Category Archives: climate change

Oil And Energy

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I heard recently that if one in ten vehicles were hybrids, we would end our dependence on foreign oil. I have no idea if that statement is true it not, but exploring alternatives is not just in our best interests, it is fast becoming a necessity.

Oil, despite what some will tell you is not a renewable resource. In theory, we can make a series of synthetic products as good or better than the oil we currently suck out of the ground, but still we suck and suck. It keeps many people gainfully employed, people like me who, at least until the end of the year, work for oil and gas companies. Those high gas prices people bitch about? Yeah, those keep food on a whole lot of tables.

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Politics And Truthiness

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America has power. It can legislate anything into existence or non-existence. If it passed a law claiming that pelicans were flightless birds, then the might of their political truthiness machinery will make it so. It truly is an awesome power.

What’s that? You don’t believe me? You think that the natural laws of the universe are no match for the human-imposed legislation of the biggest superpower on earth? Well, that’s just crazy talk, the ramblings of one of those fundamentalist science types who are slowly eroding every aspect of our modern life. None of our institutions are safe from these negative nellies, not even the most wonderful of them all, the Republican Party.

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Climate Change Comic Strip

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I’m no expert on climate change, but I’m also smart enough to recognize that the people who are denying it so vehemently are almost exclusively those who benefit from the consumption of products that create climate change. Vested interest loses them points in the “who do you believe” conversation. Meanwhile, the scientists who are studying this data from as unbiased a position as possible are almost completely of the opinion that this is the case. So I’m going to side with the experts and not the profiteers. It would be like saying that eating Big Macs is healthy because Ray Kroc told you all those dietitians were lying.

That said, it’s a hard argument to make to John Q. Public, or at least it’s being presented as a hard argument. And then along comes a web comic that puts it all nicely into perspective. You have to love it when someone comes up with a simple way to explain a complicated issue without dumbing it down or fudging the facts. Enjoy and share!

Jim

My Take On Global Warming

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Damn this weather. After a couple of days of really pretty weather, we’re stuck in mad wind and blowing wet snow today. May was not meant for snow no matter what anyone tells you, and I for one am a big grump today because of it. Days like today make me dream of a warm beach and a cold drink. But the reality of my life means that despite being such an awesome blogger, I can’t just jet-set off to Belize whenever I like to escape the cold. I know, life’s weird, huh? But now I’m thinking of warmer, and that led me to warming, and I thought I’d weigh in on the topic.

I’m not a climatologist and wouldn’t have the first clue how to determine if the data is accurate or not. There’s a lot of math and science involved in interpreting the information that is simply beyond me. That’s why climatologists have to go to school. The collecting and interpreting of this information is a scientific process. In the same regard that I wouldn’t expect them to just pick up a computer and start building complicated web applications as laypeople, it’s equally silly to assume that I’d be able to pick up their data sets and determine what is true and what is not.

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Climate Change Denial Strikes Again

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I’m sure you’ve already heard about this, but the great James Randi has posted his stance on climate change, and surprised a lot of skeptics by coming out on the side of the denialists. He admits throughout his post that he’s not an expert on the topic, and I can relate. I’m no expert either. I’ve never studied climatology, and my opinion on the topic is based on the consensus of experts. This might seem like a cop-out, but the truth is that none of us has the ability to know everything about everything. We choose which side to take on issues like this based on a variety of factors, not the least of which should be the opinion of the majority of actual experts. PZ Myers has a great commentary on the reasoning behind Randi’s statements, so I won’t belabor that point, but I recommend you read it.

To that end, I believe that global warming is a real phenomenon, and one that poses a significant threat. And I work in an industry largely populated by people with a vested interest in promoting the denialist perspective. I’ve heard their arguments, and I’ve found them to be generally self-serving and full of spin.

There is truth to the argument that we don’t have the full picture. Weather is a complicated thing, and we don’t fully understand the way it fluctuates. However, it seems to me that we want to err on the side of caution. And I think this video sums it up nicely.

Two Interesting Articles About Green Energy

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I just read a couple of interesting articles from Science Daily about energy and thought I’d share them.

The first article is about a group of researchers who have managed to find a much more efficient means of generating hydrogen through photosynthesis. Hydrogen as a gas is very intriguing in terms of the war on greenhouse gasses, but there have been technical difficulties in finding a way to generate it efficiently. However:

Bruce and his colleagues found that by starting with a thermophilic blue-green algae, which favors warmer temperatures, they could sustain the reaction at temperatures as high as 55 degrees C, or 131 degrees F. That is roughly the temperature in arid deserts with high solar irradiation, where the process would be most productive. They also found the process was more than 10 times more efficient as the temperature increased.

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