So, I was watching Penn and Teller Bullshit tonight. They were interviewing people about global warming. It was interesting as always.
I'm not sure what I think about the whole global warming, go green craze. I've seen the haze from pollution, Phoenix had the red cloud. I grew up around a lot of chemical plants and saw the flames on the towers that emitted by-products of what ever they were making. I've seen exhaust fumes from cars, buses, and semis. I believe that it is lowering our air quality and causing an increase in asthma sufferers. However, I'm not sold on the fact that it is going to cause all the doom green people are threatening.
I understand that deforestation is bad. Trees supply us oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the air. Carbon dioxide can cause warming in the atmosphere. If there are less trees to intake the carbon dioxide, the temperature will raise. However, is it as dangerous as they say?
On the show, they delved into carbon credits. They compared these to the sin tax before Martin Luther. Background on this: People would sin (everyone does) and go to the church to give money for full forgiveness. The church did this to raise money. Is the government or green programs guilting people over driving SUVs and causing harm to the environment in order to make money?
There are alternatives to energy. Driving through California, Missouri, and some other states, you can see the windmills on hills sometimes for miles. There are also choices of hydro and nuclear power. My question is how are these powered? And do we really want nuclear power plants scattered about when we are on constant terror alerts?
My opinion is that we aren't helping the environment. However, I think the Earth has cycles and we are just speeding up the inevitable ice age. Carbon credits are ways for people to make money. Other energy sources are a good idea, but I'm not sure if they are really better for the environment. What are your thoughts?
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The first pub discussion is awesome! Thanks everyone for participating and bringing your views to the table. Just a reminder of how this works.
Pretend that we are at a pub, having this discussion. You wouldn't bring your books or magazines with you, just your brains, experiences, and opinions. The goal is to foster a conversation with varying points of view. Please do not quote articles here. If you want to reference a book or article that is fine, but don't quote it. If members find it intriguing, they will pursue that on their own. If you pulled out a book and started reading it to someone at a pub, they'd ask you to leave. At this pub, if you paste articles, they will be deleted. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and I hope these will be insightful, interesting discussions for all. |