Comments on: Gore’s Graph Done Right http://newswithnumbers.com/2009/06/01/gores-graph-done-right/ Learning More By Reading Less Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:00:21 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: numbersguy http://newswithnumbers.com/2009/06/01/gores-graph-done-right/comment-page-1/#comment-180 numbersguy Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:00:58 +0000 http://newswithnumbers.com/?p=110#comment-180 Hi David: Glad you liked the article. I'm surprised how timely it remains. If Gore were more truthful/complete about the data in his book I doubt the current "ClimateGate" scandal would have as much traction as it does. The data says CO2 levels are crazy-high by geological standards but temperature is both moderate (in the absolute sense) and way way below were it should be based on the 600,000 year trend line of CO2 vs temp. Regardless of whether people think the earth is warming or not, fact is CO2 is a green house gas and levels are dangerously high. This bodes ill for the future even if the "consensus" for the present day is mixed. I'm a little more optimistic about our "World Leaders" than you are. While I agree that it seems their techniques for leading are the same as they were 100 or 200 years ago, I have a strong faith that news reporting via data visualization techniques will lead to a more enlightened approach toward world leadership and planetary management. But it requires a change in the populace too. Leaders are political creatures. Even if an enlightened leader did the right thing, if the right thing did not appeal to his constituents he'd be voted out of office the next term. So both the leaders <strong>and </strong>the people need to recognize what the right thing is. Hi David:
Glad you liked the article. I’m surprised how timely it remains. If Gore were more truthful/complete about the data in his book I doubt the current “ClimateGate” scandal would have as much traction as it does. The data says CO2 levels are crazy-high by geological standards but temperature is both moderate (in the absolute sense) and way way below were it should be based on the 600,000 year trend line of CO2 vs temp. Regardless of whether people think the earth is warming or not, fact is CO2 is a green house gas and levels are dangerously high. This bodes ill for the future even if the “consensus” for the present day is mixed.

I’m a little more optimistic about our “World Leaders” than you are. While I agree that it seems their techniques for leading are the same as they were 100 or 200 years ago, I have a strong faith that news reporting via data visualization techniques will lead to a more enlightened approach toward world leadership and planetary management. But it requires a change in the populace too. Leaders are political creatures. Even if an enlightened leader did the right thing, if the right thing did not appeal to his constituents he’d be voted out of office the next term. So both the leaders and the people need to recognize what the right thing is.

]]> By: davidha http://newswithnumbers.com/2009/06/01/gores-graph-done-right/comment-page-1/#comment-179 davidha Sun, 03 Jan 2010 15:37:01 +0000 http://newswithnumbers.com/?p=110#comment-179 Thanks for compiling the detail on the temp vs CO2 correlation as shown in An Inconvenient Truth (pg 66-67 in the book). Can mankind maintain focus long enough to try and address this? Maybe not. Massive CO2 emissions are now a way of life, and one that much of mankind is ironically now hoping to achieve. This issue deserves a little more serious attention from leaders, and not the ones involved in maintaining the status quo. It is possible to live a carbon-negative lifestyle. It is possible to survive comfortably and sequester carbon. I fault Al Gore for not making any effort to lead by example on a small scale, though I respect his work on the megalomaniac scale. "World leaders" are putting us all at risk, and I have little faith that they can address this. We must learn to live in a new carbon-negative way as informed individuals, not as pawns, consumers and canon fodder. We can be productive and carbon-negative. The Draconian carbon-tax may be inevitable, but it can be popular, too. Please use your website to advocate carbon-negative living. It is about a whole new infrastructure. I am ashamed of our national chamber of commerce for not seeing this potential. See the keyword: Biochar. Thanks again. Thanks for compiling the detail on the temp vs CO2 correlation as shown in An Inconvenient Truth (pg 66-67 in the book). Can mankind maintain focus long enough to try and address this? Maybe not. Massive CO2 emissions are now a way of life, and one that much of mankind is ironically now hoping to achieve. This issue deserves a little more serious attention from leaders, and not the ones involved in maintaining the status quo. It is possible to live a carbon-negative lifestyle. It is possible to survive comfortably and sequester carbon. I fault Al Gore for not making any effort to lead by example on a small scale, though I respect his work on the megalomaniac scale. “World leaders” are putting us all at risk, and I have little faith that they can address this. We must learn to live in a new carbon-negative way as informed individuals, not as pawns, consumers and canon fodder. We can be productive and carbon-negative. The Draconian carbon-tax may be inevitable, but it can be popular, too. Please use your website to advocate carbon-negative living. It is about a whole new infrastructure. I am ashamed of our national chamber of commerce for not seeing this potential. See the keyword: Biochar. Thanks again.

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