Apocalyptic rants about what global warming will do to civilization have become so frequent it's hard to keep up, but CBS “Evening News” had a monumental one on June 19.
Mark Phillips reported an international study that said climate change could threaten the $662 billion international tourism industry – because rising sea levels and humidity will supposedly destroy monuments and sites like the Tower of London, the Eiffel Tower, the Parthenon and so on.
“[G]lobal warming may hasten the destruction of some of the world’s most treasured buildings and heritage sites,” warned Phillips.
Of course, Phillip neglected to tell viewers that some of the sites have already survived at least two changes in climate and a couple world wars.
The doom and gloom message of the CBS report was, “see them now” because “within 50 to 100 years, treasures that have lasted for centuries may look very different or not be there at all.”
Phillips even brought on an expert, May Cassar who argued that people will have to decide which monuments to save:
“The notion that we can save everything for all time is, I think, one that we have to seriously think about because it’s unrealistic – we cannot,” said May Cassar, director of the Centre for Sustainable Heritage.
Some of these structures that have been around since the 6th century B.C. and have survived the Medieval Optimum and the Little Ice Age as well as the two bloodiest wars in recorded civilization – World Wars I and II.
Yet, CBS worried they might not make it past the year 2100 because the earth is reportedly turning a bit warmer.
—Julia A. Seymour is an assistant editor for the Business & Media Institute.
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I was looking for a spot for
June 20, 2007 - 14:31 ET by mattmI was looking for a spot for this:
Look over the descriptions of the following two houses and see if you can tell one which belongs to an environmentalist.
HOUSE # 1: A 20-room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guesthouse all heated by gas. In ONE MONTH ALONE this mansion consumes more energy than the average American household in an ENTIRE YEAR. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs more than $2,400 per month. In natural gas alone (which last time we checked was a fossil fuel), this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not in a northern or Midwestern "Snow Belt," either. It's in the South.
HOUSE # 2: Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university, this house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on arid high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon under ground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Flowers and shrubs native to the area blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape.
HOUSE # 1 (20 room energy guzzling mansion) is outside of Nashville, Tenn. It is the abode of that renowned environmentalist (and filmmaker) Al Gore.
HOUSE # 2 (model eco-friendly house) is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas... also known as "the Texas White House," it is the private residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.
And it is true: http://www.snopes.co...
Hypocrisy in Action
June 20, 2007 - 15:13 ET by allanfExcellent post. The hypocrisy of the American Left is stupefying. There are two no finer examples than Al Gore, and John (two America’s – stay off my property) Edwards.
We see a very consistent pattern from the left. It functions as paternalistic “upper class” which wants to manage the lives of the “little” people for them. Full of ennui, elitism and class consciousness, people on the left see everything through a prism of class, race and privilege.
They have a fundamental lack of faith in the capabilities of individuals. Instead they believe only in their own ability to run a socialist state where they dole out rewards to the little people.
"The sky is falling! The
June 20, 2007 - 14:39 ET by Teamcheeser"The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"
Can we just call Al Gore "Chicken Little" from now on?
Seriously.
what if
June 20, 2007 - 15:22 ET by bsmarjWhat if a bullfrog had wings?
Oh wait that's from the DDT!
What if, what if....GEEEEZ!
Move the Eiffle Tower to CA
June 20, 2007 - 15:22 ET by Gary HallWell, just in case; seeing how it wonderfully it worked out last time the French gave us something (the Statue of Liberty - which we put out in the middle of a very humid ocean), why don't they just sent the Eiffel Tower to CA.
After all CA (well, southern CA) is expected shortly now to be doomed to dust by the forthcoming "perfect drought." Naturally enough it is to be caused, or exasperated, by man-made global warming.
This new era of exceptionally low humidity - much like the western mega-droughts that occurred between 900 and 1300 AD (caused by the campfires of native Americans for sure) would help preserve the Eiffle Tower for centuries to come. Besides, the soon to be Mexican State of CA will be counting on tourism $'s to survive.
if they sent the eiffel tower
June 20, 2007 - 17:07 ET by PKif they sent the eiffel tower to california they wouldn't have to repaint it cause the taggers would have it totally repainted in a week although with really weird color combinations.
from beatiful southern california (where all of the contracts have extra space for the signature.)
(done in spraycan you know.)
C
The Disciples of Algoreism ar
June 20, 2007 - 15:25 ET by Airforce_5_OThe Disciples of Algoreism are getting dumber everyday.
Next topic please.
Of all the apocolyptic warnin
June 20, 2007 - 15:45 ET by GalvanicOf all the apocolyptic warnings from the unhinged GW-Left, this one takes is one of the weirdest I've ever come across. Can't these people even do the math?
Let's say the seas rise 20 ft. --- which, by the way, is about 17 ft. higher than the latest IPCC estimate. How would that affect the Parthenon, which sits atop a bluff that overlooks the city of Athens?
What rubbish.
But if the GWers want to see an economic impact, let them impose a huge GW-tax or carbon-offset an jet fuel and gasoline for cars, and see what happens to the price of airline tickets.
"How would that affect t
June 20, 2007 - 16:47 ET by QueenMum"How would that affect the Parthenon, which sits atop a bluff that overlooks the city of Athens?"
I'd love to hear the answer to that question. It seems the GW alarmists are grasping at straws now; looking for any sort of "expert" who can dream up another catastrophy that "might" ensue as the earth's temperature rises a degree or so.
I don't really understand these greenies. I mean, I'm all for doing our best to keep nasty things out of the air and keeping our water supplies potable. I just can't see losing any sleep over whether or not a manmade monument will survive some sort of projected disaster. Really. Most disastrous events are acts of God and are out of the control of man. It's ludicrous to expend the time and energy trying to figure out how to save these monuments in the event of a global disaster that is nothing but conjecture. And these people somehow expect me to believe that they're so smart? I don't think so.
We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat. - Queen Victoria
And the MSM wonders why it's
June 20, 2007 - 18:38 ET by GalvanicAnd the MSM wonders why it's not taken seriously anymore by an increasing number of Americans. Had they just sat down and run these crazy GW assertions through the "Does this make sense?" test, they wouldn't put it on the air. But they're caught up in the agenda, and now they're sticking any bogus statistics and projections in front of audience and merely saying "Here. Tremble."
No credibility.
The other thing I didn't get
June 20, 2007 - 21:57 ET by dahliatraversThe other thing I didn't get is how we'll have to choose which ones to save. Are there only so many dehumidifiers to go around ...?
My father taught me long ago
June 20, 2007 - 16:30 ET by SQL_SamMy father taught me long ago that there is NOTHING that will last forever - so getting upset over buildings doesnt do much for me.
Riddle me this......
This thing is all things, devours
Birds, Beast, Trees, Flowers
Gnaws iron, bites steel
Grinds hard stones to meal
Slays kings, ruins towns
And beats high mountains down
Sam: My guess is time.We are
June 20, 2007 - 16:49 ET by QueenMumSam: My guess is time.
We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat. - Queen Victoria
hillary?
June 20, 2007 - 16:51 ET by vrwc13hillary?
Ha! Good one, vrwc. :)We are
June 20, 2007 - 17:14 ET by QueenMumHa! Good one, vrwc. :)
We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat. - Queen Victoria
So whats CBS worried about? M
June 20, 2007 - 17:47 ET by chessplayerSo whats CBS worried about? Members of the church of AGW should be happy if tourism is destroyed.
"Tourists cause global warming"
http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,9294,2-13-1443_2086930,00.html
It's all Reagan's Fault!! /Sarcasm Off
June 20, 2007 - 20:55 ET by Free StinkerI think they really don't care.
It is merely something to blame on George Bush.
You forgot....
June 20, 2007 - 20:37 ET by c5thenTo put "gollum" after the last line, my precious.
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic
Iknow, Sam
June 21, 2007 - 09:00 ET by Cool ArrowIt's cow farts
It's just as well. Global t
June 20, 2007 - 20:38 ET by bacher468It's just as well. Global tourism obviously destroys the planet, what with people flying all over to exotic places, throwing carbon willy nilly, just to see stupid monuments. In fact, it's actually the monuments destroying the environment for being so interesting that people want to travel to see them. So they had it coming.
Ozymandias
June 20, 2007 - 20:44 ET by lnthompSomehow this seems an appropriate response:
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert ... Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works ye mighty and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
------> Percy Bysshe Shelley
Lee T.
U.S. Navy (ret.) / Vancouver, Washington
The history of the race, and each individual's experience, are thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal.-- Mark Twain
lnthomp
June 21, 2007 - 09:01 ET by Cool ArrowYeah, the Statue of Liberty in that Planet of the Apes movie.
Everybody knows that.