Of course, if you are in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry like GOP representives and senators, you will know what side your bread is buttered on. If you know what’s good for you, you will deny that climate change is real or caused by humans. Toe the line or all those $$$ from the Koch brothers will go to somebody else!
Man-made or not, the climate is changing, whether we like it or not. We do need to plan on how to cope with rising sea levels, warmer temperatures (in applicable locales) and learn to live with the world as it is becoming hotter, dryer, etc. etc. Personally, I don’t care what causes it, but I do care about how we cope with it.
You should look at the levels of greenhouse gasses emitted in a single volcanic eruption. Then maybe we should sue all the churches, synagogues, and mosques to have their CEO, ie God, cease all global warming activities.
The fact that we finally have the wherewithal to notice that the climate is changing, as it always has, scares us. Change is scary. And when people get scared, rationality usually goes out the window. That explains a lot of the “climate change debate.”
Not a believer in Global Warming but am a fan of the solutions. I know this may not seem to make sense but I believe in the teachings of Jesus and am an atheist. I don’t need to believe we are going to die of heat or go to hell to support the RIGHT THINGS!
That reminds me of a time when a liberal member of our church came into an evening potluck, sat down, and spent a half hour ranting about the evils of oil and harm to the environment. Then someone else came in and mentioned that the entire time she was ranting away, she had left her car idling in the parking lot. ;-)
I see it didn’t take long for the people who prefer never to believe something that makes them uncomfortable to come out of the woodwork.
Hate to break it to you, but:
1. Knowledge of climate change is based on observation, not just models
2. The models are mostly flawed in that they have underestimated the degree of change, as was pointed out in a comment by Prairiedog
3. Yes, we do actually know that human activities cause a lot of it
4. No, it is not what we would see from natural changes, from which we would actually expect a mildly cooling climate right now
5. Yes, it is happening a lot faster now than it has happened in the last 10,000 or so years
6. No, it’s not all going to be beneficial because plants love CO2 (because that’s not the whole story, and they don’t love more heat and drought cycles)
and
7. On topics like this, insisting that there is no science behind something does not mean there is no science behind that thing. It usually means you don’t know what the science is, and have never tried very hard to check.
When this strip ran, it was rather frighteningly prescient. But the people who profit the most from the status quo have succeeded in planting doubt about the science, just like tobacco companies worked to do with data on cancer, to the point that they can and have maintained the status quo.
Well, I have now figured out(all right, I’m slow on the uptake)why it has taken me twice to three times as long to ‘My Comics’ the last three days ! It is because of the ‘wealth’ of comments that the last three ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ strips have generated ! ! ! Like I said, ’I’m slow ’ ! ! ! !
I don’t want to enter the fray, but I’d like to add a thought. I think we should stop saying GW is “caused” by human activities, and instead say it is “influenced”. I can’t imagine anyone would argue that the tons of toxins we allow into our environment do NOT influence the climate. On the other hand, I watched the wildfires here pouring smoke and ash into the atmosphere and wondered what the “human” equivalent would be. Imagine one serious volcanic eruption, and the impact that would have. One main difference, there will always be fires and eruptions, but maybe we won’t always be here to see them. Here’s hoping….
The deniers are a very vocal minority who, for the most part, are unable to understand any science more complicated than an incandescent light bulb or why the freezer turns water into ice cubes. They are concerned about their tax money being used for something they don’t understand. I don’t like my taxes being used for bloated defense budgets, arms trading, or sports stadiums, but it happens. The whole paranoid one-world government thing sounds like the UN black helicopter spiel that was in vogue when CB radios were. It seems we will always have an ignorant, vocal minority who fear the unknown and are susceptible to the lies of moneyed interests. I’ve read that we could rein in greedy corporations by means of the states recalling their corporate charters, and inserting language requiring responsibility to the public as well as the stockholders. It might also help to ban millionaires from politics, but that’s another matter.
It’s OK, Calvin. Since you found out about the problem, we have come up with solutions. Renewables are cheaper than coal, so we passed Peak Coal in 2013. Electric vehicles are cheaper overall than gas guzzlers, especially on a lease so you don’t have so much of the cost upfront. We just need batteries to continue to improve so that we can increase EV range to at least 400 miles, enough for the mass market. We are currently at 230. Better batteries will also handle grid storage for load balancing and time shifting, so that we will not have any problems getting to 100% renewables. There are some ideas being researched for getting CO2 out of the atmosphere and oceans on the same scale that we have been adding it.
The Denialists have run out of excuses. They said it was a hoax, and even that the world was cooling. They said that India, China, and 190 other countries would never agree, but they have all signed on (all except Syria, which is a bit distracted) to make the switch and boost their economies in the process. The only financial losers will the owners of fossil fuel resources with current market prices adding up to more than $10 trillion, resources that are going the way of whaling ships, candle factories, draft horse breeding operations, and buggy whip factories.
The markets that the Right professes to love and worship so much have spoken.
There needs to be a way to hide all comments including Featured Comments — since there are some people who are using this as a trolling mechanism. Use the sharing options and post all the political claptrap on Facebook etc.
The real problem is the ever increasing population. Many more people equals much more global impact, even if each one has a slightly smaller carbon footprint.
It is always so very sad to see how LARGE and VOCAL the anti-science attitudes are in the population. Global warming is very, very well supported from a myriad of scientific studies and research reports. The same is true for ideas of evolution. The largest preponderance of studies and reports supports the tenets of evolutionary theory.
The population that is so virulently anti-science has an unfortunate lack of understanding of the science process…. namely that nothing is ever proven 100% in science. It is a concept of thinking that is based upon probabilities. When 95+% of research studies provide statistically relevant data in support of a particular question, it is considered extremely well supported.
Once the rise started in the 1970’s it has not stopped. One milestone after another of rises. It has never gone down below the previous milestone. And the rise is so much faster than in a natural happening.
I had to go look up “the fourth wall” cuz when I don’t get something, I look it up. Go thou and do likewise. Do the research on climate change! Look it up! I finally decided, really, I should learn more about what the “climage deniers” are saying, so I checked out a politically incorrect book at the library. Guess what I learned? The author of the book used to work for the Tobacco Institute! Aha! That’s were all those disreputable so-called “scientists” went after people finally tumbled to the real dangers of smoking. Now they’re casting doubt on the real dangers of global pollution. For shame! Our grandchildren are screwed because you guys want to make a buck off the end of world. Humans! (We’re toast.)
Too late to worry about the ice caps now, Calvin. They’re already gone,… or at least Algore said they would be gone by now. I haven’t been up there to see for myself, but I’ll take Al’s word for it, he being so smart and knowing it all.
BE THIS GUY over 7 years ago
Calvin you want to cut down on greenhouse gases?
STOP F—TING!
.
Love the way Mom breaks the fourth wall
The Calvinosaurus That Calvin Wanted To Discover over 7 years ago
Ask Miss Wormwood about it.
oldpine52 over 7 years ago
Looks like Al Gore has found his audience.
Kymberleigh over 7 years ago
Obviously, our current administration didn’t even have the sense to read Calvin & Hobbes when it first ran in the newspaper …
||| over 7 years ago
Don’t worry, your mother will still be around.
ghretighoti over 7 years ago
Of course, if you are in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry like GOP representives and senators, you will know what side your bread is buttered on. If you know what’s good for you, you will deny that climate change is real or caused by humans. Toe the line or all those $$$ from the Koch brothers will go to somebody else!
Bilan over 7 years ago
Calvin will make a great politician. He’s already establishing plausible deniability.
coomback over 7 years ago
Then you’ve currently got the Leninist steve bannon running our country into the ground. Coincidence ?
dl11898 over 7 years ago
another topic with no snap solution.
M2MM over 7 years ago
Man-made or not, the climate is changing, whether we like it or not. We do need to plan on how to cope with rising sea levels, warmer temperatures (in applicable locales) and learn to live with the world as it is becoming hotter, dryer, etc. etc. Personally, I don’t care what causes it, but I do care about how we cope with it.
wdgnas over 7 years ago
johnsallysullivan: That is why we are the most successful species on the planet that can live almost anywhere on the globe.—guns are a big part of it…
jckc1 over 7 years ago
You should look at the levels of greenhouse gasses emitted in a single volcanic eruption. Then maybe we should sue all the churches, synagogues, and mosques to have their CEO, ie God, cease all global warming activities.
jeffiekins over 7 years ago
The fact that we finally have the wherewithal to notice that the climate is changing, as it always has, scares us. Change is scary. And when people get scared, rationality usually goes out the window. That explains a lot of the “climate change debate.”
NeedaChuckle Premium Member over 7 years ago
Not a believer in Global Warming but am a fan of the solutions. I know this may not seem to make sense but I believe in the teachings of Jesus and am an atheist. I don’t need to believe we are going to die of heat or go to hell to support the RIGHT THINGS!
johnec over 7 years ago
That reminds me of a time when a liberal member of our church came into an evening potluck, sat down, and spent a half hour ranting about the evils of oil and harm to the environment. Then someone else came in and mentioned that the entire time she was ranting away, she had left her car idling in the parking lot. ;-)
GROG Premium Member over 7 years ago
You weren’t supposed to find out.
lbatik over 7 years ago
I see it didn’t take long for the people who prefer never to believe something that makes them uncomfortable to come out of the woodwork.
Hate to break it to you, but:
1. Knowledge of climate change is based on observation, not just models
2. The models are mostly flawed in that they have underestimated the degree of change, as was pointed out in a comment by Prairiedog
3. Yes, we do actually know that human activities cause a lot of it
4. No, it is not what we would see from natural changes, from which we would actually expect a mildly cooling climate right now
5. Yes, it is happening a lot faster now than it has happened in the last 10,000 or so years
6. No, it’s not all going to be beneficial because plants love CO2 (because that’s not the whole story, and they don’t love more heat and drought cycles)
and
7. On topics like this, insisting that there is no science behind something does not mean there is no science behind that thing. It usually means you don’t know what the science is, and have never tried very hard to check.
When this strip ran, it was rather frighteningly prescient. But the people who profit the most from the status quo have succeeded in planting doubt about the science, just like tobacco companies worked to do with data on cancer, to the point that they can and have maintained the status quo.
http://nsidc.org/soac
IndyMan over 7 years ago
Well, I have now figured out(all right, I’m slow on the uptake)why it has taken me twice to three times as long to ‘My Comics’ the last three days ! It is because of the ‘wealth’ of comments that the last three ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ strips have generated ! ! ! Like I said, ’I’m slow ’ ! ! ! !
josballard over 7 years ago
Guess what – the world isn’t flat either.
LightWarriorK over 7 years ago
Fourth wall! Mom broke the fourth wall!
Packratjohn Premium Member over 7 years ago
I don’t want to enter the fray, but I’d like to add a thought. I think we should stop saying GW is “caused” by human activities, and instead say it is “influenced”. I can’t imagine anyone would argue that the tons of toxins we allow into our environment do NOT influence the climate. On the other hand, I watched the wildfires here pouring smoke and ash into the atmosphere and wondered what the “human” equivalent would be. Imagine one serious volcanic eruption, and the impact that would have. One main difference, there will always be fires and eruptions, but maybe we won’t always be here to see them. Here’s hoping….
micromos over 7 years ago
Mans history is too short. You shouldn’t have moved so close to the oceans like New Orleans.
grainpaw over 7 years ago
The deniers are a very vocal minority who, for the most part, are unable to understand any science more complicated than an incandescent light bulb or why the freezer turns water into ice cubes. They are concerned about their tax money being used for something they don’t understand. I don’t like my taxes being used for bloated defense budgets, arms trading, or sports stadiums, but it happens. The whole paranoid one-world government thing sounds like the UN black helicopter spiel that was in vogue when CB radios were. It seems we will always have an ignorant, vocal minority who fear the unknown and are susceptible to the lies of moneyed interests. I’ve read that we could rein in greedy corporations by means of the states recalling their corporate charters, and inserting language requiring responsibility to the public as well as the stockholders. It might also help to ban millionaires from politics, but that’s another matter.
WestNYC Premium Member over 7 years ago
Yes Calvin, the world ended in 2012.
Mokurai over 7 years ago
It’s OK, Calvin. Since you found out about the problem, we have come up with solutions. Renewables are cheaper than coal, so we passed Peak Coal in 2013. Electric vehicles are cheaper overall than gas guzzlers, especially on a lease so you don’t have so much of the cost upfront. We just need batteries to continue to improve so that we can increase EV range to at least 400 miles, enough for the mass market. We are currently at 230. Better batteries will also handle grid storage for load balancing and time shifting, so that we will not have any problems getting to 100% renewables. There are some ideas being researched for getting CO2 out of the atmosphere and oceans on the same scale that we have been adding it.
The Denialists have run out of excuses. They said it was a hoax, and even that the world was cooling. They said that India, China, and 190 other countries would never agree, but they have all signed on (all except Syria, which is a bit distracted) to make the switch and boost their economies in the process. The only financial losers will the owners of fossil fuel resources with current market prices adding up to more than $10 trillion, resources that are going the way of whaling ships, candle factories, draft horse breeding operations, and buggy whip factories.
The markets that the Right professes to love and worship so much have spoken.
LC1 over 7 years ago
There needs to be a way to hide all comments including Featured Comments — since there are some people who are using this as a trolling mechanism. Use the sharing options and post all the political claptrap on Facebook etc.
BiathlonNut over 7 years ago
The real problem is the ever increasing population. Many more people equals much more global impact, even if each one has a slightly smaller carbon footprint.
Pipe Tobacco Premium Member over 7 years ago
It is always so very sad to see how LARGE and VOCAL the anti-science attitudes are in the population. Global warming is very, very well supported from a myriad of scientific studies and research reports. The same is true for ideas of evolution. The largest preponderance of studies and reports supports the tenets of evolutionary theory.
The population that is so virulently anti-science has an unfortunate lack of understanding of the science process…. namely that nothing is ever proven 100% in science. It is a concept of thinking that is based upon probabilities. When 95+% of research studies provide statistically relevant data in support of a particular question, it is considered extremely well supported.
BobC1 over 7 years ago
“Nice planet you’re leaving me.” Calvin makes a good point. We are trashing this planet, destroying habitat, and wiping out entire species.
UpaCoCoCreek Premium Member over 7 years ago
Calvin reacting the way all deniers will one day.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 7 years ago
Once the rise started in the 1970’s it has not stopped. One milestone after another of rises. It has never gone down below the previous milestone. And the rise is so much faster than in a natural happening.
DonnaWilliams1 over 7 years ago
I had to go look up “the fourth wall” cuz when I don’t get something, I look it up. Go thou and do likewise. Do the research on climate change! Look it up! I finally decided, really, I should learn more about what the “climage deniers” are saying, so I checked out a politically incorrect book at the library. Guess what I learned? The author of the book used to work for the Tobacco Institute! Aha! That’s were all those disreputable so-called “scientists” went after people finally tumbled to the real dangers of smoking. Now they’re casting doubt on the real dangers of global pollution. For shame! Our grandchildren are screwed because you guys want to make a buck off the end of world. Humans! (We’re toast.)
JulianMathison over 7 years ago
Time Magazine did not predict a coming ice age in 1974. That cover was fake. The article was about just the opposite, global warming.
johnmanjaybee over 7 years ago
Too late to worry about the ice caps now, Calvin. They’re already gone,… or at least Algore said they would be gone by now. I haven’t been up there to see for myself, but I’ll take Al’s word for it, he being so smart and knowing it all.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 7 years ago
Its never too late, any delay means it will be harsher longer and the work will be harder to push the climate back into the Holocene post glacial.