As for the Government - as usual, they try so hard to APPEAR as if they are actually DOING something. It’s far easier to pass a bill banning traditional bulbs (so they can APPEAR as if they are doing something about rising power costs, pollution etc.,). For example it would be a far more difficult thing for them to query years of bad building practices that has led to houses/apartments in this country being built with cheap materials and thus being barely insultated and costing small fortunes to heat.

The Scientific method (http://url.ie/8xu) is being employed here, but until the hypothesis is proven (and it has not been) it will not become a theory, and even when and if it does become a theory, it will still not be fact.

Why do otherwise intelligent people not get this?

Has anyone looked into the connection between Phillips (CFL Lightbulbs) and the Green Party? Wouldn’t surprise me if there was a connection there. €9 for a bulb (that’s approx $14 for you Americans) there has to be a conspiracy there. Especially considering I was up North in Sainsbury’s the other day and was able to purchase 3 for £1. Something amiss??? Just maybe.

Good points made about funding, but I believe if you look into the pro-global warming studies you will find that they too have been funded by people who’s have it in their interest to find results that way. Until a completely objective study is done, we will never know, but since no one except the average Joe will gain anything from that, it’s not likely to happen.

My $.02.

Yiz are all still missing my point though.

Whether or not global warming is man made or not - the very people who are screaming the loudest - the politicians and in particular, Al Gore are the worst offenders when it comes to reducing emissions.

We are being told to switch to CFL bulbs and to switch TVs off at night, but government buildings stay floodlit all night burning up electricity like it was free. Major stretches of motorways are floodlit, when there is no reason. It’s hypocrisy.

The short(er) version:

Grandad, it’s not so much about how little impact and individual has, (and many individuals may have great impact), its about a shift in perception. When many people change their habits, government and business follow. New opportunities for entrepreneurs and scientists are created and the effect snowballs.

It’s interesting many of the comments above are identical to those I heard made by neo conservatives a few years back. There was some daylight in the science then, but huge strides have been made since, and every new progress shows that we are contributing, if not outright causing. A

Robert - Its not about tree rings. Ice core samples from the Arctic and Antartic show the temperature over millennia. They show a dramatic change in the last few decades. Nor is it about pollution or acid rain. Pollution has been reduced in the west, but we are taking about green house gases which are not the same thing. C02 has increased. In fact cleaning up pollution has reduced global dimming allowing more sunlight to hit the earth, but it gets trapped by the Co2 and thus cleaning up pollution has actually sped up warming, (not that we should re-pollute!).

Not very. And the fact is no one really knows. At the moment it is mere speculation. Rings on trees? Well try to find a tree over 100 years old? Ironically, if you happen to find one then cutting it down is not an option.

There are cyclic weather patterns the most well known of which is El Nino. Hurricane season in the U.S. is another one that is well known. After hurricane katrina all those mighty scientists were predicting that it would get worse. Well hurricane season 2006 and 2007 proved to be a major disappointment. They way they were built up, I was sure the second coming of the apocalypse was about to wreak havoc on the Southern States of America.

But I have no doubt that there are other cyclic weather patterns that we or any of our esteemed and eminent scientists have any ideas of yet.

China are experiencing their coldest ever weather recorded in almost 100 years. Australia are recording their warmest in almost the same timeframe. Suffering a drought hitherto unknown of since the 1900’s!

There is no doubt that we should be more aware of our environment. Conserving energy, recycling, and careful waste management is something we should all be aware of as it makes sound sense and slightly reduces our dependance on natural resources. Which is no doubt a good thing.

As so far as pollution goes, I seriously doubt that any country in the Western World (excluding America & China) have seen or want to see a return to the days where in the first four decades of the 20th Century people in the major U.K. cities couldn’t see where they were walking because of the smog. Which of course led to ricketts and other nasty deformities. (The likes of which are rare now, in the Western world at least.)

I seriously doubt that pollution (industrial pollution) today is anything other than a fraction of what it was from 200 to 60 years ago unless you live in darkest China.

So to all tree huggers and the rest of us mere mortals I would advise following the mantra of the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It make sense.

Running around like chicken licken as the prophecy of doom makes no sense whatsoever at least until concrete evidence is available. All research that is being put forward now is only speculation and while I agree that it is important that attention should be given to this speculation, until the bigger picture is known then running around shouting that the sky is going to fall will only detract from the importance of any studies already underway.

And of course those studies are important. Seeing as the ball is rolling regarding climate change it is well worth finding out more.

For me the last great climatic calamity that we were all facing was in the late 1980’s and Acid Rain. Remember Acid Rain? Last time I saw a picture of Scandinavia the place was covered in forests! I was certain that Norway, Sweden and Finland would resemble something of a nuclear wasteland by now.

The simple truth (and not a very inconvenient truth) is that for the moment climate change as a topic is being blown out of all proportion. But needless to say it is still a topic that is well worth researching.

Excuse me now, I think an acorn just fell on my head.

Welcome John Mc! I agree that if there is a human element to the issue that technology will be the ultimate answer. I don’t think individual behaviour modification is going to be worth a squat though [the flea pissing in the ocean again]. What is the point of my driving a few miles less a week when 12 land highways in the States are packed to capacity every day? Why would my changing a lightbulb counteract the thousands of jet flights every day? I’m not a tree hugger, and I don’t have dreadlocks. But I do have a beard. Does that count? [actually - think of the megawatt hours I have saved in electric razor costs ]

Paddy - Welcome to you too! I agree that we have become overdependent on gadgets and gizmos, but you can’t expect me to give up my computer?? Surely not?? No blog??

Ian - You have hit a nail on the head. The Earth is going through a climate change. But then it has always been doing so. From the dawn of time, the climate has never remained static. We will probably be told in a hundred years time that mankind is driving the climate towards another ice-age. But I won’t be around then. So I don’t care!!

TT - I ought to slap you in the wrist for that, but Brianf can well look after himself. Did you know he’s a firearms expert?