Climate Change, Zones, and Solar
Welcome to climatechange2000.org! We are a website dedicated to discussing the issues involved in climate change, our energy industry, and the possibilities of both clean and renewable energy, such as solar panels. We believe the debate on climate change has become far too polarized and that it is in the best interests of everyone, regardless of stance, to put less vitriol and propaganda into their arguments. The questions involved are scientific in nature, and opinion should play a much smaller role in the discussion than it currently does.
Both sides of the climate change debate are guilty of flinging visceral, emotional charges against their opponents rather than taking a measured, fact based approach to the disagreements they face. Here at climatechange2000.org, we believe that’s the wrong way to go about things, and that’s why we strive to give you just the facts. We’re not going to preach the unmitigated evil of the energy industry, nor are we going to vilify the anti-business agenda of the conservation movement. Neither of these often heard refrains is helpful in resolving the problems that climate change presents, and so we’d prefer to leave them out of the discussion entirely.
The facts in this instance are remarkably scarce. This is primarily due to the imperfect methods with which we are doing our research. Research into anything new is an expensive proposition. It requires bright, well educated minds to apply themselves and expensive equipment (often for years at a time) in an attempt to answer questions we have. This naturally means that research must be funded by someone with deep pockets.
It is disappointing, yet hardly surprising that the biases of these deep pockets tend to come out in the research they fund. It take an incredibly open minded person to continue to fund research that does not support their previously held views, and so there is incredible pressure put on researchers to validate a certain viewpoint rather than proceed with their research open-minded.
Thus when a study funded by Exxon claims that there are oil, coal, and natural gas reserves to last a century or more, you should question the reliability of the fact gathering, as well as the assumptions made in coming up with those numbers. After all, it’s easy to predict that something will last forever if the demand never changes, or a innovative, new technology is supposed to appear in 5 years to take care of all the new demands.
The fact of the matter is that solar, hydroelectric, and wind power are expanding, but they are not expanding as quickly as the human appetite for energy is. This means that there is an ever expanding demand for the finite oil, coal, and gas reserves on the planet. This isn’t the central issue in climate change, but its one of the many issues that must be resolved.
The dubious honor of the biggest question that demands an answer in this debate goes to this simple question: Are humans making climate change worse than it is otherwise? Few people familiar with the facts bother trying to deny that the earth is getting hotter. What the disagreement is about at this point is how much, if any, of that change is because of our actions. Once that question is answered we will know what actions we need to take.