Ethics of Climate Change public forum

[RecycleMichael]

Wednesday night February 19th at All Souls Church at 30th and Peoria. 7:00 pm

Dr. John Korstad, Professor of Biology at Oral Roberts University
Rev. John Thomas, Dean of Phillips Theological Seminary
Rev. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister All Souls

This is the first of a four part series on climate change.

[RecycleMichael]

March 12th  Science of Climate Change
April 16  Effects of Climate Change
May 7th Mitigation of Climate Change

[Conan71]

Is Jim Inhofe planning to attend?

[RecycleMichael]

The series continues this Wednesday...This week is the science side of climate change. I highly encourage people to attend this one. Here is excerpts from an e-mail I received promoting it and an attached reading list for those more interested...

The second of four forums on Climate Change will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, 3/12, at All Souls Unitarian Church, 2952 S. Peoria, Tulsa. The featured speaker will be Gary McManus, the Oklahoma State Climatologist, and the subject is "The Science of Climate Change". In addition to explaining the scientific facts regarding our changing climate, he will provide a forecast of future climate changes in northeast Oklahoma.

Our goal is to raise awareness of this critical subject in metropolitan Tulsa and we encourage you to attend and share this email with others whom you believe might be interested. For more information, you may email or call me at 918-706-0949.

Our experts have prepared the following list of reading materials which provide excellent background information for those of you who are interested in learning more about the subject of this series.

The American Meteorological Society Statement on Climate Change  (https://www.ametsoc.org/policy/2012climatechange.html)

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2013 summary report on the science of climate change (https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/), 
Yale University's Project on Climate Change Communication reports, Global Warming's Six Americas, Public Support for Climate and Energy Policies, and America's Actions to Limit Global Warming (http://environment.yale.edu/climate-communication/)
the EPA Climate Change Impacts by region (http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/)

National Association of Evangelicals,  Loving the Least of These: Addressing a Changing Climate (https://www.nae.net/lovingtheleastofthese)
The National Academies Press, Ecological Impacts of Climate Change (http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12491)

The Pentagon and Climate Change - Earth: The Operators' Manual (http://www.climate.gov/teaching/resources/pentagon-and-climate-change-earth-operators-manual)

Unitarian Universalist Association 2006 Statement of Conscience on Global Warming/Climate Change (http://www.uua.org/statements/statements/8061.shtml)

[heironymouspasparagus]

I would love to....just can't do a Wednesday.


The whole thrust of the effort still seems to be educating people to the point where they just believe the concept.  I think it may still be on the order of at least 5 and maybe 10 years more until the collective consciousness achieves awareness.  At that point - or even today - once the awareness is there, what action can realistically expected to have any noticeable impact?  (This note is relative to my previously stated belief that the changes we are causing won't make a difference - they will - or it is already too late to do anything that will make a difference - it probably is.)

The pentagon listing seems to be entirely focused on reaction - what to do when the stuff hits the fan - arguably their best plan of action.  The rest are still in the mode of reporting the problem.  We know the "fix" is the complete cessation of use of hydrocarbons.  Oh, and quit cutting all the rain forests down, too!!

Most of the near-apocalyptic predictions I hear about this seem to center around the next 30 to 100 years.  Assuming the planet's entire population suddenly became aware and believed, then the next couple decades would be filled trying to build a consensus as to whose ox is gonna get gored, and how deep the horn will go. 

And we know for a fact that systems like this have a "slingshot" effect on that average atmospheric measurement - if every man made source of carbon stopped emitting later tonight, the atmospheric CO2, as measured on the mountaintop would still continue to rise for some period of time just because of the time delay to get it "stirred" into the atmosphere and averaged (we are over 400 ppm now).

Where this is heading - what realistic, effective effort can be made that will make a noticeable, helpful difference in the available time frame?  I suspect that even a modest 10% reduction across the board, across the planet, is impossible.  And I don't think 10% would be much help anyway.  This is how/why I reached the point of saying it is too late - by at least 15 years or so. 

If we were bringing fusion based electrical power online this decade, we might just have had a a shot at an effective reduction in carbon based fuels - not to mention abundant low cost energy, with a side dish of massive economic upheaval.  We are gonna use coal, oil, and gas worldwide for a long, long, time - until every ounce of blood is squeezed from that particular turnip.

It looks bleak for the great grandkids....yours, mine, everyone's, and even guido's!


Unless, of course, we get another decade like the last one where there is a dramatic increase in volcanic activity, putting enough ash into the atmosphere to keep the temperature level - not increasing - but that brings in a whole new set of issues.



And fracking doesn't cause earthquakes - for the RWRE delusionistas!!

[guido911]