K

Also, those who say there is no debate about global warming are either lying or woefully misinformed. And even if there was concensus, concensus has nothing to do with science…just because many people believe something doesn’t neccessarily make it any more scientifically correct than if one person believed it (as illustrated throughout history in many cases i.e. – earth being flat, ice age forcasted in the 70′s, et al).

Having said that, I think some of the commenters on here are equating questioning Al Gore’s “facts” with saying we shouldn’t protect the earth, and that just isn’t the case. Most people who have issues with “Inconvenient Truth” don’t believe we SHOULDN’T protect the earth, and questioning the facts doesn’t make recycling, reducing your carbon footprint or cutting back on fossil fuel consumption any less worthy endeavors…it’s great that we do that, but we must merely do them for the right reasons. Government mandated climate change legislation is very expensive and can be costly to the livelihoods of many (as Wendy’s post pointed out), as well as taking money away from other things our country NEEDS to be spending money on NOW…and it’s all for a supposedly “probable” outcome that in the end cannot be anywhere close to accurately predicted.

Here’s a good article by author Michael Crichton that gives a much more detailed and scientific explanation than my oft-scattered brain could hope to convey
http://www.crichton-official.com/speech-ourenvironmentalfuture.html

I’m sure you had an idea of what you were starting when you posted about the movie – hope you don’t take any of the feedback as criticism, just our interjections into a healthy debate.

You bring up a good point – what to do with those who rely on the “bad” practices (not saying dairy is bad, but indirectly through use of fuel, etc.) if we’re going to cut back on them. I think that’s when the gov’t needs to take ethics into consideration on all sides of the coin (and there are many ). Everyone has to compromise a little, and no one should take 100% of the hit. It’s very tricky, which is why we have to elect the smartest of the smartest to figure it all out.

K

My family and my husband’s family both own and operate dairy farms, and my husband and I both hold degrees in Animal Science (one of mine is a master’s). As people intimately involved in agriculture, our main concern is what climate change legislation will do to our industry. It is already VERY difficult to make a living farming in the face of volatile grain prices, low milk/beef/pork prices and increasing energy costs. If we are forced to purchase “carbon credits” as some legislation suggests, we are in big trouble. Not just us farmers, but anyone who purchases food. Too much expense = farmers going out of business = less food = higher food prices = more starving people. Same goes for legislation that dictates how farmers can or can’t raise their crops and animals.

Modern farming techniques have allowed us to produce MORE food using LESS resources than ever before. To me, this is the essence of sustainability. Farmers, organic or not, MUST take good care of the Earth and her inhabitants in order to produce a safe, healthy, high-quality food supply for our ever-growing population.

I may be a little off topic here, but it’s something I’ve wanting to say for a while. As someone with a good deal of influence in the social media, your opinions, right, wrong or otherwise, make a big difference. Thanks for listening to and being respectful of those of us whose opinions differ from yours.

I was not impressed by that message. Just my opinion!

K

Diana,
YUP!! We ate there when we visited in July.

Kath

In terms of the Inconvenient Truth debate. I totally agree with you. No matter which side of the debate you are on. Whether you think global warming is “real” or not, you can’t argue against treating the earth right.

Happy B-day to your dad!