Global warming - does it have some advantages?

[kwicky]

People are cutting the grass at the end of January. There is no ice on the roads. People are not dying of hypothermia. We are using less fuel to keep us warm.
I saw a butterfly yesterday.
On the negative side some trees have blown down, problem the dead ones. There have been a few strong winds lately, but this may help our wind turbines. The sea levels are expected to rise but we could build coastal barriers.
Is global warming just a government plot to extract more taxes?

[Lonnie]

I believe there is Global Warming, but the Human contribution is miniscule, (thats my view),

Global Warming comes round in cycles, its to do with the angle of the planet to the Sun, the Earths wobble, and the amount of Ice on the planet.

Everything thats happening has happened before, and will happen again.

As the Ice recedes, the Planet warms up, eventually that'll stop, the Ice will spread again, and we'll be into another Ice Age.

There are some that think we are still in the last Ice Age.

I

[My Angel Pie]

PLEASE PLEASE rent, hire, buy a copy of AN INCONVINIENT TRUTH (Al Gore). We screened it today for over 200 business people the room was silent and people were keen that everyone they knew should watch it, we all need to do more. Pure and simple there is no good to global warming. I'm not a lentil eating, yogurt knitting freak, quite normal actually. Would love to hear from anyone who has seen it. Will pose question on Body & Soul - lets see what others think. x

[ludwig]

No, I don't think it has any advantages, but I do agree that politicians of all persuasions love all this green stuff because it gives them an excuse to get more money off us under the guise of giving a t0ss about the planet.

[kwicky]

It seems strange. The government is talking with a forked tongue. Only today the talk of expansion at Stansted Airport to a two runway system and backed fully by the government. On the other hand it is charging passengers a backdated tax for those that have booked flights.
What is going on?

[reinganum]

On balance � no. But some people will gain (people living in northern latitudes who might be able to grow grain crops, for example, where they could not before). Others will lose because too hot/dry for certain crops.
Deaths (usually of elderly people) from heatstroke will replace deaths from cold, so probably no difference.

What really really frightens me is not the global warming itself but the excuse it will give governments to introduce panic measures which probably won't be necessary.

As Lonnie has said above, these things come in cycles. British climate 1,000 years ago was even warmer than now and it was possible to farm on Greenland. Humans causing it? It must have been all those charcoal burners.

[kwicky]

An expert on the radio today said countries in the temperate zone like ourselves and most countries in the Northern hemisphere have more to gain from global warming that equatorial ones. Therefore on balance should this be welcome? Should we put our own country first, especially the trend these days for countries to look after no. 1?

[Ctrak]

The real, inescapable issue is that non-renewable energy resources will run out, and in our lifetime, yet oil companies are still doggedly trying to pretend otherwise. The UN might state that there'll be a 3 degrees C rise by 2100, but that's blatantly ignoring the possibility in 2020 of oil hitting $200 a barrel and the economic disaster worldwide that will ensure. It's pathetic to think that numbers in bank computers will wipe out millions of jobs and, potentially, lives. But the threat there is very real.

[kwicky]

You don't think that nuclear fusion is the answer then? This plant has opened this week. Prepare to see the oil companies going out of business in a few years time.

http://www.jet.efda.org/