Is climate change due to human activity?

[Lateralthinking1]

What of those emerging economies such as China and India where poverty on a grand scale affects large proportions of their respective populations but which are often cited as being as guilty or more so than many other countries in contributing to man-made climate change and atmospheric pollution?

The New Left in China are acutely aware of the limitations of rampant growth in providing solutions to poverty. They are also extremely worried about the new authoritarianism required to manage political instability emanating from big blocs of wealth in some regions and worsening poverty in others.

I think greed defines itself in all countries. It doesn't require a UN declaration. A requirement though for regular adverts akin to those on HIV in the eighties and climate disaster warnings on packets in supermarkets worldwide are essential.

Every half hour for the past six months on commercial (talk) radio* in London, we have had commercials warning that a slight cough could indicate lung cancer. That is well over the top and an outrageous waste of money but they still insist on them.

It might be that the chances of earthquake are in Ross-on-Wye are minute. You still insure your house against it.

(and yes I know you don't live in R-o-W - it is poetic licence)

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

well the good ol USSR and The People's Republic of China are some of the worst polluters on the planet .... Arral Sea eg



not to mention all those poor people burning wood eh .... it is our grotesquely large global population above all else that pollutes and impacts the climate....

[ahinton]

[QUOTE=Lateralthinking1;185160]The New Left in China are acutely aware of the limitations of rampant growth in providing solutions to poverty. They are also extremely worried about the new authoritarianism required to manage political instability emanating from big blocs of wealth in some regions and worsening poverty in others.[/quotge]
Both may be the ase. They can do nothing about either- nor can anyone else in that country.

I think greed defines itself in all countries. It doesn't require a UN declaration. A requirement though for regular adverts akin to those on HIV in the eighties and climate disaster warnings on packets in supermarkets worldwide are essential.

It does require one if there's to be international agreement in advance of meaningful global action - and that quite obviously ain't going to happen.

Every half hour for the past six months on commercial (talk) radio* in London, we have had commercials warning that a slight cough could indicate lung cancer. That is well over the top and an outrageous waste of money but they still insist on them.

It might be that the chances of earthquake are in Ross-on-Wye are minute. You still insure your house against it.(and yes I know you don't live in R-o-W - it is poetic licence)

I know that it is - but it won't matter who anyone tries to tell, it will make less than no difference, partly becuase most people who need to be told won't even be able to hear it and many of the rest won't want to in any case.

[ahinton]

well the good ol USSR and The People's Republic of China are some of the worst polluters on the planet .... Arral Sea eg



not to mention all those poor people burning wood eh .... it is our grotesquely large global population above all else that pollutes and impacts the climate....

Maybe, but it requires but a tiny population to be easily able to do this today now that everyone knows only too well just how to do it and most couldn't care less about the consequences for future generations in any case...

[Lateralthinking1]

Originally Posted by ahinton - Everything on this thread to date

Sorry ahinton - are you of the opinion that the future is unalterably Bleaksville or that all the worrying winnies should be dismissing the astrology and 'partying' like it's 1999?

[ahinton]

Sorry ahinton - are you of the opinion that the future is unalterably Bleaksville or that all the worrying winnies should be dismissing the astrology and 'partying' like it's 1999?

Clearly you've read few of my posts or you'd not have asked that question. I believe nothing of the kind but I do believe that there needs to be massive action on a small scale to deal with one part of this and to go a considerable way towards freeing people from the clutches of multi-national corporate enforcement.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

the drought in america now .... it is bad ...watch the price of a loaf!

[Dave2002]

I do not agree that the world's natural resources will inevitably become exhausted.

I believe that coal and oil as we know them take quite some time to form. Thus I think the world's natural resources will become exhausted, even if it takes a long time.

[ahinton]

I believe that coal and oil as we know them take quite some time to form. Thus I think the world's natural resources will become exhausted, even if it takes a long time.

I take your point, but this would inevitably depend upon the speed of their formation relative to the extent to which the existing ones were used; I'm not sure what reliable statistics there are to illustrate this, but the very fact that nuclear energy and other alternative form such as wind, wave and solar power are already in use must surely mean that the speed of fossil fuel uss will be less than would be the case were fossil fuels the only ones in use.

Anyway, having turned to TUC thread on its head temporarily, let's try it here; Is human activity due to climate change?...

[ahinton]

(deleted)

[Dave2002]

I take your point, but this would inevitably depend upon the speed of their formation relative to the extent to which the existing ones were used; I'm not sure what reliable statistics there are to illustrate this, but the very fact that nuclear energy and other alternative form such as wind, wave and solar power are already in use must surely mean that the speed of fossil fuel uss will be less than would be the case were fossil fuels the only ones in use.

Slightly hypothetical. Firstly demand has risen and may still be rising, even though I believe it might have fallen slightly in the UK in the last year or two. Secondly, at present gas and coal are still very much dominant fuels, even allowing for the rise in alternative energy sources.

Finding out how long it takes to make coal and oil is quite difficult, though some claim to have answers Or at least posed the questions.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100630121854AAAFRfX

http://www.tgm.org/Creation_coal.html ROFL