Al Gore on his Prius & earth issues

[Bob Allen]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SomervillePrius @ May 17 2006, 03:10 AM) [snapback]256413[/snapback]</div>

Cool.

He might be a bit too boring for highest official office but I do think he's trying to do what he believes is the best for this country
[/b]

I'll take boring over incompetent any day.

[Mirza]

Canada free press is a conservative mouthpiece... news, but mostly political commentary.

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Black Soot and Snow:
A Warmer Combination

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/dec/H...black_soot.html

These are the guys with the satellites who have the best and most accurate look at ice/glaciers.

" With global warming, many snow- and ice-covered areas are already melting."

"Hansen cautioned, although the role of soot in altering global climate is substantial, it does not alter the fact greenhouse gases are the primary cause of climate warming during the past century. Such gases are expected to be the largest climate forcing for the rest of this century."

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So much for the climate impact naysayers notion that the ice on earth is growing!

Recent Warming of Arctic May Affect Worldwide Climate

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/...3102316085.html

[Mirza]

For more information that debunks McShemp's and other global warming naysayers's misconceptions, please refer to the global warming threads in the Environmental discussion forum of PC.

[darelldd]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(geologyrox @ May 27 2006, 04:23 AM) [snapback]261722[/snapback]</div>

As someone who has actually studied paleoclimatology, as well as read the studies you incorrectly interpreted, I'd like to ask you to never, ever post anything without a disclaimer again (perhaps 'Don't listen to me, I like to pretend I know what I'm talking about...'?)[/b]

I can both feel and identify with your frustration. How many times have I had people (who have never even been NEAR an EV) try to convince me that EVs suck - that they're too inconvenient to be used in place of a "real" car. Sigh. Like telling a brain surgeon how to operate, "because I read somewhere how to do it."

I do find it mildly disturbing how many folks will lend credence to the side of the argument to which they're already predisposed for no other reason than, "I read somewhere that the other guy is full if crap."

Spice of life, I guess.

[Leo]

My wife and I went to see the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" last evening. If anything remotely like what he says is true, we are all in deep trouble. At its worst, we could be facing the end of our way of life as we know it.
The most powerful statistic for me was the assertion that Science magazine did a survey of 928 studies in the scientific literature to determine what percent felt there was some doubt about whether global warming was caused by human activity. The study's result: none of the 928 expressed any doubt. On the other hand, 53% of the popular press articles reviewed, asserted that there was some doubt about this.
A truly objective observer would want to hear the counter arguments, if there are any. The discussion would be highly technical, however. I have read several counter arguments on the internet, but none of them were persuasive to me. In fact, one of the counter arguments was that the film focusses on carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, whereas other greenhouse gases such as methane are far more dangerous. That scared me even more.
It makes me proud to be a Prius owner, and to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. However, even the Prius emits a lot of carbon dioxide.
The article at http://www.theclimategroup.org/index.php?pid=718 states:
[/i]Driving a new Prius saves roughly 1 tonne of CO2 per year as compared to a diesel vehicle or 1.9 tonnes compared to petrol vehicles, based on average driving patterns. Global sales of the new Prius totalled 132,703 in 2004; considering that one tree absorbs around 14kg of CO2 each year, Prius drivers in 2004 alone did the job of some 9,478,800 trees.[i]
But each gallon of gasoline consumed by the Prius results in an emission of over 24 pounds of carbon dioxide. So there is still a long way to go.

[malorn]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Danny @ May 16 2006, 01:27 PM) [snapback]256372[/snapback]</div>

Just received an email from a Prius fan over at Mens Journal letting me know about this upcoming article with Al Gore:

In the June issue of Men's Journal (on sale now), Al Gore talks to the magazine about his family's use of hybrid cars among other things. Thought you'd like to see. The complete text of the article can be found here: http://mensjournal.com/feature/0606/env_gore.html

Al Gore on His and Tipper's use of a hybrid: "...we just got a Lexus hybrid, and our family are big fans of the Prius."
[/b]

Al Gore NOW decides he needs to do something about Global Warming? Wasn't this joker a US Senator for almost a decade before he became Vice-President of the United States. Notice is is the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Wasn't George W. Bush the Governor of Texas in 1997? Way to go Al...still trying to find a way to take down old George.

I am not a George W fan on most points but Gore is pathetic in my book. A sitting Vice President runs with a booming economy and relative peace in the world and loses. All he had to do was win his home state and he would have become President. The guy is a joke and will end up turning the whole issue of global warming and the environment in general even more political than it already is.

[larkinmj]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Leo @ Jun 16 2006, 10:24 PM) [snapback]272529[/snapback]</div>

My wife and I went to see the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" last evening. If anything remotely like what he says is true, we are all in deep trouble. At its worst, we could be facing the end of our way of life as we know it.
The most powerful statistic for me was the assertion that Science magazine did a survey of 928 studies in the scientific literature to determine what percent felt there was some doubt about whether global warming was caused by human activity. The study's result: none of the 928 expressed any doubt. On the other hand, 53% of the popular press articles reviewed, asserted that there was some doubt about this.
A truly objective observer would want to hear the counter arguments, if there are any. The discussion would be highly technical, however. I have read several counter arguments on the internet, but none of them were persuasive to me. In fact, one of the counter arguments was that the film focusses on carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, whereas other greenhouse gases such as methane are far more dangerous. That scared me even more.
It makes me proud to be a Prius owner, and to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. However, even the Prius emits a lot of carbon dioxide.
The article at http://www.theclimategroup.org/index.php?pid=718 states:
[/i]Driving a new Prius saves roughly 1 tonne of CO2 per year as compared to a diesel vehicle or 1.9 tonnes compared to petrol vehicles, based on average driving patterns. Global sales of the new Prius totalled 132,703 in 2004; considering that one tree absorbs around 14kg of CO2 each year, Prius drivers in 2004 alone did the job of some 9,478,800 trees.[i]
But each gallon of gasoline consumed by the Prius results in an emission of over 24 pounds of carbon dioxide. So there is still a long way to go.
[/b]

You are correct when you say that methane is more "dangerous", in that it is a much more effective (about 20 times) greenhouse gas than CO2. However, methane is a much smaller constituent of the atmosphere, so its actual contribution to global warming is less. Nevertheless, the concentration of methane in the atmosphere is increasing much faster than CO2, and most methane in the atmosphere is from anthropogenic sources (I include "cow farts" in that category, because animal agriculture is a human activity. A huge source of methane is the "lagoons" where animal wastes are stored. Other sources are coal mines and landfills. The primary non-anthropogenic source of atmospheric methane is the decay of organic material in swamps and wetlands. As the atmosphere gets warmer, more methane will be produced from wetlands. As with many of the processes that contribute to global warming, this is an example of a positive feedback loop.

[rufaro]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ May 23 2006, 12:28 PM) [snapback]259856[/snapback]</div>

You are so correct. Don't bother talking to the brain dead either, including algore who if my memory is correct flys around in a private jet sucking down tens of thousands of gallons of jet fuel. What i would really like to learn from algore is how he made over $50,000,000.00 in Google stock - and they vilify Cheney for actually earning his millions. If algore was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth he would starve to death or be picking crops. [/b]

Interesting. Anybody else ever heard of Halliburton and no-bid contracts? Boy, this IS fun--fairy tales at bedtime! OOPS--can't say "fairy" can we--someone might think I am pushing that nasty liberal gay agenda...

[bobr1]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(malorn @ Jun 16 2006, 08:05 PM) [snapback]272554[/snapback]</div>

Al Gore NOW decides he needs to do something about Global Warming? Wasn't this joker a US Senator for almost a decade before he became Vice-President of the United States.[/b]

Al Gore has spoken about global warming for most of his career, has held hearings, has introduced legislation as a senator, has written books and articles on the topic, etc. (If you had seen the movie or read a brief biography of the man, you'd know this.)

You are entitled to your opinion of him as a politician and a person, and are entitled to your opinion of his effectiveness. However, as to the FACTUAL issue of whether or not Al Gore has just "NOW" decided to do something about Global Warming, you are WRONG.

- Bob R.

[rebbi]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tempus @ May 24 2006, 07:42 PM) [snapback]260570[/snapback]</div>

New Video Exposes Behind-the-Scenes Story of Gore’s Own Energy Use
Wed May 24 2006 17:59:00 ET

As former Vice President Al Gore’s documentary on global warming fears debuts today, a new video from the Competitive Enterprise Institute tracks Gore’s own “carbon footprint.” CEI’s 70-second video points out that Gore himself is a big user of the hydrocarbon fuels that produce carbon dioxide when combusted.

Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” asks, "Are you willing to change the way you live?" The Gore documentary and new book of the same name go on to suggest ways that people can reduce their carbon footprint, yet Mr. Gore has clearly not taken his own message to heart. He even says in the documentary that he has given his global warming Power Point slide show more than 1,000 times all around the world.

The CEI video, which may be viewed at: http://streams.cei.org/, includes footage of Gore and his constant air travel with two CO2 meters running at the bottom of the page that compare Gore’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with those of an average person.

"All the evidence suggests that Mr. Gore is an elitist who passionately believes that the people of the world must drastically reduce their energy use but that it doesn't apply to him,” said Myron Ebell, CEI's director of energy and global warming policy and the creator of the video.
[/b]

CEI is largely funded by Exxon-Mobil. See http://www.exxonsecrets.org for more on that.

Take care,

Steve