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| The Year of the Dragon |
My head is full of lists and year-end summaries and such, but my schedule is full of real work, so it will have to wait, but welcome to 2012.
It's going to be hot. It's an election year in the USA (and in France, Russia, Finland and elsewhere) so expect to hear a lot of nonsense talked about the climate, and not a lot of sense. Don't despair. The world will take action to combat climate change, for a simple reason -- unlike the plight of the homeless or conflict in the Middle East or hunger in Africa, climate change, despite being one of those problems people just want to ignore, affects everybody, and is going to get worse and worse until even the most short-sighted (well, most of them) see the need for action.
By then, you say, it will be too late? Maybe, but, then, by most objective definitions, it has been too late for some time. Too late to avoid radically transforming the climate. Too late to avoid melting the permafrost. Too late to avoid drought in the Amazon and the crumbling of the WAIS into the sea.
But it will never be too late to pick ourselves up and stop making things worse. It seems like 2012 will not be the year we stop nibbling around the edges of the problem with tiny subsides and minimal regulation, but who knows the future, especially in politics -- I certainly don't.
In 2012 at IT we will continue to watch the science, watch the deniers, and on the basis of that reporting, advocate strongly for real action to combat global warming. We won't exaggerate, we won't demonize, we won't give way to hysteria; those are unhelpful responses. But we will be heard and we will be here, with no retiring or taking a blogging break or moving on to some other hobbyhorse. We'll be here in 2012, and onward, until the world has well and truly changed course.
A good year to you too! Your work is appreciated. :-)
ReplyDeleteDitto. You are one of the bloggers I most admire. Your attention to detail, encyclopedic knowledge of the subject, and facility with visuals are all standards I measure myself against. You're a blogger's blogger.
ReplyDelete"We'll be here in 2012, and onward, until the world has well and truly changed course."
ReplyDeleteAnd if I can continue to find your site I'll be here too. Denying climate change to my last breath.
Cheers
klem
Sorry, klem, but your expiration date may need to be a little sooner than later for you to come to it thinking the dirty hippies haven't won. I look forward to it regardless.
ReplyDeleteHeartily agreed re Neven, and of course this blog isn't chopped liver.
BTW, I've thought about your kind offer of a guest post and will endeavor to scrape something together.
What sort of climate change does klem deny? That the temperature doesn't change? That it is warmer? That CO2 has gone up? That the CO2 is fossil fuel? That CO2 can affect temperature? That the FSM pirate theory fits the facts?
ReplyDeleteJust a word to say I'm enjoying your blog very much.
ReplyDeleteYou are doing a very worthwhile job very well.
All the best for 2012.
"Sorry, klem, but your expiration date may need to be a little sooner than later for you to come to it thinking the dirty hippies haven't won."
ReplyDeleteLets see, Cap&Trade is dead in the USA and almost everywhere else other than the loser EU, Kyoto is dead, the IPCC has no crediblity, and the annual climate talks are nothing more than weak photo-ops. Yea, the dirty hippies have won big.
Oh I forgot, the dirty hippies still have the wonderfully successful REDD program to be proud of, where the carbon stored in rainforests will be sold off to the highest bidder, thereby taking control of the forests away fromt the indigenous folks who actually live there.
Heres a quote from the indigenous REDD protest at Durban "the declaration spoke to Natives around the world, cautioning that “Indigenous peoples should not commit themselves to a process that does not respect them,” and dubbing REDD “a false solution that breeds a new form of climate racism.”
You dirty hippes should be very proud of that stinker.
Heres the link if you have the heart to read it. http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/12/08/indigenous-peoples-denounce-redd-at-cop-17-talks-66200
cheers
klem
I see you are getting popular amongst the denialist trolls (that's what'cha get for hitting the big time). If you're interested in participating in the Skeptical Science Forum, drop me a line.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes in 2012!
Yeah, you might want to ban the denialist trolls from this site, like they do at other alarmist sites. That way, when folks read these posts they'll notice that there aren't any opposing views, thereby implying that the 'debate is over, the science is settled' consensus.
ReplyDeleteJust trying to help.
klem
I can think of no better way to illustrate the thin gruel of science denial than to encourage expert skeptics like you to propound at length.
ReplyDeleteI am impressed by the quality of information on this website.
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