With his 90th birthday in July, a trip into space scheduled for later in the year and a new book out next month, 2009 promises to be an exciting time for James Lovelock. But the originator of the Gaia theory, which describes Earth as a self-regulating planet, has a stark view of the future of humanity. He tells Gaia Vince we have one last chance to save ourselves – and it has nothing to do with nuclear power
Your work on atmospheric chlorofluorocarbons led eventually to a global CFC ban that saved us from ozone-layer depletion. Do we have time to do a similar thing with carbon emissions to save ourselves from climate change?
Not a hope in hell. Most of the “green” stuff is verging on a gigantic scam. Carbon trading, with its huge government subsidies, is just what finance and industry wanted. It’s not going to do a damn thing about climate change, but it’ll make a lot of money for a lot of people and postpone the moment of reckoning. I am not against renewable energy, but to spoil all the decent countryside in the UK with wind farms is driving me mad. It’s absolutely unnecessary, and it takes 2500 square kilometres to produce a gigawatt – that’s an awful lot of countryside.
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What about work to sequester carbon dioxide?
That is a waste of time. It’s a crazy idea – and dangerous. It would take so long and use so much energy that it will not be done.
Do you still advocate nuclear power as a solution to climate change?
It is a way for the UK to solve its energy problems, but it is not a global cure for climate change. It is too late for emissions reduction measures.
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:54 am
climate change ? what a moron !!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....annel_page
goldieshouse.piczo.com
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:55 am
Interesting that Alex is posting things about this guy who BELIEVES global warming.
The Prophet of Climate Change: James Lovelock
At the age of eighty-eight, after four children and a long and respected career as one of the twentieth century’s most influential scientists, James Lovelock has come to an unsettling conclusion: The human race is doomed.
In Lovelock’s view, the scale of the catastrophe that awaits us will soon become obvious. By 2020, droughts and other extreme weather will be commonplace. By 2040, the Sahara will be moving into Europe, and Berlin will be as hot as Baghdad. Atlanta will end up a kudzu jungle. Phoenix will become uninhabitable, as will parts of Beijing (desert), Miami (rising seas) and London (floods). Food shortages will drive millions of people north, raising political tensions.
By 2100, Lovelock believes, the Earth’s population will be culled from today’s 6.6 billion to as few as 500 million, with most of the survivors living in the far latitudes — Canada, Iceland, Scandinavia, the Arctic Basin.
By the end of the century, according to Lovelock, global warming will cause temperate zones like North America and Europe to heat up by fourteen degrees Fahrenheit, nearly double the likeliest predictions of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations-sanctioned body that includes the world’s top scientists.
storky Reply:
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:02 am
IPCC forecasts are the most conservative estimates by the necessity for complete panel consensus. That is why the actual climate change is occurring faster than IPCC forecasts
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:39 am
The ANSWER is magnetism. look up ‘free energy magnet motors’.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:49 am
In essense, Lovelock says climate change is real, we’re fucked, so we might as well do nothing.
At age 90, why should he care? But my kids and I sure give a shit and are serious about mitigating the level of fuckage we suffer.
These past couple of years we’ve made excellent progress to that end. We’ve started replacing leaders who make things worse. Now we lead the parade and await the majority of leaders and corporations fall in behind us and enjoy the benefits.
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:52 am
Well at least someone else knows Global Warming is a scan besides me.
I think Al Gore knows it too, because he never fixes his house:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp
storky Reply:
January 23rd, 2009 at 3:16 pm
George Bush built the Crawford ranch in 1999 exclusively as a backdrop for his presidential campaign. It provided a showcase of technologies he never intended to promote. Instead, Bush encouraged laws and policies that were diametrically opposed to those environmentally responsible and energy efficient technologies demonstrated on the home.
Meanwhile, your argument about Al Gore not greening his home is outdated:
From the article
Gore Completes Renovations to Tenn. Home
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/…..-tenn-home
- – - – - -
. . . The former vice president has installed solar panels, a rainwater-collection system and geothermal heating. He also replaced all incandescent lights with compact fluorescent or light-emitting diode bulbs.
“Short of tearing it down and staring anew, I don’t know how it could have been rated any higher,” said Kim Shinn of the U.S. Green Building Council, which gave the house its second-highest rating for sustainable design. . .
- – - – - -
Are all of your posts this poorly researched?
storky Reply:
January 23rd, 2009 at 3:22 pm
George Bush built the Crawford ranch in 1999 exclusively as a backdrop for his presidential campaign. It provided a showcase of technologies he never intended to promote. Instead, Bush encouraged laws and policies that were diametrically opposed to those environmentally responsible and energy efficient technologies demonstrated on the home.
Meanwhile, your argument about Al Gore not greening his home is outdated:
From the article
Gore Completes Renovations to Tenn. Home
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/.....-tenn-home
- – - – - -
. . . The former vice president has installed solar panels, a rainwater-collection system and geothermal heating. He also replaced all incandescent lights with compact fluorescent or light-emitting diode bulbs.
“Short of tearing it down and staring anew, I don’t know how it could have been rated any higher,” said Kim Shinn of the U.S. Green Building Council, which gave the house its second-highest rating for sustainable design. . .
- – - – - -
Are all of your posts this poorly researched?
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Someone needs to kick Captain Planets ass.
January 23rd, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Scientists are the new priests, listen to what they say and believe it or the “gods” will punish you!!!
January 24th, 2009 at 11:57 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....annel_page
January 25th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Geothermal power! why must ye all ignore it!