The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: rangerrebew on January 29, 2014, 11:00:38 pm
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When did the community organizer get a Ph.D. in climatology?
Obama Declares Climate Change a 'Fact': Now What?
LiveScience.comBy By Jeanna Bryner, Managing Editor | LiveScience.com – 4 hrs ago..
An emphatic five words spoken by President Obama last night during the State of the Union (SOTU) address were bittersweet for some climate scientists.
"Climate change is a fact," Obama said.
Scientists have known human-caused climate change is real, and while Obama has never said anything to the contrary, his declarative acknowledgement of the phenomenon is important.
"I applauded," after the remark, said Kevin Trenberth, a climate scientist at the independent National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo.
Others agreed, to a point.
"Almost immediately after he said that, I remarked on Twitter that it's a shame the president even *has* to say that. This fact was acknowledged 14 years ago in Bill Clinton's final SOTU address. Have we made so little progress in 14 years?" Pennsylvania State University climatologist Michael Mann told LiveScience in an email. "Nonetheless, I'm pleased that the president was willing to drive home this point in the face of an obstinate Congress, with a Republican leadership that still denies climate change even exists." [The Reality of Climate Change: 10 Myths Busted]
Climate change skeptics
Though there is scientific consensus that humans have and are causing the planet to warm, some 23 percent of Americans are still skeptical of this fact, according to a November 2013 survey conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. And most often Republicans say Earth's climate is not changing or that it is changing due to natural, not man-made, causes, according to a 2011 report by the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute.
In its latest report, out this past September, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change pointed the finger directly at humans as the primary cause of climate change, saying it is "extremely likely" human activities have caused most of the warming of Earth's surface since the 1950s.
Obama's comments may not sway skeptics, but his words are critical nonetheless, experts say.
"It's always important when the President of the United States speaks about an issue, if for no other reason than putting it on the nation's agenda," said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. "The fact that he said it emphatically indicates that he remains committed to taking action, through executive action, if not with Congress."
The statement may have influenced the views of those individuals who trust the president, he added, though any effect will likely fade. (His research has found climate change disbelief is on the rise in the United States, with Americans who were once not sure if global warming was happening moving into the "it's not happening" category.)
"I don't think his statement alone will have much if any impact on public opinion or engagement with the issue. For most people it will soon be forgotten amidst the rest of the speech and the next news cycle," Leiserowitz told LiveScience. "The real question is what does he actually do during his remaining years in office?"
Combat global warming
From the perspective of Leiserowitz and others, Congress is the sticking point for any action.
"Climate change is happening and it is caused by human activities. There is no doubt at all. By the time everyone believes this it will be far too late to do anything about it," said NCAR's Trenberth. "But the Congress is hopeless. There is no international framework, and progress is being eroded in Europe," he added, referring to last year's United Nations' talks on an international framework to combat climate change. In those talks, no real plan to cut global emissions was reached, according to the New York Times. [8 Ways Global Warming Is Already Changing the World]
The president still could move the ball forward regarding taking action to stem global warming, climate scientists and other experts say. For instance, Leiserowitz says Obama could send a bipartisan energy efficiency bill to Congress and possibly work on cooperation between the U.S. and China regarding a global climate treaty.
Carbon taxes, or fees attached to fossil fuels to account for the price they incur to society, for instance, are another such action.
"The framing of this issue matters. There are costs of climate change already in the tens of billions of dollars per year. The principle of 'user pays' should be invoked," Trenberth said. "That means establishing a price on carbon."
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So much to look forward to.
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Obysmal and algore got their degrees together.
Super cereal.
Al
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Well, "climate change" -is- "a fact" of nature.
The Earth's climate has been in a state of "change" since the Earth began.
However, humans have nothing to do with it.
That's the other "fact" he forgot to mention.
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They are playing with words, of course, and are lying, of course, like all Liberals do.
They are taking a fundemental fact of nature since the beginning of time, and claiming that 'they' can change it. Of course the climate is changing. Eygpt for example, was once lush and fertile. The climate has always changed since the beginning of time. Have these Phd. morons never heard of an 'ice age'? There're f..king stupid.
It would be like me coming up with a campaign that water is wet. That is a fact! Case closed! There is no debate that water is indeed wet! (which is the word game they play) Ok. Now, I have to convince people that water being wet is a bad thing. Then I have to convince them that water being wet is going to DESTROY THE EARTH!!!!!! Then I have to convince them that water being wet is their fault.
Then, and this is most important part, I have to convince them that, "**I**", me, as the guardian savior of mankind, can somehow make water no longer be wet, thus saving them all from a tragic and horrible death. But, I will do it only if, they give me a 1000 trillion dollars.
[Enter henchman #2] You'll never pull it off boss. Its too stupid.
Ah!, says the major character, you can never underestimate the stupidity of the peasants.
[Close curtain]
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In a properly-educated nation Bore never would have pulled off this scam.
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Wait till they get onto the geo-magnetic pole reversal band wagon.
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Obama declares a lot of things most of which are utter BS just like this one!
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"Climate change is a fact," Obama said.
True...any fool knows that, even an LIV.
Scientists have known human-caused climate change is real, and while Obama has never said anything to the contrary, his declarative acknowledgement of the phenomenon is important.
Ahhh...now comes the lies and deception.
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(https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1/q71/1654020_468538153252905_712257131_n.jpg)
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(https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1/q71/1654020_468538153252905_712257131_n.jpg)
LOL
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In a properly-educated nation Bore never would have pulled off this scam.
Just think what kind of wool will be pulled over the eyes when 15 million "rocket scientists" from Mejico start voting. :doa:
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Obama declares a lot of things most of which are utter BS just like this one!
Exactly! You thought you had to parse what Slick Willie said.
For example: When Obama claims Iran is reducing their piles of medium grade enriched uranium, what it really means is they are reducing that pile by enriching it even higher....
:smokin:
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Exactly! You thought you had to parse what Slick Willie said.
For example: When Obama claims Iran is reducing their piles of medium grade enriched uranium, what it really means is they are reducing that pile by enriching it even higher....
:smokin:
Yep! :beer:
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Are you sure they aren't taking lots of little piles to make one or two big piles? :whistle: