My previous comments focused on hoofed animals (moose,) that are not normally domesticated, but you chose to twist that into an indictment against mankind for the food-animals that some have cultivated. Should you care to continue your research, I think you will find that wild animals (fervently protected by those most vocal about global warming,) are major contributors to the purported problem that was the genesis of this commentary.

In addition to wild mammals, I suggest you do a bit of reading about the massive emissions from insects such as termites and ants. Recent studies indicate that termites alone contribute more that 15% of all of earth’s greenhouse gas.

Now, before you take off on another tangent, please understand that my entire point in this ‘discussion’ was to respond to the fanatical lunacy that possesses so many, regarding mankind’s usage of fossil fuel as being the primary contributor to global warming. Yes, we might reduce some types of emissions if we revert to Conestoga wagons drawn by horses and if we all become vegetarians, but try eating a meal of beans and cucumbers tonight and find a horse stall to sleep in…and then see how much more earth-friendly your combined vapors are.

Bottom line…before we willingly flush our economy down the toilet by following the gospels of Al Gore, Michael Moore and John Edwards, let us look skyward to understand the real cause of the (cylical) warming trend that is currently visiting our planet because, (as we now know from the study that prompted Kyle to write this post,) the majority of scientists disagree with the teachings of Gore, Moore and Edwards.

Sleep well, Mr. Tedesco!

Agriculture is responsible for producing 37 percent of global methane emissions, a gas that is 23 times more potent than CO2 when it comes to global warming. And much of this gas comes from the burps of ruminating animals such as cows and sheep. If a cow’s manners could be improved a bit, then the world might just stop warming quite so fast. And it could be as simple as getting them to graze on different types of plants. Scientists at the University of Aberystwyth are now working on using plant-breeding methods to develop new diets for livestock.

Across the world, people have increasingly turned to meat-rich diets — in fact methane concentrations have increased by around 100 percent since 1900.

Or take this piece from a recent Christian Science Monitor

As Congress begins to tackle the causes and cures of global warming, the action focuses on gas-guzzling vehicles and coal-fired power plants, not on lowly bovines.

Yet livestock are a major emitter of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. And as meat becomes a growing mainstay of human diet around the world, changing what we eat may prove as hard as changing what we drive.

What is sophomoric is to think you can defuse an entire scientific debates with one silly headline.

Mr. Tedesco, do you realize how sophomoric is your response? Or were you just soporific?

I am confused, the font in the comment stream is the same typeface and pointsize as the font of the posts. What browswer are you using? What OS? I have not checked the site with every combo…

Also, regarding the hooved animal comment, it is arguable that that they could still be considered man made polutants. Hear me out. The mose numerous hooved mammals are most certainly pigs and bovines, which are domesticated for our consumption. This domestication has changed drastically over the past 50 years or so with the introduction of factory farming. Without human influence cows would have died off long ago, now they outnumber us.

Just a thought.

You say vitriole, I say vitriol. In this, as in our global warming perceptions, I think that I will be proven correct. But since you seem open minded enough accept the truth if given exposure to it, I urge you to follow up on your promise to check out the BBC documentary.

Regarding Gore: No, I don’t feel that he is particularly vitriolic, although many of his followers clearly are. Actually, I think that Gore is a mediocre intellect, tossed into a position of prominance by luck of birth. His book and film deal predominantly with innuendo, scare tactics and reliance upon purported experts. The reason todays news of the vanishing concensus of scientists (about global warming,) is importatnt, is that the ‘concensus’ was the only thing that the activists had going for them in their crusade against man-made pollutions.

Last week, Norwegian scientists reported that hoofed animals emit more green-house gas in a years time, than does the average automobile. Their example showed that the average moose (presumable this means all moose, not just Norwegian moose,) through belches, burps and farts is roughly equivalent to a car driven 13000 kilometers. See: http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,501145,00.html

Who knows what additional discoveries await those with an inquiring mind? Maybe we will even find that the SUN might have some influence on our climate?

That’s it, Kyle. I will check in periodically to see if you report on your reaction to the BBC’s Global Warming Swindle…and to make sure Mr. Tedesco has enabled a readable font in this comment stream.

:}

Well, of course vitriole and antagonism appears from one side or the other more clearly. To your credit, as the global warming folks are the proactive part of the debate, and the antis are the receivers, it could seem that way. But from day to day I see a whole helluva lot of people getting pretty vicious in the anti climate change speech.

Further, I did want to ask. Are you applying this vitriole to Gore himself? I’m curious, I don’t recall him doing that, other than Bush, and you won’t find much Bush sympathy here, sorry bout that, just the nature of the beast I guess.

As for the documentary, I’ll check it out.

It is interesting that you reference “vitriol on both sides.” Perhaps I’m guilty of occasionally allowing one or both of my eyes to blink…but I’ve failed to witness true vitriol from more than one side. Ridicule from some perhaps (myself included,) when a squeaky voice proclaims that there is no evil in the world, except for people who drive SUVs…oh yes…and George Bush.

BTW, the forced-font in this comment box is too small. Going to go recline in my SUV now…and rest my eyes.

Al Gore, and I’ve read both his most recent book and watched his movie on Global Warming, and you know, i think he is unfairly vilified. It is true that he is something of an alarmist, however, it is also clear that he has done his homework on the issue, and he keeps his own vitriole to a very small minority, usually high level players in Washington, and in Corporations, both of whom I really can’t feel particularly sympathetic towards.

At this point, I think it would behoove us to take the information that is provided, and if need be, attempt to assimilate that information outside of the message in which it is wrapped up in. Both works by Gore are crammed with good information, and it would be a shame to let it go to waste (though I warn you that Assault on Reason does levy some severe charges on the Bush administration).

Whether you think tax credit or tax increases is a matter for the wonks, as far as I’m concerned. What I do think is essential though is that the free market needs to test its mettle here.

Anyway, thanks for the comment, sorry the reply wasn’t very coherent, I got hijacked midway through by a bunch of other people.

The problem with mainstream GW zealots is that they are not satisfied with the call for voluntary support of environmentally-friendly technologies and lifestyles. Instead, they want to bludgeon those who are not appreciative of their particular shade of green. They want to shame others into paying for their guilt, with carbon-offset credits or worse, to impose taxes for the sins of purported polluters.

Al Gore is expanding his fortune by selling his ‘credits’. John Edwards uses the fallacy to breathe life into his faltering run for the Presidency even while he drives his own SUV. Scum-bag politicians of both parties use GW paranoia to frighten the populace into giving up their freedoms of choice and to cough up more of their money in forced support of ill-conceived solutions.

By all means, live GREEN. Recycle, be LIBERAL in your conservation of the earth’s resources…but do not attempt to force half-baked ‘solutions’ on the citizenry, until you have solutions that do more good than harm. Check out the overall footprint of your hybrid car. Is it’s manufacture, use and ultimate disposal really less polluting than your neighbor’s SUV? You might be surprised.

Regardless of the truth or fiction behind global warming theories, let us address the issue of clean energy with something that might actually work, instead of just lining the pockets of scammers. Let’s get behind an initiative to provide tax-credits to those who invest in promising new technologies, such as effective use hydrogen. power.