NEWS
Speaker stirs up climate debate
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by Claire Radomski
Thursday, April 10, 2008
A prominent leader in the climate change movement warned a full crowd Wednesday night at the University of Wisconsin of the negative environmental effects of their daily decisions.
Michel Gelobter, founder of Cooler, Inc. and member of the advisory board of Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection told the assembly the topic of global warming “is nothing at all but an issue of justice.”
“The unequal allocation of energy resources has led to something that is unsustainable,” Gelobter said, adding this results in a “political and international shove game” over where to place the blame.
Gelobter said climate change could be “the greatest threat to disadvantaged groups” because they are the least equipped to deal with the consequences. He added he projects that in a hundred years, heat deaths will exceed murder deaths in Los Angeles.
The international “burst of development, the act of simply taking, has added up,” Gelobter said. He added this was especially evident in the fossil fuel industry.
He identified oil conglomerates specifically as a group that must be forced to take responsibility for their role in the threat of climate change, because they are such a major cause of the problem.
“It’s time to throw off our chains and take a crowbar to the knees of these dinosaur industries,” Gelobter said.
Cooler, Inc. aims to direct consumers to more appropriate product choices and donates offset and reduction costs to environmental groups, building a pool of capital for action against the global climate change.
Gelobter said the two ways individuals affect the global community most are by voting and shopping.
He added the carbon footprint left by individuals is determined by “tens of thousands of purchase choices a year.”
Gelobter said that global warming is a “very strange evil” to battle, but, after mentioning the oil companies, he added, “we already know who is to blame.”
Rep. Jim Ott, R-Mequon, a former meteorologist, said he is not convinced human activity is causing global warming.
“There is an awful lot we don’t understand about climate change,” Ott said in a phone interview adding he does not advocate the passing of legislation that could “potentially restrict our economy.”
“Humans are not necessarily the cause,” Ott said. “This is not something we can verify in our lifetime.”
Ott said in order to combat the issue, policy could be enacted to “reduce greenhouse gases while also benefiting the economy” by conserving fossil fuels and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
In his closing statements, Gelobter said this coming year is an “intense one for climate legislation.”
“It’s time to work together and demand unity from all sorts of environmental groups,” Gelobter said. “Companies like Exxon-Mobile make more in one day than these groups make in over a year,” he added.
Gelobter said it is important to bring the global fight on climate change down to the level of the individual. He added people must “continue to push the envelope” of what is expected of them and make a greater effort to reduce their effect on the environment.
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 6:54am):
First, it's Exxon Mobil, not Exxon Mobile.
And what leads the speaker to bring his claim that more people will die from heat than murders in Los Angeles? I'd like some rationale behind that claim.
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 12:27pm):
To paraphrase the hyperbole from this false prophet of doom, It's time to take off the environmental blinders and take a crowbar to the knees of the discredited hypothesis known as "Man Made Global Warming"!
Read and learn... the debate is almost over because the data.... the facts... DO NOT support the hypothesis of man-induced global warming. Please access the following websites and articles and forward them to others that seek knowledge on the topic. Warning!!!!!!! Real 'Science' Ahead!
"Cosmic Rays and Climate"
http://www.denmark.dk/en/menu/AboutDenmark/ScienceResearch/ResearchAreas/ClimateResearch/CosmicRaysAndClimate/
"Environmental Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide." http://www.oism.org/pproject/s33p36.htm
"Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate" http://www.heartland.org/article.cfm?artId=22835
"Temperature Monitors Report Wide Spread Global Cooling" http://www.dailytech.com/Temperature+Monitors+Report+Worldwide+Global+Cooling/article10866.htm
"Solar Inertial Motion hypothesis and effects on terrestrial climate"
http://icecap.us/index.php/go/new-and-cool/rhodes_fairbridge_and_the_idea_that_the_solar_system_regulates_the_earths_c/
Link to current discussion of the waning sun spot cycle # 23
http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/2008/04/07/solar-cycle-minimum-at-the-earliest-in-second-half-of-2008/
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report selectively used only those variables and data sets that supported the hypothesis of man-induced global warming. Much of the UN-IPCC reports have been challenged, even by the scientists that provided the data, because their results were edited by the UN panel to draw the conclusion the UN desired. In any branch of science, that is unacceptable. It is fraud.
A re-ananlysis of the UN-IPCC data, in conjuction with more recent data, clearly shows that atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2)levels do not 'lead' or 'cause' global warming (see the 1st link above). The hypothesis of 'Man-made Global Warming is not supported.
For those who would learn rather than be mindlessly led, please check out the information referenced here, make up your own minds, and pass the info on.
"If you want to reduce your carbon footprints, wipe your feet before you come in the door!"
Invictus Maneo
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 9:13pm):
It's been getting cooler this century.
Global warming is soooooooo last century.
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