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Climatologists Wager on Global Warming

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the dollars-for-degrees dept.

coflow writes "The Guardian is carrying a story about a $10,000 bet that a pair of Russian scientists have entered with British climate expert James Annan. According to the article, the Russians believe the world will be cooler in 10 years. "If the temperature drops Dr Annan will stump up the $10,000 (now equivalent to about £5,800) in 2018. If the Earth continues to warm, the money will go the other way.""

2 of 591 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I'm leaning towards the Ruskies on this one... by donscarletti · · Score: 5, Insightful
    You're darn well right. Imagine if we got it all wrong. What if we thought that the world was getting warmer from greenhouse gasses so we reduced carbon emissions when that wasn't even needed. God help us then. Our descendants would all look up at our clear, pristine skies, free from pollution and shake their fists, cursing those maniacs in the early 21st century responsible for cleaning it up and weep for the days where we couldn't see the stars around large cities. Imagine if the hysteria that global warming caused spilled over and caused people to clean up waterways, or reduce other emissions like sulfur dioxide. Imagine a world with clear rivers and no acid rain as well. That's what those crazy eco-nuts would have us reduced to.

    The worst thing about the Kyoto protocol is the harm it could cause if it all went wrong. We have so much to loose because of it.

    --
    When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
  2. Re:After the bet... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Global climate change is no longer the subject of science, but of politics. The data was in a long time ago, but people continue to ignore it in favor of their own agenda. Climate changes have been documented at various points in the earth's history for various reasons. Instead of using this data to predict future trends, environmental groups use it to further a socialist agenda and industry groups use it to further a complete deregulation agenda. All the research in the world won't matter at this point, so might as well just resort to placing bets. It's no more stupid than the pontificating that's going on right now between everyone involved in the area of global climate change.