$60 Trillion Trouble

[gotmuddy]

I don't blame any companies, I blame the ability to get cheap fuel and electricity. When these prices go up we will find cleaner ways to do things, and we will waste less energy if we are thinking about what it will do to our pocket book.

fuel has been outrageous in europe for years and they have no new technology.

[Terrierman]

No offense, but I don't like this mentality...., sure we were put on this earth to be good keepers and failed the mission. But are not people more important than the earth?

No. We're just one more species. The earth was here before we came along and will be here long after we pass.

[Old plug]

fuel has been outrageous in europe for years and they have no new technology.

Europe has gotten way ahead of us in engineering. They have mass transit. In spite of the recent accudent it is far superior to anything we have. They build real good cars. I drive Fords alway have over the years i have had fords that were more Volvo than Fords.

[Flysmallie]

In spite of the recent accudent it is far superior to anything we have.

I don't really consider that an accident when the driver gets charged with 79 counts of homicide. If he would have been doing his job properly they would all be alive.

[gotmuddy]

Europe has gotten way ahead of us in engineering. They have mass transit. In spite of the recent accudent it is far superior to anything we have. They build real good cars. I drive Fords alway have over the years i have had fords that were more Volvo than Fords.

Mass transit cant work here because we have so much space between places.

[Justin Spencer]

Mass transit cant work here because we have so much space between places.

I think that is precisely the reason we should have high speed rail. It's the ultimate carpooling, and would be much faster than driving.

[joeD]

Why is it assumed that global climate change is a bad thing?

[jeb]

you are right Jeb, most of the models have failed, they are predicting much slower change than is actually happening.

Actually, you have that backwards. But let's just assume for the sake of arguement that you're right. It still shows that the models are wrong, the predictors are wrong and the data is wrong. Which all leads to my central point that this branch of science is just not anywhere close to mature enough to put anymore than a passing acknowledgement to. Certainly not anything we should be dumping billions/trillions of dollars in to "fix" what is most likely not broken. Not that there is the real political will power to do that anyway.

I don't blame any companies, I blame the ability to get cheap fuel and electricity. When these prices go up we will find cleaner ways to do things, and we will waste less energy if we are thinking about what it will do to our pocket book.

Many reasons why that fantasy is not going to happen anytime soon. First is very evident, that as energy prices are forced up, extracting fossil fuels using more expensive methods (like oil sands) becomes economically viable, especially compared to the highly subsidized "green" sources. Another would be that forcing higher energy costs on ourselves through govt regulations, restrictions, etc will further erode our economy in many ways, like continued job losses to countries that are not anti-business, less money for consumers to spend, degraded quality of life, etc.

[jeb]

Mass transit cant work here because we have so much space between places.

Exactly right. It might work if all of our population was squeezed into an area as small as Western Europe, but simply does not work here. We are just too spread out. Here's a FACT for you. There is not one single passenger rail system/company in our country that is profitable. They would all be bankrupt if it were not for various govt agencies propping them up. Inner city or cross country.

[jeb]

Why is it assumed that global climate change is a bad thing?

Because if it was a good thing, the nightly news and the EPA wouldn't have anything to scare you with. Bad news sells and brings in research money, plain and simple.

Now, before anyone gets worked up, I do believe we should invest in research. I just don't believe we should go off tilting at varioius windmills based on demostrably bad science like in the Global Warming/Climate Change field.