Slashdot Mirror
Kyoto Protocol Comes Into Force
Cally writes "The controversial Kyoto Treaty regulating CO2 emissions finally comes into force today. The BBC has several stories and backgrounders, and notes that international pressure is now mounting on the USA to take action as well, as the scientific consensus is well established. A key question is whether the US economy will benefit relative the rest of the world, with some arguing that new technologies such as clean power generation and energy efficient appliances will provide an economic boost."
Yeah it will make a difference...
When everyone starts starving because we can't power the vehicles needed to transport food to the cities.
I don't smoke. None of my friends smoke. I don't like the smell of cigarette smoke. I hope my kids never start smoking. I don't work for the tobacco industry.
Science has yet to show a causal relationship between second hand smoke and cancer.
While there have been studies that have claimed that second hand smoke causes cancer, they have been shown to be of dubious reliability.
There has yet to be a reputable study that has concluded that second hand smoke causes cancer. You can google for further discussion on this.
Yes, second hand smoke can make your eyes burn. It can cause a runny nose. It can trigger asthmatic reactions. It can elevate blood pressure. It can cause increased heart rate. In suffcient concentration, it can even cause death by asphixiation. But it hasn't been relaibly shown to cause cancer.
...until global warming would even start fully kicking in, allowing for a chance to persuade both the US and China into the Kyoto treaty, but you know what? I live in Finland, where anything from 14 to -4 degrees Fahrenheit (-10 to -20 degrees Celsius for us Europeans and whatnot) used to be perfectly normal even during a mild winter. Back in the mid-90s winters used to begin even as early as October, and sometimes there was still some unmolten snow in May.
These past three winters I have been rather disappointed with, and why not? We've only had lasting snow as late as the second week of December the past two years, and I'm quite certain 2002 the snow didn't stick to the ground until the end of November. This past winter has been one of the worst ever winters I've yet to see - February is supposed to be the coldest month of the year, yet it's been 32 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit the whole month, with today being the exception (14 degrees Fahrenheit). In the end of January month the snow almost melted away again.
I don't care_ what's causing this - be it CO2, just normal temperature fluctuation in the course of history or even aliens from planet Yuggoth with anal probes... I want to play it safe with this treaty. I want there to be a future, even though I'm being a cynic and telling myself that if it's not one thing causing us to kill ourselves, it's something else...
But hey, I'm just being a paranoid, right? (Probably a stinkin' bleeding heart hippie eurotrash libertarian, too. </self irony>) I'm just the guy who finds it a little confusing to feel comfortable outside without gloves and a woolly hat - in midwinter with the windchill factor included.
Slightly OT: Today's headline on the local newspaper was about the rightist Christians demanding for some environtalist attitude from the US government. I was wondering when they'd pick up on the faint green attitude in the beginning of the Bible...
I aten't dead.