Only here could a guy get twelve grand to paint one line. Granted it's a long, jagged line, but it's just a line, and a suspect one at that. Professor Gore and his cohorts would have you believe that there is no debate on global warming, that it's riding on the horizon like the four horsemen of the apocalypse and all but a done deal. But one needs to only look at the frequency and rapidity of new articles and theories on the issue to see that the debate is far from over. Indeed, millions if not billions will be spent over the next several years to study the impact of humans on the earth and our climate. I guess somebody's got to pay the salaries of the academics that are sure to argue and counter each other for the next 20 years. But here in Santa Barbara, you can get the city to pay you for your theories, and it pays pretty well.The Light Blue Line folks applied for and received a grant from our city for $12,000 American dollars to paint a blue line across streets and sidewalks that purports to delineate where the waterline would be if global warming melts all the ice on Greenland (if all the ice on Greenland was in danger of melting).
Twelve grand! For a line! I love the idea. In fact it has inspired in me several new ideas for lines across our city. The front runner would be what I call the Amnesty line. Here we would draw a line around the middle of Montecito, effectively shrinking the size of that burg. The line would show what would happen if the Bush/Kennedy Amnesty bill went through, or if it ever came up again. Hispanic presence in the city of Santa Barbara would grow, their neighborhoods on the east side would expand, and the areas of town affected by gang violence would begin to encroach into the peaceful streets of the town that Oprah calls home. Scary, isn't it? I should note this is a two-color line, half green and half red, and the extra color is probably going to run the city another six grand, so let's call it 18 all day.
I know Santa Barbara has gone very green; I've commented on it here. But trying to do what seems right (paper or, uh, paper sir?) is different than taking a definitive political stance on an incomplete science. Public money for political art crosses a line akin to the mix of church and state. Let's hope that that line never gets blurred.
26 comments:
I started to write a comment that addressed the claims you made. But I realized that there's no point. Like other fanatics, religious and political, you are immune to reason.
There is no debate about whether global warming is happening. There is some debate about how much human activity is a cause of it. Where are your sources for disputing these claims?
Perhaps the millions of bean-eating illegal immigrants are the cause? Yes, that makes me feel good to believe. So, it must be true.
I just hope that people like you will eventually lose out to those who try (at least) to be reasonable. Unfortunately, the history of this country, both recent and long-term, doesn't give me much hope.
Dario, thank you for your comments. I don't believe, however, that I made any claims in this post. I merely ranted about the city's $12K grant to a guy who wants to draw a blue line on the street. My point is, can't the $12K be used in a better way? Like to curb the gang violence? Or to help the homeless get off the street? You insinuate that I believe that illegal immigrants are the cause of global warming, but you don't recognize my inherent disconnect. Just because one paragraph is about warming and the next paragraph is about illegal immigration does not mean I am tying a line between the two. I know it's tough, but please try to keep up.
Are you blaming "Hispanics" now for global warming and sea level rise??
Wanting a rational and fair debate on immigration policy is needed and proper, but jabs like that just negates the few relevant points you do make time to time.
Should readers lump that all with a spin that global warming still is a controversy??
Any Reasonable Reader would read that you are linking immigration or an ethnic group with sea level rise, despite your after-the-fact denial here.
Who is to say if $12K from the city General Fund could be spent in a better way?? Those deciders were elected to decide, and they did in a vote that passed 6-1.
David, please. Re-read my post. Just like 70 something percent of Americans thought Iraq was responsible for 9/11, you folks are trying to connect two dots that are not there. I never even insinuated that Hispanics are responsible for sea level rise. It's a ridiculous notion. So I have to disagree with you. Reasonable readers should be able to jump around with me. Unreasonable readers end up getting stuck on the first image they get and carry it with them into the second image, believing them to be related without re-reading and clarifying.
As for who is to say about the $12K, well, I get to say it, right here. I think the $12K could have been better spent than on 100 gallons of blue paint. We all got robbed on that one.
refreshing to read your blog. Didn't take long for Mr. Pritchett to find it and wax his self-righteous self....
...this town needs the ability for everyone--not just the self-aggrandizing so-called progressives--- to express the rising tide of disgust at the antics of this city council and other "leaders"
I think the Blue Line is a great idea. Reminds people that our City is not ammune to the changes our planet is experiencing.
The debate on Climate change is to how bad it really is and if we have any chance in hell to reverse a good portion of our damage. It is not about whether it exists or not.
I think the "reports" you are reading are the ones sponsored by Exxon or the Heritage Foundation.
Ha! Your post - especially your verde/rojo line suggestion - brought a smile to this American-Mexican girl's face. In a good way. :)
What is it with SB's goofy (in a bad way) - and expensive - art projects? sheesh. Perhaps we should start requiring candidates to submit images of their ideas of good art to give us citizens a kinda fair chance at what litters, er, uh, enhances our city's artscape.
(I know your post was exploring more than just the art aspect, but, if you'll excuse me, I don't really feel like masticating it right now.)
cheerio.
Professor Gore's cohorts include nearly ever climate scientist in the world. The ability of ExxonMobil to pay for ads, and the fact that ignoramuses like yourself will "debate" the issue, says nothing about the facts of anthropogenic global warming, which are spelled out in peer-reviewed journals.
if all the ice on Greenland was in danger of melting
All the ice on Greenland is in danger of melting, at a far faster rate than previously thought. From Jim Hansen of NASA:
"A satellite study of the Greenland ice cap shows that it is melting far faster than scientists had feared - twice as much ice is going into the sea as it was five years ago. The i
mplications for rising sea levels - and climate change - could be dramatic.
Yet, a few weeks ago, when I - a NASA climate scientist - tried to talk to the media about these issues following a lecture I had given calling for prompt reductions in the emission of greenhouse gases, the NASA public affairs team - staffed by political appointees from the Bush administration - tried to stop me doing so. I was not happy with that, and I ignored the restrictions. The first line of NASA 's mission is to understand and protect the planet.
This new satellite data is a remarkable advance. We are seeing for the first time the detailed behavior of the ice streams that are draining the Greenland ice sheet. They show that Greenland seems to be losing at least 200 cubic kilometers of ice a year. It is different from even two years ago, when people still said the ice sheet was in balance.
Hundreds of cubic kilometers sounds like a lot of ice. But this is just the beginning. Once a sheet starts to disintegrate, it can reach a tipping point beyond which break-up is explosively rapid. The issue is how close we are getting to that tipping point. The summer of 2005 broke all records for melting in Greenland. So we may be on the edge.
Our understanding of what is going on is very new. Today's forecasts of sea-level rise use climate models of the ice sheets that say they can only disintegrate over a thousand years or more. But we can now see that the models are almost worthless. They treat the ice sheets like a single block of ice that will slowly melt. But what is happening is much more dynamic.
Once the ice starts to melt at the surface, it forms lakes that empty down crevasses to the bottom of the ice. You get rivers of water underneath the ice. And the ice slides towards the ocean.
Our NASA scientists have measured this in Greenland. And once these ice streams start moving, their influence stretches right to the interior of the ice sheet. Building an ice sheet takes a long time, because it is limited by snowfall. But destroying it can be explosively rapid.
How fast can this go? Right now, I think our best measure is what happened in the past. We know that, for instance, 14,000 years ago sea levels rose by 20m in 400 years - that is five meters in a century. This was towards the end of the last ice age, so there was more ice around. But, on the other hand, temperatures were not warming as fast as today.
How far can it go? The last time the world was three degrees warmer than today - which is what we expect later this century - sea levels were 25m higher. So that is what we can look forward to if we don't act soon. None of the current climate and ice models predict this. But I prefer the evidence from the Earth's history and my own eyes. I think sea-level rise is going to be the big issue soon, more even than warming itself.¨
OK folks, calm down. What we have is a "warming globe" not "global warming" caused by people, cows maybe, but not people. If you really want to be informed I suggest you read "Solar Rain" by Mitch Battros. He is NOT affiliated with "Big Oil" or the scientific community. He has no agenda except the facts. These facts may frighten you and, for some, confirm your suspicions about "your" govenment having "your" best interests at heart.
If you can't be bothered with learning the truth for yourself and are content to parrot the politically correct "you are the problem" party line, go ahead. But try just one simple exercise first. Watch the Weather Channel for a while and note the "record high" and "record low" temperature years. What you will see is that there are definite cycles of years of warming and years of cooling. DUH, the Earth has cycles, always has, always will. Oh, and about that melting Greenland glacier.... why do you think it was called Greenland, uh maybe because under that glacier is an ancient conifer forest... I'm just sayin'....buy the lie or find your own truth...it's out there.
This whole brouhaha reminds me of the '70's when the "cause celebre" was global cooling and the coming Ice Age.
Scary, isn't it?
I find racists a lot more scary than growing Latino presence in Santa Barbara.
What we have is a "warming globe" not "global warming" caused by people
What we have is an ignorant moron talking out of his hat. We do have global warming caused by people, as the scientific studies and data indicate.
This whole brouhaha reminds me of the '70's when the "cause celebre" was global cooling and the coming Ice Age.
This is a favorite right wing talking point, and like most such talking points it's disinformation. Science never supported global cooling or a coming Ice Age -- that was newspapers misinterpreting one or two studies, as they are wont to do. Today, the media's role is to invent "scientific controversy" where there is none.
If you can't be bothered with learning the truth for yourself and are content to parrot
As you do by presenting a single person, "Mitch Battros", as the source of all valid knowledge, with a self-contradictory claim that he has no agenda, and touting his lack of connection to the scientific community as a positive. There's nothing so "politically correct" these days as to deny global warming and to denigrate science.
But try just one simple exercise first. Watch the Weather Channel for a while and note the "record high" and "record low" temperature years. What you will see is that there are definite cycles of years of warming and years of cooling. DUH
The last 10 years are the warmest years on record. That there are cycles doesn't change the fact that the globe is warming -- as you noted yourself. DUH.
Oh, and about that melting Greenland glacier.... why do you think it was called Greenland
There's a line, well known to people who aren't idiots and ignoramuses, that Iceland is green and Greenland is icy. Regardless of what it is called, it's covered with ice and that ice is melting. DUH.
uh maybe because under that glacier is an ancient conifer forest
If so, that forest is dead. But so what if there is? That doesn't change the facts about ice melt. DUH.
... I'm just sayin'....buy the lie or find your own truth...it's out there.
Why should anyone buy what you're selling, when you are so obviously retarded? Here's what Mitch Battros is selling:
"Mayans Predict Imminent Earth Changes"
http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/aug4/mayans.htm
"The Third Secret Of Fatima Revealed"
http://www.greatdreams.com/secrets.htm
JQB is an infamous schoolyard name-caller, the kind of kid who picked fights but never had to fight them because he had "My Bodyguard" there to beat down Matt Dillon.
His hatred of the right, and apparently his hatred of retards, clouds his judgement every time he comments here or anywhere else. I suggest you volunteer some of your time with the Special Olympics kids, JQB, so as to quell your feelings of animosity toward those sweet, helpless individuals with disabilities.
Is the BLUE LINE going to be high tide or low tide? ...winter high tide or summer low tide? ...makes a big difference about where to put that line (assuming of course that we know exactly how much of the ice is going to melt).
Hey, I got into plenty of fights in the schoolyard when I was a kid, and I have no problem calling anonymous a "moron". By the way, the names of Greenland and Iceland where swapped some 400 years ago to deter pirates from raiding Iceland, which is really green (and Greenland is all ice).
...inquiring minds want to know: which City Councilmember will be painting the portion of the blue line that goes on the 101? are nominations being taken?
I love it! Most excellent humor to see how Dario's head-in-the-sand claim that there is no debate on Global Warming set off a debate on Global Warming right before his eyes!! Wait, he has eyes doesn't he? By the way, to set everyone straight, the debate isn't over whether or not the globe is warming - yes scientists agree on that, what they don't agree on is that humankind and industry even have anything to do with it. And believe it or not, there are scientists on both sides of the issue - the un-heard from side just didn't make a propaganda movie about it. Oh and just for the record, in the 40's there was a panic about Global Cooling, and oh yes in the year 2000 all the computers were going to freak and the world was going to end remember that hysteria?
Here's a couple links, if anyone is open-minded enough to stray from the masses:
http://mysite.verizon.net/mhieb/WVFossils/ice_ages.html
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/07/06/greenland_ice_yields_hope_on_climate/
For those too lazy to point click and read, it basically tells you that the Earth has been through these cooling warming cycles before - 6 ice ages before the wheel was even invented. It's kinda like the Dow Jones Average - It goes up and down. So theres your debate Dario.
To all who thought the Blueline was a great idea - tell me how exactly does a blue line cools the earth? Like blind monkeys we fools need some blue line to be made "aware" of the problem when we can't go five feet without some ignorant maniac Chicken Little screaming about it? Help me.
Sorry Dario - I re-read your post and you are correct, the debate is not over the fact the Globe is warming, the debate is on whether human activity has anything to do with it.
Reading a little further it cracks me up that someone thinks that "Big Oil" is financing the debate on the side that this Global Warming is a huge hoax. Does Al Gore now have more money than "Big Oil" because he seems to be winning the debate amongst the paranoid pot smoking blind monkeys. Maybe that's because they all shell out big bucks reading his books and seeing his propaganda movie. Al Gore now has more persuasive power than Big Oil!
Oh and the not wanting Mexicans to take over our country = racist equation is always good for a laugh too. I believe the correct term is Nationalist. There are a huge number of legal Hispanic Americans that are citizens that nobody is asking to leave. So enough of the "racist" name calling, because we don't want Mexico's rejects here, nor do we wish the United States to start looking like Mexico, with it's corruption, crime and poverty. The "racist" thing doesn't intimidate anyone anymore, it just plain doesn't work and shows your own ignorance JGB!
I see the links were truncated so here they are again in two lines:
JQB mentioned the "scientists in Greenland, well this article shows some Scientists in Greenland that discovered DNA evidence that the melting has occurred before:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/
2007/07/06/
greenland_ice_yields_hope_on_climate/
http://mysite.verizon.net/mhieb/WVFossils/
ice_ages.html
But this evidence and scientific fact is obviously made up by "BIG OIL" (as opposed to propaganda made up by "BIG AL"?)
A question for those who aren't concerned that the Greenland ice sheet will melt ... How do you feel about the time when cities were polluting our rivers and companies and government organizations were dumping chemicals into the ground? How do you feel about the impact that those practices had ... the people who were sickened and the cleanup costs that we have paid and are still paying?
Do you wish, as I do, that we had taken action earlier to stop the pollution and the dumping? If so, what is your problem with taking action now to reduce our emission of greenhouse gases?
If, on the other hand, you still see no point in taking such action, I have one further question ...
Do you buy fire insurance on your house? If so, why? Why not just save the premium and hope your house doesn't burn down? That's what you're proposing we do about global warming, isn't it?
Umm , to keep it simple Milt, no.
We just don't believe like you do that we are causing it or that there is anything we can do to stop it. We can't move the Earth away from the Sun for example. This is a temporary warming that eventually will reverse into cooling. Geez try reading what I said. We are looking at a small snapshot in the Earth's temerature. It naturally goe UP and then it goes DOWN. Right now it is going UP. We are not paranoid alarmists that believe everything they see in a movie like you are. Try to keep up.
Milt - To keep to the topic, even if we did believe we could do something about Global Warming, I think even you will agree that painting a blue line through the city is not "taking action to stop it". How exactly does painting a blue line help stop global warming? Technically it makes it worse, by increasing the amount of heat reflected off the Earth, the heat that used to be absorbed is now reflected back into the sky by the blue paint. Other than that, all it is is a symbolic attempt to make people "aware" of the problem. You would have to have been living in a cave not to be "aware" of the problem, you guys have all been whining about it so much. Also, even if you did believe a blue line can help stop Santa Barbara from emitting "greenhouse gases" then what are you going to do about China?
To compare this with pollution is not the same, since pollution is something that has an obvious and manageable cause. If you believe as I do that eccentricities in the Earth's orbit and Sun intensity are a more likely and significant cause of Warming than the so called "greenhouse effect" and you discover a way to move the orbit of the Earth or control changes in intensity from the Sun, I will be right behind you trying to do something about it. Short of that, we don't need to be spending exorbitant resources making people "aware" that the temperature of the Earth is going UP because as it has done that since the beginning of time. There have been six scientifically verifiable meltings of ice (warming cycles) and subsequent coolings of the Earth's ice - they are called Ice Ages. Study science, study history. This is natural and nothing new. When you study science and don't just believe what you hear, then you won't think this is the most important issue on Earth, and you will realize that anti- Global Warming is an industry and movement that is also Anti-Capitalism and Anti- United States, which takes advantage of "useful idiots" that believe everything they hear..
Personally, I'm more concerned about the world than I am about the Earth. There are other things (geo-political) that will get us first if we don't pay attention to other issues with more priority. For example, unsafe uninspected unregulated trucks from Mexico being allowed to roam freely across the border. How does that increase the safety of the United States? Sounds like a great way to help smuggling of everything from illegal immigrants to drugs to terrorists while decreasing the safety of our freeways. Much more urgent and immediate than a natural temperature rise we can do little about. I'm not suggesting the City has business spending time on that either, but hey why not? We seem to have global issue envy. This Mayor and Council are too important and "right" to be limited to City Hall.
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