Bill Nye the Science Guy joins Ed to discuss the wild fires in Colorado and weird weather and climate change. Watch as Bill points out "of the last 16 years, 17 have been the hottest ever."
"Man did not weave the web of life---he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself." ----Chief Seattle 1854
Rachel Carson, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jacques Cousteau, Sylvia Earle,
John James Audubon, Chico Mendez, Theodore Roosevelt, Diann Fossey, just a few of the voices throughout history who have warned our leaders of the dangers of not taking care of the earth, some of them even killed for their activism.
I remember when I visited Walden Pond near Concord Mass, just being in awe of the wilderness and its beauty and fragility. If you mess with any part of it, you mess with all of it, like Chief Seattle said. We did not inherit the earth, we are borrowing it from our grandchildren.
The Bible even speaks and warns us about not taking care of the earth. You'd think that might be enough for some but apparently not.
I remember the speech that Dr. Sylvia Earle gave before Congress last year during the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. It was so profound. Yet how many were really listening?
They listen to the men with money now that is all. Nothing else exists. Nothing else matters. It is now up to us, the citizenry to save ourselves. They have set us on a course of danger, disaster, and destruction. As long as they are making a profit, it matters not how many people die, how many species die out, or anything else. They are without a conscience or morals. Get it all and get it now, the country be damned, the earth be damned.
There is no gray area here, none whatsoever. It's us against them. We have to lead the charge and never let up. We have to elect leaders who have a conscience and a soul. I fear there are only a handful of them left. The earth is warning us each and every day. It is not too late.
Mr. Fargo
7/3/2012 1:45:38 PM
Clean Green Renewable American Energy.............that is the answer!!!!!!!
miblue
7/3/2012 12:22:36 PM
Thermodynamic law tells us that burning 4 energy units of coal to produce 3 energy units of atmospheric waste heat and 1 energy unit of electricity to power an air conditioner is fundamentally illogical - thermocide. The deniers conveniently consider the control volume as the entire atmosphere and dismiss impacts as natural variations. On a personal level, consider producing electricity with a portable engine generator set in your basement to power the home air conditioner. I can assure you that the lower the temperature is set the higher the temperature will be. On a national level, the electric industry must have the generating capacity to satisfy the demand at 2 pm in the afternoon on the hottest day in mid July each year to meet A/C demand when the sun is beating down on us. The impacts of solar panels on urban and rural homes and all commercial buildings to meet air conditioning energy needs would be dramatic. Air conditioning represents 25% of residential and 40% of commercial electrical use. Keep burning that coal, oil, gas and splitting the atom to boil water and see where that gets you.
Rob, Oregon
7/3/2012 12:11:00 PM
I agree ron. The earth is talking, we aren't listening. I remember as a child the occasional big wildfire in some state. Now it is routine every year all over the globe. Just a couple degrees in temperature rise can do us in. It doesn't take that much to alter the precious balance, and change life as we know it for quite a long time. Greenland's melting is about to the point of no return. The U.K. Guardian reports:
"The revelation comes as a new report points out that greenhouse gas emissions running into hundreds of millions of tonnes have not been disclosed by Britain's biggest businesses, masking the full extent of the UK's contribution to global warming. According to a report by Christian Aid, only 16 of Britain's top 100 listed companies are meeting the government's most elementary reporting guidelines on greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, almost 200m tonnes of damaging CO2 is estimated to be missing from the annual reports of FTSE 100 companies. The figure is more than the annual reported emissions of Pakistan and Greece combined."
The U.S. and the Brits, two peas in a pod.
ron mariposa
7/3/2012 11:45:34 AM
I am waiting for the pager I carry to go off for me and others to go on either local wildland fires or go out on an in state strike team. We have had a 1700 acre fire and it only lasted 8 hours which was 200 acres per hour. We here in centeral california mountains are being told we are in the bulls eye for fire this year. We havent had enough rain or snow to raise the moisture content in our vegetation and this is what is happening country wide. When this happens not only do the fuels burn hotter and faster, but it allows the pest to kill more as the trees cant heal themselves. It isnt just about the heatwave it is about what lack of wet weather. Fuels explode as fire moves because of the extrem heat for the burning fuels make their own weather, and the heat moves ahead of the flame front, dries the unburnt fuel more and then that fuel explodes hotter and we have colorado.... I just wish the dems and the people who are sounding the alarm on this issue would not say gobal warming, but gobal climate change. Most of the dummies who deny this have no idea of how our weather system works. The north pole srinks that nice fresh water delutes the ocean in the atlantic which changes the weather patterns and really cools weather and we have a mini ice age which will destroy midwest farmers and cost billions and trillions for all of us...The right owes the fossil fuel people so much how can they admit to the fact we are killing mother earth. I say HELL HATH NO FURY LIKE A WOMAN SCORNED. and we have scorned mother earth and she will get her revenge on human kind...
just my humble views
Rob, Oregon
7/3/2012 11:35:44 AM
By the end of the century, the Pacific is projected to be five feet higher on the coast than it is now. Do you have any idea the havoc that would cause? Hawaii is already losing some prime beach front. Surfs up dude....way up. The repubs, well, they still deny it. Perhaps they have some 'no bid' contractors lined up already to move the entire coast inland, and split the profits.
miblue
7/3/2012 10:32:14 AM
Global warming deniers should be given a fire suit and the opportunity to eat some smoke. Perhaps they will come to their senses. Science is true whether you believe it or not. Peace.
Pat, Grand Lake Co
7/3/2012 8:44:15 AM
I saw this segment with "the science guy." When Ed asked him if he thought global warming was real, the science guy says yes, and that's not just my opinion, that's science! duhhhhh! This really and truly is the issue of all times and we must pay attention. Read a good editorial in the Washington Post about the massive, not forcasted storms that wrecked havoc in nearly half the country. At the end of the piece, the author notes the opposition to the push for solar and wind energy. If the research had been done and the costs brought into line, so many of those affected by the storm with no power, would have solar panels on their homes and air conditioning on those hot, humid days following the storms... just sayin.
TAX THE RICH and let's get serious about global warming..... nothing else is this important... also heard there are problems with new subway stations in NYC because water table is rising.. duh!
