Global Warming's New Math

[Ian Livingston]

Excellent summary and response, Monte. Thanks for that. Helps put the
article into perspective. Yes, given what you say here, denial would be the
normal response. I once worked with a young fellow who, whenever he broke
something would say, "It's not my fault! I'm not responsible!" After
hearing this enough times, we edited his punctuation for him, eliminating
the first full stop.

On Sun, Jul 22, 2012 at 11:31 AM, Monte Davis <montedavis at verizon.net>wrote:

> The core argument, without caveats and qualifications:
>
> 1) From Kyoto through Copenhagen, a 2 degree C. global increase has been
> widely accepted as a threshold we really don't wanna cross;
> 2) We can calculate how much more fossil-fuel burning will get us there;
> 3) Current proven reserves held by energy co's and nation/companies are
> about *six times* that  amount;
> 4) The stock price of energy companies (and the credit-worthiness of Saudi
> Arabia, Venezuela, USA states fracking their shale, et al) is tightly
> correlated with their reserves. Ergo, any combination of policies/actions
> that would be effective in keeping the increase under 2 degrees would in
> effect say to all those parties: "Five-sixths of that collective asset just
> became worthless." (Yeah, I know, coal & oil & gas are also feedstocks for
> polymers, fertilizers etc, but at this level that's a detail. Yeah,  I
> know,
> CO2 capture & sequestration is possible -- but do the math, and it would
> require infrastructure -- and expenditure -- on the same scale as all
> today's pipelines and refineries and tankers and coal trains.)
>
> Some of you are no doubt saying "duhh," but it snapped my head around even
> though I've been reading McKibben & co for a long time. It's the difference
> between a handwaved "the fossil-fuel industry can't keep growing in future
> decades as it has for the last century or two"... and saying to that
> industry, the world's largest: "five-sixths of the biggest asset investors
> recognize in you *right now* is a mirage." That makes it much easier to
> understand the fervor of denial.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On
> Behalf
> Of Dave Monroe
> Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2012 9:35 PM
> To: pynchon -l
> Subject: Global Warming's New Math
>
>
> http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-mat
> h-20120719
>
>


-- 
"Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all creeds
the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the trust in
reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments of darkness
groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates than the simplest
urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant
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