So now that Al Gore can add “Nobel Prize” winner to his resume, is he going to reconsider a run at the White House?
I’m still convinced that Hillary is unelectable, but I don’t think the slate that the GOP is offering is anything special. Al Gore, on the other hand, already won the popular vote once, and that was when he was doing everything wrong. Nothing teaches the way experience does. I have to think that the older, wiser Gore could take the White House in a walk. The only question is whether it’s a walk he wants to take. Because he’d be taking a hëll of a chance: Right now he’s a respected elder statesman with major cred toward getting the job done in terms of reversing global warming. If he runs and loses, then it’s not only a step back personally, but it’s a step back for the interests of the world environmental situation because he’ll be just another failed presidential candidate.
Personally I hope he goes for it, but then again, that’s easy for me to say.
PAD
• 
I doubt he will run for it. Why should he? And it could quite possibly be a big detriment to the cause he’s working so hard for, the one that netted him the BIG prizes/world respect. He’d be a fool to run for president.
I hope he doesn’t run for it. Let the man be happy.
Poll after poll shows Hillary leading every Republican candidate. I don’t buy that she’s unelectable at all.
Polls can be deceptive. Polls taken more than a year in advance of election have, in my opinion, little to no bearing on the actual outcome of the elections. I still think Clinton is too polarizing a figure for a considerable number of Democrats to get behind, while the GOP will be able to use that hatred of her as a rallying point to strengthen their own candidate: “Yeah, our guy isn’t great, but do you really want Hillary Clinton in power?”
PAD
I believe you are right about Hillary, Peter. I have been saying that about her for a year now. I hope I’m right. I’d hate to have to vote Republican.
I like what Kevin Drum has to say about it. With all the vilifying the right wing has done to her over the years, all Hillary has to do is show up and NOT have horns and a tail and most people who aren’t in that 20% who love Bush no matter what will listen to her and say, “Wow. I guess she isn’t Evil incarnate.”
Mind you, I like what he has to say. I don’t hold out much hope for it. I think both she and Obama should have stayed in the Senate for at least 2 full terms each to establish some more credibility, and in the mean time John Edwards should have run for Governor of North Carolina to build more credibility.
As for Gore, I am reminded of what Christopher Reeve said when he was asked to run for Congress – and lose all of my power? No way.
Although being running for president would be cool, playing kingmaker sounds nice too.
Hillary is barely electable, and may only have a chance because of rampant nostalgia for Bill by 51% of the population. Might be enough, might not.
Gore is not gonna run this year. If Hillary is elected, he continues as beloved celebrity. If she’s not elected, he’s got a couple of years to figure out if he really wants to be President. Then it will be “you want me, you draft me”, and then he becomes a prohibitive favorite a la Hillary.
There’s no reason for him to take her on now. Only room for one of them at a time. Otherwise they damage each other enough that the Republicans win against whichever one would survive (there’s no way Hillary loses a nomination fight from this point without mortally wounding her adversary).
He should sIt this one out and hit 2012 if needed. I really wish he were President but I don’t think the time is right. You can’t go instantaneously from “i’m not thinking about it” to credible fire-in-the-belly “here I come to save the day” simply because you won some nifty awards.
Thing is, from what I’ve read, Hillary actually has become a reasonably respected Senator, while Edwards wasn’t and Obama has yet to do anything of significance there.
As for Gore, as probably the only person hereabouts who’s had reasonably close contact with him (a lengthy lunch with about 5 other people and about a 15 minute conversation with 2 others, both about 2 years ago), he appears to have loosened up a lot since 2000. If he ran and maintained the, what I’d call semi-public*, persona I saw as his public persona, I think he’d have a good chance.
*Semi-public because while he wasn’t on stage per se, it also wasn’t like he was speaking to close friends or people he knew beforehand. Given that he’s been a politician for most of his life, and seeing him later give a talk in front of a large number of people, I’m pretty sure he, like any such, has a large public persona, a smaller semi-public persona, and what he’s like with friends and family.
And of course, the cruel irony is that if Gore decides not to run for President, that will be evidence that he is best qualified to be President.
Likewise , in the GOP , the only one I’d respect enough to vote for has already responded with a flat out “No Way”…. Former Gen. Colin Powell.
If Hillary were just a Senator, I’d say no chance, we haven’t elected a Senator since Kennedy, and arguably, Chicago was his Ohio. Before Kennedy, I’m not sure offhand how far we have to go.
Senators (and Representatives) have too much of a paper trail. And many feel the experience of making deals in the legislature doesn’t lead to the experience necessary to govern. Americans today prefer to elect governors.
Of course, if the election is between two senators, a senator will win. And while it wasn’t an elected position, Hillary does have 8 years experience in the White House.
And Mary Ellen — no one ever has to vote anything. If Clinton is the nominee, and you don’t like Clinton, you have more choices than voting Republican. There are usually third party candidates, and there is the choice of staying home.
Hillary may be marginally electable now, but wait until the GOP really sets their sights on her and starts with the “swiftboating.” Every wild lie and rumor about Hillary will be magnified and played out in the press so frequently that some people will start to beleive them. It’s happened before and it will happen again.
Meanwhile, Al Gore, having won an Oscar, an Emmy and a Nobel Prize this year must now also be considered the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy and Best Traditional Folk Song at the Latin Grammies.
Please tell me I’m not the only one thinking about all the potential for West Wing-ish jokes, if we actually had a sitting president with a Nobel prize….
Elf is right. The media, especially the outlets that are paid attack-dogs of the right-wing have mastered the art of the smear. Tell a lie big enough and often enough and the people will believe it. It’s depressing, it’s pathetic, but it is, unfortunately, also true.
I was hoping Gore would join the race but there’s too much against him
1) His relationship to the Clinton’s makes it hard for him to go up against Hillary
2) Hillary is way ahead in fundraising and has almost established herself as the Democratic Nominee
3) How could he push global warming when the Republicans are leaving us in a war and a failing economy?
I would love to give Hillary a try as President just for the social aspect of things. We have had a bunch of rich white straight men running this country for over 200 years, lets see what happens when we put a woman behind the wheel.
It cannot be anyworse than electing an idiot to see if one man could destroy the country within 8 years like we did with Bush.
Hmmm. First off while Hilary is not going to be my choice in the primaries, I am not really worried about her getting swiftboated. Unlike Kerry, I don’t think she will not be “swift” in responding. Remember, she and her campaign staff have two presidential campaigns under theier belt via her husband.
I agree that polls are not absolute predictors of future events, certainly, but if Hillary Clinton were truly unelectable I’d expect to see her losing to every Republican, rather than leading every Republican. That said, I could vote for any of the major Democratic candidates (Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Richardson, Dodd, and Biden) without reservation against anyone the GOP could muster.
As soon as i heard (at 5AM on my way to the other side of Atlanta to take a test for a Post Office job) about the prize, i said “Neal (Boortz – right-wing talk radio host) is gonna go ballistic.”
Coming out of the test at 10:30, i turned on the radio, and sure enough, Neal was raving about it.
Now, his program starts at 8:30 (the hours from 10 to Noon are nationally syndicated), and i’d bet he was raving about it the while two hours before i tuned him in for about five minutes to hear him refer to “global wamingistas, the ones who hate America and want to see free enterprise destroyed” (like Al Gore).
If i could stand to listen to even oine minute of Rush or Hannity, i bet they’d be hilarious.
PAD wrote: :the GOP will be able to use that hatred of her as a rallying point to strengthen their own candidate: “Yeah, our guy isn’t great, but do you really want Hillary Clinton in power?””
On the other hand, that was the Dems’ implicit message in ’04, in a way. “Our guy isn’t great, but do you really want four more years of Bush?” At least that’s what I felt at the time. It didn’t work for them, so maybe it wouldn’t work for the Republicans either.
You know, as much as I want to write something, I think this is one sh*tstorm I’ll sit out.
if we actually had a sitting president with a Nobel prize
We did. Theodore Roosevelt. He was also the first American to win a Nobel Prize.
John said this today:
“And Mary Ellen — no one ever has to vote anything. If Clinton is the nominee, and you don’t like Clinton, you have more choices than voting Republican. There are usually third party candidates, and there is the choice of staying home.”
I agree, John. But I also feel that I don’t vote then I got no room to complain and that would just out and out be too painful!
Sasha said earlier today:
“And of course, the cruel irony is that if Gore decides not to run for President, that will be evidence that he is best qualified to be President.”
You have hit the veritable nail on the head.
As a Canadian, I know it’s NOMB, but I just wanna suggest: Gore/Carter 2008. It would make everyone a lot less jumpy about you guys.
First of all, Gore didn’t WIN anything, he was GIVEN these awards for being the PC darling of the year. It was a shoo in that he would get the Academy award just so the socialists in Hollywood could crow a bit. Same with the Dynamite award. It was a slap in the face to the scientists who point out time and time again the errors and outright lies being told by those who wish to blame the current slight warming of our planet on evil human technology.
Secondly, there’s not much of a choice for the next President out there to speak of. Mrs Clinton isn’t qualified for the job, but will probably get it because she seems to be the anointed one of the democratic/socialists this time around. It’s either a result of her supporting Bill in the White House for 8 years, or else the Clintons managed to hold on to those FBI files and are using them to some effect on their own party. And Mrs Clinton CAN’T be “swiftboated” as you socialists call it. She didn’t use the U.S. Navy and fraudulent war stories as a stepping stone to the nominee’s position. She’s doing it the old fashioned way, bribes, illegal campaign contributions and lying her teeth off. Just like Bush I and II did.
Mary Ellen: What about third party? That would give you the right to complain. And from the way you phrased your comments, you would be holding your nose voting GOP, so if you did, and it turned out badly, you certainly wouldn’t have room to complain. Never vote for someone you don’t want to see in office – It’s better to stay home. That’s my theory.
a recent poll shows Hillary with less unfavorable opinions among Democrats than Gore. The theory that she is alienating a significant amount of Dems might be a media myth.
And while in normal campaigns I’d agree that attack ads from the opposing side will increase the unfavorables – it’s hard to imagine anything worse thrown at Hillary than has been thrown at her.
Finally – the idea that the only one qualified to have the power is the one who doesn’t want the power isn’t new – probably wasn’t new when Douglas Adams used it in Hitchhiker’s Guide.
Read the current literature. Read the PRIMARY literature. It’s hard going, but it doesn’t say what you think it says.
And stop slapping scientists in the face with your illinformed crap.
I thought Gore should have run when he was sporting the “I don’t give a crap” looking beard. Kind of a Bulworth, free-speaking politician would have been very refreshing.
IF Hillary wins in 2008, then maybe Jeb Bush wins in 2016, would Chelsea be old enough to run in 2024 for a Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton presidential order?
You have hit the veritable nail on the head.
That nail had it coming.
IF Hillary wins in 2008, then maybe Jeb Bush wins in 2016
Jeb will never be elected President. Didn’t you hear The Word of wisdom from seer Stephen Colbert about Early Immunization?
If Chelsea Clinton was born before 1982, she’ll be old enough to be president after Hillary does 2 terms.
Re: Roger Tang..WHO’s primary data are you referring to? It does make a difference which data you are referring to since there is much data out there that contradicts the basic concept that man is the cause of global warming. What about the increased output from the sun which is causing increased temps on Mars? What about the heat island effect which skews surface temp. readings? The primary data you’ve read may not even be accurate. And if you buy in to the data given out in Gore’s glorified powerpoint presentation, you’re DEFINITELY not getting the real deal!
Well, generally, the journals that atmospheric scientists publish in. THings like Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, Geophysics and Space Sciences. Naomi Orestes did a content analysis of all the published, peer reviewed papers in atmospheric science journals, and found out that research there has pretty much accepted the anthropogenic origin of a large component of warming, and has moved on from there. (And if you read the journals, you pretty much knew that all the factors you cited were considered and rejected several years ago. I’d say you should get some more recent resource materials to look at).
Now that’s not to say that global warming is “proven”; that’s just not how science works. It’s just that the consensus of atmospheric scientists are in agreement with Al Gore and the preponderance of evidence supports him. Nothing stops new research from changing the consensus, but to say that Gore is not the real deal is not just so.
John said earlier
“Mary Ellen: What about third party? That would give you the right to complain. And from the way you phrased your comments, you would be holding your nose voting GOP, so if you did, and it turned out badly, you certainly wouldn’t have room to complain. Never vote for someone you don’t want to see in office – It’s better to stay home. That’s my theory.”
As far as I can tell there is no third party in this country, at least a viable one.
Not voting seems to say, at least to me, that you just don’t care or you’ve given up. Not ready for that yet.
1 Actually, it’s not true that Gore never won anything. He won the 2000 election over our current drunken, draft-dodging coward in chief.
And, to continue, while his rather dull public persona made him the butt of jokes in the past, he looks to be more intelligent than GW.(yeah, I know, who isn’t) I’d vote for him in a heartbeat, so long as he doesn’t have a vp candidate with ties to the biggest contractor now operating in Iraq.
“Secondly, there’s not much of a choice for the next President out there to speak of. Mrs Clinton isn’t qualified for the job, but will probably get it because she seems to be the anointed one”
Ya know, I really wasn’t going to comment, but this post just really got under my skin. Besides all the socialist comments, this really stuck out. Why? Well, while I’m not actually sure that she’s qualified, anybody else out there thinking that Bush wouldn’t have gotten even a 7-11 job without HIS seeming annointing?
the Peace Prize is a joke. Carter won it (for what????). And didn’t arafat win it???????
But Reagan (who ended the Cold War) didn’t.
Side bar to all you Global Warming wagon jumpers.
Just what IS the perfect temp. the earth should be at? Maybe we need to raise the temp a few more degrees or else we will all die.
“the Peace Prize is a joke. Carter won it (for what????). “
Look, I’m not that happy with the direction Carter has taken lately, but he did help make peace between Egypt and Israel, and that’s an achievement worthy of a peace prize.
“And didn’t arafat win it???????”
Yes he did, and so did the Israeli Prime minister Rabin. Ultimately what this shows you is that the people who give the Nobel are making the choices based on current political issues, and that they were so hasty to applaud what appeared to be a move in the direction of peace that they were unwilling to wait for actual peace.
“Just what IS the perfect temp. the earth should be at? Maybe we need to raise the temp a few more degrees or else we will all die.”
Preferably the one that does not result in flooding of coastal areas around the world, and other ecological disasters. But that’s just me.
The hole in the ozone…
The death of the rainforest…
Global warming.
Reminds me of what George Carlin said:
We’re so self-important. So self-important. Everybody’s going to save something now. “Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save those snails.” And the greatest arrogance of all: save the planet. What? Are these fûçkìņg people kidding me? Save the planet, we don’t even know how to take care of ourselves yet. We haven’t learned how to care for one another, we’re gonna save the fûçkìņg planet?
I’m getting tired of that šhìŧ. Tired of that šhìŧ. I’m tired of fûçkìņg Earth Day, I’m tired of these self-righteous environmentalists, these white, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is there aren’t enough bicycle paths. People trying to make the world save for their Volvos. Besides, environmentalists don’t give a šhìŧ about the planet. They don’t care about the planet. Not in the abstract they don’t. Not in the abstract they don’t. You know what they’re interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat. They’re worried that some day in the future, they might be personally inconvenienced. Narrow, unenlightened self-interest doesn’t impress me.
Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The PEOPLE are fûçkëd. Difference. Difference. The planet is fine. Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. Been here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We’ve been here, what, a hundred thousand? Maybe two hundred thousand? And we’ve only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred years versus four and a half billion. And we have the CONCEIT to think that somehow we’re a threat? That somehow we’re gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue-green ball that’s just a-floatin’ around the sun?
The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles…hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worlwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages…And we think some plastic bags, and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet…the planet…the planet isn’t going anywhere. WE ARE!
We’re going away. Pack your šhìŧ, folks. We’re going away. And we won’t leave much of a trace, either. Thank God for that. Maybe a little styrofoam. Maybe. A little styrofoam. The planet’ll be here and we’ll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet’ll shake us off like a bad case of fleas. A surface nuisance.
You wanna know how the planet’s doing? Ask those people at Pompeii, who are frozen into position from volcanic ash, how the planet’s doing. You wanna know if the planet’s all right, ask those people in Mexico City or Armenia or a hundred other places buried under thousands of tons of earthquake rubble, if they feel like a threat to the planet this week. Or how about those people in Kilowaia, Hawaii, who built their homes right next to an active volcano, and then wonder why they have lava in the living room.
The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we’re gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, ’cause that’s what it does. It’s a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed, and if it’s true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new pardigm: the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn’t share our prejudice towards plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn’t know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, “Why are we here?” Plastic…áššhølë.
So, the plastic is here, our job is done, we can be phased out now. And I think that’s begun. Don’t you think that’s already started? I think, to be fair, the planet sees us as a mild threat. Something to be dealt with. And the planet can defend itself in an organized, collective way, the way a beehive or an ant colony can. A collective defense mechanism. The planet will think of something. What would you do if you were the planet? How would you defend yourself against this troublesome, pesky species? Let’s see… Viruses. Viruses might be good. They seem vulnerable to viruses. And, uh…viruses are tricky, always mutating and forming new strains whenever a vaccine is developed. Perhaps, this first virus could be one that compromises the immune system of these creatures. Perhaps a human immunodeficiency virus, making them vulnerable to all sorts of other diseases and infections that might come along. And maybe it could be spread sexually, making them a little reluctant to engage in the act of reproduction.
Well, that’s a poetic note. And it’s a start. And I can dream, can’t I? See I don’t worry about the little things: bees, trees, whales, snails. I think we’re part of a greater wisdom than we will ever understand. A higher order. Call it what you want. Know what I call it? The Big Electron. The Big Electron…whoooa. Whoooa. Whoooa. It doesn’t punish, it doesn’t reward, it doesn’t judge at all. It just is. And so are we. For a little while.
“I’m tired of fûçkìņg Earth Day, I’m tired of these self-righteous environmentalists, these white, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is there aren’t enough bicycle paths. People trying to make the world save for their Volvos. Besides, environmentalists don’t give a šhìŧ about the planet. They don’t care about the planet. Not in the abstract they don’t. Not in the abstract they don’t. You know what they’re interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat. They’re worried that some day in the future, they might be personally inconvenienced.”
Let me add the MOST important thing the nutsos care about: their next paychecks & grants from their wacky bosses and supporters.
One other thing…isn’t this the same or similar crowd that told us we were all going to fall under the spell of global warming 15-20 years ago?
Saying nothing we do makes a difference to the earth, then raising an objection to any particular course, are mutually exclusive of each other. You can do one or the other, but not both without contradicting yourself.
Reagan accelerated the end of the cold war by buying nukes. He also trained and sold stinger missiles to Osama bin Laden. Denying Reagan a peace prize gives the Nobel committee credibility. Denying Reagan a peace prize would give anybody credibility.
Because no one has said it yet:
BREAKING NEWS: In a 5-4 split decision, the Supreme Court has awarded Al Gore’s Nobel Prize to George W. Bush.
the Peace Prize is a joke. Carter won it (for what????). And didn’t arafat win it???????
But Reagan (who ended the Cold War) didn’t.
As did Kissenger. Explain that abberation.
I think both she and Obama should have stayed in the Senate for at least 2 full terms each to establish some more credibility, and in the mean time John Edwards should have run for Governor of North Carolina to build more credibility.
I don’t tbhink Edwards would have had much chance…but I suppose it would have to be better than the 0% chance he has to be elected prseident in 2008.
As for Hillary, the time is now. Wait for a better time and you end up as Mario Cuomo, wondering what might have been.
C. Schwehr…words fail…
I disagree with PAD re Hillary. I ahev very little doubt that she will win the nomination. Obama might win Iowa and that will be her test. Given her strength elesewhere, her support, the high profile VIPs she has ammassed, etc etc, I think she will pass her test nicely. If Obama lived up to his early promise it would be one thing but I think he just isn’t there yet.
In the election I’d give her about an 80% chance of winning. She’ll run a better campaign than kerry–no hard task there–and win most if not all of the states he did. If she picks up one or two others, and she should, she wins.
If the Democrats make the same mistake they did before and reject the one they want (Dean/Hillary) for the one they think will win (Kerry/???) they will lose again. Fortunately for them, at this point it will be very very hard to stop her.
She’ll also most likely be a much better president than her critics on the right and left expect.
There was about as much accuracy in Gore’s film as there was in the WMD intelligence analysis used as justification for attacking Iraq.
Since our president currently makes only a shade more than the $380,000 per year league minimum for Major League Baseball, if Gore runs and is elected, I guess, as always, we’ll get what we pay for.
“One other thing…isn’t this the same or similar crowd that told us we were all going to fall under the spell of global warming 15-20 years ago?”
Let me correct myself…isn’t this the same or similar crowd that told us we were all going to fall under the spell of a new ice age 15-20 years ago?
I don’t think Hillary is unbeatable at all. First, she is very familiar to people. Second, most Americans want change from the current state of America; and as PAD said eight years ago, since the Republicans controlled the legislative and executive branches of government they’d have no one but themselves to blame for what happens. (In this case, an unwinnable quagmire and truly massive debts.) Third, she knows how to play the policial game, unlike Kerry (who assumed the Swift Boat matter would go away on its own, letting his detractors get their message out and repeat it before he bothered to address it). Fourth, Hillary can use the support of her former-president husband, while most Republicans are trying to distance themselves from Bush (while trying to have him raise money for them). Fifth, the Republicans may lose the support of the Religious Reich, er, Right to a third-party candidate, which would really scare the GOP (and would sadly make them more likely to become more conservative and intolerant instead of reaching out beyond their base to all).
I don’t know who I’d pick between Clinton and Obama, but I think they’re both very likely to be in the White House in ’08.
Um, no.
Different people, different scenarios, different conclusions.
>I also feel that I don’t vote then I got no room to complain and that would just out and out be too painful!
A familiar refrain, but one which really doesn’t make sense. Lots of people I know are fed up with picking what they perceive as the lesser of two (or more) evils come election day. Just because they don’t wish to vote for someone they don’t like – presumably to prevent someone they really loathe from getting in power – doesn’t mean they haven’t the right to bìŧçh about the sad state of electoral affairs. Example. Two evenings ago I voted in the Ontario Provincial election. I voted for the Green Party (I’m fed up with the antics/incompetence of the Big Three old-time parties) but saw my vote wasted as the party failed to see even ONE member elected, in spite of getting about 10% of the popular vote thanks to our screwed up, first-past-the-post system. If I hadn’t voted, how would my criticism be any less valid? There would still be about 10% of voters who are left out in the cold because the system can’t take them into consideration.
Sigh. It amazes me how often people dismiss the whole “Global Warming” thing based on knee-jerk responses and outright miquotations.
1) Serious study suggests that, yes, global warming is a natural cycle. No, they’re not claiming that man is CAUSING it. They’re saying that the things we do are ACCELERATING it beyond it’s natural course. Dismissing it by claiming the scientists are saying man is the *sole* reason for it is such an oft-repeated misquote that it’s become taken as fact and used as “Ammunition” against those who take the subject seriously. (I’m reminded of the “Al Gore says he invented the internet” misquote that got turned into “Fact”)
2) The ones who dismiss Global Warming as a fantasy because “Rising temperatures can lead to another ice age? That doesn’t make sense!!!” Read the bloody literature to see how a melt-off of polar ice into the seas can play havoc with weather patterns on a global scale. If there’s anything we can do to slow the acceleration of such an effect, we should be bloody well doing it.
And just on a personal note, I’ve seen these changes just in my short lifetime (38); Growing up here on Long Island, we used to have monster snowstorms back in the 70’s up to the mid-80’s, several feet high that lasted for days. Now? For the last few years we’ve been lucky if we get any substantial snowfall accumlation (if we get any snow at all) at least *once* a year. And when we do, it usually melts off within a week due to sun or rain because it’s too warm to snow.
Yes, you can argue that it’s part of the “Natural process” until you’re blue in the face, but a climate shift that severe in such a relatively short time of this planet’s life? Ðámņ right I’d be concerned enough to read up on it, especially considering I live on an island. Like it or not, there’s just as much evidence to suggest that we’ve aggravated (Not “Caused”, dámņìŧ!) the current climate change as there is to suggest that it’s “Natural”. And if it’s at all possible that we can do something to slow this down, then hey… Why not at least TRY it and see if there’s a difference before dismissing it?