Climate Change Denial – Talk Tape
The Fifth Estate's Bob Mckeown investigates these so-called climate change deniers or skeptics in a documentary that will air on CBC Television. Bob joined us from our Ottawa studio.
The Royal Society of Britain .. recently wrote a stern letter to ExxonMobil telling the oil giant to stop, quote, "misrepresenting the science of climate change by outright denial of the evidence."
The organization further accused ExxonMobil of making inaccurate and misleading public statements on climate change.
And it claimed ExxonMobil paid nearly three million dollars to groups that work to misinform the public and policy makers on the science of global warming---small change for a company that posted ten and a half billion dollars in profits last year.
ExxonMobil was somewhat chastened---but that hasn't stopped critics from saying the company has played a key role in creating a debate and helping to amplify the voices of a small group of maverick scientists who maintain that global warming is not a threat. Or if it IS a threat, there's nothing we can do about it because it's not our fault.
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Considering the amount he claims he doesn't remember, I'm surprised he hasn't been diagnosed as having Alzheimers.<br />
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Here's a link to a PBS interview he gave some time ago concerning climate change and global warming:<br />
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<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/warming/debate/singer.html">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/warming/debate/singer.html</a><br />
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<p>---<br>"and the knowledge they fear is a weapon to be used against them"<br />
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"The Weapon" - Rush
So basically, the Canadian tax payers are financing Ms. Ambrose's trips so she can make a fool of herself and her Government by telling everyone the Liberals are to blame for this environmental atrocity. This is not a political issue - it is a humanitarian one. Obviosuly, Ms. Ambrose and her wackjob Christian Fundamentalist party are too fu**ed in the head to realize this.
Looks like it is more important for the incompetent Ms. Ambrose to spend more time on her hair than on the environment portfolio. At least, one hopes she uses hairspray that is not harmful to the environment.
The despicable behaviour of the oil and gas giants is enough to make me boycott vehicles and to outfit my home with geothermal heating. Corporate death penalty please!
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"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." Friedrich Nietzsche
- Government and Corporations are not to blame. No, ordinary citizens, and their insatiable GREED, are to blame. All those things we buy, and those electic devices we run in our homes, and those gas guzzling cars we MUST have! (The reality, of course, is that we were SOLD this lifestyle, hook line and sinker, by Government and Corporations. We are SHEEP, and will happily DO anything we are told by our televison sets, newspapers, and corporate advertising).
- Therefore, Government and Corporations will NOT be paying for the cleanup. The onus is on joe taxpayer to pick up the tab, and live with less.
- Expect Corporations to attempt to rake in with glee profits from this, as they sell us cheap useless gadgets (I have now tried 3 types of self-powered recharging flashlights, all were complete JUNK).
Global warming IS occuring. Government DOES NOT want to pay for it, nor do the Corporate elite.
The end result is that we have NO chance of stopping this. We are just too greedy and short sighted as a species to do anything worthwhile. Just as Nero fiddled while Rome burned, we will keep driving our Hummers at 160 while sipping a latte, humming all the way to the end.
Buy some shorts. It's going to get warmer.
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“The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous, the essential act of warfare is the destruction of the produce of human labour”
Perhaps. But once this lifestle is infringed, and people wake up and realize that Canada's 2% contribution to worldwide CO2 emissions are by and large generated by industry (not people or vehicles); and industry is not bearing the brunt of the carbon 'taxes', there may be a wholesale revolt.
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"I think it's important to always carry enough technology to restart civilization, should it be necessary." Mark Tilden
Check out the dumpsters at any of the Sally-Anne's
or any thrift store.
go to a "Value Village" a corp that has become highly profitable by creating a biz off o discards.
I and others I know have furnished their living space from throw aways
There is way to much stuff in the world!
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Diogenes said:
"I am Diogenes the Dog. I nuzzle the kind, bark at the greedy and bite scoundrels."
Getting the hydrogen is easy: use electolysis to crack it from water.
The problem with that process is the primary energy source you use to do it.
You'll want a source of power that goes 24/7 without interuption.
There goes solar, except as a secondary source.
You'll want a source that DOESN'T require fossil fuels due to the fact that those are exactly what you are trying to get away from in the first place.
There goes gas and coal generation as a power source.
Hydroelectricity maybe?
Perhaps, assuming we want to damn every river on earth, and even then you would need more.
I guess hydro is out too then, except as a co-source as well
Wind power?
Too unreliable, and subject to periods of calm.
Geothermal: definite possibility, but the number of plants needed would be high, again co-source for immediate future.
Tidal? Could be, the tides will never stop. Promising but currently underdeveloped.
Fusion nuclear: under development, shows promise but not currently at reliability levels needed for consistant power use as far as I am aware.
That leaves one power source that is currently available, doesn't require the damming of rivers, the burning of fossil fuels, and is already in use in several nations around the world.
Nuclear fission reactors.
For the generation of the amount of hydrogen we would need in order to maintain current mobility in our culture, it is the only one that has the ability to do the job.
I never said you'ld LIKE the answer, but it is viable provided that extremely caution is used in all aspects of it's use, can be used to generate all the hydrogen we need until a more permanent and less dangerous solution becomes available.
So, is hydrogen the energy savior people claim it is?
Somehow i don't really think so.
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"and the knowledge they fear is a weapon to be used against them"
"The Weapon" - Rush
4 computer monitors
3 joysticks
4 sets computer speakers
1 filing cabinet
5 routers
2 usb nic cards
1 television
~10 pairs of jeans
~25 t-shirts
2 dress shirts
~12 pairs of shoes
127 CD's
1 panasonic receiver amplifier
2 sets of 80 watt stereo speakers
1 cd/mp3 player
They also sell socks and underwear, but that's pushing it a bit too much as far as I'm concerned. Those are things far better purchased new, and if you disagree I really don't want to know in this case. Too much information.
All in all, it's a damn fine place to get stuff you either can't afford to purchase new, or do not want to.
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"and the knowledge they fear is a weapon to be used against them"
"The Weapon" - Rush
Dr Caleb: Has the reference to Mein Kampf been deleted? (Not that I'd want to read it, no sireee; but some acquaintances might). Is that why this site was off-line for a while? Thanks.
H.F. Wolff
And this current paragraph will be my only reference to our previous discussions, after which I wll consider the matter permanently closed, and all further reference by you to it will be ignored. Once again, the last word is yours, and no doubt you will take it.
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"and the knowledge they fear is a weapon to be used against them"
"The Weapon" - Rush
On this renewable energy issue I just happen to agree with you that for the long term forseeable future there really is no alternative to nuclear fission power generating plants for all the reasons you stated.
I'm not saying that wind, solar, additional hydro dams, combined heat and power, co-generation, etc., do not have their use and areas of economic application. I just do not believe that one can run a modern industrial society on these power supplies alone.
I also believe that the hydrogen/fuel cell option that is being pushed by various interests is NOT the way to go for personal mobility ie. cars, light trucks, motorcycles, etc.
Battery technology exists today that enables an electrically powered vehicle to travel up to 500 Km per charge at highway speeds.
The economic attraction of battery propulsion technology is that all the infrastructure and power generating capacity already exists to re-charge the vehicles' battery at home/office/parking lot in the evening after the heavy power use of cooking stoves, washing machines, and clothes dryers is over and done with by say 9 or 10 pm. After this time the batteries could be recharged until say 6 or 7 am. (Industrial/commercial electric power demand is primarily between say 8 am. and 5 pm).
Because of the better utilization of electric generating plants the power cost per kilowatt-hour ought to drop.
The difficulty is the current cost of the batteries.
Concerted effort in manufacturing process development would drive the cost in the right direction, as would battery handling safety. (The recent notebook computer battery fiasco comes to mind here because it is THAT technology that permits the very high energy storage density necessary for acceptable vehicle performance).
The question is why this technology, which has been proven time and time again in one-off custom built cars, is not more vigorously pursued by auto manufacturers AND governments publicly crying the blues about polluting vehicles?
H.F. Wolff
In all seriousness, that is the only reason I can honestly give you.
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"and the knowledge they fear is a weapon to be used against them"
"The Weapon" - Rush
But do you think we ever will? I have talked to SO many Canadians about this! And the overwhelming response I get?
'(shrugging shoulders) eh. What can ya do? You NEED to buy it!'
And they happily drive to the pump, filling their Suburban, which they use to drive kids to school in, with over 100 dollars a shot. It just blows me away.
So if we can't even get serious about trying to control our gas prices, what chance do we have of REVOLTING? It's too stressful, and someone might break a nail.
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“The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous, the essential act of warfare is the destruction of the produce of human labour”