Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bjonothan]

People used to believe that the earth was flat too. They eventually found out that it was wrong. I think that this is the same scenario. No-one is going to prove that it is true on here because it is all circumstantial. That's all we've got.....

[joshuahirtle27]

Isn't it a silly thing to argue about anyway? I mean "Oh My God the government lied to us about the CLIMATE changing", haven't there been/ aren't there worse things to be lied to about.

If it's not changing and we change our ways then I see that as win:win. It shows that we have the innovation to move ourselves and find different means of fueling our nations. It shows that we're open to new ideas and can figure out how to solve a problem.

But what if it is changing and we do nothing? I see that as potentially worse for everyone than anything. If we find ways to keep from putting crap into our air then maybe we wont avert climate change (if it doesn't exist) but cleaner air is a good thing for species that require it for silly things like breathing.

How many planets do we have at our disposal right now? 1... we can't get to another one in the solar system where we can live and thrive and there aren't any. Why does it matter whether the climate is changing or not? So what if someone told a lie to get people to change in a positive way. There have been lots of things people have been lied to about in history that caused negative change.

[bjonothan]

I agree. It would be a win win scenario. We should be making the world cleaner. I think that we should be pushing the United States and most Asian countries to clean up their act first though.

Making the world cleaner would be the responsible thing to do. Who wants their future families to cough up a lung every time they go outside?

Australia, however, has pretty good air quality and I don't see why we have to cut our emissions when we aren't causing half the damage that other countries are causing. We have a big hole in the ozone layer which the government and media said was due to the pollution in North America. Korea has acid rain for God's sake. Wouldn't that be the biggest threat to the environment? Shouldn't that be the first priority?

[moosehead]

it's not that hard to find someone who disagrees with the facts about global warming - expert or layperson.

on the other hand - there are entire organizations such as Union of Concerned Scientists who regularly put out statements regarding how urgent it is to address global warming as a matter of vital importance to the planet.

there is an aspect of this that isn't regularly discussed if at all; the fact is, people my age - over 50 - have been around long enough to see how serious the changes are in our lifetime. Heck, just 25 years ago when I was in college there was discussion among people who then were my age now - and they kept exclaiming how the winters weren't nearly as harsh and cold as when they were young - and this is long before the term global warming was in the mainstream news.

there is a public emphasis on youth as being more progressive and a lot of other things that gives a negative image of being middle aged and even older. people swallow it hook line and sinker unless they've been raised to respect the elders in their lives and to listen to them. a lot of the mainstream media thrives on the ignorance of youth and I'm sorry to say the naysayers of global warming are part and parcel of this trend.

never mind that Bush and his cronies became vocal critics to the point of censoring science that wasn't in their favor - their motives were greed and power; but those who don't have any motives - that is really puzzling - is it that difficult to believe that those of us who have actually been around a few generations can testify to the fact the earth's climate isn't just changing now - but has in fact changed dramatically already and is continuing to do so?

[aka Dave]

Here are a couple of book reviews relevant to the topic.

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=a_really_long_heat_wave

[Vietman]

One of the main goals of the new Obama aka old Clinton administration will be to pass environmental laws under the guise of preventing "climate change," and enforcing them through million-man youth brigade enviro-stazi.

Let's face it, the earth (and the solar system) heat up, and cool down on regular cycles based on solar activity. The sun has major cycles every several decades and minor cycles every seven or so years. We just came out of a hot period, and now things are cooling down on the Earth, at the poles, but also the same is happening on Mars, Saturn and Pluto. The ice caps there are freezing up again.

The global government will tax anything that creates carbon, which is basically any human activity, all in the name of saving the environment. Of course all those dollars will do nothing to help real environmental problems, instead they will all be funneled to the rich, greedy bankers who have already sucked the US dry of $8.4 trillion. Basically, by trying to stop climate change through law, they will make the seasons illegal.

[Tiger Beer]

[blackjack]

[No_hite_pls]

Global Temperatures from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration

The warmest decade ever was from 1997 to 2007.

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2007/20071213_climateupdate.html
"The global annual temperature − for combined land and ocean surfaces �
for 2007 is expected to be near 58.0 F � and would be the fifth warmest
since records began in 1880. Some of the largest and most widespread
warm anomalies occurred from eastern Europe to central Asia.

Including 2007, seven of the eight warmest years on record have
occurred since 2001 and the 10 warmest years have all occurred since
1997. The global average surface temperature has risen between 0.6�
C and 0.7�C since the start of the twentieth century, and the rate of
increase since 1976 has been approximately three times faster than the
century-scale trend.

The greatest warming has taken place in high latitude regions of the
Northern Hemisphere. Anomalous warmth in 2007 contributed to the
lowest Arctic sea ice extent since satellite records began in 1979,
surpassing the previous record low set in 2005 by a remarkable 23 percent.
According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, this is part
of a continuing trend in end-of-summer Arctic sea ice extent reductions of
about 10 percent per decade since 1979."

U.S. Winter Temperature Highlights 2008

In the contiguous United States, the average winter temperature was 33.2�F (0.6�C), which was 0.2�F (0.1�C) above the 20th century average � yet still ranks as the coolest since 2001. It was the 54th coolest winter since national records began in 1895.

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20080313_coolest.html

[blackjack]

[Provence]

I smell a troll. I have seen three of the same posts made by "different people.� All posted on the same day. Why is it that the trolls always tend to be conservative? That�s the real question.

[Yaya]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. � Miserable, lung-burning, face-numbing temperatures are one thing in the Midwest and Northeast. But the Deep South? Temperatures plummeted Friday across the Midwest and eastern U.S., and delivered a stinging slap to Southerners unaccustomed to the frigid weather. Schools were closed in a dozen states and homeless shelters were overcrowded. Those that did venture outside bundled up and made quick trips.

In an odd twist, Alabama was colder than Alaska.

"I never thought I'd see weather like this, not at all," said Maya Morgan, a 20-year-old Christian missionary from Barbados, who is on a fellowship at the Atlanta University complex. "And so that's why I like have, literally, six jackets on. Sometimes it's too cold to keep your eyes open."

Forecasters said temperatures in the upper Midwest could turn into the coldest in years as Arctic air keeps spilling southward from Canada. The cold snap has claimed at least six lives and contributed to dozens of traffic accidents. One death involved a man in a wheelchair who was found in subzero temperatures stuck in the snow, a shovel in his hand, outside his home in Des Moines, Iowa. He died at a hospital.

The cold weather has gripped the Midwest and Northeast for days, but as it crept farther South, some were growing worried.

"We're afraid people will die in this kind of weather," said Anita Beaty, who works with the homeless in Atlanta, where temperatures dropped below the teens, some 20 degrees below normal lows in January. About 900 men packed a shelter that normally houses 700.

Freezing temperatures threatened to kill picturesque Spanish moss hanging from Gulf Coast trees. Wind and choppy seas frustrated efforts to free an endangered right whale tangled in fishing gear off the Southeastern coast. And it was too cold to bet on dogs in West Virginia: A greyhound track shut down because of a predicted high of 7 degrees.

Then again, the cold was testing even the heartiest winter-weather states. On Friday morning, it was minus 10 in Cleveland, minus 6 in Detroit and minus 11 in Chicago. In upstate New York, areas near Lake Erie received up to 2 inches of snow per hour.

Quentin Masters wore two coats and long underwear to mail a gift at the post office in downtown Syracuse.

"It was almost too cold to come down here today but it's a birthday present for my sister in Buffalo," said Masters, 28. "It's on Monday and I don't want it to be late."

It was so cold in Milwaukee that ice thawed at skating rinks. The subzero temperatures froze the ammonia tank needed to make ice at the indoor Pettit National Ice Center. Workers fixed the problem and two hockey rinks and the Olympic oval were expected to be ready for skaters later in the day.

Some in Illinois and Ohio lost power for several hours while Charleston, W.Va.-based Appalachian Power, which delivers electricity to more than 1 million customers Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, had a record for electricity demand as businesses and homes cranked up the heat.

The National Weather Service predicted the frigid temperatures would persist into the weekend. Wind chill warnings were in effect and forecasters said the cold and strong winds could lead to hypothermia, frostbite and death.

To Southerners, who rarely see temperatures so cold, the icebox-like weather was the most jarring. Construction worker Allen Johnson wore a gray beanie, flannel shirt, long johns and boots as he stopped for morning coffee in Montgomery, where the overnight low was 22 degrees.

"No matter how bad it is, it could be worse � we could be in Anchorage, Alaska," Johnson said. Actually, the temperature was about 20 degrees warmer in Anchorage.

Second-grader Abbey Roberts waited for the school bus as the temperature hovered at 12 degrees in suburban Birmingham.

"I stood out there for a couple of minutes and my nose turned red. I was so cold I thought I was going to turn to an ice cube," Roberts said.

In western Georgia, about 15,000 students got a day off in Carroll County; the temperature only made it to 25 degrees by lunchtime.

"You know us Southerners," said schools spokeswoman Elena Schulenburg. "We might have the gloves and scarves, but we might not consider pulling them out. We may not consider how cold it is."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090116/ap_on_re_us/winter_weather

[Thunndarr]

God, what a bunch of pansies (in the above article.)

And, btw, climate is not synonymous with weather, so while the above article was good for a chuckle, I really don't see what relevance it has on the subject of long term climate change. Maybe a statistics class would sort you out.

[Provence]

Large glaciers melting affects the worlds weather patterns by disrupting ocean currents. Ultimately some areas of the world will experience a cooling affect. This is similar to what happened at the end of the great ice age.

[Platinumrose]