Slashdot Mirror


Global Warming Has Made the Weather Better For Most In US -- For Now (latimes.com)

An anonymous reader shares an article on LA Times: Since Americans first heard the term global warming in the 1970s, the weather has actually improved for most people living in the U.S.. But it won't always be that way, according to a new study. Research shows Americans typically -- and perhaps unsurprisingly -- like warmer winters and dislike hot, humid summers. And they reveal their weather preferences by moving to areas with conditions they like best. A new study in the journal Nature has found that 80% of the U.S. population lives in counties experiencing more pleasant weather than they did 40 years ago. "Virtually all Americans are now experiencing the much milder winters that they typically prefer, and these mild winters have not been offset by markedly more uncomfortable summers or other negative changes," writes Patrick Egan, a political scientist at New York University, and Megan Mullin, professor of environmental politics at Duke University. However, if greenhouse gas emissions continue unchecked, 88% of the current population will live in areas where the weather is less pleasant than it was before. The paper does not predict how changing weather patterns will influence migration patterns over the coming century.

9 of 317 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Fuck the rest of the world. by operagost · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No, no one is saying that, you stupid troll.

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  2. so we need to go back to bad weather? by known_coward_69 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    so the crappy pre-global warming weather we had is what we need to go back to? back when i was in the army all the guys i knew from the midwest talked about their normal winters of -20 with the wind chill

  3. Re:Fuck the rest of the world. by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just curious... But why do you expect a country boy (or girl) from Iowa to care about someone on the other side of the planet?

    Serious question... Because you're asking that person to change their lifestyle and pay more money, to help people they don't know and will never meet.

  4. In Soviet Russia... by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's what Russia has been saying for years: "Warming? In Russia? How is that bad? It's usually f8cking cold here!"

  5. Re:Fuck the rest of the world. by kheldan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, no one is saying that, you stupid troll.

    It's not the best way of saying it, but the essense of it, I believe, is correct. The average person (pedants: as defined for the entire population, not just Slashdotters, so hush your mouth!) doesn't grok 'climate science' any better than they understand 'rocket science' enough to fabricate and launch a satellite into geosynchronous orbit, so when someone talks about 'global warming', what do they do? They look outside the window at what's going on, or maybe look at the weather forecast; the average person is not the most forward-looking person you'll ever meet, they're more concerned about tomorrow, or next week, or maybe as far as next month, but 10, 20, 50, 100 years from now? Usually, not so much. If the weather has been nice where they are, they're not going to get very disturbed by the abstract ideas of some news report that says in 10, 20, 50, 100 years from now, things won't be pleasant, and similarly, they find it difficult to get too upset by the fact that people they don't know in some country they'd be hard-pressed to find on a map is experiencing what is for them bizarre and destructive weather patterns. If you want to see the majority of U.S. citizens being forefront-of-their-thoughts concerned about 'global warming', you'll likely have to wait until they're being seriously inconvenienced by it, which of course will be way, way too late to do anything about it. Which is why scientists and others who do understand the implications of global warming keep amplifying their reports on it -- which of course just causes the deniers of global warming to amplify their claims that they're just spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Then the religious types chime in to muddy the intellectual waters even further, confusing the faithful with passages from the Bible that aren't even necessarily relevant.

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
  6. Re:Fuck the rest of the world. by HornWumpus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They deliver that oil out of the goodness of their hearts? No? Well you're just a fuckwit than.

    Trade is for mutual benefit. Our it wouldn't happen.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  7. Re:Fuck the rest of the world. by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well it has been recognized for a while. That Global Climate change will have areas which benefit from it and those that will not.
    For the most part, and why it is hard to call people to action, is that we as humans are rather adaptable to climates, so while our long term environmental food cycles and water cycles are affecting a lot of life in the world. We as humans are not so affected. Attempts in the past to try to exaggerate the effects on humans (Images of NYC flooded so you can only see the top of the statue of liberty) May mobilize some, but it also turns a lot of people away, as these potent images, which turn out to be false, discredits the more realistic problem.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  8. Re:Fuck the rest of the world. by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If the weather has been nice where they are, they're not going to get very disturbed by the abstract ideas of some news report that says in 10, 20, 50, 100 years from now, things won't be pleasant, and similarly, they find it difficult to get too upset by the fact that people they don't know in some country they'd be hard-pressed to find on a map is experiencing what is for them bizarre and destructive weather patterns.

    Quoted for truth...

    The average person out in the world simply doesn't pay this nearly as much attention as people who post on message boards about it. Even my wife, who has to listen to me talk about this from time to time, doesn't really care all that much.

    Oh sure, if you say "do you care about the Earth's environment for your children", she'll say "yes, of course, we should keep it clean". Then if you follow up and say, "So are you ok to give up your nice big truck and get a small car, and watch clothes by hand, and have no air conditioning?", she will say: "Are you nuts? No!"

    If you were to push her on it, she'll probably say something like, "Even if I give all that up, nothing will change and other nations will keep polluting".

  9. Re:Fuck the rest of the world. by jedidiah · · Score: 3, Informative

    Grok is actually a pretty useful term. The fact that it was fabricated by a novelist is no good reason to shun it. It's a meaningfully distinctive term.

    Most people don't actually grok this stuff. They just repeat what others have said. It's total appeal to authority nonsense like quoting lines out of the Bible. It's even less sophisticated than that actually.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.