebrates its 4th birthday
    Here's what the Union of Concerned Scientists said about SkS in a recent news release. "Skeptical Science is the leading website for debunking spurious claims regarding climate science. The site tackles everything from flawed research papers to conspiracy theories about scientists and is updated with the latest contrarian claims and primary sources that debunk them."
  30. Skeptical Science celebrates its 4th birthday
    John Cook: When do you go in for cloning?
  31. Settled Science - Humans are Raising CO2 Levels
    This study by Yude Pan of the U.S. Forest Service found that one third of the CO2 emissions was absorbed by the world's forests. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2011/07/13/science.1201609.short
    Moderator Response: [Dikran Marsupial] Link activated. The net sink given in the abstract is 1.1 ± 0.8 Pg C yr–1, which could be as low as 0.3 pG ry-1, which is much less than a third of anthropogenic emissions (about 8.7 pg yr-1 using the 2008 figure). The upper end of the uncertainty is 1.9 Pg yr-1, which is more like a fifth of fossil fuel emissions. It is well known that not absolutely all of fossil fuel emissions will end up in the oceans; but the bulk of it will.
  32. Skeptical Science celebrates its 4th birthday
    Happy Birthday Skeptical Science, and congratulations John, on your new position.
  33. GHG emission mitigation solutions - a challenge for the Right?
    This comment thread is turning into an extension of the Medieval debates about how many angels can fit on the head of a pin.
  34. Skeptical Science celebrates its 4th birthday
    This is a wedding anniversary, but I thought I'd post the various materials associated with the 4th wedding anniversary. I find them interesting: Traditional U.S.: silk, linen. Traditional U.K.: fruit, flowers Modern U.S.: appliances If that doesn't sum it all up in a nutshell . . . Anyway, happy 4th, and thanks John.
  35. Sudden_Disillusion at 23:40 PM on 23 August 2011
    Skeptical Science celebrates its 4th birthday
    Happy Birthday SkS! Keep the good work up. It's so much more fun to argue about AGW with the deniers... it's getting a hobby!
  36. Skeptical Science celebrates its 4th birthday
    Apparently Monckton is claiming it's only your 3rd birthday...
  37. Tar Sands Impact on Climate Change
    A couple of clips from Al Jazeera on the Alberta tar sands. The Kelly (2010) study, mentioned in Dana's post, features prominently. Bill McKibben pops up too.
  38. GHG emission mitigation solutions - a challenge for the Right?
    Rob, I think you hit the nail on the head about why libertarians are reluctant to compromise. They try to take an analytical rather than an emotional approach to problems. This leads to them being good at identifying the costs and undesirable effects of others proposals. However they try to create philosophical and political systems by logic from a few basic principles. Parsimony is a good idea in science. It is not in ethics. They end up with systems that ignore or underemphasize a lot of aspects of human nature. These are systems that don't lend themselves to compromise.
  39. Skeptical Science celebrates its 4th birthday
    Best wishes, and many happy returns. (Or, at least enough that the folks cop to the difference between true skepticism and denial.)
  40. GHG emission mitigation solutions - a challenge for the Right?
    Schmoepooh, the religious right and libertarians are joined by a perceived common enemy. Without they would be each others main enemy. Most libertarians that I know are not religious and those that are religious are not zealots. I disagree with your interpretation of how different sides see society and social bonds but giving my interpretation would be long and off topic.
  41. GHG emission mitigation solutions - a challenge for the Right?
    "I think you could carry most of them. However the more doctrinaire libertarians would try to find non government alternative solutions if possible and try to frame some quandaries in terms of property rights even when they are a poor fit." That's the problem with an absolute libertarian view. Some issues have no clear property rights solutions; the tragedy of the commons problems. There comes a point where realism has to trump ideology. I think strong libertarians feel any compromise means that ALL of their beliefs have to be jettisoned. This reluctance to compromise isn't restricted to them of course, but it's the heart of this problem, I think. "Rob Murphy and I both frequent a site..." I can't go back there now; I burned too many bridges, and besides I scrambled my password with a throwaway email address so I won't be tempted. I don't fit into an easy political box any more, I and try to stay out of purely political debates online as much as possible. I'll be leaving this thread for that reason in fact. I prefer the science discussions over the political musings.
  42. GHG emission mitigation solutions - a challenge for the Right?
    "Just a thought on the Libertarian front." Other than Ron Paul (and he has his own issues), libertarians on the Right are few and far between. I've seen Palin, Bachmann, and even Glen Beck (of all people!) called libertarian. The word loses meaning when it used so indiscriminately. Libertarianism is opposed to the theocratic impulses of much of the Right. Most libertarians I know are atheist/agnostic. Most are pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-evolution, and opposed to censorship. I know libertarianism is the new bogeyman label for the Right, but libertarianism is mostly dead in the USA. "Social and political institutions have to be negotiated between autonomous individuals." The horror! That almost sounds like freedom. "We are in fact so social that we can say without serious contradiction that our identities, moral, religious etc shapes the basic genetic endowment each of us has and produces our phenotype (behavioral traits)." Our genes shape our genetic endowment. This genetic endowment has to be expressed in the totality of the environment it finds itself in, resulting in phenotypes. Nothing we do or believe will change that genetic component. It is what it was at our birth(barring mutations). "This in part explains many of the characteristics of the conservative right. Suspicious of difference and change, a strong instinct for territoriality and a reluctance to submit fundamental beliefs to rational scrutiny." Pop psychology isn't very helpful here; for what it's worth I see a lot of the above in the hard Left. It's nobody's monopoly.
  43. GHG emission mitigation solutions - a challenge for the Right?
    The question that is asked in this thread is "What actions to solve the problem are compatible with your values?". But the answer to that depends on what those values are. There is a difference between conservative and libertarian values. For libertarians the market and property rights are fundamental and inviolable. For conservatives they are valued but not all important. If you can persuade a conservative that the danger is real and grave then you can get them to support pragmatic measures to deal with the problem. The problem with conservatives is the sheer antipathy towards the left that has developed in many of them. There is a reflexive opposition to anything the left proposes. Denialism is part of this and is basically rationalizations supporting this antipathy. The problem is not ideology. It is the use to which ideology is put. With libertarians it is an ideological problem. I think they have a moral and ideological framework which need considerable modification to deal with climate change. They are less likely than conservatives to demonize the left but they are indulging in wishful thinking and to support this they are seeking out reasons to deny that they have a problem. Some are realistic but not many. Unfortunately conservatives and libertarians are listening to each others bad ideas. Rob Murphy and I both frequent a site populated by conservatives and libertarians. It has a denialist majority but not perhaps as big as it seems. The denialists are louder than others. Most physical scientists on the site are not denialists. Most of the rest are I think. It is quite plain that the primary reason their for deialisim is that they refuse to believe anything said by any of the left. Too many let politics trump all. Some are looking for any way that they can to support market purism and clutch at any scientific straw they can find. And some are overgeneralizing from their experience in their own professions and not seeing .the differences between climate science and their professions. But the big thing is the political polarization. What policies to deal with global warming would gain their support if you could get them to see the danger as urgent? OK, I'm on the left of the site seeing myself as a centrist who used to be libertarian. I regard replacement of coal as the principal priority right now. It is the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas increases and it is the problem that has the most mature replacement technologies available. Construct a smart grid and build renewable and nuclear generation capacity as quickly as possible. How to finance it? You probably will need a lot of government involvement there though I could be persuaded otherwise if someone came up with a convincing alternative. Institute a carbon tax to push the market towards lower carbon choices. This will reduce the need for regulatory pressures though it will not eliminate them. Still any attempt to deal with the problem through regulation should only be tried after careful consideration of the costs and benefits. No gestures to show how concerned you are about the problem! Identify and eliminate any subsidies or tax incentives that encourage unnecessary carbon emissions. Continue work on developing alternatives to petroleum for transportation as the next step in emissions reduction. Not all of these will be things that I would prefer but I would prefer ripping off future generations even less. How much of this would those with stronger libertarian or conservative tendencies than me support if you could convince them of the urgency of the problem? I think you could carry most of them. However the more doctrinaire libertarians would try to find non government alternative solutions if possible and try to frame some quandaries in terms of property rights even when they are a poor fit.
  44. Skeptical Science celebrates its 4th birthday
    Congrats.
  45. Dikran Marsupial at 21:52 PM on 23 August 2011
    Skeptical Science celebrates its 4th birthday
    Happy birthday SkS, and congratulations to John on the new position, a wise appointment!
  46. Settled Science - Humans are Raising CO2 Levels
    Doug, You are partly correct. Not all the missing CO2 is making its way into the ocean, but being removed by plantlife. In fact, the largest portion may indeed be used by plants for photosynthesis.
    Moderator Response: [Dikran Marsupial] Evidence please, preferably a reference to peer-reviewed journal article, appearing in a journal capable of giving a reliable peer review (i.e. a journal that regularly covers the science of the carbon cycle)?

    BTW, this post brought a smile to my face, much appreciated. :o)
  47. Settled Science - Humans are Raising CO2 Levels
    funglestrumpet, in my experience, when a blog, YouTube video, or other such 'common sense' source defines 'settled science' as proving something which peer reviewed scientific literature disagrees with the 'common sense' interpretation has usually overlooked or misunderstood some vital detail(s). Thus, for instance, when AGW 'skeptics' insist that the greenhouse effect violates the 1st and or 2nd law of thermodynamics they are often doing so in earnest belief... but clearly have misunderstood how the greenhouse effect and/or these laws work. This can even lead to things like thousands of TV weathermen and meteorologists signing a petition saying that global warming isn't happening. People working in a field can have a general understanding of how things usually happen without really knowing the underlying science.
  48. GHG emission mitigation solutions - a challenge for the Right?
    I will agree with those who support building thorium reactors. The technology is readily available, and the idea that we do not have the expertise to build these reactors is ludicrous. Compared to existign reactor designs, there are fairly simply, and could be build in a relatively short time frame. CV2 has pointed out that both left and right supported more nuclear power before Fukushima. In reality, only the radical environmentalists were against nuclear, although there are a splattering of individuals mixed throught the general populace who are against nukes in any way, shape, or form. The Japanses crisis will fade, and support for nukes will resurface, just like after Chernobyl. The bigger push will come from energy prices. If oil and gas prices start rising again, then people will be more willing to build these plants, although NIMBY thinking will still permeate. That is why the smaller, thorium facilities could be built locally. The biggest obstacle is not fear, but government regulations as mentioned by Camburn. Utilities are reluctant to build plants because of the potential costs of the government regulations. If the feds were to present a design (or a choice of designs) which could be built with specified safeguards and requirements, then we may start to see some nuclear proposals being put forth. Currently, this appears to be the biggest bang for the buck in power generation. Which is what will drive alternate energy.
  49. Skeptical Science celebrates its 4th birthday
    Happy birthday and heres to the day we no longer need a blog refuting the more 'fragrant' views on climate science.
  50. GHG emission mitigation solutions - a challenge for the Right?
    Just a thought on the Libertarian front. The link with the religious right and radical individualism which seems to be the common thread is the implicit belief in souls and the presumed spiritual autonomy and accountability (to God). Just me and God. Social and political institutions have to be negotiated between autonomous individuals. This goes back to Hobbes' version of the social contract. A secular evolutionary approach recognizes the irreducible social character of the human species (along with other primates and mammals). We are in fact so social that we can say without serious contradiction that our identities, moral, religious etc shapes the basic genetic endowment each of us has and produces our phenotype (behavioral traits). This is fundamental genetics 101. Interestingly, this is how moral identities are constructed by those of us who feel obliged to take responsibility for the welfare of the planet and seek cooperatives ways of doing so. Same process - different outcomes. This in part explains many of the characteristics of the conservative right. Suspicious of difference and change, a strong instinct for territoriality and a reluctance to submit fundamental beliefs to rational scrutiny.

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