Jim Morin for September 30, 2015

Sadly, the Republicans and their FoxNews-trained legions seem to have powers of denial beyond all reason.I fully expect these legions to appear on this list, trying desperately to avoid facing reality:“There have always been changes.” Yes, and we know why this one is happening, in violation of normal cycles. We added so much CO2 to the atmosphere that the greenhouse effect is kicking in more than it used to. Furthermore, it doesn’t mean we won’t be affected by it, nor that we shouldn’t be concerned about it.“It’s a hoax.” Sure, right. 10,000 climate scientists agree that the data are pointing the same way. Every major scientific organization in the world agree this is a problem. Non-scientists (e.g., the Petition Project, which seems to assume a dentist has equal expertise to a climate scientist), those in the pay of the petrochemical industry, and FoxNews talking heads disagree, without a shred of data. Which side is the hoax?“Scientists are in it for the grant money.” Um, no. Government grants or foundation grants are tracked quite carefully, and all the money has to be spent on the research. Nothing goes into the pocket of the scientist. Unlike the fees paid by the petrochemical industry to specific people, which have been revealed repeatedly of late.“Al Gore natter natter blather blather.” Al Gore isn’t a scientist. He and his personal habits are irrelevant to this discussion.“There’s nothing we can do.” Well, if we made it happen in the first place, simple logic suggests otherwise.“It will be too expensive.” If we relieve ourselves of dependence on foreign oil and create renewable resources, we remove a major cost line from the budget, let alone removing the desire for all these wars in the Middle East. Plus, green tech is getting very profitable indeed!

Do you know he hasn’t?

And your adding what to the conversation?

I like it! When the water starts rising in New York or Jupiter, Fl it will be interesting see how they find other reasons for it and more interesting what they will do about it.

Once again, climate change is not the “fault of human beings” the acceleration of climate change is caused by human action.And it’s not a good thing for mankind.

Because modern climate change (which is occurring at historically unprecedented rates) is caused by humans. How hard is it for conservatives to look at the data? It’s been there for thirty years.

Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.

I am still waiting for the myriad of predictions to come true. NYC and Miami still aren’t under water. We never saw the 50,000,000 “climate refuges” the UN said we would have by 2010. It still snows in England. We still have a north and south ice cap. Polar bears are still around. We aren’t seeing more and bigger hurricanes. And, of course, 102 computer models they promised were going to predict what would happen are all WAY off base as to what was going to happen..Which leads to the question, at what point do you stop blindly following the UN and start questioning the global warming claims?

I live on that street.

I think it is easily demonstrable by reading other comments that I am not preaching to the choir. And I do plant trees. I also planted flowers to help the bee population. And you?

Why is climate change now the fault of human beings? 1. Because it is moving in a direction counter to what normal cycles would predict.2. Because the root cause of this change is directly linked to human action QED.

Why is climate change now the fault of human beings? 1. Because it is moving in a direction counter to what normal cycles would predict.2. Because the root cause of this change is directly linked to human action QED.

holy cow! another tropical storm on a low lying peninsula, in september even! who could have predicted that?

It rained in Miami, quick, raise taxes

While the highest point in Florida is a bit of a joke out here in the west, it is interesting that Florida still produces more beef than several western public land states (desert) combined. The coastal areas ARE in big trouble, but that isn’t all of Florida.

Miami will, in a few years, Embrace sea level rise and Smart property owners will begin remodeling their buildings for the Change.Miami will be the new “Venice” with Canals where the Main Streets are today and Gondolas everywhere..The “Losers” will be the myriad of Homeowners who cannot afford to install the Stilts necessary to lift their houses Out of the water. .

I like Morin’s stuff, but exaggerations like this just give ammunition to the Luddites. They climb out from under their rocks and say “See, this isn’t happening, so it never will.” And then go back to their comfortable denial. “So I don’t have to do anything and my kids’ kids will never blame me.”

The thing a lot of people have trouble getting their head around — including me — is that this will not really be a slow, incremental change, where the beaches slowly get smaller and the temperatures slowly get warmer and the snow gets thinner. Instead, we’ll get major hurricanes that do more damage because of higher storm surges, and we’ll see more extremes of weather (like last winter in Boston) because of more energy and moisture in the atmosphere, and major droughts becoming a regular event until eventually it just becomes the “new normal.”