I look at things this way. What’s worse, a slowed oil-based economy, with more jobs created in eco-technology, or the alternative of pollution as usual with the end result of resource shortages and poor air quality? Even if CO2 and other GHGasses don’t change the climate, it’s undeniable they impact upon the air we breathe. There are figures for how many people are dying each year in Ontario due to what doctors estimate as air quality health problems, and the number is increasing. Anyone who isn’t blind can see the smog in our cities. Anyone [a scientist, or you, or I] can pump GHG into an enclosed environment, and compare the temperature rise to the same environment without the GHG affecting it. I reason that the same effect in a greenhouse, can occur on the entire earth.

I cam across the link somewhere else-now I don’t remember whether it was the Toronto Star or the Drudge Report…just checked-’twas the latter.

I don’t know anything about the topic but a guy I run with is convinced that it isn’t at all clear the global warming is occurring. He’s also against the cholesterol theory of heart disease and the science around what we currently think on that topic.

I agree that there are many with a stake in the status quo, but am interested in what has been scientifically proven and what is as of yet unproven but more in the political realm.

As for the other link, I doubt the veracity of any website with Fastclick adware/spyare ads coating it, and one with exploding WTC towers at the top in a tasteless ad. The partisan bias is coating CFP’s pages; I’d put as much stock in the “experts” there as I would in physicians 30 years ago who thought ulcers couldn’t be cured. Science learns from past mistakes, that’s the point of the scientific method - to develop better models to predict the outcome of measured experiments. If you’re going to dredge up mistakes from a generation ago, why not bring up that scientists once thought the sun orbited the earth?

Please get past the notion that scientists are trying to cause calamity and hardship, and instead realize that some businesses with a lot more influence than you or I have, are trying to hold back progress that could force them to innovate and generate new products and distribution models.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/global-warming020507.htm

I came across this as well, someone else challenging Harper’s comments:
http://www.noghgday.com/

I been ’round fer close t’ 60 years. I started gettin’ eco-conscious back in the hippie sixties an’ I stayed that way. Ol’ Mother Earth’s takin’ a beatin’ like never before, yer right ’bout that, but I ain’t never seen a time when so many folks was worried ’bout green stuff.

The IPCC report an’ the bigass money guys at Davos backin’ climate change action an’ now even King Steve’s talkin’ the talk. The Green Party’s pollin’ at 11% an’ folks is linin’ up t’ buy hybrids an’ compact fluorescent light bulbs an’ everybuddy’s tryin’ t’ be greener than every other buddy.

I ain’t depressed. I’m encouraged by the serious way people an’ biznesses an’ gummints is takin’ Mother Earth issues. It’s out in front like I ain’t seen in 40 years.

JimBobby

One thing that could be done right away is to get read about building codes and stop these flimsy houses going up, relying on cheap energy to keep them warm. That energy’s getting more expensive every time we face more impacts from climate change.

Anyways, I think there needs to be a lot more pressure on our government to act. Talking about “carbon intensity” without clear cuts is a joke. This is a serious problem and it’s not going to go away. You can’t just patch it up and hope that wins you the next election. Although considering the reluctance of most individuals to make any lifestyle changes, it’s hard to imagine anyone’s even listening closely enough.

And as for how big a part of the problem Canada really is, what a cowardly argument. Every time a country refuses to act on this issue, it gives other countries the license to do nothing. Pretty soon, we’re all doing a whole lot of nothing. It’s disgusting. Nobody wants to rain on anyone’s parade, but just imagine the potential suffering and how difficult it’s going to be to adapt, if we can adapt (on the upper end of the temperature change spectrum).

Does anyone else find this situation increasingly depressing? The U.S. administration is doing pretty much nothing, our government is following suit, Australia and China are respectively acting nonchalant and trying to ignore the report in the media. It’s difficult to even feel angry anymore (despite my above post). I find it interesting if you go to certain news portals, there’s more information about wars in the middle east and the IPCC report isn’t even front page news anymore, yet one has pretty much no effect on the majority of individuals across the world, while the other has global and historic implications.