Comments on: Climate Change Tipping Point: Research Shows That Emission Reductions Must Occur by 2020

By: Gordon Kaesemeyer

Gordon Kaesemeyer — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 18:19:47 +0000

There is currently a private sector device attempting to gain a foothold that has the ability to drastically reduce vehicle emissions by improving the efficiency of the combustion process. The 3rd party test results can be viewed at http://www.mileagemaxer.com
Imagine all currently manufactured automobiles reducing exhaust emissions to “O”
That would make the difference until a new approach to transportation is developed. And it is possible right NOW!

By: RayJ

RayJ — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 19:17:58 +0000

The thing that seems to be missing from the discussions about climate change/global warming is the recognition that it is but one aspect of the ecological imprint the human race has made on the planet. people tend to be fixated on one thing or another and ignore that whole picture. Take coal – all that is generally talked about is burning it and some people’s claims of ‘clean coal’ technology. The mining of coal, with mountain top removal as a method and what is done with the coal ash – remember when one of the storage facilities gave way a couple years ago and did a number on the surrounding area – seem to be ignored as part of the total cost of using coal. The trends do not look good when you look at it as the total impact of our footprint. I don’t have an answer but to say it’s not possible to make the planet unable to sustain our (ever increasing) numbers is, in my opinion, a very ignorant position to take.

By: Richard Misior

Richard Misior — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 12:12:59 +0000

Just saw the news that the International Energy Agency said that coal will replace oil as the main energy source by 2020. The main culprits here are India and China. What it means is that we not only won’t be able to cut co2 emission, but we will greatly increase it. What a turnaround! It flies in the face of two decades of propaganda from the IPCC and likeminded institutions.
So what is going on here? Are Chinese and Indian leaders suicidal? Hardly, nor would they condemn their children to sweltering in the runaway greenhouse effect. What it really means is that, unlike EU and some other countries that jumped on the bandwagon of IPCC scare tactics with huge ulterior motives, China and India could see through it. Some other countries are now moving in the same direction. They realize that there is no real alternative to fossil fuel at present. The trendy wind mills and solar panels are too expensive and work only some of the time, while nuclear power isn’t all that benign.
So, it looks like we are going to burn coal with great abandon for quite some time to come. Will it hurt out climate? Not really. Will the IPCC be dismantled? Not yet, they still have some steam left, but the writing is on the wall.

By: virtueorvice

virtueorvice — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:37:59 +0000

This suggests that we need more aware people and more scientists. I’m afraid politicians and ordinary people won’t do anything helpful unless they are properly educated, and forced to taking serious measurements, by the scientists!

By: JJ

JJ — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:12:12 +0000

Electric vehicles? The demographic for the typical electric car customer in the U.S. is an individual making $170,000 per year who buys an electric as their second or third family vehicle, presumably after the Lexus and Range Rover. When I see Al Gore and his rich eco-pals giving up their gas guzzling private jets and 15,000 ft. air conditioned mansions I’ll be more inclined to buy the ashes and sack cloth lifestyle their pushing on the peasants.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 19:54:22 +0000

It was articles like this that prompted me to cancel my subscription and several gift subscriptions to the print magazine. Smithsonian has become a purveyor of junk science.

By: Mitchekid

Mitchekid — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:12:57 +0000

You will not stop climate change. The earth is slowly returning to the temp. it had before the ice age. You know, when palm trees grew in Alaska.

By: Richard Misior

Richard Misior — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:18:44 +0000

We are doomed because, as far as I am aware, there are is not going to be any international agreement to reduce the co2 emission before 2020. We may as well accept that we are going to have a catastrophic Man Made global warming. So, why worry about doing anything?

This is an absolute rubbish, of course. In their usual fashion to make headlines the researchers have ignored, or deliberately omitted, several very important factors influencing our climate, and it certainly has nothing to do with humans or even co2.

One of them is water vapor, which is totally ignored by the IPCC and all researches trying to please them. Water vapor and clouds account for about 90 percent of the Earth’s natural greenhouse effect, CO2 amounts for about 3.5 percent. Have you ever wondered why the night time temperatures are mild near the coast but
are colder inland, even in summer? It is particularly evident in the desert, where you can have frost at night inland but quite mild in coastal areas. The reason for this is obviously the reduced moisture in the air away from the sea, while the CO2 concentration is the same everywhere! CO2 contributes very little to the greenhouse effect indeed. If it were not for the oceans and water vapor we would freeze at night and no amount of co2 would save us.

Despite the obvious alarm expressed by the writer of this article, I would like to assure him that all is well with the world, as far as the global warming is concerned. It will not “run away” and may have some cooling down soon, regardless of what we do or not do. Just like it always done in the past.

By: Mike Haseler

Mike Haseler — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 09:26:35 +0000

The magic number is 15.

15 years without warming
15% is the maximum % of global emissions that are now covered by the possibility of an extension to Kyoto
2015 is the earliest governments could possibly get a new extension to Kyoto – because most government’s don’t believe this non-science about CO2

The other magic figure is 1°C. Because that’s the scientifically based figure of the greenhouse effect of CO2 for a doubling of the level of CO2.

1°C is also the figure which even the highly biased report of Stern says will be economically beneficial. There’s a simple reason for this: no one can deny CO2 is a plant food – but isn’t it strange how that simple fact which underpins all life on earth is quietly forgotten by all the religious nutters who push this non-science!

By: Ann

Ann — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 00:20:59 +0000

Thanks for the info. In my opinion it’s already too late. Damage have been done by corrupt, greedy, evil people, and disastrous consequences for destroying our only home planet is already getting worse.