Swake, people who are absolutely convinced their actions are contributing to AGW need to start acting on it if they feel so strongly instead of sitting around blathering about it. The the most irritating part of it is the people I personally know who talk loudest about AGW lead the least sustainable lifestyles. Start walking, riding your bike, and taking public transit, buy an electric car. Install wind and solar power on your house. Grow/raise as much of your own food as possible.
I believe there is climate change, in fact, most educated people do. The climate has always changed and evolved on earth. I believe some of it, such as heat islands, are most definitely the result of human activity. It’s impossible to believe that there hasn’t been some change to the overall climate since the start of the industrial revolution purely based on increased emissions and waste BTU’s going into the atmosphere.
Here’s where I depart from your dogma: Panic and outright lies induced by forced conclusions and political agendas for power and monetary gain.
What public transit would that be...??
Don't forget simple things like caulking windows and doors, etc. That is something literally anyone can do for very little money and in the overall scheme of things would have at least as much impact as some of the other "bigger" things. Add some insulation to the attic if one has a slightly higher level of 'mechanical' skills. Add storm windows. Change old windows to new efficient windows. Change A/C to more efficient unit. The costs go up, but so do the benefits. Well, except for the A/C thing....if you currently have unit that works properly, it will always be less expensive total than replacing with a more efficient unit - but if it's broke and ya gotta buy one anyway, well swing for the fences! Get the highest SEER you can!! Even a 14 will provide visible results on your bill.
There are huge things that can be done, but our "deregulate everything" mentality won't force the issue and the companies involved claim "cost effective". Very large, highly visible one is something talked about here before - losses in power transmission lines! About 1/3 of the total power generated is lost in sending it from the generator to the next place in line. Bigger conductors would have a cost - long term capital expense versus direct deduction today, so we gotta change the tax structure for this one. Cutting losses by half would mean a much longer time until new power plant is needed, and how many $$ billion per plant?
And yeah, solar is NOW - not some nebulous time in the future - NOW - cost competitive with coal fired power plant capital costs. And wind is obviously right there with it - especially for higher cost areas like west of here.
...forced conclusions and political agendas for power and monetary gain...
Funny, but I agree completely - and it's big oil that has controlled the agenda for a hundred years - just ask Jim Inhofe who he is beholden to! And coal before and during most of that. What is even "funnier" (as in bizarrely strange, warped, and twisted....) is that so many can't see that, or just deny it...