Never mind the convenient connections, let’s just talk about what happened. Questions just lead to more questions and we’ll never get this article done. Google organized kids the world over to address global warming and how to fix it. The results of the Global Warming Student Speakout were published this week.
The joint effort of Google and the Global SchoolNet Foundation, the Speakout was facilitated by the use of Google Docs & Spreadsheets. Students in over 80 classes and science clubs in 20 countries brainstormed ideas and published them on the Web so others could build on them.
Here are the top ten student ideas:
- 1. Include global warming/climate change in school curricula (as part of National Science Standards), so when the students are in charge they can make educated decisions.
2. Increase availability of low-interest Energy Efficient Mortgages to support homeowners who increase the energy efficiency of their homes.
3. Put light sensors in all office and school buildings so all lights go off when the rooms are empty.
4. Require that all products contributing to global warming be marked with a specific color (e.g., chemical pesticides could be marked with a red sticker for being extremely dangerous to the environment).
5. Use less paper; use the back of the paper to print on or write on; use recycled paper.
6. Plant more trees to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
7. Teach recycling techniques in classes and school-wide programs.
8. Make recycling mandatory in all public facilities, such as schools, parks and beaches.
9. Do public service announcements on TV featuring celebrities promoting carpooling, walking, riding bikes, using public transportation, conserving electricity and recycling.
10. Give grants and tax credits to companies that invest in alternative, sustainable, emission-free fuel technologies while ending such subsidies for fosssil fuel production.
Of course, that all assumes global warming exists – an assumption which a few, vastly ignored scientists have refuted. Though the dissenting view is more in line with Occam’s guidance by noting we may be experiencing normal climate fluctuations over longer periods of time and this is the first time we’ve been able to measure it, you’re not really allowed to say that anymore.
The high-falutin’ skeptic, one that doesn’t mind the reverse skepticism of his conspiracy theories, remembers the close ties Google has with former Vice President, FUD campaigner, and Inconvenient Truth peddler, Al Gore. He also remembers the sharp-tongued climatologists calling Global Warming “junk science” providing convenient truths for Gore’s inconvenient argument.
But then again, those citing that particular article the most, namely Sen. James Inhofe (R.-Okla), have the biggest political axes to grind. Inhofe has dropped a slew of press releases aimed at Al Gore and global warming believers, based mostly on that one, very convincing article.
And then you learn that Inhofe’s campaign finances come primarily from the Oil & Gas, Utilities, Airline, Automotive, Mining, and Chemical Manufacturing sectors. Chicken or egg? asks Joe Lewis. Do they contribute because he’s anti-global warming or is he anti-global warming because they contribute?
The world may never know and neither will I. But fishy’s fishy anyway you smell it.
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