An Inconvenient Fact

With Al Gore's environmental dissertation "An Inconvenient Truth" being released and all the arguing over whether there is any truth in it, completely stretched or not, it got me thinking. No it should not be shown in high school business class (Portland). If it is shown, hopefully in a science/environment class, it should be done so with the other side having equal time.

To the untrained eye, mine, it is a politically charged movie that really places the blame for global warming square at the feet of humans, specifically humans living in the United States. That is a fairly large assumption because according to the CIA's world fact site the population of China is 1,306,313,812. Yes, that is 3 commas and just so you know, the U.S population is 295,734,134. I think it would be safe to say that there are also cars in China. With that many people you can imagine how many.

A recently released 400 page U.N. report says that cows "passing wind" is the biggest contributer to carbon dioxide build up in the atmoshere--greater than the amount of emissions from all planes, trains and automobiles the world over.

Some scientists/professors on a physics forum were going back and forth over the timeline in "An Inconvenient Truth". Some said it would be hundreds of years, with the same pattern of warming, for the earth to have the consequences shown in the Mr. Gore's Hollywood production. Other scientists/professors were saying the movie was right on.

With all of these conflicting reports who are we laymen supposed to listen to? What are we supposed to believe? It seems scientists are writing white papers in peer reviewed journals supporting both premises.

I do not know a lot but I do know that California and Washington emmision standards are rediculous. I hope Gov. Kulongoski does not bring in those same standards. I think it would be just another beurocratic layer that we would have to wade through, which would add more cost to government, in turn be more cost to us and make our lives more complicated.

So where do we go from here? Maybe that is why I am writing this. Where can I find intelligent, truthful, and honest explanations and answers for problems?

I feel that in trying to answer the above questions, the Liberal side of the aisle tends to become emotional, even to the point of hysteria. When dealing with the macro, i.e. the global environment, I think logical thought and emotionless examination are the keys to seeing the big picture and coming up with a workable and fair solution.

So what do you think?


PS-If you haven't picked up on this yet, I believe in less government and people doing things for themselves, not having mommy and daddy in the capitol wipe their butts for them.