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New Study Confirms the Oceans Are Warming Rapidly (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report from The Guardian, written by John Abraham, who discusses the rising ocean temperatures and the important factors that affect ocean-temperature accuracy: The most important measurement of global warming is in the oceans. In fact, "global warming" is really "ocean warming." If you are going to measure the changing climate of the oceans, you need to have many sensors spread out across the globe that take measurements from the ocean surface to the very depths of the waters. Importantly, you need to have measurements that span decades so a long-term trend can be established. These difficulties are tackled by oceanographers, and a significant advancement was presented in a paper just published in the journal Climate Dynamics. That paper, which I was fortunate to be involved with, looked at three different ocean temperature measurements made by three different groups. We found that regardless of whose data was used or where the data was gathered, the oceans are warming. In the paper, we describe perhaps the three most important factors that affect ocean-temperature accuracy. First, sensors can have biases (they can be "hot" or "cold"), and these biases can change over time. Another source of uncertainty is related to the fact that we just don't have sensors at all ocean locations and at all times. Some sensors, which are dropped from cargo ships, are densely located along major shipping routes. Other sensors, dropped from research vessels, are also confined to specific locations across the globe. Finally, temperatures are usually referenced to a baseline "climatology." So, when we say temperatures have increased by 1 degree, it is important to say what the baseline climatology is. Have temperatures increased by 1 degree since the year 1990? Since the year 1970? Since 1900? The choice of baseline climatology really matters.

332 comments

  1. Sounds scary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    But after 20+ years of exaggerations, and occasional falsification, of climate data, I have become immune to scary reports and will simply ignore this one. The boy has cried wolf too many times before. I will not waste any more time looking into this one.

    OT: In my travels, it does seem to me that the world has become more verdant over the past several decades. This is not a measurement, merely a personal observation. Am I imagining this, or are increasing temperatures and CO2 levels causing plant life to flourish?

    1. Re:Sounds scary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "...it does seem to me that the world has become more verdant over the past several decades..."

      You do realize that as you age, your spectral sensitivities deteriorate? Specifically loss of sensitivity towards purple and yellow-green confusion. In other words, as you get older, the world simply appears greener:
      https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140220102614.htm

      "... I have become immune to scary reports and will simply ignore this one."
      Oh, that's something entirely different. This means that you are an idiot. This may be age related, but it is entirely possible that you have always been an idiot.

      "But after 20+ years of exaggerations, and occasional falsification..."
      Oh dear, you aren't only an idiot, you are a liar as well. What occasional falsification?

      Just for your amusement, you may want to look into the Ocean Warming Studies of Richard Muller, funded by the Kochs. He started out as a "Sceptic"; he felt that not enough rigor had been applied. He came to the conclusion that the situation was worse than first appeared. The Kochs paid for it because they had long-term planning to do; they're continuing to deny Warming is but PR gibberish for Koch Suckers like you.

      "Am I imagining this, or are increasing temperatures and CO2 levels causing plant life to flourish?"
      Which is it, no Warming or only Good Warming? You really should make up your mind. That is, if you ever had one.

    2. Re:Sounds scary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As a person who has lived his whole life in Arctic I can tell you that the thousands of years old permafrost is melting. Biologists are fighting against time to preserve mammoth DNA because the carcasses are finally rotting.

    3. Re: Sounds scary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      SlashDot recently posted that over the last 15 years, arid areas of the planet have increased 2% while vegetative areas (forest density) has increased 7%. By all factors, a slightly warmer planet will globally support more life than it does today.

    4. Re: Sounds scary by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      Sadly, even if that were true (7% seems quite a lot though, any link?), that is of little comfort to many people in the temperate region. We don't exactly need or want tropical diseases and bugs here. We're just fine with the way things are now.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    5. Re: Sounds scary by haruchai · · Score: 1

      I spent more than a few of my childhood & adolescent years in tropical regions. It's all lovely, until you meet the critters.
      Centipedes that can kill snakes, swarms of flying cockroaches, GAAAHHH, and bugs that get under your skin - ever have scabies?
      I did and it sucks, a lot.
      I'll gladly suffer through winter as long as it means never having to face those critters again.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    6. Re: Sounds scary by MightyMartian · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Which showed no evidence of fraud. You are just a liar

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    7. Re:Sounds scary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you SURE that the carcasses that are rotting aren't just a fraction of the total carcasses, and that as such there are always some carcasses that rot with each heat wave?

      Seems like you find lots of mammoth bones in addition to frozen carcasses.

    8. Re: Sounds scary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course AGW supporters who reviewed the Climategate emails found no evidence of wrongdoing. It's a lot like trusting the Trump administration to investigate whether the Trump campaign collided with Russia. Of course they will say there's no wrongdoing. Impartial reviews of the Climategate emails HAVE found evidence of improprieties.

    9. Re: Sounds scary by Rockoon · · Score: 0, Troll

      Apparently, falsification to "hide the decline" isnt fraud.

      Understood. Thanks for correcting my unenlightened pre-modern view.

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    10. Re: Sounds scary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please disclose your financial interests in AGW. I have no doubt that you're a paid astroturfer.

    11. Re: Sounds scary by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

      Apparently, falsification to "hide the decline" isnt fraud.

      Exactly why would you argue there was falsification or fraud involved in that case ? Do you even know what "hide the decline" referred to ?

    12. Re: Sounds scary by hey! · · Score: 1

      And you are just a communist, nigger loving ape-eh-shit, so go die in a fucking fire fucktard.

      Ah, I see you've been forced to play your trump card.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    13. Re:Sounds scary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Epic. Internet access in the Arctic just to post to Slashdot.

    14. Re:Sounds scary by avandesande · · Score: 1

      Yeah I think it is a misunderstanding of biology that forests and grasslands are a carbon sink. Forests just rot and release carbon in a state of equilibrium. The real sinks are at the bottom of the ocean where things are anaerobic and this process isn't really well understood.

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    15. Re:Sounds scary by Curunir_wolf · · Score: 1

      Nice gaslighting! Kudos to you sir!

      --
      "Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
      --- Jerry Garcia
    16. Re:Sounds scary by swillden · · Score: 1

      Yeah I think it is a misunderstanding of biology that forests and grasslands are a carbon sink. Forests just rot and release carbon in a state of equilibrium.

      In a state of equilibrium, yes. If high CO2 levels cause vegetation to get more extensive, thicker, etc., it creates a new equilibrium with more gigatons of carbon tied up in living plants, thus removing those gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere. This obviously cannot lower atmospheric carbon concentrations back to pre-industrial levels, because assuming it can drop CO2 levels signficantly, as soon as they drop to the point that the vegetation level starts to die back, the carbon tied up in the dead plants gets released back in to the atmosphere (most of it, anyway).

      I'm not suggesting that we can just sit back and assume that plant life will solve our problem for us. It won't. But it likely will soak up some of the excess carbon.

      --
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    17. Re: Sounds scary by Calydor · · Score: 1

      So because it has gone well so far, just keep doing it? How does that theory work for playing Russian Roulette?

      I didn't see the article you refer to, so I'll take the numbers at face value. That sounds great.

      But what if the next degree hotter means 3% more arid areas and 4% more forest, then the next one is 7% more arid and 1% more forest ...

      Can we at least agree that at some point, the heat across the globe - if it continues to go up and only up - will cause more arid areas than vegetative ones?

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    18. Re:Sounds scary by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Except that that's already happening. We're putting more fossil carbon into the air than remains there, so we know something is absorbing some of it.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    19. Re:Sounds scary by omnichad · · Score: 1

      You must not have ever seen the black dirt in parts of the midwest. Sure, a lot of this carbon is left behind from burning prairie grasses, but the color of the dirt alone says there is an excess of carbon.

      Does it matter that forests and grass are not a true carbon sink? Losing them is a net carbon loss. Preserving them or expanding them is still important. The equilibrium will keep some carbon perpetually sunk.

    20. Re:Sounds scary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      His point is that plant growth can absorb some of it, but not all or even most of it. Really, they can barely store any of it for very long.

      Plants are not a viable solution to storing the carbon that we've released from the bowels of the Earth.

      That's like throwing a sponge into Lake Michigan and saying, "Hey, we soaked some of that up."

    21. Re:Sounds scary by swillden · · Score: 1

      His point is that plant growth can absorb some of it, but not all or even most of it. Really, they can barely store any of it for very long.

      No, that's not my primary point, and I actually disagree with the last part. My point is that plants *can* store some of it, in the form of increased biomass, and they can do it as long as CO2 levels stay high enough to maintain the "greener" equilibrium.

      A subsidiary point is that this mechanism cannot absorb all of the carbon. Assuming that living plant biomass is correlated directly with CO2 level in the atmosphere (because CO2 promotes photosynthesis and therefore growth), absorbing all the excess CO2 would reduce CO2 level, and therefore reduce living plant biomass. The now-dead excess plant biomass would release most of its carbon back into the atmosphere, thereby raising the CO2 level. So wherever the new equilibrium point is, it will be at higher than "normal" CO2 levels.

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    22. Re:Sounds scary by swillden · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure why you say "except". I never denied that it was already happening. I didn't know that it was, but it makes sense.

      --
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    23. Re: Sounds scary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Innuendo is not an argument. Be specific or concede, but stop wasting everyones time.

    24. Re:Sounds scary by Maritz · · Score: 1

      Thanks for sharing your dumb opinion. It's special just like you.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    25. Re:Sounds scary by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

      10 hottest years ever, all over the last 14.
      What "cried wolf"?

    26. Re:Sounds scary by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

      Wrong.
      More growth = faster death = more rot = CO2 balance pretty much where it was....OR we would not now be at a 1 million year maximum

    27. Re:Sounds scary by swillden · · Score: 1

      Wrong. More growth = faster death = more rot = CO2 balance pretty much where it was....OR we would not now be at a 1 million year maximum

      Wrong. More growth does equal more rot, but it also means more gigatonnage of biomass at any given time. If the normal (pick a normal) tonnage of biomass is X and the amount (at equilibrium) with higher CO2 is Y, then the carbon in (Y-X) is actually removed from the ecosystem. You'll still have more rotting, meaning more turnover, but we're talking about an equilibrium state, so for every gram that is returned by rotting, another gram is absorbed by growth.

      Note that this means that plant life acts as a carbon buffer. As CO2 levels rise, plant biomass rises, absorbing some of the excess carbon. As CO2 levels fall, plant biomass decreases, releasing the stored carbon. (This is all predicated on the assumption that plant biomass does vary with CO2 levels; which I don't actually know for certain, but makes sense.)

      --
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  2. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Opportunist · · Score: 0, Troll

    Li'l hint: If you want to throw your hat into this game for the money, bet on the other team. The ones that want you to believe that everything is fine and that we shouldn't change a thing have way, way deeper pockets.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. Re:Then where's the proof? by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    Umm... the article is linked in the summary?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  4. Good! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If we can get it warm enough the oceans will start to evaporate, countering global warming's rising sea level.

    1. Re:Good! by Highdude702 · · Score: 2

      Give this guy a Nobel peace prize!

    2. Re:Good! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Boiling temperature, May be.

    3. Re:Good! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Water vapor has a greenhouse effect, so unfortunately that won't work.

    4. Re:Good! by acoustix · · Score: 1

      Boiling temperature, May be.

      I'm pretty sure that water doesn't need to be boiling to evaporate. However, warm water evaporates at a faster rate than cold water.

      --
      "A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
    5. Re:Good! by pastafazou · · Score: 2

      But increased water vapor means increased clouds, and clouds increase the planet's albedo, leading to less insolation on the surface, so fortunately it may actually work.

    6. Re:Good! by flaming+error · · Score: 1

      " fortunately it may actually work."

      That's great news! Let's see your math.

    7. Re:Good! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Warming the water also causes thermal expansion, increasing it's volume. If I was in the mood I'd do some calculations to see how the two compare.

    8. Re:Good! by omnichad · · Score: 2

      Evaporate - water vapor is not gaseous water (steam). It is liquid water suspended in air.

    9. Re:Good! by pastafazou · · Score: 1

      It's climate science, so there's no math to show. But I could show you a computer model that shows a net negative feedback loop exists in the atmosphere...

  5. if the alien visit was really due.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    there'd be no denials & we'd be instructed where to tune in for instructions? aliens everywhere agree,, cease fire stand down.. sing along.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eCh3y5VROM

  6. Lobsters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Will come pre-boiled, what could be better!?

    1. Re:Lobsters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Will come pre-boiled, what could be better!?

      Not eating spiders raised in fish piss?

  7. This is just an SJW conspiracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    and Trump is gonna fix all that SINGLE HANDEDLY.

    1. Re:This is just an SJW conspiracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Chinese, actually.

      And they would have benefitted MASSIVELY from the Paris Climate Accord, while the climate would have continued warming according to their own estimates.

      It was a program designed to literally bankrupt the west. Sounds like a Chinese conspiracy to me.

    2. Re:This is just an SJW conspiracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      [China] would have benefitted MASSIVELY from the Paris Climate Accord

      I didn't know that China had withdrawn from the Paris Accord.

    3. Re:This is just an SJW conspiracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bah. Next time I'm voting for that guy Not Sure. He's the smartest man alive, and he's gonna fix everything.

    4. Re:This is just an SJW conspiracy by Maritz · · Score: 1

      It was a program designed to literally bankrupt the west. Sounds like a Chinese conspiracy to me.

      May your little unreality bubble never pop, dear dopey cunt.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  8. Re: "contradictory results related to the ocean he by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Even of the data doesn't show warming, we know it is happening.

  9. bit of maths by ishmaelflood · · Score: 3, Insightful

    change in heat content since 1970=3 e23 J (from TFA)

    SHC of water =4e3 J/kg/deg C

    mass of oceans = 1.4e21 kg

    temperature rise is 3e23/1.4e21/4e3, about 0.05 deg C

    Hmm, in 50 years? Colour me unexcited.

    1. Re:bit of maths by religionofpeas · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The temperature effects are not distributed equally across the entire water column. Most of the warming is in the upper ocean, which is most relevant for us, because it's the layer where the energy is quickly transported back to the atmosphere.

      The relatively small increase in temperature should make you excited, because it's means that the ocean isn't anywhere near equilibrium, so it will keep absorbing energy from the atmosphere at increasing rates, causing sea level rise through thermal expansion, and come back to us in bursts during the El-Nino season.

    2. Re:bit of maths by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This just in: Internet commenter much smarter than team of scientists. Full story at 11.

    3. Re:bit of maths by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Aye, but the whole ocean doesn't change temperature at the same rate you dickhead. The top, where shit actually lives, heats up faster.

      Fuck me, you are thick.

    4. Re:bit of maths by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, it will keep absorbing energy from the atmosphere at DECREASING rates. As the delta-T between them diminishes, the rate of heat flow decreases.

      Besides, most of the heat trapped by the upper ocean is radiative, not conductive. The oceanic albedo has a mean of approximately 0.06, which means the ocean absorbs approximately 94% of the solar radiation incident upon it, and almost all of that energy is dissipated in the top few feet of oceanic depth.

      The trend of decreasing oceanic cloud cover over the last 5 or so decades easily accounts for the increase in latent heat.

    5. Re:bit of maths by religionofpeas · · Score: 2

      Actually, it will keep absorbing energy from the atmosphere at DECREASING rates. As the delta-T between them diminishes, the rate of heat flow decreases.

      Ultimately yes, but right now, the upper layers are still warming faster so the delta T is still increasing.

    6. Re:bit of maths by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I remember that too. All of those "Coming Ice Age" books were on the shelf right next to Erich von Däniken's "Chariots of the Gods" and "Gods from Outer Space".

      I feel sorry for all these purveyors of global warmism. Next step: Chariots of the Gods redux: Ancient Astronauts of Warmth.

    7. Re:bit of maths by Layzej · · Score: 5, Informative

      That represents 4761904760 Hiroshima bombs of energy added to the system, or about 3.2 per second. About 4/5ths of that energy accumulated in the top 700 meters. The rate of warming is accelerating, meaning that the top of atmosphere energy imbalance is increasing. The impacts of the warming are already being observed, even at this early stage.

    8. Re:bit of maths by hey! · · Score: 3, Informative

      I refute your calculations with a single word: thermocline

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    9. Re:bit of maths by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I calculated 3.53e20 gallons of water in the Oceans & Seas, and 8.34 BTUs required to raise one gallon of water 1 degree F. So, 2.95e21 BTUs to push the whole shebang up 1 degree (F), the sort-of equivalent to 4.9e10 Hiroshma bombs. Assuming a steady-state already exists, that's 4.9e10 Hiroshma bombs in addition to the energy we are already generating.

      That seems like a lot.

    10. Re:bit of maths by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, but you are assuming 100% temperature distribution according to depth; and it is not the reality. Deep waters are at around 4C, no matter where in the world they are. The deeper the more close to 4C they are. Top water is the one that changes the most.
      The heat capacity versus temperature of the oceans is not linear.

    11. Re:bit of maths by Kernel+Kurtz · · Score: 1

      Not much unusual going on with sea levels either.

      http://notrickszone.com/2017/0...

    12. Re:bit of maths by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

      Why would you think it's a good idea to cherry pick tide gauges, instead of taking the average of all of them ?

      https://skepticalscience.com/s...

    13. Re:bit of maths by Kernel+Kurtz · · Score: 1

      Neither course would be very scientific.

    14. Re:bit of maths by Ferretman · · Score: 1

      Um, I don't think the oceans would ever burn ("engulfed in flames") under any circumstances....

      Ferret

      --
      Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
    15. Re:bit of maths by Ferretman · · Score: 1

      Sorry, non credible source.

      Ferret

      --
      Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
    16. Re:bit of maths by Layzej · · Score: 1

      The source is Cheng et al., (2017), but it is entirely consistent with any other recent study of ocean warming.

  10. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Why people always behave as though the left is composed of poor people and lead by poor people? That there are no billionaire liberals pushing the agenda as much as there are billionaires that fund the opposite view (if not more)? Why pretend that there is no side that has a vested interest in green energy?

  11. The current rate of extinction.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    ..is around 10 to 100 times the usual background level, and has been elevated above the background level since the Pleistocene. The current extinction rate is more rapid than in any other extinction event in earth history, and 50% of species could be extinct by the end of this century. While the role of humans is unclear in the longer-term extinction pattern, it is clear that factors such as deforestation, habitat destruction, hunting, the introduction of non-native species, pollution and climate change have reduced biodiversity profoundly.' (wiki)

    1. Re:The current rate of extinction.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      98% of all species that ever existed are already extinct through natural selection. And no the current rate is not more rapid than in any event in earth history.

    2. Re:The current rate of extinction.. by Layzej · · Score: 3, Informative

      Maybe, but those other events were accompanied by mass extinctions and sea level rise of about 13.5 m in about 290 years...

    3. Re:The current rate of extinction.. by Troed · · Score: 2

      “People who claim we’re in the sixth mass extinction don’t understand enough about mass extinctions to understand the logical flaw in their argument. To a certain extent they’re claiming it as a way of frightening people into action"

      “Many of those making facile comparisons between the current situation and past mass extinctions don’t have a clue about the difference in the nature of the data, [...] as scientists we have a responsibility to be accurate about such comparisons.”

      - Smithsonian paleontologist Doug Erwin

      https://www.theatlantic.com/sc...

    4. Re:The current rate of extinction.. by Layzej · · Score: 2

      "There is no reason to think that mass extinctions will not happen in the future, and, in fact, many biologists believe that we are in the midst of a human-caused mass extinction right now. Our ancestors began killing off many large vertebrates some 12,000 years ago (mammoths, saber-toothed cats, and dire wolves, among others), and we continue by depleting the oceans and destroying habitats for plants and animals. There are lots of other potential causes of mass extinction, including the collision of extra-terrestrial objects into Earth, massive volcanism, and glaciation, but no way of predicting which of them might affect us or when (contrary to some bad Hollywood movies). None of these is very likely to happen soon, so we would be better off worrying about our own effect on the planet." - Smithsonian paleontologist Doug Erwin

    5. Re:The current rate of extinction.. by Troed · · Score: 3, Informative

      Your quote is from November 28, 2006

      Mine is from June 13, 2017

      Apparently Doug has had the scientific decency to change his views on new data. Or, to use his words:

      Surely we’ve earned our place in the pantheon next to the greatest ecological catastrophes of all time: the so-called Big Five mass extinctions of earth history. Surely our Anthropocene extinction can confidently take its place next to the juggernauts of deep time—the Ordovician, Devonian, Permian, Triassic and Cretaceous extinctions.

      Erwin says no. He thinks it’s junk science.

    6. Re:The current rate of extinction.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your quote is from November 28, 2006 Mine is from June 13, 2017 Apparently Doug has had the scientific decency to change his views on new data.

      Those quotes do not contract each other, so he didn't change his mind based on new data. Try reading it a little more literally and stop trying to twist it to your world view and you'll see what I mean.

    7. Re:The current rate of extinction.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Erwin thinks the lingo is wrong, he doesn't think everyone is "ok" though, just the opposite. I agree that the term "Mass Extinction" in the paleo-archealogical sense is wrong as Erwin argues, but the two words "mass extinction" are an accurate appraisal of what's happening to many ecosystems today and Erwin says as much if you read the entire article. The continuation of current practices and trends has the potential to trigger a paleo-type Mass Extinction, according to Erwin, so really the article isn't helping your argument as much as you might hope. Doug hasn't changed his views at all, he just decided to use the lingo more accurately.

    8. Re:The current rate of extinction.. by Layzej · · Score: 1

      Mine is from June 13, 2017

      If his power-grid analogy is correct, then trying to stop a mass extinction after it’s started would be a little like calling for a building’s preservation while it’s imploding.

      “I think that if we keep things up long enough, we’ll get to a mass extinction, but we’re not in a mass extinction yet, and I think that’s an optimistic discovery because that means we actually have time to avoid Armageddon,” - Smithsonian paleontologist Doug Erwin - June 13, 2017

    9. Re:The current rate of extinction.. by Troed · · Score: 1

      Feel free to contrast with the parent post I replied to:

      "The current extinction rate is more rapid than in any other extinction event in earth history"

      That's the kind of fear mongering junk science statements Doug is complaining about.

    10. Re:The current rate of extinction.. by Layzej · · Score: 1

      Ok. Fair point. Hopefully you are also willing to concede that, contrary to your post @01:44PM (#54697987), Doug's views from 2006 ("There is no reason to think that mass extinctions will not happen in the future") are consistent with his views from 2017 (“I think that if we keep things up long enough, we’ll get to a mass extinction")

      The good news (according to Doug) is that it's not too late. We still have time to avoid rapid collapse of the ecosystem. He does caution that we'll only know it is happening after we've passed the tipping point. He talks about cascading failures and devastating chain reactions. I'm not sure his words are much comfort, nor do they support the Alfred E. Neuman's of the world.

    11. Re:The current rate of extinction.. by Troed · · Score: 1

      Surely mass extinctions can happen in the future. I'm less sure he supports those biologists who claim where in the midst of one now though (the difference between his comments on it in 2017 as opposed to that from 2006).

    12. Re:The current rate of extinction.. by omnichad · · Score: 1

      Is your Enter key broken?

    13. Re:The current rate of extinction.. by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Is there a good reason to think Erwin is right on this? He may be an eminent paleontologist and still be wrong on this stuff.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    14. Re:The current rate of extinction.. by Layzej · · Score: 1

      His comments in 2017 are much more forceful. He now thinks a mass extinction will happen - and as a direct result of our actions, unless we change course.

    15. Re:The current rate of extinction.. by Troed · · Score: 1

      Again, what _might_ happen in the future is not at all the same thing as being in the midst of one now. So, no.

    16. Re:The current rate of extinction.. by Layzej · · Score: 1

      Right. If we are in the midst of a mass extinction then it is already game over. Nothing to do but "go get a case of scotch".

      In his 2017 talk he likened a mass extinction event to the "cascade of failures" and "devastating chain reactions" that allowed a power failure in Ohio to escalate to the North American blackout of 2003:

      “These are images from the NOAA website of the US blackout in 2003,” he said, pulling up a nighttime satellite picture of the glowing northeastern megalopolis, megawatts afire under the cold dark of space. “This is 20 hours before the blackout. You can see Long Island and New York City.”

      “And this is seven hours into the blackout,” he said, pulling up a new map, cloaked in darkness. “New York City is almost dark. The blackout extended all the way up into Toronto, all the way out to Michigan and Ohio. It covered a huge section of both Canada and the United States.”

      The question is whether we will recognize it as we push against that tipping point, or only in retrospect.

  12. trumpecology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This s all fake news! The Oceans are doing great! I promise you: oceans are doing fantastic. There are no better temperatures of oceans then today. It's great.

    1. Re:trumpecology by Maritz · · Score: 1

      That's enough for about 97% of slashdot.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  13. Did Trenberth find his missing heat? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It was hiding deep in the ocean!

  14. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why do you have to be 'left' to support renewable energy? Renewable energy gives back control of your energy sources and localises them. This fully compatible with a conservative world view.

  15. It's been officially catalogued... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Buzzphrase 2017-U281:- 'Ocean Warming'

  16. Global warming is a scam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All these taxes for carbon use. Follow the money.

    1. Re:Global warming is a scam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup, out of my pocket to somewhere else. How about we address the real problem (which is what most US cities have been doing) by adhering to the ideals of the Paris Accord, instead of paying to participate in the agreement. This just sounds more and more like another charitable organization that has perpetuated throughout the world. Provide examples of anybody running a charitable organization that the upper echelon is not well off. That's the scam.

  17. Re:Then where's the proof? by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 0, Troll

    I refer you to figure 1, from the article. It clearly shows a 1.8 deg C increaase in the ocean temperatures. Yet the data it came from - the Atlantic, Pacific, Southern, and Indian oceans - each show 0.2 to 0.6 deg C increase. Somehow an avarage of (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.6) has yielded 1.8 deg C. That's a bit of a problem...

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  18. Re:The priesthood has spoken by haruchai · · Score: 5, Informative

    The priesthood has spoken. AGW acolytes will be along shortly to mod anyone to -1 who dares question the IPCC Assessment Report holy book. The unadjusted data will be kept under lock and key while everyone is instructed to accept based on faith that the oceans are warming rapidly. The AGW cult is even more profitable than the LDS cult, and this will no doubt be used to justify even more wealth redistribution.

    Richard Muller & his team looked at a truckload of "unadjusted data" in his examination of the surface temp record & came to the same conclusions & roughly the same trends as NOAA et al. Looks like the raw data lies as much as the adjusted.
    As for wealth redistribution, Trumpcare is trying to fix that by giving an $800 billion tax cut to the 1% & will deprive about 20 million Americans of their healthcare

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  19. Re:The priesthood has spoken by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

    Why do people always assert the universe gives a flying fuck about political ideology?

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  20. As an *actual* oceanographer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    As an _actual_ oceanographer, there is nothing to see here.. it's honestly kinda busch league and I'm a little surprised it got published given the glaring error in the conclusions, but whatever. I've given up trying to talk sense into people.

    1. Re:As an *actual* oceanographer by hey! · · Score: 1

      Alright AC, if you're an oceanographer, what do you call 1 million cubic meters of water per second? Name a prominent oceanographer who never received a PhD. What keeps London warmer than Newfoundland even though it's further north?

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    2. Re:As an *actual* oceanographer by Pascoea · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As an _actual_ oceanographer

      [Citation needed]

      I did a quick search for work published by someone named "Anonymous Coward", but came up empty. The search just came back with a mountain of useless Slashdot comments.

    3. Re:As an *actual* oceanographer by Maritz · · Score: 1

      Credibility isn't something you instinctively understand, is it?

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  21. Re:The priesthood has spoken by gtall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I must protest. Trump has no idea what's in that bill. It runs several pages long, which is several pages - one of attention span he doesn't have. His support is merely because he's trying to pee in all the corners Obama visited before him. He has no bright ideas of his own.

  22. Re:Then where's the proof? by DRJlaw · · Score: 4, Informative

    I refer you to figure 1, from the article.

    Ok.

    It clearly shows a 1.8 deg C increaase in the ocean temperatures.

    It doesn't show an "increaase" in much of anything. It shows an increase in heat content, i.e., a quantity of energy per unit area as defined in equation 1, when integrated over an area. You'll note that the units are energy/(area^2), as in J/(m^2). You're correct that the number is based upon temperature, but then you go off the rails...

    Yet the data it came from - the Atlantic, Pacific, Southern, and Indian oceans - each show 0.2 to 0.6 deg C increase.

    BZZT. The figure 1 data is not an average. It's a quantity integrated over depth (equation 1), then over the area of the ocean basin (figure 1), to give you a change in the quantity of thermal energy versus a comparison point -- modern day . You'll notice that the units on the Y axis are Joules, not degrees F or C.

    Somehow an avarage of (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.6) has yielded 1.8 deg C.

    Somehow a TOTAL of an ADDITIVE quantity (increase of thermal energy in each of four oceans making up the "global" ocean) of 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.6 added up to 1.8 -- x10^23 Joules. As everyone would expect.

    That's a bit of a problem...

    For you and your reading comprehension skills. My children can read and understand a graph better than you.

  23. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why do people always assert the universe gives a flying fuck about political ideology?

    Exactly! Science is not a freaking left right issue. Reality is Reality, and our best models to model that reality are exactly that, and should be used in our decision making. That many on the right have portrayed science itself as a political issue is, well, to quote a con man...

    SAD....

    Basically they are using this bullshit as an excuse to reject reality and replace it with made up crap. In effect the republican party proposes to base their decision making not on science, data, and math, but fantasy and fakery.

    Good luck world. Your gonna need it.

  24. Re:Global Warming ohh Sorry Now it is Climate Chan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Global warming causes climate change, fuckwit

  25. Micro Center website down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is the 3rd consecutive day that Microcenter's website has been down.
    The only message is a maintenance page stating, "we're updating our site".
    It is currently not possible to place orders or check status on existing orders.
    -
    Anybody know what happened?

    1. Re:Micro Center website down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

    2. Re:Micro Center website down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy Friday morning.

  26. Baseline? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about the year 1000? 1300? I want my arbitrary date.

  27. Lack of data worrisome by GingaFlash · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Interesting read but I have to admit I'm skeptical. I work in the field and its common knowledge that sensors are few and far between outside of normal travel lanes/coast lines. http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/ is the site I most often use and its quite lacking all things considered. From TFA (I know, I know) "Since one can never re-observe the ocean in the past, some synthetic data should be used, for instance high-resolution model outputs, sea level data, etc." While these models are decent, they won't perform the best in extremely data sparse areas which can easily skew data when working with over a large area. Not claiming its wrong, just that the lack of live data makes it difficult to honestly assess the situation.

  28. I'm old by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm old, I've got no kids. Best of luck to the rest of you.

    1. Re: I'm old by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's OK, many right-wing American non-scientists say it's not happening and that's good enough for me.

    2. Re:I'm old by Maritz · · Score: 1

      Don't worry, nobody here believes this stuff. On account of how they don't want to.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  29. Little insight is correct. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1970s ice age myth. Zombie argument 16, smarter zombies please.

  30. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    I wasn't the one pretending that money is the motivation behind publishing such findings. I was actually responding to someone claiming that these scientists publish results that support global warming with the sole intent to make money that way.

    My rebuttal was that if the goal is money, there was more to be had by pretending that global warming is a myth and becoming the "science" mouthpiece of some corporations that have a vested interest in fossil fuels and heavy industry.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  31. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Models themselves ARE political ideology.

  32. Re:Global Warming ohh Sorry Now it is Climate Chan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wilful ignorance is sad.

    There are many sources of data. Ice cores reveal the state of our atmosphere over thousands of years.

  33. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Umm... what am I? I think social services, taxes and government spending are a good idea. but I also like guns and think that using them isn't outright wrong as long as the reason is right.

    Care to point me to my pigeon-hole?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  34. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Now, now. It's not fantasy and fakery. It's religi... ok, it's fantasy and fakery.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  35. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because politics isn't about rational thought and consideration of the effects of policy, it's about identity. It's about tribalism. If you're team C, but renewables are team L, then you have to find a way to be against renewables to defend your identity.

  36. Re:Its hard to measure temp by Dross50 · · Score: 1

    Having said, that. My daughter as a science fair project did a computer model of ocean warming and it's effect on CO2 gases and therefore climate change. I have a profound appreciation for the science and it's really a complex and difficult model. So much is not known. For example, it's extremely sensitive to water temp, and water temp changes with depth and just think about the varying depths of water in our oceans. Now add in some under water volcanoes!

  37. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    based on faith that the oceans are warming rapidly

    Look at the corals, man! Look at them whitey corals, and you shall receive the blessed illumination of knowledge. Sad! Happy!

  38. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Models themselves ARE political ideology.

    Sorry, you don't get to come back tomorrow. You don't get a lousy copy of our home game. You're a complete loser. (And wrong besides). A scientific model does not have inputs for political inputs, well unless its a model for gerrymandering, then it does, but we are talking climate model.

    It's actually ironic. The republicans use science when it serves them, such as gerrymandering, and gotv efforts and all that, but ignore it when it does not, so it is not that they don't believe in science. They simply don't care.

  39. Re:The priesthood has spoken by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 3, Insightful

    .Nuclear baseload. We've known how to do it for half a century. That alone would resolve most of the CO2 issues.

    When you find a left-leaning AGW zealot who wants more nukes, then I'll start taking the problem more seriously.

    As is, looks more like an attempt at social engineering (lowering everyone's standard of living except for the "Right People")

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  40. can't miss what you never had by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    our thoughts and prayers go out to the children who will be starving refugees of the future.

  41. Re: Global Warming ohh Sorry Now it is Climate Cha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The media started the term Global Warming. Climate Change has always been used as a more informed and

  42. Re: Global Warming ohh Sorry Now it is Climate Cha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The media started the term Global Warming. Climate Change has always been used as a more informed and scientifically meaningful term.

    Although I do recall The Greenhouse Effect used in the seventies.

  43. Wow confirmation? by zifn4b · · Score: 1

    Because the polar ice caps melting were not enough observable evidence? Slashdot, why are you just recycling the same stories over and over again. When are we going to get something new to talk about instead re-hashing all the same crap?

    --
    We'll make great pets
    1. Re:Wow confirmation? by hey! · · Score: 1

      Because the polar ice caps melting were not enough observable evidence?

      Short answer: no.

      Somewhat longer answer: in a complex system, the precise details of what is going on are never completely settled. There's always loose threads somewhere to be tugged at. In principle the whole fabric of scientific consensus can be unravelled this way.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  44. Re:The priesthood has spoken by nomadic · · Score: 1

    "Me? I'm winning"

    Nah, you're not. I know it, you know it, we all know it. You're just trying to psych yourself up so you don't collapse in tears.

  45. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So much about the above is just a lie.

    A - "Not a Right leaning folk love guns"... Ha, yes they do.. But they know it is just a tool same as a car. Good for you you got 1 thing right there.
    B. The don't "fetishise shooting people dead", They fetishise defending themselves rather then calling 911 and waiting for someone to come and do it for them. You are a Liar.
    C. "likely to get away with it because MSM skews perceptions to the right wing" I don't understand how anyone could see the American MSM as being Pro Trump based on anything in the last 4 months. If anything they are Against Trump since that is where the ratings and clickbait headlines are generated. No One wants to hear about the horrible things Hillary has and is doing. The Libs are completely blind to it. so.. You are a Liar.

  46. trying to pee in all the corners Obama visited be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I agree with the above - No karma to spend

  47. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes evil Christian conservatives like myself, don't believe in science or technology except that fact that I've been involved in the computer industry my whole life as has my father who retired from IBM working on big iron. Grand father was an engineer at Caterpillar. Almost all of my conservative friends work in IT except for a couple. Not one of us believe in any tech or dream of space travel......point being stop it all ready. Stop with the generalizations that all republicans are anti-science when clearly most of us love science. Sure I could spend all day going back and forth making up crap about the left but I don't need to. I let people speak for themselves and sit back and enjoy how foolish they sound.

    Go ahead mark me down because I don't lock in step with the left. Instead I let the facts and my heart lead me to the truth.

  48. Re: Global Warming ohh Sorry Now it is Climate Cha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Although I do recall The Greenhouse Effect used in the seventies.

    Back when they were concerned about global cooling?

  49. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Smaller hint: anyone that uses "Li'l" in a comment should be ignored.

  50. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2, Informative

    Seconded, and double that down when - not if - we have to resort to such things as seeding the oceans with iron-sulfur nutrients to grow carbon-gobbling algae.

    If you really want to make an AGW priest squirm, mention the success of the Haida experiment.

  51. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    IT isn't science and libertarians aren't conservatives, the fact that you're under that delusion speaks volumes for how we got into this mess.

    Being a selfish bastard wasn't conservative until relatively recently.

  52. Whooosh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To the moderator and the commenter: "Whooosh!" (Trumpites seem to be too stupid even for that).

  53. It's called... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's called El Nino, in the next 2 years "scientists" are going to be puzzled by cooling oceans and an increase in polar ice.

    1. Re:It's called... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah, they'll just switch back to warning about the impending new ice age. And tell everyone to ditch the green energy and pump out more CO2 to stop the cooling.

    2. Re:It's called... by Maritz · · Score: 1

      When you don't like the conclusions of science, just put 'science' in quote marks! Cognitive dissonance gone, just like that! They're not scientists, they're priests! Yay!

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  54. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Why do you have to be 'left' to support renewable energy? Renewable energy gives back control of your energy sources and localises them. This fully compatible with a conservative world view.

    If you're asking seriously, I'll answer for you (although I'm not a conservative). "Renewable energy" is a left-wing dogwhistle for "let's throw government money at this". The actual idea of renewable energy is great as long as it's economically efficient. What we tend to get instead is Solyndra.

    So, yeah, anybody with a brain is all for renewable energy. But anybody with a brain also wants the government to butt out and let the market handle it. (And, yes, I understand the concept of using government money to get production up to scale so it'll be more economically feasible - I understand it but I also understand the world doesn't work that way).

  55. Re:The priesthood has spoken by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

    So, yeah, anybody with a brain is all for renewable energy. But anybody with a brain also wants the government to butt out and let the market handle it

    A big problem is that the environmental cost of fossil fuels is not included in the market price.

  56. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Umm... what am I? I think social services, taxes and government spending are a good idea. but I also like guns and think that using them isn't outright wrong as long as the reason is right.

    Care to point me to my pigeon-hole?

    I would point you to your pigeon hole, however given your statement I am pretty sure you know where it is ;)

  57. Re:Then where's the proof? by lucm · · Score: 1, Interesting

    For you and your reading comprehension skills. My children can read and understand a graph better than you.

    Maybe your children are immensely smart because I looked at the graph and found it confusing and misleading.

    --
    lucm, indeed.
  58. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One thing you left off was are you rightwing? Because guess what? Leftwingers think that gun control means you get a gun if the reason is right. But that's presupposed to be not the case. After all, you don't identify with the left, though as stated you haven't said you're not. But you imply that that is a rightwing ideology whereas socail services and taxes are good is a leftwing idea, therefore making a juxtaposition that stymies the left/right dichotomy.

    The other thing you forgot to do was read mu post you replied to. Kinda important that. And if you did read it, try comprehension. It's so normally part of "reading" that it is usually left out of the conversation because it is supposed to e part of it in all cases. And if you DO comprehend it, you will note that it points out that the open rhetoric of the loud cases most especially on the right would insist that you are leftwing because you think there should be taxes and government spending, when no such thing is actually the case outside of the media screaming of the loudest speakers.

    Go look up and read "Overton Window" and find out that you're now leftwin by the mores of public discussion on politics. Despite you claiming (indeed BECAUSE you claim) two things that are "supposedly" antithetical politically.

  59. The right wing is dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Renewable energy saves money for small businesses. It also provides some protection against sudden increases in market rate for energy. Even if you personally aren't using renewable energy you still benefit, because the fluidity of market demand changes when many businesses are using renewable energy.

    But the time when right wing republicans were pro business is over. The neocons and pretenders that have hijacked the teaparty movement are about consolidating their power under the under the auspices of the most wealthy corporate owners.

    What we have is not so much a right wing conspiracy as a corporatist led coup d'état in the guise of a right wing movement. The PR machine is running full steam to keep the ring wing base firmly behind the new regime that crept up on us over the last few decades.

  60. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Liberals and conservatives aren't anymore. As you say, renewable energy is fully compatible with a conservative world view. So are policies ensuring clean air and water, and yet....

  61. Re: The priesthood has spoken by MightyMartian · · Score: 1, Troll

    A good example of the Salem Hypothesis in action.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  62. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    a) no, they LOVE their tools. Hence the rabid NRA actions and the refusal to do anything despite the massive amount of dead children from school shootings, to which the cry is "ARM THE SCHOOLS!!!!".

    b) Yes, you fantasize about being your own dirty harry, killing "bad guys" and you believe that whatever bad guy you fantasize about is deserving of death. Identical to the ISIS propaganda, in fact.

    c) You don't see how because you're shifted to trumpalina being decent rather than a complete and utter selfish asshole. Hitler thought he was doing the right thing. But much of the world disagreed. Look to to Reagan. He was left of Obama. But Obama was a muslimcommienazisocialist. When he bombs Syria he's "presidential". MSNBC had their pundit tell a republican to pass the trumpcare bill because he was voted in to pass it (kinda missed that in the polling booth: the law we voted for to be passed this week).

    You're looking at Bernie Sanders and Alex Jones and thinking "they're both either side of me, I MUST be in the middle!!!!".

    You ain't.

    And therefore your perceptions of what the MSM is is skewed by your preference to being moderate. Look up Overton Window.

  63. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sigh not that bullshit again. You must be a right winger, you're demonstrating the usual lack of literacy.

    She never said that. She said âoewe have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.âhttp://www.mediaite.com/tv/the-context-behind-nancy-pelosis-famous-we-have-to-pass-the-bill-quote/

  64. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you're asking seriously, I'll answer for you (although I'm not a conservative).

    Sure man, what are you then, a full-on reactionary?

    "Renewable energy" is a left-wing dogwhistle for "let's throw government money at this".

    That's the right-wing soundbite, actually. They scream it all the time. Attacking leftists, and meanwhile, they throw government money at EVERYTHING they want.

    The actual idea of renewable energy is great as long as it's economically efficient. What we tend to get instead is Solyndra.

    You mean a company that the right-wing dogmatically lies about, claims they don't even have a working product, and fails to admit that the reason for their failure was simply due to dropping solar prices, which was itself a result of MASSIVE Chinese subsidies?

    Most can't even remember that it was part of a larger program, which was a great success overall, or even that it was wait for it, wait for it, a BUSH-PROPOSED program. That's right, compassionate conservative, Bush the Younger, came up with the idea. Yet who do you think they mysteriously blame?

    Bad enough getting the circumstances wrong, the person blamed isn't even the right one.

    So, yeah, anybody with a brain is all for renewable energy. But anybody with a brain also wants the government to butt out and let the market handle it.

    Anybody with a brain remembers a little company called Enron that broke California's power system. Sorry, but the government exists to restrain such impulses, and it is necessary.

    (And, yes, I understand the concept of using government money to get production up to scale so it'll be more economically feasible - I understand it but I also understand the world doesn't work that way).

    So you think you understand, but you don't. Because it turns out that it does work that way, in China, in the US, in France, in the UK, in Germany, in Russia, in Japan,in India and all across the world.

    Quite successfully too. With railroads, and highways, and power plants, and farms, and steel mills, and the Internet, well, the list goes on. It's so funny to see you chant your superior comprehension even as the words coming out of your mouth so you are so very mistaken.

  65. Re:The priesthood has spoken by myrdos2 · · Score: 5, Informative

    When you find a left-leaning AGW zealot who wants more nukes, then I'll start taking the problem more seriously.

    Here I am! I find man-made global warming to be very obviously real, and feel that some fourth generation nuclear plants would an excellent addition to our energy supply. You may now take the problem more seriously!

  66. Re:The priesthood has spoken by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When you find a left-leaning AGW zealot who wants more nukes, then I'll start taking the problem more seriously.

    You've always got excuses, but the fact is that mining is shitty, and uranium mining is extra-shitty. Uranium is the least concentrated ore we mine, and we never seem to actually bother to clean up the toxic mine tailings adequately. Nuclear advocates also never seem to account for the full lifecycle costs, including decommissioning and making waste safe. Even if we were to reprocess the waste, the cost would be beyond astronomical, which is why that's a non-starter. Expecting an environmentalist to endorse open pit mining with radioactive tailings is not realistic, so you've built yourself a position which doesn't require you to change your lifestyle. That's very convenient.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  67. Re:The priesthood has spoken by r0kk3rz · · Score: 1

    .Nuclear baseload. We've known how to do it for half a century. That alone would resolve most of the CO2 issues.

    When you find a left-leaning AGW zealot who wants more nukes, then I'll start taking the problem more seriously.

    As is, looks more like an attempt at social engineering (lowering everyone's standard of living except for the "Right People")

    So that would be me then, I've long advocated nuclear power in Australia as a means to get rid of our aging coal power plants. We've got large uranium deposits, a geologically stable continent, and the fuel security alone would be worth it.

    So many people are terrified about nuclear power though, and the cost of building new plants tends to put the rest off particularly with the price of wind and solar slowly dropping.

  68. Re:The priesthood has spoken by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Leftwingers think that gun control means you get a gun if the reason is right.

    I'm a far left winger, and I think you can be deprived of a gun if the reason is right, but that you should otherwise be permitted to own one. I don't think that pretending guns don't exist is a liberal value.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  69. Re:The priesthood has spoken by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Why do people always assert the universe gives a flying fuck about political ideology?

    It probably doesn't care as you or I care. But certain political ideologies are more aligned with physics than others. It's like the old canard about information wanting to be free. Information behaves that way, so you should take that into account when building societies. What other aspects of human nature should similarly be accounted for when assembling political ideologies?

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  70. Re:Then where's the proof? by DRJlaw · · Score: 1, Funny

    Maybe your children are immensely smart because I looked at the graph and found it confusing and misleading.

    The title is "Area Integrated OHC [Ocean Heat Content]."
    The Y axis is "OHC [Ocean Heat Content] *10^23 J [Joules]."
    The X axis is Year.

    If you interpreted any of that to mean that Fig. 1 plots an average temperature, then you've failed a task that average 4th-5th graders have mastered.

  71. Re:The priesthood has spoken by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

    And the other two who responded refute your statement stereotyping leftists/liberals.

    --
    If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
  72. Re:The priesthood has spoken by bobbied · · Score: 1

    Why do you have to be 'left' to support renewable energy? Renewable energy gives back control of your energy sources and localises them. This fully compatible with a conservative world view.

    You don't... In fact, MANY on the right support "green" energy development where it makes sense both for the environment and economically. The *problem* is though, most of these "green energy" initiatives require massive subsidies and regulations to make financial sense, and this means bigger more intrusive government.

    In general, the "left" is obsessed with bigger more expensive government and higher taxes while the "right" is obsessed with smaller government and lower taxes. Then you have the political tactic of isolating voting blocks by carving out interest groups, which ends up dividing the "right" which is accused of wanting "dirty air, dirty water and death" from the "left" which is accused of being big government globalists.

    The truth is, both sides generally agree that environmentally friendly energy generation is a good thing. The only real question is about how far do we go with our government programs and regulations to achieve this? From my perspective, the left doesn't want to actually debate the real question, they just want to demagogue and call their opponents names... Your mileage may vary of course, just don't tell me the "right" doesn't care, we do, we just don't think the economics of all these government programs you want are a net positive in the long run.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  73. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    I think you should be allowed to have a gun unless there's a reason you shouldn't. Sounds similar, I know, but I want the burden of proof on the one trying to take it away, not the one trying to get it. You needn't prove that you should have one, I need to prove that you shouldn't.

    Aside of that, please just say what you want to say. It's kinda tedious trying to guess what someone implies. It's usually used by people who try to hedge their bets, because you guess what they meant, refute it, only to get "Oh, that's not what I meant" with the implied "keep guessing, maybe you come up with something you can't refute".

    No. Sorry. Not playing. What do you mean?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  74. Re:The priesthood has spoken by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1, Insightful

    When you find a left-leaning AGW zealot who wants more nukes, then I'll start taking the problem more seriously.

    People here seem to identify me as left leaning. I certainly support a strong regulatory framework, higher taxes than we have now, socialised healthcare and a strong welfare state. Do I classify as an AGW zealot? Dunno, but if you think global warming isn't happening or isn't caused by the CO2 we're releasing then I think you're a fucking moron. Does that make me a Zealot? You decide.

    And I regularly come into nuclear and climate related threads advocating for nukes.

    Finally if you think the opinion of a rando on the internet makes a difference whether or not AGW is a thing, then again you're a fool.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  75. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look, it's not really that people don't believe THIS story. The problem is story selection. Everyday, someone with an agenda pulls a "OMG the sky is falling" story from some alarmist website. We're simply sick of it. What you're seeing is the backlash.
    If everyday I pulled stories similar to what happened to here this weekend (end of JUNE in Toronto it was HAILING) filled with snarky comments about "global warming", you'd be annoyed too.

  76. Re: The priesthood has spoken by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

    More shitty moderation. How is this trolling. The parent tried to assert that he and his family's expertise in IT and engineering gives him some special ability to assess a fairly complex and interrelated set of scientific disciplines. The Salem Hypothesis, specifically, deals with the tendency of engineers to conflate their training and skill set with science, and more specifically this applies to the propensity for people who claim to be scientists who reject biological evolution to actually be engineers. I don't think it's a stretch to extend the Salem Hypothesis to other people who try to make fallacious appeals to their own authority to attack scientific theories inevitably being engineers.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  77. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

    You are either very young, have a very short memory. I remember the climate when I was young and I know how much it has changed. It has changed quite drastically, I assure you.

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  78. Re: The priesthood has spoken by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

    you have to pass the bill to read what's in it.

    we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,

    Please explain the major differences between the meanings of those two statements.

    --
    If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
  79. This is bunkum! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Last week Canadian climate researchers had to cancel an arctic trip to measure the declining ice, when it was discovered that there has never been so much ice. (over 5 feet of it)

    So how can this ice exist if the oceans are warming?

    The simple answer: It Can't!

    Global Warming alarmists told us: NYCity would be under water now along with most of the California coast! They told Us in 2009 the world would run out of food and billions would die. Get the picture?

    Pure and utter bunk!

    1. Re: This is bunkum! by bestweasel · · Score: 1

      Let's hear from one of the scientists involved.

      "This is the first time we've actually seen ice from the High Arctic," said Barber, who has studied the impacts of climate change on sea ice for decades.

      Typically when people think about climate change they think about thinning ice, but Barber points out the warming action also loosens ice and broken icebergs can travel long distances on ocean currents.

      "It's very much a climate-change driven phenomenon," said Barber. "When you reduce the extent of the ice and reduce the thickness of it, it becomes more mobile."

    2. Re:This is bunkum! by Maritz · · Score: 1

      Global Warming alarmists told us: NYCity would be under water now along with most of the California coast! They told Us in 2009 the world would run out of food and billions would die.

      Cite this

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  80. More care should be given to the precision of word by kelanos · · Score: 1, Insightful

    New study confirms

    Say instead that it 'suggests'....as it is we are talking as if humans are infallible and there is no political pressure around these issues....isn't it fair to discuss the data before proclaiming the confirmation of truth? Isn't this lack of logical process the source of all ignorance n the world?

  81. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Urist+McSlashdot · · Score: 1

    When you find a left-leaning AGW zealot who wants more nukes, then I'll start taking the problem more seriously.

    I support universal single payer healthcare, a strongly enforced regulatory framework for environmental protection, a good social safety net to provide economic protection, and higher taxes to pay for our public infrastructure and services. I also strongly support the expansion of nuclear energy as part of the solution to deal with AGW. I've stopped donating to environmental advocacy groups that come out against nuclear energy.

  82. Re:The priesthood has spoken by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

    I understand why political preferences have a big impact on policy of energy generation. That makes total sense.

    Denying basic science behind AGW, based on political preference makes no sense.

    The debate over policy would be much improved if we start with accepting the objective facts.

  83. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Sure thing. Here ya go, Repug:

    On NBC News’ Meet the Press Sunday morning, host David Gregory resurrected a favorite right-wing attack on the Affordable Care Act, asking House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to defend her 2010 comment that “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.”

    Gregory’s treatment of the quote was fairer than most, and Leader Pelosi handled the question capably, but it’s worth looking back to see how this became such a popular attack on Obamacare.

    That quote, often truncated to “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,” or even just paraphrased to hew to the right’s narrative of the quote, has been perverted to mean that the Affordable Care Act was just too many pages, and Democrats just wanted it passed without anyone reading it, and rammed it down America’s throat. While Gregory at least read the whole quote, his interpretation was similar to the narrative that developed over time, that “there was such a rush to get this done—no Republicans voting for it—and now there are unintended effects of this that were foreseen at the time, that you couldn’t know the impact of, and that now this is coming home to roost?”

    ALSO ON MEDIAITE
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    The influence of that narrative is a testament to the effectiveness of a relentless echo chamber. Here’s how Pelosi’s quote was covered by Politico on the day she made it:

    Pelosi: People won’t appreciate reform until it passes

    Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that people won’t appreciate how great the Democrat’s health plan is until after it passes.

    “You’ve heard about the controversies, the process about the billbut I don’t know if you’ve heard that it is legislation for the future – not just about health care for America, but about a healthier America,” she told the National Association of Counties annual legislative conference, which has drawn about 2,000 local officials to Washington. “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it – away from the fog of the controversy.”

    During a 20-minute speech, she touted benefits she thinks will be tangible to the audience’s employers. She said there’s support for public health infrastructure and investments in community health centers that will reduce uncompensated care that hospitals now need to deliver.

    “You know as well as anyone that our current system is unsustainable,” said Pelosi (D-Calif.). “The final health care legislation, which will soon be passed by the Congress, will deliver successful reforms at the local level.”

    Almost immediately, though, the conservative media seized on the quote, and perverted it into an indictment of the law’s complexity. The meaning that was so perfectly plain to an objective reporter on that day has been completely lost.

    Here’s the full text of the speech that then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi delivered on March 9, 2010, via press release from the Speaker’s Office:

    Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered a speech this morning at the 2010 Legislative Conference for the National Association of Counties (NACo). This year marks the 75th anniversary of the organization. Below are the Speaker’s remarks:

    “Thank you, President Valerie Brown [of Sonoma County, Calif.] Don’t we all take pride in Valerie Brown recently being named County Official of the Year for her advocacy on behalf of all of America’s counties? Thank you, Valerie. Her wealth of experience – as a mayor, a state legislator, and an educator and a county executive – makes her an innovative and effective leader for the future. At this time of great challenges, her

  84. Re:The priesthood has spoken by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 1
    Using California as an example, we have 2.2GW of nuclear after losing roughly 2.2GW when San Onofre shut down. Our baseload is 17.5-18GW, so something closer to 10GW would make sense from a systems perspective.

    But, looking at the history of Plant Vogtle and screwed up its construction is, I am left wondering what exactly China is doing to build as many as they are "on schedule."

  85. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The truth is, both sides generally agree that environmentally friendly energy generation is a good thing.

    Because who is going to come out and say, "yeah, I like poisoning the air, and creating a toxic environment"?

    What they do, instead, is deny the science with spurious rebuttals, attack the scientists with false claims, and create pity for the plight of anybody impacted by the change. The playbook is quite obvious.

    The only real question is about how far do we go with our government programs and regulations to achieve this?

    That is a question, but not really one, or perhaps you might say, it's not specific enough to address, so the question needs to be modified in to a form that can be effectively answered.

    And it's hardly the only impediment to the discussion. You mentioned several above, for example. so did I. But you need to acknowledge they exist, rather than deny the problems.

    From my perspective, the left doesn't want to actually debate the real question, they just want to demagogue and call their opponents names...

    From my perspective, you are demonstrating a desire to demagogue and call your opponent names, right here.

    You might have established some credibility by stating that "many on the right and left" rather than singling out on side, as if the "right" didn't have more than sufficient demonstration of that offense to make the log quite apparent.

    Your mileage may vary of course, just don't tell me the "right" doesn't care, we do, we just don't think the economics of all these government programs you want are a net positive in the long run.

    Nope, I'll tell you that the "right" has demonstrated a complete opposition to any and all programs whatsoever, combined with a complete denial of any information or knowledge gained, and a willingness to state outright falsehoods. Sorry, but there is a real log in thine own eye, and all the hand-wringing you have about the "left" only makes for a false sanctimony that if you were sincerely interested in in a "real" discussion, you would avoid. Now, of course, that you've said it, you will have to make amends for your errors, and correct yourself.

    I doubt you can, because it turns you, you aren't interested, but instead wish to demonize and attack the "left" yourself.

    Just another perspective. You aren't appearing genuine. You're looking like fraud and a liar. If you want to change that, heal thyself.

  86. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you really want to make an AGW priest squirm, mention the success of the Haida experiment.

    Haida experiment? What could possibly go wrong?

    Tell me something - why do conservatives always serve up preposterous solutions with a side of childish name calling? Is it innate?

    I mean, you do realize that it is a propaganda tactic that we college-educated liberals (you know, the intelligent people) see right through, don't you?

  87. Re:The priesthood has spoken by harperska · · Score: 4, Informative

    And here's another. Man-made global warming is real, 90-something percent of scientists and 99ish percent of climatologists agree. Nuclear baseload is where it's at. Gen IV reactors, especially MSRs could mitigate much of the problems of current reactor technology if the NIMBYs would let the technology progress.

  88. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Dr_Terminus · · Score: 1

    You say the right supports green energy, but doesn't like the subsidies that green energy gets. I feel this is a bit disingenuous - if the right has a problem with subsidies, why is it that they aren't equally against fossil fuels, which receive 5-10x higher subsidies than renewables?

  89. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I believe in AGW and the Haida experiment doesn't make me squirm in the slightest. Not a huge fan of turning our oceans and atmosphere into a 100% man-managed ecosystem, but it's a promising result.

  90. tripe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gee, I wounder how much he got
    paid to shovel this rehashed junk?

  91. Re:The priesthood has spoken by AvitarX · · Score: 1

    A solid 25-50% of us (left leaning AGW zealots) want more nukes.

    The problem is very few want them close by, and not many on the right want them either.

    Nobody wants to take the risk of a Nuke they pushed for going bad politically, no company is willing to take the risk of a Nuke going bad (the risk is extremely socialized), the same lobby that doesn't want renewables doesn't want Nukes.

    Basically they are a non-starter, in the US they were even before Fukashima, but now they are pretty much globally.

    --
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  92. Re:The priesthood has spoken by AvitarX · · Score: 1

    Here's the issue as I see it.

    Renewable WILL be economically efficient (even ignoring the massive spillover costs of fossil fuels, and even ignoring global warming) quite soon. In some cases it already is.

    The country that makes it an "almost every case" situation is going to have a thriving and huge industry. As German companies bought the 80s - 90s wave of US innovtion (because it wasn't immediately viable) and Chinese companies are beginning to buy this wave, what we're going to end up with is marginally less expensive energy with the profits going overseas. Subsidies were about future longterm exports.

    Though I do agree that government betting on companies is bad (Solyndra), subsidies that all innovators can get equally to get a decade or so ahead of the rest of the world in innovation seem like a no brainer.

    Fund with a tax on a small part of the spillover cost of fossil fuels (or just shift the existing subsidy budget, and don't let them keep measuring natural gas density after a bend in a pipe line).

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  93. Re:Then where's the proof? by AvitarX · · Score: 0

    I agree that it's obviously not temperature.

    But I doubt the concept of Area Integrated OHC would mean anything to a 4th-5th grader.

    And it wouldn't shock me if a large percentage quantity read heat content as temperature (though not OHC).

    --
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  94. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You do a pretty bad job of discrediting yourself by having such a strong aversion to what you have made Trump into in your own mind. Or did those you surround yourself with help spin the fantasy-Trump up?

  95. Re:Then where's the proof? by Altus · · Score: 2

    And yet those same people, who don't understand the difference, feel totally qualified to shit all over a study done by people for whom understanding such things part of their day to day job.

    --

    "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson

  96. Re:Then where's the proof? by AvitarX · · Score: 0

    I'm not arguing with that, but it seems unnecessary to then tell people they are below a 4th grader's ability to understand.

    A simple, "don't be stupid, look at the units, and understand it's cumulative" would be harsh enough, and may even get someone to think.

    --
    Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
  97. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Curunir_wolf · · Score: 1

    Why do people always assert the universe gives a flying fuck about political ideology?

    As far as AGW is concerned, while the universe is telling us what is happening, what to do about it falls squarely in the political realm. That's because all the solutions harm one group instead of another. Urban dwellers are fine with solutions like eliminating fossil fuels but rural folks don't have electric tractors and long-haul trucks. Poor people in northern climates want to keep their natural gas furnaces, and well-off elites want to keep their commercial air flights.

    --
    "Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
    --- Jerry Garcia
  98. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I would add that global warming policy is a reflection of the following dichotomy:

    Right: Take from the middle class and give to the rich.

    Left: Just the opposite: take from the middle class and give to the poor.

    In the case of the left's global warming polcy prescriptions, however, they take from the middle class and give to both the poor and the rich. The direct subsidies take middle class tax money and give it to those who can take advantage of subsidies, like Tesla buyers or solar roof buyers or bullet-train-to-nowhere construction companies. At the same time, they siphon off "green" "incentives" like cap and trade fees and give it to the "poor," such as illegal immigrants who "need" their electricity bill subsidized.

  99. Re:The priesthood has spoken by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    If they support open pit mining and toxic waste, which is what you do when you support nuclear power, then they're centrists. I realize that the Democratic party has confused a lot of people as to what the left actually looks like, but raping the biosphere ain't it.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  100. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Ost99 · · Score: 1

    While I'm not particularly left-leaning in the political spectrum where I'm from (but then again, our centrists are left of Sanders), I'm definitely believe AGW is this biggest threat to civilization to date.

    I'm all for responsible use of nuclear energy, and it should definitely be a part of the solution. The biggest problem for nuclear is costs, but increased activity in the sector could get the costs down to manageable levels.

    Nuclear is however not *the* solution. Short term we need to put money into other projects as well, where capacity can be built faster. A new nuclear project started today will not produce anything before after 10-15 years, and with the large construction costs (both in money and co2) short term reduction is better achieved by building hydro, wind and solar. The solution is not one single technology, but investing in all of them.

    The most dangerous philosophy when trying to tackle AGW is not denial, it's the old guard environmentalists who think we can get out of the mess by reducing consumption (of power and goods) and being frugal. No matter how much we cut consumption, the rising wave of the Asian middle class will out-consume any reduction achieved elsewhere. AGW is a problem that we must invest our way out of - and investment in nuclear (both power plants and research) must be part of the solution.

    --
    ---- Sig. gone.
  101. Re:The priesthood has spoken by swillden · · Score: 1

    Not a huge fan of turning our oceans and atmosphere into a 100% man-managed ecosystem

    I'm a huge fan of exactly that. Further, I think that it is necessary in the long term. I think we're very, very far from knowing how to do it, but that we should start learning. Now. We've already unintentionally altered the planetary environment, now we should learn to do it on purpose and in the way we want.

    [Haida is] a promising result.

    I don't know about that. It wasn't a well-conducted scientific experiment. We can, and should, do much better. Still, the basic concept is good.

    --
    Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  102. Re:The priesthood has spoken by bjdevil66 · · Score: 2

    To this Anonymous Coward: Wow - You must really hate The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (its official name) to turn a climate change article into an anti-LDS blast. Being Mormon, and knowing how angry, belligerent, and willing to spread misinformation and half-truths solely to tear down a sect/philosophy, I can understand how you can be so capable of closing your eyes on hard climate change numbers.

    To all other Slashdot readers (atheist, religious, or somewhere inbetween): While there are some Mormons that ignorantly think differently, our church takes no stand on this debate. It's a human failing - not a religious one. I know that climate change is occurring and the hard numbers are clear.

    Just as importantly: Religious or not, can you at least empathize with what us Mormons have to put up with? Crackpots like this poster spreading lies and half-truths all the time - sounds just like when they attack climate change science.

    You can show them the temperature numbers, the photos of glaciers, the past record of corporate interests hiding the truth to turn a profit, etc. - but they ignore it and attack you. It gets to the point where you just start tuning their anger and stupidity out. And then we're ironically labeled as closed-minded cult members again - just like this guy labeled all of you. So insidiously hateful and stupid...

  103. Re:More care should be given to the precision of w by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

    In this context "confirm" simply means that additional evidence was found to validate or corroborate something that was seen before. It's not a claim of infallible truth. The word "suggests" would be wrong, because that would typically indicate a novel finding.

  104. Re:The priesthood has spoken by bobbied · · Score: 0, Troll

    And then here we go. The science behind the global warming debate is not as settled as many believe. Many believe the "It's settled science" party line, but there are quite a few people in the field of climate studies who don't.

    I point to the left's rhetoric on this issue as a reason why you don't hear about these decenters in the scientific community. You cannot disagree w/o being cast out, and many have tried. The message is loud and clear, much like the flat earth lobby of the past, you are NOT allowed to argue contrary to the party line, on pain of your professional career.

    Personally, my perspective (as a lay person) is as follows. The climate is changing, but the questions are as follows:

    1. How much actual control man really has? It is well known that the climate has varied greatly in the past.

    2. How much actual harm does climate change actually represent? There are lots of theories about this, but the past predictions of catastrophic events have mysteriously not proven accurate (Al Gore, I'm looking at your "Inconvenient truth").

    3. How much social and economic harm would come from some of the "save the world" initiatives being suggested? The problem I see with most of these is they assume that we are rushing headlong into catastrophic destruction and massive loss of life and use that debatable "truth" as justification for doing things that would cause grave social and economic damage and put us on a crash course with mass starvation, pestilence and war (and all the nearly certain death that comes with it)

    I'm afraid that the "cure" for climate change will be worse than the "sickness" and I'm far from sure that the sickness being seen isn't mostly natural variations which we don't have much control over anyway.

    Then why all the debate? Seems likely to me that it's about $$. There is money in climate change studies, in fostering government subsidies for "green" energy and things like that. Then there is the Big Government people who tend to support more socialist income redistribution schemes who don't have any problem with the government handing out cash. But if you follow the money, it gets pretty obvious that there is a lot of it involved in this issue.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  105. Re:The priesthood has spoken by erapert · · Score: 1

    Renewable energy gives back control of your energy sources and localises them.

    Sure, this sounds pretty cool.

    This fully compatible with a conservative world view.

    As long as it actually makes fiscal sense, then sure.

    But if you want to crony things up and waste tax payer money (i.e. Solyndra) then no.

  106. Re:The priesthood has spoken by bobbied · · Score: 2

    So... What kinds of subsidies do you think fossil fuels are getting?

    I'm given to believe that this is actually a damnable lie which being often repeated is blindly accepted as truth by some. Every time I get someone to actually try to detail what these things might be, I find that the are either non-existent (and the poster is mistaken) or they are not unique to fossil fuel producers (such as the ability of a company to deduct the cost of capital equipment as an expense.) About the only thing I can come up with that *might* be a subsidy is the leasing of Federal lands to producers, but I believe that is a competitive bidding process....

    So... Citation please....

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  107. Re:The priesthood has spoken by blindseer · · Score: 0

    Renewables+Pumped Storage=Baseload

    How much does that cost? Out here in the Midwest there is not a whole lot of places to pump water up a hill. Building a raised lake or whatever would cost a lot of money, take a lot of valuable land, and be a hazard to the environment.

    None of that pesky issue of what to do with the waste or site of a nuclear reactor, or leaking mine, or cask.

    Let's assume that is true, how much land would that take? How does that land area compare to the land we'd have to flood to store the energy we'd need? How does that compare to the land that would be flooded from global warming induced sea level rise?

    We know how to manage nuclear waste but Democrats have been holding up all attempts to do so. It seems to me that if we compare the threats that nuclear power pose compared to global warming, or the environmental disaster that is "alternative energy", nuclear power wins every time..

    Do you know what physicians call "alternative medicine" that works? They call it "medicine". The reason we call wind and solar power "alternative" is because it does not work.

    --
    I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
  108. Re:The priesthood has spoken by blindseer · · Score: 0, Troll

    Where do you think the materials for wind and solar power come from? You think that stuff is not mined in open pits? You think that making PV panels and rare earth magnets for windmills do not produce toxic waste?

    These "biosphere loving" Democrats are going to get us all killed with the environmental disaster that is wind and solar power. I've seen the math on how much mining and land would be needed to replace nuclear with wind, solar, and energy storage, and it looks real good for nuclear.

    --
    I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
  109. Re:The priesthood has spoken by rthille · · Score: 0

    Are there any conditions under which you believe it would be right/correct for the state to deprive an individual of the right to own a gun?
    Are there any firearms which you believe an individual should not have the right to own?

    --
    Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
  110. Finally Sahara will be green by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hooray! Hotter oceans, more evaporation, more rain, more plants in Sahara!

    1. Re:Finally Sahara will be green by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      Could once again be green. They've found hippos, crocks and such in the desert. 2000 years ago the oceans were a lot higher than they are now. Romans used to grow grapes in England, places in Greenland are emerging out of the ice that are about 700 years old. We're coming out of an ice age. CO2 is a symptom, not a cause.

  111. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Megol · · Score: 1

    Left != liberal. One can be a liberal right-wing or a liberal left-wing. One can also be a liberal authoritarian (!) just as one can be something like a humanistic fascist.

  112. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A lot of the far left share the same position. Trouble is, they think the reasons why one shouldn't have a gun include wanting to own a gun in the first place; or wanting a certain class of gun that they don't approve, or not being wealthy enough to afford coat taxes, etc.

  113. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No True Democrat.

  114. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Megol · · Score: 1

    I have seen many examples of people wishing to be attacked so that they can use their "right" to shoot people. No - not "I'll use my gun if I need to defend me/my family/other people" but "I hope those * comes into my property so I can shoot them". Most of the time supported by other keyboard warriors. In most cases his isn't a one-time thing but something that is aggressively repeated and clearly not intended as being ironic or just joking around.

  115. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So... What kinds of subsidies do you think fossil fuels are getting?

    Legal immunity. Military protection. Underpriced access to public lands. Research grants. Loan programs.

    I wouldn't say subsidies, so much as financial benefits to ameliorate their costs and liabilities.

    I'm given to believe that this is actually a damnable lie which being often repeated is blindly accepted as truth by some.

    I'm given to believe that you revealed your personal bias. You did just say you have a tendency. I suggest you reflect on how to avoid this tendency.

    Every time I get someone to actually try to detail what these things might be, I find that the are either non-existent (and the poster is mistaken)

    So you claim, without evidence.

    or they are not unique to fossil fuel producers (such as the ability of a company to deduct the cost of capital equipment as an expense.)

    A subsidy does not have to be unique or exclusive to be existing. Strange how you indicated the false nature of your objections so quickly.

    About the only thing I can come up with that *might* be a subsidy is the leasing of Federal lands to producers, but I believe that is a competitive bidding process....

    So... Citation please....

    Nope, the leasing of Federal Lands is often considered to be under market price.

    http://www.taxpayer.net/library/article/federal-coal-leasing-fair-market-value-and-a-fair-return-for-the-american-t
    http://policyintegrity.org/documents/6.1_Sanzillo_coal_lease_PDF_.pdf
    https://thinkprogress.org/controversial-sale-of-federal-coal-yields-low-prices-with-only-one-bidder-a469a34d62e5
    http://www.newsweek.com/its-time-set-fair-price-exploiting-federal-lands-346880

  116. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Megol · · Score: 1

    Bullshit! How the fuck can someone be so confused to think "left" mean not (ab-)using natural resources? IT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH LEFT OR RIGHT - MANY EXTREME RIGHT GROUPS HAVE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AS A GOAL!!!!!! (repeat)

    Do us all a favor and at least read wikipedia about political views and their meaning before writing such a load of stinking crap! Better yet read some literature (scientific or at least factual) about the history and use of ideological terms.

  117. Re:Follow the money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cui bono. Bingo.

  118. Ah, so Doug always thought that it was an by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    extinction from AGW that was being observed today and that the poster using him to "debunk" the idea that there's no problem from anthropogenic global warming was wrong.

  119. Re:The priesthood has spoken by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Bullshit! How the fuck can someone be so confused to think "left" mean not (ab-)using natural resources? IT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH LEFT OR RIGHT - MANY EXTREME RIGHT GROUPS HAVE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AS A GOAL!!!!!! (repeat)

    No matter how many times you repeat that, it will still be wrong. If you support the destruction of a common resource by corporate interests then you are not a liberal, who wants to see corporations controlled for the good of others — by definition.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  120. Re: The priesthood has spoken by bestweasel · · Score: 1

    Good luck with that. The UK have recently agreed that French and Chinese state entities should build the Hinkley Point C reactor. Unfortunately, the price agreed for the energy is twice the current wholesale price. The trouble with nuclear energy (apart from the waste and decommissioning costs) is that there are always huge delays and cost overruns. With proven simple technologies like wind and PV, this does not happen.

  121. Re:The priesthood has spoken by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Left != liberal.

    What? Who told you that? That's exactly what left means. Left is liberal, right is conservative. The other primary pole is anarchist/authoritarian. The so-called "leftist" party in America, the Democrats, is completely centrist; they are center left/right, and they are center up/down (for lack of a better frame of reference.) The republican party is also relatively centrist, but upper-right of center; they believe that government should have a right to tell you what you can do in your bedroom, but they also believe that government should be used to crush corporate interests whose goals don't align with theirs, and they are more authoritarian in general than the democrats, favoring stiffer penalties for crimes, favoring making more things crimes, etc.

    Most people in America have no fucking idea what liberal even looks like.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  122. Re:The priesthood has spoken by turkeyfish · · Score: 1

    Yes, and by the time you figure out that the climatic momentum is poised to wipe out entire ecosystems with 100 years, you will be knee deep migrants from climate change at your doorstep.

    But don't worry with regard to wealth distribution as regardless of how much wealth is redistributed, we are all about to bake ever and ever so slowly bake until we are done.

  123. Re:The priesthood has spoken by turkeyfish · · Score: 1

    If you believe that, I have some property at Chernobyl and Fukushima I would like to sell you.

  124. Re: Fucking fake data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Boat gives off heat, of course the data says it's getting warmer.

    And oil doesn't come from plants or dead animals, it comes from earth's core, stop calling it fossil fuel.

    That you've been modded +1 Informative for these moronic statements is just idiot icing on the cretin cake.

  125. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So by saying this are you claiming that Obama knew what was in the ACA? By all accounts, there is so much meandering in the ACA that a single human being still couldn't have read it on a meaningful level since its passage not to mention all the other regulations that cascaded with it afterwards.

  126. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Megol · · Score: 1

    Nuclear reactors are generally not economical and (safe) mining or reprocessing is hard to do.

    But having some view on how viable nuclear (fission) reactors are and how the impact mining can be allowed to have have nothing to do with the left-right spectra. It doesn't generally have anything to do with an environmentalist view either - nuclear reactors have several advantages and realistic alternatives aren't free from environmental impact. Renewable resources also require mining (often open-pit), also require heavy metal-filled waste to be disposed of (uranium being a heavy metal is the main problem in processing - not it being radioactive) and require more land area with more infrastructure etc. to be comparable. Effective generators require "rare" elements for magnets and the mining process isn't too environmental. Effective solar cells also require a lot of poisonous chemicals and elements, they also require significant processing to produce elements of sufficient purity.

  127. Re:The priesthood has spoken by turkeyfish · · Score: 2

    You are so correct. The cost of wind and solar are now a small fraction of the cost of nuclear when all costs are considered. Given the very real prospect of radioactive contamination that may persist for tens of thousands of years, nuclear fission holds no commercial promise. Nonetheless support for research for containable fusion reactors should be sustained..

  128. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bullshit! How the fuck can someone be so confused to think "left" mean not (ab-)using natural resources? IT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH LEFT OR RIGHT - MANY EXTREME RIGHT GROUPS HAVE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AS A GOAL!!!!!! (repeat)

    No matter how many times you repeat that, it will still be wrong. If you support the destruction of a common resource by corporate interests then you are not a liberal, who wants to see corporations controlled for the good of others — by definition a fascist.

  129. Re:The priesthood has spoken by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

    And according to drinkypoo, you are a centrist based on that one criteria alone.

    --
    If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
  130. Re:The priesthood has spoken by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

    You also are not a liberal, according to drinkypoo's statements above.

    --
    If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
  131. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've got time.

    Actually, fuck it all. I'm an AC. I can enjoy winning right now!

    Trump! Trump! Trump!

    Are you tired of winning yet? I'm not tired of winning!

    Trump! Trump! Trump!

  132. Re: The priesthood has spoken by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

    Thank you for the novel. Now please give me an answer to my actual request.

    --
    If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
  133. Re:The priesthood has spoken by religionofpeas · · Score: 3, Informative

    Many believe the "It's settled science" party line, but there are quite a few people in the field of climate studies who don't.

    Less than 1%, if you're talking about actual climate scientists.

    1. How much actual control man really has? It is well known that the climate has varied greatly in the past.

    Yes, everybody involved in climate studies knows this. They are also quite sure that man is responsible for this one. The science behind CO2 is well understood. CO2 has actually been responsible for quite a few climatic changes in the past (although on a much slower timescale)

    2. How much actual harm does climate change actually represent? There are lots of theories about this, but the past predictions of catastrophic events have mysteriously not proven accurate (Al Gore, I'm looking at your "Inconvenient truth").

    Al Gore is not a scientist. Real scientists are generally much more conservatives in their prediction. A few exceptions get a lot of press, because scary predictions sell papers. The real harm starts slow, and gets gradually worse over centuries. The problem is that the reverse is equally slow. So when we do get catastrophic events, it will be too late to stop them.

    How much social and economic harm would come from some of the "save the world" initiatives being suggested?

    Thank you for proving my point. You're debating policy again. A disease doesn't go away just because you don't like the cure.

  134. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How much more will it cost to keep with nukes since already renewables are a third the price on average of nuclear, nuke subsidies are 7 trillion a year and the technology of nuke power means the price keeps rising while the price of renewables are mostly dropping as fast as they have been the past 10-20 years?

    Oh, and when you have a drought, you don't have any water to cool your nuke plant, so you have to shut it off. So you'll need non-nuke backup for that. Maybe renewables. And if you put the nuke power stations at shorelines for the water, well,then you have sea level rise and stronger storms to contend with, so you have to move them again. Which is quite costly compared to moving a wind farm. Lastly algal blooms and jellyfish swarms can clog the intakes of sea side power stations and cut down or even stop the flow of water into the turbines, meaning they yet again fail to operate, requiring replacement power sources.

    How much will it cost to use nukes?

  135. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Dr_Terminus · · Score: 1

    There are many sources regarding energy subsidies that can be found with a Google search. Here is a thorough paper which looks at the subsidies in various categories: http://www.misi-net.com/public...

    As for specifics, subsidies range from depletion allowances, energy specific accelerated depreciation allowances, exploration and development expensing, credit for production of nonconventional fuels, reduced government take from federal oil and gas leasing, etc.

  136. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You'll have your answer, as soon as you finish reading it.

  137. Re:The priesthood has spoken by bobbied · · Score: 1

    But if the cure is worse than the sickness, do you still do the cure?

    I don't think your average person has any clue what war actually is or how many of the suggested "climate change" solutions will drag us closer to war. Hunger, sickness and a world run amok because there is no sane capitalistic economy with overwhelming military power to check the historically cyclic chaos that is obviously coming if the USA willingly and unilaterally gives up it's economic and political power. We don't remember WW1, WW2, Korea, Vietnam because most of us never lived though them, those who did are wondering what kind of pansies they've raised if this global warming thing gets you wound up.

    Then there is the whole, "How bad can it be?" question that we have no idea how to answer. I hear all the dire predictions and new stories that you agree are mostly hype, and I openly wonder what are we actually trying to avoid here? What is global warming going to cause that's overall bad? Look that up and you get hype... Historically, war is a deadly affair, and trust me, that's where we are headed if the USA loses it's abilty and/or it's willingness to keep order.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  138. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I notice you post as AC for this sort of drivel. If you don't think we're having some issues with the environment being at odds with 8bn humans engaged in all manner of chaos and consumption, you live between your cushy house and a golf course and haven't done even a basic amount of personal research into the issue, nor applied your brain thing to it just purely hypothetically. For instance, just one random variable of 1000's and one that has little to do with "warming", did you know most big boats clean their gas/oil tanks via a seawater flush valve/mechanism? Sometimes as much as every week they do this. There are more than a few dozen boats in the world, too.

    Compound even a small subset of the known problems together and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize we're fucked.

  139. Re:Then where's the proof? by techno-vampire · · Score: 1

    You'll note that the units are energy/(area^2), as in J/(m^2).

    Just a small nitpick here. The units are energy/area, as in J/(m^2) not energy/(area^2), which would translate to energy/((m^2)^2). I'm not sure just what that would be, but it's clearly not what you intended.

    --
    Good, inexpensive web hosting
  140. Re:The priesthood has spoken by david_thornley · · Score: 1

    When you find a left-leaning AGW zealot who wants more nukes, then I'll start taking the problem more seriously.

    [Waves hand in the air] "Me! Call on me, teacher!"

    --
    "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  141. Re:The priesthood has spoken by bobbied · · Score: 1

    As for specifics, subsidies range from depletion allowances, energy specific accelerated depreciation allowances, exploration and development expensing, credit for production of nonconventional fuels, reduced government take from federal oil and gas leasing, etc.

    Depletion Allowances: Is basically the way you treat the loss in the asset value (the oil well) as you produce oil. It's exactly like how you treat a mine when you produce ore. So it is not a "subsidy" for the oil industry, but the rules used to determine the tax treatment of oil production.

    Energy specific accelerated depreciation allowances: Are again, just tax rules used to govern how the industry can take depreciation deductions. They don't afford any novel or unique benefit to the oil industry and are not a subsidy.

    Development Expensing: Are common tax rules used to determine the deductions for the costs of developing new oil resources. This is like any business making capital investments in buildings or infrastructure, so again this isn't a subsidy.

    Credit for unconventional fuel production: Seriously? This is a credit for producing bio-diesel and distilling alcohol for motor fuel and you think it's a benefit to the Oil Industry?

    So, in your case, all these are simply rules about how taxes are collected (or deductions allowed) and are NOT subsidies where government money is PAID to the oil industry. I know that in liberal land, tax deductions are subsidies and restraining future budget growth below the planned amount is a budget cut (even if the budget is still going up year over year), but come on, think about what you are saying and what the words mean.

    IF you want to see subsidies, go take a look at all those "green" energy "investments" that the last administration engaged in... Where they actually loaned money to dodgy companies who went bankrupt and the government never got their cash back. That's a subsidy if anything is. But all this stuff you are pointing to are either common tax treatments for depreciation and deductions for the cost of doing business are NOT subsidies, they are just specific rules for the oil industry to follow when determining what taxes they have to pay.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  142. Re:The priesthood has spoken by david_thornley · · Score: 1

    You've always got excuses, but the fact is that mining is shitty, and uranium mining is extra-shitty.

    We mine a lot more coal than uranium, and we mine various other things.

    we never seem to actually bother to clean up the toxic mine tailings adequately.

    Which is an argument for better regulation of uranium mining, not an argument directly against nuclear power.

    Expecting an environmentalist to endorse open pit mining with radioactive tailings is not realistic

    As a fan of civilization, I have to endorse mining Mines have tailings, which are often dangerous in some way. Radioactive tailings are dangerous in one more way than non-radioactive tailings, and I don't see that as a big deal. Are you saying that an environmentalist can't support civilization?

    --
    "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  143. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 0

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  144. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

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  145. Re:The priesthood has spoken by david_thornley · · Score: 1

    Chernobyl isn't going to happen again. Fukushima might, but it's really not that bad compared to what harm other power sources have caused.

    --
    "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  146. Re:The priesthood has spoken by omnichad · · Score: 1

    Lots of pumped storage goes underground. This has most of the drawbacks of fracking, but there's a lot of underground rock out there.

  147. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  148. Re:The priesthood has spoken by david_thornley · · Score: 1

    I don't think you know how climate change (no quotes) is dragging us closer to war. It will make areas significantly less habitable. It will destroy food and cash crop production in many places, with lots of farmers not having the ability to substitute something of roughly equal value. This will leave a lot of hungry and sick people without their previous ability to feed themselves and stay healthy. This means refugee flow, and that can lead to war.

    So, tell me, how do solar panels lead to war?

    --
    "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  149. Re:Then where's the proof? by DRJlaw · · Score: 1

    Just a small nitpick here. The units are energy/area, as in J/(m^2) not energy/(area^2), which would translate to energy/((m^2)^2). I'm not sure just what that would be, but it's clearly not what you intended.

    You're absolutely right and I noticed that a couple hours after posting.

    I blame switching from (energy/(length^2)) to (energy/area) to avoid cries of "what the hell do you mean, length" while rushing and caffeine deprived.

    I also figured the correction wasn't worth yet another post.

  150. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Dr_Terminus · · Score: 1

    Tax breaks that benefit a specific sector or segment of society are indeed subsidies, since they represent foregone government revenues, meaning they are a cost to government. At the end of the day, it has the same effect as handing out money to those sectors. Its like if you owed me $20, and I said I'll give you a break - just give me $10 versus if you owed me $20, gave me the $20, and I gave you $10 back because I was generous. At the end of the day, I only have $10 of the $20 I was owed, and you have $10 you originally wouldn't have.

    Also, you should look up what credit for nonconventional fuel production is - it doesn't lend your argument credence if you don't understand what the various breaks are. Nonconventional fuel production covers fuel production from oil from shale and tar sands; gas from geopressurized brine, Devonian shale, coal seams, biomass and coal-based synthetic fuels. Coal producers have been the primary beneficiaries of this credit, which is $14B from 2002-2008.

    So tell me, how much money was spent on these boogeyman "green" energy "investments"? What was the bankruptcy rate of those companies? Citation needed...

  151. Re:Follow the money by david_thornley · · Score: 1

    What would get grant money flowing in would be publishing a theory that explains the observations well without AGW. That would attract a great deal of attention. You don't seem to understand how science works.

    --
    "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  152. Re:The priesthood has spoken by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

    Why do you have to be 'left' to support renewable energy? Renewable energy gives back control of your energy sources and localises them. This fully compatible with a conservative world view.

    In theory, sure, but in reality, that's a conservative world view that seems to be missing from politics in the US at the moment. Could have something to do with the fact that the most powerful voices on the right are the Koch brothers, who own a fossil fuel empire. Could have something to do with the rise of a right wing voter who only seems concerned with opposing liberals. I dunno, but I think it's pretty clear the right wing doesn't have renewable energy as an interest and hasn't in decades.

  153. Re:The priesthood has spoken by blindseer · · Score: 1

    Fourth generation nuclear power plants are air cooled. No water needed.

    Nuclear power takes less resources per energy produced than wind or solar. Wind takes ten times as much steel and concrete per installed megawatt than nuclear. I've had people ask where all that concrete goes, it goes in the ground. To hold up that big windmill takes a very large and heavy anchor in the ground. Wind and solar may be cheaper than nuclear now (it's not but we'll assume it does for argument sake) but how long will that last?

    The costs in nuclear are in engineering and regulation. Once that is figured out then nuclear still wins on how much concrete needs to be poured for the energy produced. This includes solar. What do you think keeps all those solar panels from blowing away in the wind? Concrete, steel, and aluminum. There is a limit on the costs and that is in materials. Nuclear needs one tenth the materials for the same power and energy compared to wind and solar.

    How much will it cost to use nukes?

    In time it will cost one tenth as much as just about anything else.

    --
    I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
  154. Re:The priesthood has spoken by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

    I want to join in on the far-left wing nuke lover party. "Coal particulates kill more people every year than a Chernobyl would, and nuclear is the only feasible option for making our carbon goals." Bam. That converted me pretty rapidly years ago.

    Perhaps OP is making a no-true-scotsman argument, if you're a left-leaning AGW zealot you must by his definition be anti-nuke? IDK, but I think most people on the left aren't really anti-nuclear power.

    Perhaps OP is confusing greenpeace and other environmental groups with the majority. Much like some of us on the left tend to conflate the NRA's extremist positions with the broader right wing?

  155. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 1

    Totally agree, but that works both ways. We don't count the environmental impact of wind turbines, for instance, or their abject ugliness. We don't count the environmental impact of building solar panels, which is significant. The reality is that we're bad at that, but if we could count it it's likely that solar panels would still look better. It's just difficult to count what we cannot see.

  156. I got to go by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stop peeing in the pool please.

  157. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Perfect example of a modern day Republican. Can't digest anymore than 10 words at a time. Sad!

    captcha reads: buffoon. How appropriate.

  158. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Neuronwelder · · Score: 1

    It would mask the warming but not get rid of the Co2.

  159. Re:The priesthood has spoken by bobbied · · Score: 2

    It's not solar panels, which I am absolutely not opposed to in any way, by all means, put them up where they make financial sense.... However, I do believe that unilaterally giving up economic advantage by regulating cheaper power sources out of use when our world competitors are not IS the issue. First, it doesn't actually succeed in reducing emissions (countries like China are not going to stop any time soon) and second it weakens our economy and thus our ability to protect ourselves which is stupid from a geopolitical perspective.

    Also, your theories about the effects of global warming are a bit alarmist from my view.... If the big problem is fossil fuel use, then if you are going to advocate the elimination of their use, you condemn the world to starvation a whole lot sooner than even your dire global warming "the sky is falling" predictions. Do you have any idea where fertilizer comes from? We used up all the natural sources of that a LONG time ago.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  160. Re: The priesthood has spoken by bestweasel · · Score: 1

    "In time it will cost one tenth as much as just about anything else."

    We've had nukes for 60 years now. Any idea when you expect that to happen?

  161. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh. I didn't realize the definition of a Government subsidy suddenly changed to exclude preferential tax treatment, restrictions, and regulations. I suppose there's no such thing as subsidized farming now too. When did this happen?

  162. Re:The priesthood has spoken by bobbied · · Score: 1

    The tax treatment of oil companies isn't uniquely beneficial to them. Their tax burden per dollar sales is in line with other industries. They pay their share of taxes. These are NOT subsidies, the big oil companies pay LOTS in taxes too.

    These subsidies for wind mostly ARE: http://www.nationalreview.com/...

    And an Oh By the Way.... Wind couldn't make it on it's own w/o the subsidies. Why? Because it doesn't make enough money to pay for itself.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  163. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    These are NOT subsidies, the big oil companies pay LOTS in taxes too.

    Nope, Customers pay lots. Big oil rakes in the dough.

  164. NIMBY? More like NIABY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nuclear power is by far the worst way to generate electricity. Anyone that says otherwise is wilfully ignorant of all of the accidents such as SL-1, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima, just to name a few. Fusion will be far worse, with accidents that will ignite the atmosphere. Then again, the greedy CrackeRepublicans will do anything just to get a quick buck, even if it means doom for the Earth, which is why they dismiss green energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, hho engines, and hydroelectric.

  165. Re: The priesthood has spoken by blindseer · · Score: 1

    We've had nukes for 60 years now. Any idea when you expect that to happen?

    When the government stops regulating nuclear power like it did 60 years ago.

    I watched a YouTube talk about the state of affairs on fourth generation reactors and this person in the know said that in the federal regulations under the heading of air cooled reactors is a blank page. If the reactor is not a solid fuel, water cooled, water moderated, reactor the government simply lacks the means to create a license for it.

    The Democratic Party has been the primary holdup to new regulations in nuclear power since the Carter administration. The Democrats lost big in the last election. I'm seeing good things possible in nuclear power from Trump, Pence, and Perry. I don't know if I can "expect" anything but this is something we have not seen since modern air cooled reactors were more than a theory. We saw air cooled nuclear reactors in the time Nixon was POTUS but he killed the development to help out his political buddies in California where they were developing water cooled reactors, the kind capable of making nuclear weapons.

    The only reason nuclear power is so expensive is because of the regulations. Democrats have been saying nuclear power is dead because it costs too much, which gives them an excuse to not write new regulations. Nuclear power has been caught in this death spiral for at least four decades. As soon as the shackles are loosened enough that just one nuclear power plant can be completed then we will see them built by the dozens like we did in the 1970s. At that point the argument that nuclear power is too expensive to work is demonstrably false.

    --
    I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
  166. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sung to the tune of "Nellie the Elephant"

  167. Re: The priesthood has spoken by KGIII · · Score: 1

    Alright... I wasn't going to comment but I must.

    If the area is radioactive for tens of thousands of years, that means that it is decaying slowly and that the risk is quite minimal. It confuses me when people are more afraid of something with a half life of tens of thousands of years vs. something with a half life of five hundred years.

    It's the shit that rapidly decays that you have to worry about. That's sending out a whole lot of particles, quickly.

    --
    "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  168. Re: The priesthood has spoken by KGIII · · Score: 1

    Funny you say that...

    We recently learned that the coral die-off is over.

    Huh...

    Before you go full retard, I see strong evidence to suggest the cause of climate change is human output. I am a scientist.

    --
    "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  169. George Carlin on "saving the planet" by Megachrom · · Score: 0
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB0aFPXr4n4

    "Over 90% of all species that have ever lived on this planet are gone..... we didn't kill them all!" lol

    "Leave nature alone... it's what got us in trouble in the first place."

    "The greatest arrogance of all is 'save the planet'! What? Are these people kidding me? We don't even know how to take care of ourselves yet! And we're gonna save the planet? I'm getting tired of that shit!"

    "Environmentalists don't give a shit about the planet... They just want a clean place for themselves."

    "There is nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The people are fucked!"

    "The planet has been here for over 4 and half billion years, and we've only been here, what a few hundred thousand, and only in heavy industry for a little over 200 years. 200 years vs 4 and half billion, and we have the conceit to think somehow we are a threat?... The planet has been through a lot worse than us."

    "The planet will shake us off like a bad case of fleas. A surface nuisance."

    "You want to know how the planet is doing? Ask those people in Pompeii that are frozen into position from volcanic ash... how the planets doing."

    "The planet will be here for a long, long, long, time after we're gone. And it will heal itself, it will cleans itself, cause that's what it does. It's a self correcting system. The air and the water will recover. The earth will be renewed. And if it's true, that plastic is not degradable, then the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm, the earth plus plastic."

    Follow this up with an awesome dose of political correctness from brain droppings.

    Carlin puts all this crap into a very well considered and funny perspective.

  170. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you think that science has definitively proven man-made climate change, I want you to look up what a control is in science. Find out what a control group is, then come back here and apologize.

  171. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually there are about 10 axis, not including single issue hotbuttons or pure irrational hatreds. anarchist-authoritarian is one, communist-capitalist, unionist-corporatist, nationalist-globalist, protectionist-free trader, individualist-totalitarian, athiest-religious, environmentalist-polluter and so on. Many are usually lumped together as being part and parcel of the same philosophy, so when a group comes along with a different opinion on just one or two, all hell breaks loose as assumptions break down. I'd also suggest avoiding using liberal, fascist and libertarian as descriptions as their meanings have become so loaded in the US as to render them useless in reasonable debate.

  172. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The cost of wind and solar must also take into account storage. Because they are not baseload power, they can't provide power when it's needed. The true cost of wind and solar is probably 8 to 10 times the actual seen cost. Your argument fails so horribly it's hard to explain unless you have a good understanding of the power grid. Needless to say you should not post on this topic anymore.

  173. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    More shitty moderation. How is this trolling. The parent tried to assert that he and his family's expertise in IT and engineering gives him some special ability to assess a fairly complex and interrelated set of scientific disciplines. The Salem Hypothesis, specifically, deals with the tendency of engineers to conflate their training and skill set with science, and more specifically this applies to the propensity for people who claim to be scientists who reject biological evolution to actually be engineers. I don't think it's a stretch to extend the Salem Hypothesis to other people who try to make fallacious appeals to their own authority to attack scientific theories inevitably being engineers.

    While I agree the mod was likely incorrect. (I had nothing to do with it.) I'm uncertain if it is on topic or not. Simply put, climate science should be using the best available models for their predictions. If they are, and if those models have an established track record such that we have a reasonable amount of confidence in them, then using anything other than those models for our decision making with regards to the environment, would be stupid.

    I just don't think it is, well, sane to use arguments appealing to a higher power to explain why you can ignore science. It is a bit like the people who believe that if they just believe a higher power will cure their child, when a simple trip the hospital would have done the job. In fact, I'm pretty sure this kind of thing would be called child abuse in most states. Perhaps the environment problem could be called home abuse?

  174. Re: The priesthood has spoken by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

    Poor fool of indeterminate political party can't even read a sig.

    --
    If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
  175. Re:The priesthood has spoken by haruchai · · Score: 1

    Keep parroting your Dogma, lefty, and enjoy losing for the next 8 years. Me? I'm winning.

    Winning?
    That's what Charlie Sheen said and now he's selling off his Babe Ruth memorabilia to pay for his supply of tiger blood

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  176. Re:The priesthood has spoken by haruchai · · Score: 1

    Look, it's not really that people don't believe THIS story. The problem is story selection. Everyday, someone with an agenda pulls a "OMG the sky is falling" story from some alarmist website. We're simply sick of it. What you're seeing is the backlash.
    If everyday I pulled stories similar to what happened to here this weekend (end of JUNE in Toronto it was HAILING) filled with snarky comments about "global warming", you'd be annoyed too.

    Oh I've seen plenty of "hey, it was a bit cold today, where's my global warming".
    But after all this time, the deniers & the clueless don't understand what tipping points are, that once certain events are triggered, there's no quick path back to what we used to consider normal

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  177. Re: The priesthood has spoken by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

    Oh, you replied. Sort of.

    I have read the speech. I stumbled over the rambling repetition and inconsistencies, but read the whole thing.

    Other than the exact wording, Pelosi is still saying that the politicians must pass the bill before anyone can find out what is in it. Surely if the bill is so full of wonderful things, she could detail a few of them for the people. Like how you get to keep your insurance and doctors, or how everyone's premiums will be reduced by thousands of dollars. But, No, apparently we could not find out about that until everyone blindly passed it.

    The real joke of all this is that the bill she shoved through the House of Representatives was simply wiped away by the Senate bill, so all of the wonderful things Pelosi might have been thinking of were gone.

    --
    If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
  178. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Dr_Terminus · · Score: 1

    Wow talk about conflating things. That article claims that loans and loan guarantees are subsidies, which is pretty much the opposite of a subsidy.

  179. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm conservative and went to an extremely well known as liberal university. Bunch of stupid dim bulb dumbasses and control freak fascists. Never met a bunch of more educated and highly stupid and illogical emotion driven morons in my life after traveling the world and working many places big and small.

    Don't hang your hat on being smart because you gots an edjumication! Your rhetoric is fail.

  180. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's grey that you'd use the most serious energy technology we have available to solve the "problem" of AGW.

    However, science is not a popularity contest nor an election. It doesn't matter if 100% of all humans agree. They could still be wrong.

    Other famous examples of mass wrong: spiritualism, old bearded men in sky, dragons, unicorns, flat earth, astrology, fend shui, magic.

  181. Re:Then where's the proof? by lucm · · Score: 1

    There's a mumbo-jumbo factor to this, like when a developer tells his manager that he has to refactor a lambda to upgrade an O(2n) to an O(1). Why not do jazz hands as well.

    Here's what the intro says in the link:

    Inconsistent global/basin ocean heat content (OHC) changes were found in different ocean subsurface temperature analyses, especially in recent studies related to the slowdown in global surface temperature rise. This finding challenges the reliability of the ocean subsurface temperature analyses and motivates a more comprehensive inter-comparison between the analyses.

    And in the conclusion:

    Substantial uncertainty in the decadal OHC redistribution globally among the three datasets prevents reaching a conclusion about the relative contribution of each basin to the global OHC changes. To understand the relation between OHC changes and the global warming slowdown/hiatus, we need quantify the storage of heat not only during the hiatus period but also during the decades before the hiatus. So we recommend a comprehensive evaluation in the future to quantify the impact of insufficient ocean sampling on historical OHC calculations, i.e. the performance of different mapping methods.

    Now tell me how you reconcile that with that 4th grader conclusion that the ocean temperature has risen 1.8 Celsius.

    These graphs are misleading.

    --
    lucm, indeed.
  182. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If the area is radioactive for tens of thousands of years, that means that it is decaying slowly and that the risk is quite minimal.

    No, it doesn't. It means there is long-term contamination by radioactive materials.

    It confuses me when people are more afraid of something with a half life of tens of thousands of years vs. something with a half life of five hundred years.

    Nobody mentioned half-life, they mentioned long-term contamination.

    The two things are related, but not identical.

    It's the shit that rapidly decays that you have to worry about. That's sending out a whole lot of particles, quickly.

    Which you don't know from merely long-term contamination.

    Statements of tens of thousands of years of radioactive contamination refer to problems over the baseline norm. They do not tell you anything about the actual radioactive materials or even the actual level of contamination.

  183. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Truth_Quark · · Score: 1

    .Nuclear baseload. We've known how to do it for half a century. That alone would resolve most of the CO2 issues.

    I don't think that it would resolve most of them. There's a hell of a lot of issues with CO2 currently in the atmosphere and oceans now.

    When you find a left-leaning AGW zealot who wants more nukes, then I'll start taking the problem more seriously.

    You can count me as one of the several you have just found.

    Now that you're starting to take the problem more seriously, what are you doing about it?

    As is, looks more like an attempt at social engineering (lowering everyone's standard of living except for the "Right People")

    This is an example of the fossil fuel industry's PR groups propaganda. Not only does lowering greenhouse emissions raise everyones standard of living, compared to paying for adaptation, but there's no plausible reason for such a social experiment.

  184. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Truth_Quark · · Score: 1

    The unadjusted data will be kept under lock and key while everyone is instructed to accept based on faith that the oceans are warming rapidly.

    Perhaps I can point you to some of the raw data that you're looking for. Which is it that you think is kept under lock and key?

    The AGW cult is even more profitable than the LDS cult, and this will no doubt be used to justify even more wealth redistribution.

    The fossil fuel industry has about a $33 billion dollar stake in this.

    And you think that there's someone in the fledgling solar panel industry that is paying all the scientific organisations in the world to sell them a bit faster?

    You do realize how blatantly implausible that is, don't you?

    The money in the PR game is all on the anti-scientific side.

  185. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Truth_Quark · · Score: 1

    Why people always behave as though the left is composed of poor people and lead by poor people? That there are no billionaire liberals pushing the agenda as much as there are billionaires that fund the opposite view (if not more)? Why pretend that there is no side that has a vested interest in green energy?

    Because science is neither left nor right. In fact there is a consensus amongst economists that we should be reducing greenhouse emissions.

    However, there is about $33 billion dollars at stake for the fossil fuel industry, and their PR workshops have shown that if you tie misinformation to a political position, then people become very resistant to evidence.

    So that's what they've tried to do.

    You don't need to read the political or PR blogs to get a handle on the science. There's scientific literature and science communicators out there.

  186. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's completely orthogonal to the definition of fascism. Words have meaning, if you don't know the meaning of words, don't use them as you'll end up spouting nonsense, as above.

  187. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Haven't you heard? The world is in the grip of a Big Wind conspiracy. Demagogues who got rich from Wind in places like Chicago, or the well known Windy Miller Brothers are pushing for Big Wind for their own personal gain. Meanwhile rational solutions like gentle, soothing oil are being brushed under the carpet.

  188. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    If the individual has shown that he is a threat to society as a whole then yes, he should be deprived the right to a gun, or any device that enables someone to be a serious threat to society. I do expect someone who wishes to handle a gun that he knows how to do so responsibly. This would of course include cases where said individual has killed someone under circumstances other than self defense (or relevant similar scenarios), but I would even include cases where criminal negligence handling firearms would warrant removing the right to it, e.g. when you have kids around and leave loaded weapons lying about. Weapons are dangerous and need to be handled with care. And I do expect people who wish to do so to do it responsibly and in a way that minimizes the chance of innocents coming to harm.

    And I do think that nuclear, biological and chemical weapons do not belong into the hands of untrained personnel. For safety reasons. It's very hard to store them safely and even harder to handle them in a way that ensures no damage to bystanders (or yourself). I would also think that handling more intricate and complicated weapons to be dependent on showing that you know what you're doing, this could take the form of a test similar to a driving test, and I could envision this being handled by local weapon owner societies, who have an interest in keeping more destructive and complicated weapons in the hands of trained and responsible individuals, if only for the reason that accidents with such weapons could lead to legislation against owning them.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  189. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not necessarily religious, those in denial about AGW reject science because they "go with their gut" Perhaps a suitable name would be, I dunno... shitters? You could ask them if they are a Little Shit or a Big Shit.

  190. Re:The priesthood has spoken by r0kk3rz · · Score: 1

    Given the very real prospect of radioactive contamination that may persist for tens of thousands of years, nuclear fission holds no commercial promise.

    Many areas in Australia already have higher levels of background radiation due to the large amount of granite in the rock, other areas like Maralinga are already contaminated thanks to atmospheric nuclear weapons testing. We are also considering importing and storing other country's radioactive waste because the ground is so stable and we have desolate areas nobody lives in.

    It's a problem, but it can be managed. I think it makes a large amount of sense given the geology in Australia, other countries can make their own decisions on what makes sense for them.

  191. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Megol · · Score: 1

    Why even assume there must be corporations in order to abuse natural resources? Do you realize how utterly idiotic that is?

  192. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Megol · · Score: 1

    Yes it is a complete mess and one axis doesn't come close to describe even _normal_ political views.

  193. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Megol · · Score: 1

    Who told me that? Nobody. I have studied = read books about the topic. I also have a brain.

    There are many right-wing liberals, there are many left-wing authoritarians. There are many left-wing people (the majority) that want do decide how people should live their lives. There are many right-wing people (not the majority) that think people should be able to do what they want withing limitations. But even so authoritarian views (which isn't really what most right-wing people is about - that would be conservatism) doesn't rule out liberal views in some areas. In fact most people except hardliners actually have a very complex mix of views about different areas of life.

    Your idea that environmentalism is linked to the left-right axis is wrong, really wrong. Your linking of (I assume) your ideas of everything to the political label you chosen is idiotic. It is wrong. It have so many counter-examples in the real world. It skews your views of others, make it harder to discuss and reinforces you-vs-them thinking which is one of the most dangerous things in the world.

  194. Re:"contradictory results related to the ocean hea by Maritz · · Score: 2

    Climate change skepticism, creationism, anti-vax, anti-GMO, HIV denialists. All different aspects of the same kind of stupidity. History will judge your ilk harshly, and rightly so. You're a bunch of fucking dickheads.

    --
    I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  195. Re:Follow the money by Maritz · · Score: 1

    "I'm a complete fucking mong, ignore me or I'll actually make you stupid"

    - FTFY.

    --
    I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  196. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe it's over only temporarily, or the other factors keep the water cool enough at the sample locations? It would be nice if the corals could adapt to the higher temperatures this quickly. The reefs like the Great Barrier Reef have almost completely disappeared or moved before so the future is still uncertain.

  197. Re: The priesthood has spoken by KGIII · · Score: 1

    The longer the contamination, the less energy being released per unit of time.

    It's pretty simple particle physics.

    --
    "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  198. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    I might want you to have liability insurance so if you damage me or my property with your gun I'll at least get reimbursed. Aside of that, as far as I'm concerned, buy a tank for all I care.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  199. Re: The priesthood has spoken by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

    I think in some cases there's a streak of contrarianism. Contrarianism has its place, but only if it is matched with some actual ability to critique the model. Even among the skeptics who do have some ability to critique the science, like Spencer and Curry, you'll note that their so-called critiques end up in rather odd places like the Wall Street Journal, and they never seem to publish any of their devastating critiques where it actually counts; in primary and peer reviewed literature. In general, in any scientific discipline, researchers who avoid peer review for their more astonishing or hyperbolic claims are immediately suspect.

    I think there are those who deny simply because they don't want to see their way of life change. I think these people probably know the reality, but cognitive dissonance allows them to function at a level whereby they can deny AGW, even as they know it's true. Others, I think, simply don't like that AGW's best solutions are going to require some sort of market intervention, so they're ideologically opposed. These are the people I often post the response "Do you really think the universe gives a damn about your political or economic views?" These ideological skeptics probably are a sub-category of the first group.

    Then there are the likes of the Koch Brothers, powerful men who know damned well what's happening, but don't give a shit, and want to make as much money as they can while they can. Everyone knows fossil fuels' time is coming to an end. Oil prices are not rebounding, in part because the shale oil industry is basically in "pump out as much as you can while you can" mode, because they know perfectly well if that oil isn't pumped out of the ground in the next 10-20 years, it may never be pumped out of the ground. Better to make a marginal profit now, even if it means prices continue to crash. So these are the really nefarious people, the people who really don't give a shit what damage they do, just so long as they pad their pockets, so far them even the more sensible solution, which is some sort of carbon tax, directly interferes with profits, and thus must be attacked.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  200. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, silly Repug.

    The article is about how she was taken out of context.

    Ironic how your trying to do the same of the article, by pretending you don't understand it.

    Is it a Repug thing? Do you work for Fox "News"?

  201. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Looks like "I hope I break my phone so I can buy a new one".
    duh. Why did you buy a smartphone if you hate it so much.

  202. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe this one's more your speed.

    Or are you going to pretend you don't understand this article, either? Or worse, yet - cry "fake news", because you don't like it says?

  203. Re:The priesthood has spoken by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

    How do you do pumped storage against gravity? Pressure? Wouldn't the loss from gravity on the draw of the storage really hurt the storage efficiency equation?

  204. Re: The priesthood has spoken by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

    It's pretty simple particle physics.

    Undeniably true... However, this shouldn't be used to support an assertion that a contamination of isotopes that may persist for tens of thousands of years is somehow safe.
    Those isotopes decay into isotopes with short half-lives. And those kill.
    Chernobyl will not be safe for tens of thousands of years, because covering a landscape with enough relatively safe isotopes can produce a biologically important amount of short-lives isotopes on an ongoing, though slowly declining, basis.

  205. Re:The priesthood has spoken by david_thornley · · Score: 1

    As it happens, I do know more or less where fertilizer comes from. I also haven't heard of battery advances that would make electric aircraft and long-distance ships possible, and there's more areas where fossil fuel is needed.. We're not getting rid of fossil fuels any time soon, but reducing the amount we use will be useful, even if it's not complete elimination. We're advancing technologically rather fast, and so slowing warming down until we can do something better about it sounds like a good idea. We may find that we can fix most of the problem with geoengineering without causing too many other problems. If we could get enough power from other sources, we could even unburn the CO2 in the air.

    I'm not trying to be alarmist. I'm pointing out that the warming will disrupt some things pretty badly, and that will mean refugees from global warming, There will be disruption, and disruption always raises the probability of war. I don't have any quantitative guesses, but I'd say that global warming is a lot more likely to start wars than avoiding global warming.

    We're in a world now where major powers pretty much do not directly attack each other, so high-level geopolitical maneuvering is likely to remain peaceful. If the US cuts emissions, that will help (remember I said above that I want a large reduction in fossil fuel use, since a complete stop won't be practical for some time yet), as the US is the second-biggest emitter, and not far behind China. Europe, China, and India seem to be trying to move away from fossil fuels, for whatever reasons.

    Last I saw, I'd expect China to wind up with a bigger GDP than hours. The last figures I've got immediate access to (2013) put them about 20% behind the US, and growing faster. If we retard our economy somewhat, and China doesn't (which doesn't seem to be quite the case), the crossover point where China has the world's biggest economy will happen earlier, which I don't see is a tremendous concern.

    --
    "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  206. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Those axis have nothing to do with left-right views, I did not intend or imply them to have, as "left" and "right" are meaningless labels. It most likely says much more about your own prejudices that you read that into them.

  207. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Give us some examples of extreme right groups with environmental protection as a goal.
    Please...

  208. Re: The priesthood has spoken by KGIII · · Score: 1

    You may wish to look and see the current research being done in Chernobyl. Animals are doing quite well, surprisingly so.

    I am not saying it's safe. I'm saying it's not nearly as huge a problem as people seem to think it is.

    --
    "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  209. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ha!! Trump admits he doesn't read.

    I guess his supporters are so enamored with their Glorious Leader that they try to emulate him.

  210. Re:The priesthood has spoken by omnichad · · Score: 1

    You can do these searches for yourself, you know. But look here and here for a start.

  211. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, and I'm the second coming of Christ. **eye roll**

    So, being the only smarty-pants, I assume you were the valedictorian of Adelphi, then, eh?

  212. #clickbait again by MooseMiester · · Score: 1

    The summary contains two links, one to an article that discusses how the data is crap - same story as the atmosphere, the satellite data doesn't jive with the manipulated ground data, and a second link to a story in the Guardian. For the reader who isn't paying attention they both might be misconstrued as scientific studies.

    As long as one resorts to trickery and misdirection people are going to think you're making shit up.

    --
    Murphy was an optimist
  213. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So you went to a university. I didn't see you say you graduated. Given you language, let me guess your couldn't handle it there. Then you call them names.

    Sad.

  214. George Carlin on save the planet... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB0aFPXr4n4

    "Over 90% of all species that have ever lived on this planet are gone..... we didn't kill them all!" lol

    "Leave nature alone... it's what got us in trouble in the first place."

    "The greatest arrogance of all is 'save the planet'! What? Are these people kidding me? We don't even know how to take care of ourselves yet! And we're gonna save the planet? I'm getting tired of that shit!"

    "Environmentalists don't give a shit about the planet... They just want a clean place for themselves."

    "There is nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The people are fucked!"

    "The planet has been here for over 4 and half billion years, and we've only been here, what a few hundred thousand, and only in heavy industry for a little over 200 years. 200 years vs 4 and half billion, and we have the conceit to think somehow we are a threat?... The planet has been through a lot worse than us."

    "The planet will shake us off like a bad case of fleas. A surface nuisance."

    "You want to know how the planet is doing? Ask those people in Pompeii that are frozen into position from volcanic ash... how the planets doing."

    "The planet will be here for a long, long, long, time after we're gone. And it will heal itself, it will cleans itself, cause that's what it does. It's a self correcting system. The air and the water will recover. The earth will be renewed. And if it's true, that plastic is not degradable, then the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm, the earth plus plastic."

    Follow this up with an awesome dose of political correctness from brain droppings.

    Carlin puts all this crap into a very well considered and funny perspective.

  215. Re: The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Democrats haven't controlled the Presidency for half a year, and Repubs have controlled congress for half a decade.

    So when did Obama veto a bill that Congress sent to the White house?

    Fucking hypocrite.

  216. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Why do you have to be 'left' to support renewable "

    You don't!

    Exhibt A

    Jack Rickard of EVTV http://evtv.me/

    Jack is a Trump supporter and a climate change 'skeptic' yet he is a staunch supporter of solar and really knows a thing or two about EVs and batteries...

  217. Re:The priesthood has spoken by cbeaudry · · Score: 1

    How can we take seriously people who believe in the 90%-99% consensus (The party line is 97% you need to get it right).

    Every study that tried to demonstrate this consensus had such horrible methodology it would be laughed at in any other field.

    This means you are gullible, have read news papers, the mainstream media and just believe what others tell you.

  218. Re: The priesthood has spoken by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

    You may wish to look and see the current research being done in Chernobyl. Animals are doing quite well, surprisingly so.

    Yes, I know they're doing quite well. They also have obscene levels of birth defects... I'm not saying it turns it into an un-survivable hellscape, it's just a far cry from what any person wants to live in.

    I am not saying it's safe. I'm saying it's not nearly as huge a problem as people seem to think it is.

    We agree... mostly. I still think that's a pretty huge problem for human habitation.
    It's not the apocalypse, but I would rather try to make my living in Death Valley than Chernobyl. I've seen the geiger counters when they go through a "hot" spot. Big fucking "no thank you."

  219. Re:The priesthood has spoken by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

    How do you do pumped storage against gravity? Pressure?

    I suspect, as you clearly do too, that the OP is conflating "pumped hydroelectric storage" with "compressed air storage". The latter has been used at a number of sites, using cavities made by solution in rock salt bodies (not fracking, as the OP suggests).

    I'd concede that it would be possible to use a good "gas sand" with high porosity and permeability as a "pumped (compressed air) storage" site. Of course, if you had a good sand, then you wouldn't need to frack your rock (in fact, it would probably be impossible). Naturally, as you suggest, it would be advantageous to use a working fluid of as low a viscosity as possible. So gas rather than liquid.

    On the down-side, although the top of the storage rock formation would be tight against the gas you inject, the bottom side would not be tight. Over a period on the order of days, your pumped-down gas would dissipate by dissolution into the pore-space liquids, as well as pushing the GWC (gas-water contact) down. Now, that might not be a big problem if you're pumping up by day and decompressing by night (heating ; vice versa for AC), but it's certainly something that you'd have to consider in the reservoir engineering (yes - it is a profession ; one I'm only marginally qualified for) for your proposed "pumped (compressed air) storage" project. The answers in one formation + structure + pressure regime may well not be the same for the same formation in the next structure along the basin trend. Oh, did I mention the likely effects of pumping large volumes of gas one way through a set of pore throats, then reversing the flow, then reversing the flow ... the magic word you're looking for is "fatigue" ; it's not a problem I've head of for gas-storage wells (because they load up on gas in summer and release it in winter ; not 360-odd cycles/year), but there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of wells around the world that produce significant amounts of "sand" along with their oil or gas flow. It's another issue the reservoir engineer has to consider - and addressing it is why horizontal drilling was developed years before being put to use in fracking.

    I can see why the reported sites used specially-made salt-dissolution caverns.

    Pumped (compressed air) storage is certainly doable. But the environments in which it's likely to be a workable solution are much more restricted than anyone who thinks of it as a panacea is going to like. Of the oil province I've spent most of the last 30 years drilling in, only about 1/3 has rock salt at depth, and over 95% of that is tens to hundreds of miles out to sea. Which raises the costs by a factor of about 10.

    --
    Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  220. Re:The priesthood has spoken by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

    But after all this time, the deniers & the clueless don't understand what tipping points are, that once certain events are triggered, there's no quick path back to what we used to consider normal

    Oh, there is a quick way back. We've got the records of the last time something like this happened. I have steered 30 or 40 oil wells to their target using those records. Nice clear marker horizons.

    100 to 120 millennia. That's the quick way back. If you consider ~10^5 years to be a short period of time, which as a geologist, I do. I've got a rock specimen in my front garden that represents a 1,300,000 millennia hiatus in a line in the rock. A hundred millennia is less than the endurance (so far) of human beings.

    --
    Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  221. Re:The priesthood has spoken by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

    The fossil fuel industry has about a $33 billion dollar stake in this.

    It's a damned sight bigger than that. Hell, that's of the order of decommissioning costs for the UKCS only.

    --
    Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  222. Re:The priesthood has spoken by Urist+McSlashdot · · Score: 1

    Huh? You mean this? "Expecting an environmentalist to endorse open pit mining with radioactive tailings is not realistic"?

    So, first off, you think Drinkypoo is the sole arbiter of what constitutes liberal views? And you think liberalism can be reduced solely to environmentalism and has nothing to do with economic policy?

    Both of those stances are pretty bizarre, and that's ignoring that I never suggested we should just allow unregulated open pit mining and dumping of nuclear waste just anywhere. We should still do what we can to mitigate the environmental consequences of nuclear energy.

    But you know what's also bad for the environment? Open pit coal mining. And lithium mining. And really just mining in general, which is unfortunately needed for all sorts of things, including for "green" energy options.

    There's always going to be trade-offs. The only way to completely eliminate the environmental consequences of human activity is to completely eliminate humanity.