@RickH "Someone please explain to me how what used to be called Global Warming now also causes killing freezes!". Rick, Global warming causes greenhouse gases to effect the globe in different ways. It is called CLIMATE CHANGE. What we should be doing is observing the overall temp change on the globe that has increased in rate of warming in the past 100 years. That is the issue; General global climate change. Not local weather!

It is no surprise that 2010 will be one of the hottest years on record. The land-based records are suspect due to Urban Heat Island effect, and even manupulation of data locations. Besides, the instrumental land-based temperature record only goes back to around 1880, and we have been warming up since the end of the "Little Ice Age". Even at that, the total warming in those hundred plus years has only been a little over 1 degree. The more accurate satellite temperature record shows less warming since it began in 1979. Why isn't anyone talking about the killing freeze that has been going on in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina recently? The mainstream media isn't reporting that. The BBC reported it and blamed it on "Climate Change"! Someone please explain to me how what used to be called Global Warming now also causes killing freezes!

Its too late to fix the problem, so why waste time on a watered-down climate bill.

I believe in Global Warming caused by the increasing Solar Activity of the last couple of years, we are heading towards a new cycle of the Earth, the Sun and Humanity.

As a result I belive the Sun's activity will increase more and more in the next couple of years, making things like Global Warming potent.

Who really cares about Global Warming really? nobody. You are going to make your children's children die of cancer cause of all the pollution you've caused. Recycling won't help. curtailing your electricity won't help. The only thing that will help global warming is probably 90% of humanity needs to perish. that's it. That's the only answer to global warming.

Either that, or all of us go back to a pre-industrial way of life.

OR: develop non-polluting technologies.

www.forgotten-ny.com

it doesnt matter anyway.

capitalism won the cold war, and capitalism is all about making lots sh*t we dont need.

a solution for global warming would look something like, population control, centralized planning, forcing people to live in cities, to take public transportation, all walmarts would be converted to flea markets,redistributions of wealth, and on and on...you can't conserve and grow the gdp.

I don't see it happening. lets stop pretending we can all just save the planet if we just used a different type of lightbulbs.

The world will be hotter, shorelines will adjust... we'll just have to deal with it.

Yeah....forcing people to live in the city what a way to be ignorant. Public transportation works for the single person/couple/going to work. If you have a family and want to go places you don't use public transportation.

Steven, believe me I'm the last person who wants to be forced to live in a city or forced to take public transportation...or frankly have any unreasonable restrictions put on me.....

what I was saying is that the solutions for global warming, if we're honest, are at drastic odds with our political and economic systems

You cannt conserve resources, grow the economy and give people freedom all at the same time. For me the last one is far more important than the other two.

If you have a family and want to go places, you could take public transportation anywhere, if it existed. It is certainly feasible that we could create a national rail system equivalent to what NYC has locally. Until that day though, we'll use cars - but there's no doubt that eventually we'll be forced to make some tough decisions and "wanting to go places with your family" will be trumped by "sorry, there's no more oil in the world".

This is why we need more electric and hybrid cars and less that depend on gasoline fully.

I don't ever seeing a national rail system. Amtrak has problems getting enough government help. The MTA here is a disaster. This country is bankrupt with the deficit we have. They cannot even build a new Tappan Zee Bridge with a rail or light rail connection maybe.

>>>a solution for global warming would look something like, population control, centralized planning, forcing people to live in cities, to take public transportation, all walmarts would be converted to flea markets,redistributions of wealth, and on and on

You could do that but you'd have to install brutal totalitarian governments to enforce these regulations, and build well-guarded walls to keep people from escaping. Been tried already.

www.forgotten-ny.com

for sure. i'm not endorsing any of those things.

I'm saying lets be real about what a solution would look like. If we want a model of people who are using the least resources and impacting the planet the least...well just look at North and South Korea...

http://www.markville.ss.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/politics/northkorea-at-night.jpg

All the countries on the bottom of the GDP index, in terms of not impacting the envoirment would be on the top.

So what would we have to do be like them? something pretty fcking drastic. its not going to happen.

MO, we're just going to have to deal with it, come what may. I'm not worried.

Ugh, anecdotes don't help anyone. It is hot because it is Summer; it was cold because it was Winter. Totally apart from that, global warming is real, & the evidence supports the notion that it is human caused. Put aside temporary trends & look at the long term & it is pretty clear. Counting coup aside ("it is snowing!" "it is very hot!"), the science is pretty unambiguous.

I can't wait for this climate bill. Even though it does nothing for the 'climate' it will impose huge taxes on electric utilities. This will raise electric bills for every person in the country, every store, every state government and agency like the MTA.

This penalizes New Yorkers who already make much more efficient use of energy by not driving everywhere and using public transportation, living in apartments and not McMansions, etc. This "light-switch" tax will hurt us all and will not do a thing for the climate. It will provide a great new source of tax revenue to washington so they can piss it away with more entitlement programs, more military spending and trying to cover their healthcare bill, which they now admit will cost way more than they told us.

Meanwhile, our businesses will continue to close because energy costs skyrocket and foreign governments have no problem building coal power plants to provide cheaper power for all the factories and service jobs that will leave the US.

Trying to fake 'climate control' by raising the price of energy so we're too poor to use it will not solve any problems except the government's cash shortage. Bah!

Please propose a method to reduce carbon emissions that will not raise the price of energy. Otherwise your whole post is a red herring.

Note that most of the revenue from the proposed legislation gets plowed into energy efficiency programs (for both businesses and residences). CBO predicts only $19 billion in revenue over a 10-year period. Not gonna get any entitlements or wars out of that. An earlier CBO estimate predicted the cost to households at $175/year.

Also note that under existing legislation and court rulings, the EPA must regulate CO2 emissions. Doing nothing is not an option. Regulation under the Clean Air Act would certainly cost much more than $175 per household. The EPA is prohibited by law from considering economic impacts in certain situations, and this would be one of them.

"Please propose a method to reduce carbon emissions that will not raise the price of energy. Otherwise your whole post is a red herring."

Cows are said to create more carbon dioxide emissions than all of the cars in the US. Force everyone to become vegan and kill all livestock. Boom. Problem solved.

I'm surprised our nanny state government hasn't already thought of this since they love nothing more than telling people how to live their lives.

any climate bill that charges people who no alternatives is despicable.

you want people to be efficent mandate MPG on cars. Mandate efficent standards..

.going the tax route is just a way to of course make cash while leaving the rich off the hook for having to conserve anything. the rich will still be driving hummers and living in McMansions in the mountains cause, they gots the money.

Also the penalizing the city dwellers is doubly despicable.

it would encourage people to head into the wilderness to avoid paying for these fees. you could get a few acres and get well water, chop your own wood, grow your own food avoiding the climate taxes...impact wise you'd causing far more of a footprint on the enviorment than someone living in a 600 sq ft apt in the city, but eh I guess people are going to get what they deserve.

It's not just the rich who live outside of the city. Many people like the countryside and humans not being on top of one another. Even though those people will have to drive longer to get to the stores it's mostly all highway miles with no traffic unlike in the city with stop and go traffic everywhere.

As a whole we all need to start cleaning up the planet. Look at all the garbage on the side of the streets in the city and many apartments don't even pay a water bill so who knows how much water they waste. Let's not forget about all the heat being wasted. Sometimes people have to actually open the window in the middle of winter.