Pretty cool Ken. 42 years is a long time! I did not know that MSU was once an A&M school...though I was aware there were some that once were A&M's and changed their names and a few that have kept the A&M as part of their names.
I actually applied there in 1999 at MSU and was accepted for my masters degree. But ended up going to Fargo, North Dakota to attend NDSU. Though my degrees were in plant science and agronomy both of them were focused on weed science of which MSU has a good program.
Climate Change - Continued
https://screen.yahoo.com/consensus-100-percent-scientists-agree-120049733.html
The New Consensus: 100 Percent Of Scientists Agree That Global Warming ‘Stopped’ Or ‘Slowed Down’
The Obama administration and environmental groups have long claimed 97 percent of scientists agree that human activity is causing the Earth to warm, but there’s a new consensus they may be less willing to acknowledge. Using the same methodology as the vaunted “97 percent” paper by researcher John Cook, two climate scientists have made a bold discovery: virtually all climate scientists agree that global warming has “stopped” or “slowed down” in recent years. Scientists Patrick Michaels and Chip Knappenberger from the libertarian Cato Institute wrote, “We didn’t find a single paper on the topic that argued the rate of global warming has not slowed (or even stopped) in recent years.” Of the 100 papers identified by Michaels and Knappenberger, 65 had nothing to do with recent global temperature trends — which is typical of papers written before 2010. The remaining 35 papers used by the Cato scientists all acknowledged in someway a “hiatus, pause, or slowdown in global warming was occurring.”
Being a Master Gardener, I deal some with the Ag. departments at State.
The only A & M's, other than Texas A & M, are black institutions (at least here in the south and west). Oddly enough, LSU was originally an A & M like MSU and their correct name is Louisiana State University and A & M College. There is Southern University in New Orleans (black) and their official name is Southern University and A & M College. There is Florida A & M and there is Alabama A & M, both black schools. I think there may be an A & M in one of the universities in Oklahoma as well, but I don't remember the name (its not a name that would re readily recognized). Perhaps there are other universities that began as an A & M. I think the schools must be Land Grant Institutions or perhaps they all just happen to be Land Grant Institutions.
Ken
Here's a book recommendation: "The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels", by Alex Epstein. It's a new book and I'm only about half way through it, but I believe it's worth reading regardless of whether you accept or reject AGW. Epstein looks at energy, what it is and where it comes from, and makes a strong case that, if we want a decent--i.e., comfortable--life style, we have no choice but to continue using fossil fuels for the time being. His argument centers on the fact that fossil fuels currently comprise over 80% of our total energy expenditures and that we will have nothing to replace them with for several decades. He doesn't seem (so far, anyway) to reject the idea of AGW, he just points out that we really can't do much about it unless we choose a dramatic reduction in life style.
I think I said something like this before, so pardon my repetition, but driving a Prius or turning your thermostat down a few degrees is not even close to being a solution.
I hope to hear from a few of you on your thoughts on Epstein's book.
I completely agree that I don't see us making any real short term changes without dramatic reduction in lifestyle. Few Americans will be willing to do that, and who are we to tell the rest of the world to deny themselves the comfort we've enjoyed for decades?
It's every man/woman for themselves, guys! What else is new?
Ken
Just so happens the hole in the ozone layer is causing global cooling. At least hypothesized by some climate scientists as to the reason for the growing ice sheets and record cold temps in Antarctica. Maybe CFC's are a good thing and we shouldn't ban them? Ok just kidding here...
I think you are all right. I think it will be some time until alternative forms of energy production dominate oil or gas. But it is likely the alternative may have unintended consequences as well as in the case of nuclear. Hydrogen looks like the next breakthrough and fusion I think is still some way off.
drdawg--every man/woman for themselves?????
him/herself...........Just wait till you get old. That's the least of the mistakes you'll make.........LOL
Ken
drdawg--I wasn't criticizing your choice of words. I just wasn't sure how to interpret your comment with respect to climate change.
I can definitely relate, I'm old enough to have made plenty of misteaks, er mistakes.
No problem, Willy. I have a wife and long ago learned to take criticism in stride...........LOL I was also a dentist in my "past-life" and the one common comment all dentists hears is: "Nothing personal, Doc, but I hate dentists!". Nothing personal, huh?
I was simply responding to the post: "I completely agree that I don't see us making any real short term changes without dramatic reduction in lifestyle. Few Americans will be willing to do that, and who are we to tell the rest of the world to deny themselves the comfort we've enjoyed for decades? "
Ken
# 4 MSU 51 - Vandy 0
Read more: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1355326/#ixzz3JuQ5gVia
A sobering article regarding a Google energy effort:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/renewables/what-it-would-really-take-to-reverse-climate-change.
Like it or not, money truly is everything.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/growing-antarctic-ice-sheets-may-sparked-ice-age-133750917.html
"The origins of the last major ice age, which cloaked the Northern Hemisphere in colossal glaciers, might have had a surprising cause: the buildup of ice sheets on the other side of the planet, in Antarctica, researchers say....
At the end of the Pliocene epoch about 2.6 million years ago, ice sheets began covering Europe and North America. Since then, such ice sheets have regularly grown and shrunk more than 50 times, causing sea levels to rise and fall by more than 330 feet (100 meters)."
These stories of earths history are just fascinating. One thing is for sure...there have always been great changes on this earth...and to much greater degrees and extremes then anything we have seen. And they werent caused by humans...just something to think about. What caused those variations?
Sunspots. But then, what causes the sunspots to vary...?
How do we know ANYTHING about sunspot activity a million years ago? Hypotheses and theories are interesting, but then, there are scientific truths.
Ken