by Richard Smith

Created on: January 29, 2008

The topic of climate change is a part of the zeitgeist these days. During the past 35 years or so the subject has come up in a variety of ways, whether as science fiction or as speculative articles in popular news and science magazines. Much talk is devoted to corporate and personal responsibility as a part climate change mitigation. Throw into the mix 'Green' politics and the goal of energy self sufficiency and you've got a recipe for cynicism and confusion.

Had so many of the proponents of the idea of Anthropomorphic Global Warming (AWG) not been active over the years in areas as diverse as human population control, nuclear power/weapons policy, wilderness and wetlands preservation,commercial agricultural practices and just plain anti-corporate and social politics, a practical debate specifically devoted to AGW would have been underway for some time now.

The apparent contradictions of purpose within the AGW community are quite obvious. The No-Nukes crowd and river conservationists have, perhaps inadvertantly, by their actions promoted the use of oil and coal. When confronted with this fact, quite a few take umbrage and point out alternative energy producing technologies such as solar, geothermal and wind. Not all agree on these options. The image of vast tracts of land and shoreline devoted to wind farms is anathema to many. The same applies with the solar and geothermal options, at least with existing technology. Additional hydroelectric capability is out of the question.

A common characteristic of those decrying humanity's impact on the 'natural' world is one of alarm over population growth. Much has been written by those concerned about the teeming multitude of humanity, and their predictions by and large have come to naught. Anybody remember Soylent Green, not to mention the prognostications of Thomas Malthus?

There was a song performed by Pink Floyd in the late sixties, one line of which contained some nonsense about humanity surviving by alternately breathing in and out by the time the human-sardine-packed year of 2005 arrived. Very cool song, I still like it. But the sentiment behind it seems quite ridiculous now, as is the case with most science-fiction written 20+ years ago.

Modern day predictions issued by those wielding computer generated mathematical climate models are worthy of far more respect than those of pulp science-fiction and trendy pop nature worshipers. It seems advertisement of advancements in pertinent knowledge by trained scientists

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