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Post by sandwiches on Oct 25, 2012 16:21:13 GMT
www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/25/climate-change-david-attenboroughDavid Attenborough: US politicians duck climate change because of cost The naturalist warned it would take a terrible example of extreme weather to wake people up to global warming
One of the world's leading naturalists has accused US politicians of ducking the issue of climate change because of the economic cost of tackling it and warned that it would take a terrible example of extreme weather to wake people up to the dangers of global warming.
Speaking just days after the subject of climate change failed to get a mention in the US presidential debates for the first time in 24 years, Sir David Attenborough told the Guardian: "[It] does worry me that most powerful nation in the world, North America, denies what the rest of us can see very clearly [on climate change]. I don't know what you do about that. It's easier to deny."
Asked what was needed to wake people up, the veteran broadcaster famous for series such as Life and Planet Earth said: "Disaster. It's a terrible thing to say, isn't it? Even disaster doesn't do it. There have been disasters in North America, with hurricanes and floods, yet still people deny and say 'oh, it has nothing to do with climate change.' It visibly has got [something] to do with climate change."
But some US politicians found it easier to deny the science on climate change than take action, he said, because the consequence of recognising the science on man-made climate change "means a huge section from the national budget will be spent in order to deal with it, plenty of politicians will be happy to say 'don't worry about that, we're not going to increase your taxes.'"
Neither Barack Obama or Mitt Romney mentioned climate change in three TV debates, despite a summer of record temperatures and historic drought in the US.
Odd that the outwardly most Christian nation on Earth is also the most selfish?
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Post by sankari on Oct 26, 2012 7:30:38 GMT
Odd that the outwardly most Christian nation on Earth is also the most selfish? Not at all odd when you consider the version of Christianity that prevails over there.
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Post by ignorantianescia on Oct 26, 2012 9:15:01 GMT
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Post by sankari on Oct 26, 2012 14:02:34 GMT
I spent two and a half weeks in Texas earlier this year. The attitudes I encountered were simply mind-boggling. People acted as if we have another four or five planets up our sleeves when this one finally dies.
I never saw a single recycling bin during the whole time I was there. My hosts told me nobody in their town uses them. 'Just throw it in the trash, it all goes to landfill. Cheaper than recycling.' And this was a deeply religious community, mind.
Unbelievable.
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Post by ignorantianescia on Oct 26, 2012 16:39:01 GMT
I spent two and a half weeks in Texas earlier this year. The attitudes I encountered were simply mind-boggling. People acted as if we have another four or five planets up our sleeves when this one finally dies. I never saw a single recycling bin during the whole time I was there. My hosts told me nobody in their town uses them. 'Just throw it in the trash, it all goes to landfill. Cheaper than recycling.' And this was a deeply religious community, mind. Unbelievable. So much for a cradle-to-cradle economy... Just let posterity mine landfills for resources...
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Post by timoneill on Oct 26, 2012 19:16:17 GMT
I spent two and a half weeks in Texas earlier this year. The attitudes I encountered were simply mind-boggling. People acted as if we have another four or five planets up our sleeves when this one finally dies. I never saw a single recycling bin during the whole time I was there. My hosts told me nobody in their town uses them. 'Just throw it in the trash, it all goes to landfill. Cheaper than recycling.' And this was a deeply religious community, mind. Unbelievable. Meanwhile Sweden is so efficient at recycling its garbage that it's having to import the stuff. The Swedes send a mere 4% of their waste to landfill (compared to 64% in the US), and they burn a lot of it to generate heating. Problem is, they don't have enough garbage to treat this way, so they are starting to import other country's trash to help solve this "problem". inhabitat.com/sweden-plans-to-import-800000-tons-of-garbage-each-year/But this is surely just "leftist" propaganda and lies, no doubt spread by "climate alarmists" who only seek to disturb sensible hidebound conservatives who know that we can stick anything at all into the ground, the water or the air without it affecting a thing. Sweden is also an atheistic hellhole where the lack of objective religious morals make it a maelstrom of looting and murder, where atheism leads to gulags and torture and where the blank-eyed religion-free wretches who live there eke out a bitter existence, lost in nihilistic despair.
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Post by unkleE on Oct 26, 2012 23:04:11 GMT
My daughter lives in Houston, Texas and in her suburb, it isn't allowed to have a visible clothes line for drying in the hot Texas sun. So everyone is supposed to use electric dryers.
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Post by noons on Oct 26, 2012 23:51:34 GMT
Sweden is also an atheistic hellhole where the lack of objective religious morals make it a maelstrom of looting and murder, where atheism leads to gulags and torture and where the blank-eyed religion-free wretches who live there eke out a bitter existence, lost in nihilistic despair. That's odd, because on reddit, the rhetoric is that "Le Sweden is le atheist paradise, and USA is a fundamentalist hell hole, the streets are clean and perfect, everyone is a scientist and the girls are all hot and don't friendzone you because of your superior intellect, and marijuana is legal, it's the greatest country in the world, a rational paradise, and I can't wait to move there in 6 years when I turn 18."
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Post by sankari on Oct 27, 2012 1:15:21 GMT
My daughter lives in Houston, Texas and in her suburb, it isn't allowed to have a visible clothes line for drying in the hot Texas sun. So everyone is supposed to use electric dryers. That is insane. Literally insane. What's worse is that I didn't see a single solar panel in the entire town of Comanche. Perfect location for solar power, but nobody's using it - not even the farmers!
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Post by timoneill on Oct 27, 2012 2:20:11 GMT
That's odd, because on reddit, the rhetoric is that "Le Sweden is le atheist paradise, and USA is a fundamentalist hell hole, the streets are clean and perfect, everyone is a scientist and the girls are all hot and don't friendzone you because of your superior intellect, and marijuana is legal, it's the greatest country in the world, a rational paradise, and I can't wait to move there in 6 years when I turn 18." So, if I understand this correctly, if some teenagers on Reddit exaggerate things somewhat, that means we must believe precisely the opposite? Or something? Strange, because I've been to Sweden and it's actually a wonderful place full of the happiest people on earth living rich lives and enjoying the highest quality of life in the world. Largely without God or gods. Not a gulag to be seen, despite what Dinesh D'Sousa keeps shouting.
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Post by noons on Oct 27, 2012 3:15:04 GMT
No, neither. It's an inside joke on some lesser known but much more fun subreddits.
And I completely forgot to mention just how BRAVE everyone in le Sweden is.
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Post by ignorantianescia on Oct 27, 2012 6:46:50 GMT
My daughter lives in Houston, Texas and in her suburb, it isn't allowed to have a visible clothes line for drying in the hot Texas sun. So everyone is supposed to use electric dryers. How is the law or ordinance formulated? Would a drying rack avoid the prohibition? And why is it disallowed in the first place? Also, I thought the hellhole part about Sweden consisted of its telecommunication laws and government monopoly on some types of booze.
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Post by unkleE on Oct 27, 2012 11:52:57 GMT
I'm not sure of the details, but her precinct or subdivision or suburb has some sort of committee or progress association that has the legal power to enforce certain "standards". So if someone has some part of their house unsightly and needing repair, this group can order them to fix it up so the neighbourhood isn't devalued.
So yes, discreet clothes lines can be managed, but nothing that can be seen from the road, as I understand it.
The whole thing sounds pretentious and Orwellian, but like big brother, you can't fight it.
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Post by jamierobertson on Oct 27, 2012 14:24:50 GMT
Sweden is also an atheistic hellhole where the lack of objective religious morals make it a maelstrom of looting and murder, where atheism leads to gulags and torture and where the blank-eyed religion-free wretches who live there eke out a bitter existence, lost in nihilistic despair. Yup. Cos that's what alllllll the christians here believe. Not an iota of exaggeration. Niiiiiice an accurate. Ain't no straw men here, nooooo sirree.
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Post by timoneill on Oct 27, 2012 18:16:25 GMT
Sweden is also an atheistic hellhole where the lack of objective religious morals make it a maelstrom of looting and murder, where atheism leads to gulags and torture and where the blank-eyed religion-free wretches who live there eke out a bitter existence, lost in nihilistic despair. Yup. Cos that's what alllllll the christians here believe. Not an iota of exaggeration. Niiiiiice an accurate. Ain't no straw men here, nooooo sirree. I was simply parodying certain stupid Christian apologist arguments about atheism being the equivalent to Stalinism. Much as I often parody dumb Gnu Atheist arguments. No sensible people have been harmed in the production of these posts. Just idiots.
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