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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| A Heated Exchange: Al Gore Confronts His Critic(s) |
| 2009-03-09 |
| The Goreacle has spoken--again. Its "kind of silly" to keep debating the science, Mr. Gore said Yep. Why let inconvenient facts get in the way of a good story? Former Vice President Al Gore repeated his message that climate change is a planetary emergency at the WSJ's Eco:nomics conference in California. The Nobel-prize winner declined to take any questions from reporters, but he did receive a couple of challenges from attendees, including Bjorn Lomborg. But don't expect Mr. Gore to debate the merits of how best to tackle climate change anytime soon. Mr. Gore stuck to his prepared script about the urgency of taking action to curb global greenhouse-gas emissions, down to well-worn phrases he trots out at conferences across the country: America is at "a political tipping point" on climate change, and even if Washington has failed to address the energy challenge in the last 35 years, "political will is a renewable resource." But he was challenged by Mr. Lomborg, the Danish skeptical environmentalist who thinks the world would be better off spending more money on health and education issues than curbing carbon emissions. "I don't mean to corner you, or maybe I do mean to corner you, but would you be willing to have a debate with me on that point?" asked the polo-shirt wearing Dane. "I want to be polite to you," Mr. Gore responded. But, no. "The scientific community has gone through this chapter and verse. We have long since passed the time when we should pretend this is a 'on the one hand, on the other hand' issue," he said. "It's not a matter of theory or conjecture, for goodness sake," he added. Really!? The whole point of science is that we continue to debate issues, look at new data, and re-examine what we thought was 'settled'. It's that kind of debate that pushes science forward. The moment someone says that the science is 'settled' and therefore off-limits, it's no longer a scientific argument but a political one. As an example, he pointed to a new addition to the budget for the island nation of the Maldives: "Funds to buy a new nation." So how would he describe the multi trillion dollar budget? |
| Posted by:Omoter Speaking for Boskone7794 |
| #12 I say we change Ground Hog Day to Al Gore Day. I'm thinking we change April Fool's Day. "Look, your planet's warming!" "Ha, ha! Al Gore's!" |
| Posted by: Darrell 2009-03-09 21:20 |
| #11 Someone said that politicians use science the way a drunk uses a lightpost, more for support than illumination. |
| Posted by: Formerly Dan 2009-03-09 20:24 |
| #10 I don't know why you all are challenging I always get my scientific information from Don't you? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-03-09 18:32 |
| #9 I say we change Ground Hog Day to Al Gore Day. If Al Gore sees his shadow, it's six more weeks of global warming. |
| Posted by: William Marcy Tweed 2009-03-09 18:22 |
| #8 Listen to me! I invented the internet. I also have a Nobel Piece Prize and an Oscar from Hollyweird. Global Warming is real I tell you. I also have this carbon credit |
| Posted by: Weird Al Gore 2009-03-09 11:20 |
| #7 The Maldives are sinking, the ocean isn't rising. What's Al want us to do, jack it up and slip some blocks underneath? |
| Posted by: mojo 2009-03-09 10:56 |
| #6 the world would be better off spending more money on health and education issues than curbing carbon emissions Big Ol Dumb Al is opposed to that "morally"...cuz there's no cut in that for him. He's a fraud, liar, faker, thief |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-03-09 09:38 |
| #5 But he was challenged by Mr. Lomborg, the Danish skeptical environmentalist who thinks the world would be better off spending more money on health and education issues than curbing carbon emissions. Yep, sure sounds like it's 'settled science' to me... |
| Posted by: Raj 2009-03-09 09:03 |
| #4 "The scientific community has gone through this chapter and verse. We have long since passed the time when we should pretend... Round earthers... they are so, so WRONG! Listen to Al Gore and LIVE! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-03-09 08:51 |
| #3 What is left out of the encounter is some context. Bjorn Lomborg also believes in global warming and the manmade kind. However, he also has shown that our mitigation strategies (carbon cap and trade, severe restrictions of CO2) will lead to an insignificant reduction in temperature over the next 50 years and have the result of squandering trillions of dollars. His point is that on the basis of economics decision-making, for far less "investment" we could help all people to adapt to climate change and maintain our wealth to be in a position to do so. |
| Posted by: WTF 2009-03-09 08:41 |
| #2 Gore's a clueless clown, but he did figure out the key to keeping this circus rolling is getting enough people to BELIEVE. I regularly hit warmers with 'AGW is a religion'. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2009-03-09 03:27 |
| #1 Al Gore is a politician - not a scientist. Such things as 'scientific method' goes over his head and to him 'debate' isn't about the facts - but the presentation and 'feelings'.... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-03-09 00:59 |