Solar power for homes is becoming a major alternative to fossil fuels as costs go down in solar technology and up in traditional fuel sources.

Climate modeling is extremely complex, and so is the Earth-Sun system. I would suggest that using the Venus example as a horror show, or the Mars case - which once had a wet warm period in its climate, we have evidence to suggest - is rather like shaking a hobgoblin at the public. Good to motivate panic, as Mencken noted, but not as good if you want carefully reasoned thought.

Thank you for approving my comment, reading it, and giving kudos. If there is one further thing I should wish to add, it is to compare the central planning demagogues to the Romans.

As Calgacus is reputed to have said, “They make a desert and call it peace.”

Regards,

Jim

I agree that it is ludicrous to “suppose that a runaway greenhouse situation is impending.” It is not, however, ludicrous to hypothesize that current climate trends might result in that if not interrupted, and then to try to prove or disprove the hypothesis. As “skeptics” are fond of pointing out, climate modeling is an incredibly complex endeavor — and that cuts in every direction, including the direction the “skeptics” lean toward and then use the same modeling paradigm they’ve condemned elsewhere to pull others in.

As for the rest of your comment, you said what I’ve been trying to say … only you said it better.

Regards,
Tom Knapp

Libertarians have a large number of tools and tricks in their bag. One of these is decentralization. The free market makes a lot more choices available, and individuals take intelligent choices more adeptly than central planners can. There are a legion of technologies available for reducing carbon emissions, reducing global temperatures through various types of energy production (OTEC - bringing cold water to the surface; 2 mile high chimneys producing power with tornadic winds and fresh water through condensation), and jumping off the grid using solar, wind, and other technologies too numerous to list.

We also have more than enough time - centuries - in which to circumvent the government’s bans on low cost access to space and engage in active reductions in Solar input by building large, cheap mirrors with extraterrestrial materials. What we do not have is any reason to abandon private property and individual liberty to the last desperate scheme of dirigistes.

The cause of much of the deforestation and pollution on the planet is centrally planned government. Externally imposed and coercive forms of government should be opposed and blotted out, in the name of making our environment safer from the worst polluters.

Actually, “The Great Global Warming Swindle” was completely discredited in mere days. When the current data didn’t fit the filmmaker’s desires, old data was used. When old data didn’t fit either, data was simply forged from whole cloth and then its provenance mislabeled.

Jarrett,

The data is the data. You can like it or not like it, but it is what it is.

Rocky,

I agree — concentration of state power is a bigger threat than global warming.

Regards,
Tom

Historically we have had even warmer periods. Also solar activity seems to be high right now, which could account for the warming.

Second, the most reasonable projections I’ve seen on warming are at most a few degrees in the next 50 years, which would merely take us to a “global optimium” climate.

Finally, and most important, where does there exist a proven climate model that has successfully predicted temperature variations for 10 years into the future, much less 50, 100, or 1,000 years? To the best of my understanding, no such model exists. Indeed, most models I’ve seen can’t even predict temperatures 6 months in the future, and are incredible oversimplifications.

– Jarret Wollstein

The documentary “The Great Global Warming Swindle” (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9005566792811497638&q=Global%20Warming%20Swindle&hl=en ) pretty much cuts into little ribbons the assertion that human activity significantly affects the earth’s temperature. What axe are you trying to grind by claiming otherwise?