At the invitation of Eric Berger of SciGuy fame (if not fortune), your humble host agreed to attend a screening of the latest soft money political ad documentary on Global Warming called "An Inconvenient Truth" along with Phil, the ever lovely Natalie, Hunter, Matt Bramanti, and Jim, who still looks mighty familiar to me, even though neither of us can think of where we might have met. Afterwards we walked next door to the Epicure Cafe to discuss the movie and it’s effect on any of us.
Alas, the effect on us all was pretty limited. No one really felt that thier lives or outlook was changed. I respectfully disagree with Eric, Al Gore was not a good choice for the narrator. He brings far too much political baggage along with him and he makes it very clear in the film in a number of places that he HATES and BLAMES Republicans and conservatives for the current situation as he percieves it and he REALLY hates the current administration. Much of the film comes off as sour grapes and he yet again appears to revel in the near death of his son and the death of his sister of lung cancer. Apparently in an attempt to make the audience feel sorry for him and to wrap himself in an armor of grief in order to make his position unassailable without making it look like someone was attacking his grief. Sorry, doesn’t hold water with me. It didn’t work for Shehan, and it won’t work for him.
The movie ran for over 2 hours and it was not until the last 20 minutes or so that there was any discussion at all of how to address the problem. Much was made of the Kyoto Protocols, but the simple fact is than less than half of the signitory countries have attained the cuts they are treaty bound to meet. The US was at least honest enough with itself to recognize that there was no way that the US could meet the protocols and not severely damage the economy in the process. Some of the proposals he made were higher milage cars, more efficient appliances, and CO2 sequestration, a technology that is still in it’s infancy. None of these proposals would have a large impact on the generation of CO2, 10-15% each at best. Nowhere in the movie was any serious look at Nuclear energy as a tool to reduce CO2 generation. In fact the only mention of nuclear energy was an image of a mushroom cloud and some cooling towers that looked suprisingly like those at Three Mile Island. But there was not a single use of the word "Nuclear" anywhere in his monologue. This is disheartening because Nuclear power holds the promise of massive reductions in CO2 production. There was also no discussion of other forces that impact global warming such as solar variability, land use changes, volcanoes, etc.
And that goes to the heart of the debate for me. I am not disputing that the global climate is inching upwards in temperature, and I am not saying it won’t have impacts on the planetary climate. He mentions that the climate has been in a warming and cooling cycle for millions of years, but he then promptly changes the subject. But the simple fact of the matter is that even if we stopped all CO2 production (not possible but even if we did) we would at best merely delay the inevitable. The planet is already on the upward slope of another global heat wave, and has been for the last few thousand years, Humans may be accellerating it, but even if you subtract our influence it was still going up. What we really need is not just more CO2 reductions, we need something much more fundamental. We need levees for our cities, and we need to find other means to control our environment. And we do need to reduce our impact so that we will be able to buy time to do the other things we must do.
I have an idea, it is by no means fleshed out, and a number of you might think I’m nuts, but there is nothing technically infeasable about it that I can discern. The simple fact of the matter is that 99.9% of the energy that falls upon our planet comes from the sun. If we can find a way to control the energy being delivered from the sun, we will have control of the global temperature. How do you keep your car cool when it is sitting in a parking lot? You put shades in the windows to block out the sun. My proposal is a much much larger version of that same concept. There is a place between the earth and the sun known as the L1 Lagrange point. It is the point at which the gravity of the Earth exactly cancels the gravity of the Sun. At that spot, if something were left there, it would stay relatively motionless. If a rosette formation of large solar sails with only say, 10% reflectivity were placed just sunward of that lagrange point and was allowed to "hover", I.E. balance the reaction forces from the sunlight and solar wind acting on the sail with the gravity of the sun acting upon it, we could do exactly that, put a sunshade over the Earth. If the sail were designed with flaps that would allow rotation, much like a pinwheel, the light being reflected back at the sun could be further controlled while allowing the sail to be spun for stability. A central tower rising sunward with a mass at the end would be the control module and would have thrusters to aid in pointing, and would also serve as a tidal stabilizer. Think of a giant dandelion seed, with the sail being the feathery end, and the control tower being the seed pod itself, and you’ll have a good idea of the configuration I’m envisioning. Other options to help sequester CO2 have been spoken of in the past such as seeding the southern oceans with iron to stimulate growth of phytoplankton, and injection of liquefied CO2 into oil wells which is not quite as easy as it sounds, CO2 has what is known as a triple point which is the temperature where all three phases can exist at the same time. The volumetric difference between the solid, liquid and the gaseous phase is very pronounced which makes handling it dangerous.
Some of these options have downsides, and/or difficulties. But the simple fact is that eliminating all CO2 production tomorrow will not prevent climate change. That change has been happening for millions of years before we arrived on this planet and will be happening long after we are gone. The human race has had a good run so far, if we are to extend that run, we will have to find ways of controlling our environment at levels we can only dream of today.
BTW, George Will apparently agrees with my assessment of Al Gore’s motivations.
(Crossposted from Red Ink: Texas)
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68 Responses to “Al Gore as Captain Planet”Search
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I realize the summer in Houston is as bad as the weather but can anyone be bored or stupid enough to pay good money to see anything connected to ALGORE? What a head shaker that is.
All this is so very scary. Seeing as I’ve got no kids and life solely revolves around just me, all I ask for is some 35 more years of life ’till I fall out of the saddle. Just let me breathe air I don’t have to cut through with an axe then the rest of youse guys are on our own.
Was watching it anything like this????
http://www.atthemovies.co.uk/big/clockwork99rrlc1.jpg
linky no worky there Fasternu, but if it was a link to “A Clockwork Orange”, to be honest, “A Clockwork Orange” was more enjoyable.
What is the background of the person who posted this article? Do they know anything about the subject matter or are they just shooting from the hip?
#3
aww crap!
http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/technoculture/resources/clockwork.html
The world’s been hotter than it is today and the ice ages showed us it’s been colder. Do not worry about Global warming, it’s all happened before, many times, we just weren’t around to see it. Plus, if you truly believe, It’s all in God’s plan”.
Gadboy I am a mechanical designer and have been for 18 years. I am a rabid reader of all things scientific and I think I came into this AT LEAST as well informed as Al Gore did.
I’m afraid of all the hot air coming out of Algore….
They will get my Plymouth GTX when they pry it from my cold dead hands!
When muscle cars are outlawed, only outlaws will drive musclecars!
Hybrids are like fat gals, they are ok until your friends see you with one. (no offense meant to fat gals)
#5 gadboy,
in response to you, what makes Al Gore an expert on the global environment? He was the son of a Tobacco farmer, and I would bet his college education is not in any of the sciences. This is his way of bashing this country because we are not doing things his way. That is his right, but it is also our right to be both critical of his assertions as well as to offer alternatives to his retorical rantings.
fasternu426, Hey I’m one of those old fat gals!
But as far as algore goes, remember he was the one who wanted to stude cow flatulence. Apparently algores brain has more sick twists that any global warming crap he comes up with.
That is one sick puppy - what would you expect from him.
Rorschach, interesting idea of the “dandelion seed” shield. Much more practical than the “atmospheric shield surrounding the entire earth” idea you would see back 1960s comics and sci fi. One question — since the earth is constantly moving in its path around the sun, how would you keep this remote dandelion shield in place. Its orbital path would have to be just right to stay perfectly aligned between sun and earth and maintain that Lagrange point when the distance between earth and sun is constantly changing.
Btw, thanks for the movie review. I feel absolutely no urge to actually see the thing, but I must admit to some curiousity as to what it covered. Curiousity is now thoroughly quenched!
#10 bweldon - I’m pretty sure Algore’s education was in the liberal arts (no pun intended) and political science. But that didn’t stop him from inventing the Internet! I don’t see why he can’t be an expert in meteorology, geology and physics as well. Who needs education anyway?
#12 As I understand the orbital dynamics (and I readily admit I may be wrong) the earth should pull it around in an orbit that is tidally locked. but if that is not the case, then some active tacking by the sail might be required.
No no no, algore invented cow flatulence
#15, no that would be Bull Sh!t
#15 & 16
No,no,no…Al Gore is the the living embodiement of Bull Shat…
Rorschach, I still can’t believe none of you guys, including Al Gore, have suggest what we’re going to do about he problem of global warming….ON MARS!!!
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/newsroom/20050920a.html
Liberal fear because they can’t adapt and compete in the best of times, that they won’t survive global warming. I’ve give this some thought…..
TO BAD, TOUGH, CHOW, BYE BYE, etc., etc.
#18, actually I mentioned it when we were discussing it after the show but apparently it didn’t make the cut. The problem with using the Mars Global Observer data is that we only have 3 martian years of data to go on. Granted each successive year has been worse than the last, but that is not enough data to really base a trend on.
Many studies of solar intensity have shown no increase but there has been at least one that did, apparently the difference is due to a more accurate data set being used for the dissenting study. there is still a great deal of debate as to which reading is correct.
Anyone who says there is no scientific debate in the matter needs to set the glass down and slowly back away from the Kool-Aid, because there is debate, quite a lot.
Trying to rationalize with insane and/or irrational people is impossible.
Now, for those of you that still read the Chronicle, can any of you guess which one of the participants was me?
Excellent post, Rorschach.
And thanks for taking one for the team by seeing the movie. Now go see “Cars” and be entertained!
I’m still waiting to see Matt’s take on it….
I think I can venture a guess…
Rorschach, I emailed the story and website to Eric for him to digest.
The only hint I’ll give was that I was not the one at the end of the table wearing a dress =D
#26, he already has links to it here and at my blog.
Survival will be determined by adaptability. The earth will change. No doubt. Time would be better spent in learning how to live in a new world (whenever that may come) as opposed to how to change the world for human beings. We did that already and lost many of our animal brothers. Why not learn to live with the world we get?
#18 Big45Iron - Global warming is becoming a universal problem, not only on Mars but also on Jupiter and Pluto! I wonder what could be the cause?
(With apologies to Songbird, who originally posted these links along with a discussion on the potential impact of global warming/climate change to the hurricane season.)
#29 How many animals do you think would be able to adapt to a climate where the north pole is 74 degrees average daytime temp? by changing the climate to suit us, we also change the climate to suit other animal species.
Ror
#27
Was there a picture with that article you posted in #22?
#32 yes, in the print edition there is a single black and white photo. Alas, the Chronicle does not post photos on thier site.
Enough of this Al Gore invented the internet crap
Internet of Lies
Claim: Vice-President Al Gore claimed that he “invented” the Internet.
Status: False.
Origins: Despite the derisive references that continue even today, Al Gore did not claim he “invented” the Internet, nor did he say anything that could reasonably be interpreted that way. The “Al Gore said he ‘invented’ the Internet” put-downs were misleading, out-of-context distortions of something he said during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN’s “Late Edition” program on 9 March 1999. When asked to describe what distinguished him from his challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey, Gore replied (in part):
During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country’s economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.
Clearly, although Gore’s phrasing was clumsy (and perhaps self-serving), he was not claiming that he “invented” the Internet (in the sense of having designed or implemented it), but that he was responsible, in an economic and legislative sense, for fostering the development the technology that we now know as the Internet. To claim that Gore was seriously trying to take credit for the “invention” of the Internet is, frankly, just silly political posturing that arose out of a close presidential campaign. Gore never used the word “invent,” and the words “create” and “invent” have distinctly different meanings — the former is used in the sense of “to bring about” or “to bring into existence” while the latter is generally used to signify the first instance of someone’s thinking up or implementing an idea. (To those who say the words “create” and “invent” mean exactly the same thing, we have to ask why, then, the media overwhelmingly and consistently cited Gore as having claimed he “invented” the Internet, even though he never used that word, and transcripts of what he actually said were readily available.)
My previous post was taken from snopes.com. They research and debunk , if needed, urban myths. This clearly is one.
gadboy, we KNEW he didn’t invent OR create the internet, seeing as how it was already in existance long before then, but it certainly sounds like he’s trying to take credit for it here:
“During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.”
#36-did you not read the entire post or do you already have your mind made up?
#35 I suppose we only exist because God “created ” us, but did not “invent” us. A very poor argument for the semantics used by Gore.
Gadboy - go back to sleep, algore did invent doggy dodo but not before ketchup king stepped into it and after he stepped out of it, and clinton wanted to know the meaning of doggy dodo
#39-That was the most incomprehensible post I have ever seen or tried to read.
Gadboy you are getting way off topic but yes, I did read the whole thing and you are right he does not claim to invent the internet, he claims instead to have created it which is also false. The internet existed before Al Gore eveer won elected office.
# 40 - it made about as much sense as algore claiming to “create” the internet
Jimmy Carter invented peanut butter….. mmmm peanut butter
Algore can blow it out his ozone hole…… (which he invented by the way)
#29
The sky is falling…. So do something. I agree with the Nordic one…. “Survival will be determined by adaptability” Adapt or die…. The ones that sit and look at the situation and think about how screwed up it is and don’t get past that are the ones that die. The ones that refuse to die usually don’t. Inkblot saw a problem and thought about putting a big set of celestial mini blinds in. That’s how to look at it! I’d hate to be at sea adrift in a raft with someone like Algore! He’d be whining and beeyoching about how the captain of the ship was responsible and made him be adrift in a raft. He’d be the one screaming “We’re all gonna die!!!” and then you’d get to smack him!
Just thought I’d pass this on, I was just perusing my logs and noted that there have been two visits in the last hour or so to the same post over at RIT from Boeing in Chicago….
#43, I think I’d smack him and cut up the body for fish bait, and build a sail from his clothes. at least I’d eat…..
45
Inkblot
And use his skin for a shade……
See! A silver lining! You would survive to write a book and make a go-zillion dollars off of it!
“The Inkblot and the Sea”
Now if we could talk him into going fishing…….
The last mini-Ice Age ended in the 19th century which had begun in the 15th century. The mini-ice age began due to global warming which caused the polar ice caps to melt lowering the salinity of the oceans which allowed them to freeze inflicting a major die off of people along the coast due to the lack of ships being able to deliver food. The lowering of the earth’s temperature was caused by volcanic dust preventing the sun’s rays from warming the earth. Up to 60% of the city populations perished during this period due to famine and disease (bubonic plague). The wealthy (kings and royalty) moved to the country side escaping most of these problems.
If you plot earth’s human population versus temperature you will see a normal increase of about one degree farenheit per billion people. With the potential of Avian bird flu and looking at the normal decrease in population being 10 to 20% due to average epidemics this should drop the earth’s temperature between .5 degrees and 1 degree. If you throw in the effects of a mini-ice age along with Avian flu where city population dropped 60% then the earth’s temperature may fall as much as 3 degrees farenheit due to a decrease of about 3 billion people mostly in underdeveloped countries where higher concrentration per square kilometer and the handling of birds is higher this scenario seems plausable. The source of this data concerning the last mini-ice age is the national geographic and the 10 to 20% loss of life is from data aquired due to the influenza and spanish flu pandemics. You environmentalist do have hope as if the 60% occurs you would be back to between 1 and 2 billion or less world population - the stench would be terrible but hey you guys should enjoy it as you would get your way providing you survived.
in re my #44: correction make that 3 now…..
j kathi 39, depends on what the meaning of doggy do do is. I don’t know why anybody is worried about global warming anyway. When the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff or the Lava Creek Tuff under Yellowstone goes up, THEN you’ll have something to worry about.
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/southeast_asia/indonesia/toba.html
The Toba eruption ejected 2,800 cubic kilometers of mass into the air and reduced the human population of the earth somewhere between 3,000 and 7,000 people. The Huckleberry Ridge Tuff has a potential 2,500 cubic kilometers of mass to be ejected into the air. The Lava Creek Tuff has a potential of 1,000 cubic kilometers of mass.
To put that into comparison, Mount St. Helens eject just ONE cubic kilometer of mass.
We also have to consider that we could be clobbered by a near earth object someday…that’s COULD. And maybe we could prevent the impact of an NEO IF we saw it in time. The eruption of Yellowstone is WILL HAPPEN. I’d say what Mother Nature has in store for us is going to be one helluva lot more dramatic than any silly a$$ed global warming problem. If you want human beings and animal and plant life to survive you better get ready for one of those events and quit sweating the small stuff!
I can see after the eruption some silly libnut gasping for air at the very end, and somehow being convinced
it was all the fault of EVIL Karl Rove and the GOP.
Big, I couldn’t agree more.
And by the time it really becomes a problem, we’ll be extinct by Mother Nature, ourselves, or God! Or, in a more positive tone, we’ll have created the technology to reverse the effects rather easily.
Or, Mr. Freeze will turn good guy and save us!
Shakey, I can see the new ice age hitting, and somehow Al Gore will still blame global warming. Go figure.
One so called study reported the polar ice caps as growing, yet another claims they are melting. My opinion - who cares as long as I have ice for my diet coke
algore is a kook
read this - here is your global warming answer:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060613/D8I7ADB81.html
Hawking Says Humans Must Go Into Space
HONG KONG (AP) - The survival of the human race depends on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe because there’s an increasing risk that a disaster will destroy the Earth, world-renowned scientist Stephen Hawking said Tuesday.
“During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.”–Algore
To claim that Gore was not seriously attempting to take credit for the creation of the Internet is, frankly, just silly.
Shannon, this is the last time I’m going to warn you that it’s unfair to use facts, truth, and logic in a debate with liberals. You know it’s not fair.
# 54 - you big bad meanie - you can’t use facts
Squawk: can we get a new poll, maybe one where we vote for a beefhaha at taste of texas
Demorats forget they have a record that is easily accessed on the Internet now. I would love to see a list of all the environmental accomplishments the Clinton Gore team made in this area they are now bashing Bush on. Hmm.
Don’t forget, if ToT doesn’t work out for the BeefHaHa, we could always go to the Steamboat House. That is one great restaurant too!!
Big:
Or we could go to Phat Ho’s Chinese Chicken and Ribs…..
Cause everybody love’s Phat Ho’s!!!
#60 GROAN!
Course there’s always Fogo Du Chau if none of the other places work out….
Let’s not give up on the TOT! That would be “hawkishly” appropriate, fun and some really good vittles!
Did you her the one about the guy who called the funeral parlor and asked to speak to Myra Mains.
well at least he didn’t stop by later for a cold one….
Malcolm, with the lack of response, perhaps he doesn’t want the riff raff disturbing the other customers, lol.
Hey now! I’ve bathed this week!
Big: Rors:
I “resemble” the riff raff comment! I bathe regularly as well!
David: How about taking this to Edd for us?
Ok, so I’m terribly late to the party and everyone’s probably stopped following this thread days ago, BUT here are my thoughts on the ‘dandelion’:
For the folks who wonder how we’d keep the shade at the Lagrange point, we already have two (or more?) spacecraft orbiting L1, so there’s your proof-of-concept.
The sunshade idea is clever, but I think it would have to be absolutely enormous to have any noticeable effect. L1 is close to the Earth (~.99 AU), so the shade would have to be of the same order of cross-sectional magnitude as the Earth itself.
My scratch paper tells me that a 10%-reflective shield which could deflect 1% of the radiation headed for the Earth would have to be 4000 km across! (It scales as the square root of the percentage: .01% requires 400 km, .0001% requires 40 km, etc.)