Althouse: The cure for global warming?

February 1, 2008

The cure for global warming?

But don't get happy. It looks like doom.

21 comments:

Original Mike said...: One thing is certain. The planet will be warmer or colder in the future than it is now. Whichever it is, mankind will have to deal with it.; 2/1/08, 10:55 AM
Paddy O said...: Well, this does explain why my car has been absolutely buried under snow for the last week and a half, with more snow coming this weekend.

Gives me a chance to use my snowshoes though. Something I haven't done much since moving back to Southern California.; 2/1/08, 10:56 AM
Original Mike said...: We've had a enjoyable winter in Madison this year. Continuous snow cover. If it's winter, there should be snow.; 2/1/08, 11:02 AM
Roger J. said...: Nothing like a good ice age to cool things off--I think I have this figured out: Its really dihydrogen monoxide that is the enemy: cold = ice and glaciation; warm = flooding of coast lines. We need to end our dependence of dihydrogen monoxide. Alcohol comes to mind as a substitute.; 2/1/08, 11:02 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Severe cold is way more of a threat than global warming. I bet most of us would choose global warming rather than becoming a human popsicle.; 2/1/08, 11:04 AM
Original Mike said...: Personally, I like winter AJ. I'm thinking of retiring farther north. I tired of living in the tropics of Madison.; 2/1/08, 11:08 AM
ricpic said...: Yes, but like everything else, the sun's low magnetic activity is caused by global warming. ;^); 2/1/08, 11:09 AM
Original Mike said...: I think it's caused by the Bush tax cuts.; 2/1/08, 11:18 AM
MadisonMan said...: A warmer planet can also cause an ice age -- all the open water at the North Pole will fuel plenty of snows at High Latitudes. Then you end up with really thick glaciers over Canada eventually.

I agree with original mike -- this has been a great winter. Love the snow (but I didn't feel the ice quake yesterday, which was a bummer). I'd like an early Spring though.; 2/1/08, 11:35 AM
Simon said...: If only there was something mankind could do that would somehow allow us to increase the retention of heat in the atmosphere! Maybe this disaster could be avoided!; 2/1/08, 11:52 AM
Henry said...: Camille Paglia should feel vindicated. The sun refutes our hubris.; 2/1/08, 12:36 PM
rhhardin said...: The bad part of a perpetual nuclear winter is that people will burn fossil fuels to keep warm and make global warming worse.; 2/1/08, 1:00 PM
rhhardin said...: People with large dogs don't worry about cold. Dogs run 101 degrees F.

They're nature's bedwarmers.

Furthermore, when you get into bed, the dog will have been warming your spot, so even that momentary chill of cold sheets is gone. Instead, the pre-heated sheets warm you up.; 2/1/08, 1:08 PM
Roger J. said...: I am distressed that our commenters are not taking the pending disaster d'jour seriously enough. You are, yes, global cooling denialists! You probably failed to confront the heterosexual AIDS epidemic that swept through the US in the early 1990s causing nationwide suffering and death. Oh, wait...; 2/1/08, 1:10 PM
Original Mike said...: I am distressed that our commenters are not taking the pending disaster d'jour seriously enough.

Gallows humor, Roger. Laughing in the face of death and all that.; 2/1/08, 1:33 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: The cure for global warming? Confine Al Gore to a supermax sanitarium for life and disband the UN. No more global warming. Then we can concentrate on real problems that affect real people, like who is going to win the Super Bowl?; 2/1/08, 2:47 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Not to worry... China, Inda, Mexico, Brazil, Russia and most of Africa will be countering the global cooling with lots of toasty CO2 emissions from their expanding economies, while we turn ourselves into a third world, third rate nation to make the eco-nazis and high priests of Global Warming happy.

Don't worry....be happy.; 2/1/08, 3:31 PM
MadisonMan said...: Dust Bunny, you're being unnecessarily pessimistic.

I think a better point of view is that retooling the US Economy off of oil is a great opportunity for jobs growth (in some sectors, of course). I'm all for wind turbines being erected -- where are all those metal blades and towers constructed? In the US with US Steel? Making solar power more efficient and more available? How many jobs will that create? I will put the ability of the US and its workforce to adapt above that of any other country. Surely de-emphasizing the role of petroleum isn't going to cause much of a long-term bump.; 2/1/08, 4:25 PM
blake said...: I called it.

I even called here on the Althouse, I'm pretty sure.

World's getting warmer. You see, the particulate matter humans put into the air traps the sun's rays, causing the earth to get warmer. That's why we're all doomed.

World's getting colder. You see, the particulate matter humans put into the air causes the sun's rays to be reflected. And that's why we're all doomed.; 2/1/08, 5:42 PM
blake said...: MadMan,

One problem with the focus on energy (and we won't get into how the sources you mention don't even come close to meeting energy needs, on the hopes that one day, one or more of them will) is that it's actually pretty secondary.

If we could switch tomorrow to all solar, we'd still be dependent on oil. Because we still need plastic.; 2/1/08, 5:44 PM
Jeremy said...: Blake, all resources are limited and at some point we'll have to import the resource d'jour from somebody ... unless we can tap into our one natural limitless local resource: the hot air of our politicians!

Rimshot!; 2/1/08, 6:20 PM