OK, I can see that we're all having some trouble here, so I thought I'd take a moment and break it all down for you.
In the beginning, there was the earth. And it was very, very, hot. But eventually it cooled off some, and green stuff started showing up. Then critters came along and they ate the green stuff and other critters ate the critters that ate the green stuff, and pretty soon, there was a whole what-you-call ecosystem going on.
Occasionally, stuff would happen. Sometimes, the earth would burp up a bunch of hot stuff and smoke and it caused problems for the critters and the green stuff. Things would heat up; or cool down. Sometimes it killed off great gobs of the critters and the green stuff. And then sometimes, big things from outer space would smack into the earth and that would also kill off lots of critters and green stuff.
The heating and cooling developed into cycles; some lasted for a long time and some lasted for a short time. Some repeated over and over again, and some eventually ended and new cycles took their place. The shortest ones were called 'weather' and the next shortest were called 'seasons' and the longest ones were called 'climate'.
Eventually, the critters developed the ability to make things out of the parts of the earth, and they began to change things in a way that other critters and all the green stuff had mostly not. They turned solids into liquids, liquids into gasses, and basically just set things up to suit themselves. Sometimes the changes they made caused other critters and green stuff to die off. The earth didn't care much, and mostly the critters didn't either. But the tool-making critters sometimes wished they hadn't done whatever it was they did that caused things to change. But others were happy, they liked the things they made, like internet pr0n and MTV and microwave burritos.
Eventually, some of the thinky-critters started looking at the cycles that the earth went through. They tried to apply principles to the cycles, starting with the weather. They called it predicting the weather, and they were occasionally right.
Some of these folks who thought they could predict the weather applied some of the same principles to climate. And some of them thought that perhaps the changes the thinky-critters had made were affecting the climate. Things were getting hotter before they would have done if left to their own devices. This warming trend might eventually cause the thinky-critters to die off, just like the other critters and green stuff had done before them.
Or it might not. It was hard to predict the weather; it was harder to predict the climate. The people who thought that there might be changes were unsure. Some thought it would be worse. Some thought it would be minor. Some didn't think it would happen at all. Some thought the changes were happening, but that they were not significantly different from the changes that would have happened anyway. And of course, the earth had not stopped burping, and rocks might still crash into it and set things back again, just as they had so many times in the past.
But the thinky-critters who had decided that the other thinky-critters had in fact set in motion changes that would eventually kill off the other critters and green things had a lot invested in their theories. It got them elected to high office. It got them money to do more studies. It got them dates with Hollywood stars. And they called it 'Global Warming'. They called anyone who disagreed with them 'deniers' and they did their best to make it seem as if anyone who even had a question about their methods or motives was a 'denier' and they even tried to make sure that 'deniers' didn't get jobs in the climate-predicting industry.
And so they proposed that Something Must Be Done. This 'something' was a bit mushy around the edges; no one was quite sure what it entailed. But mostly, it was thought, that since messing up the earth had been relatively fun and easy, fixing it would have to be difficult and painful. It would have to involve lots of the thinky-critters giving up their things and their money and living as their pitiful ancestors had, for long periods of time. And this was not guaranteed to fix things, but it might.
Some thinky-critters objected to this; they lived in countries which had not yet had their turn at having fun messing up the earth, and they resented being asked to help fix it. They were called 'emerging nations'. So the thinky-critters decided that the emerging nations would not have to put themselves in hardship to fix the planet. But the other nations would have to.
Now, this voluntary privation would cause the 'developed nations' to not be competitive with the 'emerging nations', but the thinky-critters who felt that the earth was broken by the agency of other thinky-critters didn't care. They wanted something to be done, and they didn't much care if it caused great hardship or if it caused nations to no longer be great, powerful, or wealthy.
Fortunately, some of the thinky-critters were not fooled. They knew that the 'Global Warming' might indeed be real, and that some of it might even be caused by the agency of thinky-critters, but they also thought that given how well the weather was predicted, the chances of climate being predicted was even less of a science; and that even if it was accurate, there might or might not be anything thinky-critters could do to fix things, and even if they could fix things, the chances were low that the things they would do would the right things. And that giving up huge amounts of money to fix things that might or might not be a problem, and which they might or might not even be able to fix, while giving up their economy and letting the 'emerging nations' take over instead, was not really something that they wanted to have happen.
So they said "Stuff it, bone heads." And that was the end of that.
In the beginning, there was the earth. And it was very, very, hot. But eventually it cooled off some, and green stuff started showing up. Then critters came along and they ate the green stuff and other critters ate the critters that ate the green stuff, and pretty soon, there was a whole what-you-call ecosystem going on.
Occasionally, stuff would happen. Sometimes, the earth would burp up a bunch of hot stuff and smoke and it caused problems for the critters and the green stuff. Things would heat up; or cool down. Sometimes it killed off great gobs of the critters and the green stuff. And then sometimes, big things from outer space would smack into the earth and that would also kill off lots of critters and green stuff.
The heating and cooling developed into cycles; some lasted for a long time and some lasted for a short time. Some repeated over and over again, and some eventually ended and new cycles took their place. The shortest ones were called 'weather' and the next shortest were called 'seasons' and the longest ones were called 'climate'.
Eventually, the critters developed the ability to make things out of the parts of the earth, and they began to change things in a way that other critters and all the green stuff had mostly not. They turned solids into liquids, liquids into gasses, and basically just set things up to suit themselves. Sometimes the changes they made caused other critters and green stuff to die off. The earth didn't care much, and mostly the critters didn't either. But the tool-making critters sometimes wished they hadn't done whatever it was they did that caused things to change. But others were happy, they liked the things they made, like internet pr0n and MTV and microwave burritos.
Eventually, some of the thinky-critters started looking at the cycles that the earth went through. They tried to apply principles to the cycles, starting with the weather. They called it predicting the weather, and they were occasionally right.
Some of these folks who thought they could predict the weather applied some of the same principles to climate. And some of them thought that perhaps the changes the thinky-critters had made were affecting the climate. Things were getting hotter before they would have done if left to their own devices. This warming trend might eventually cause the thinky-critters to die off, just like the other critters and green stuff had done before them.
Or it might not. It was hard to predict the weather; it was harder to predict the climate. The people who thought that there might be changes were unsure. Some thought it would be worse. Some thought it would be minor. Some didn't think it would happen at all. Some thought the changes were happening, but that they were not significantly different from the changes that would have happened anyway. And of course, the earth had not stopped burping, and rocks might still crash into it and set things back again, just as they had so many times in the past.
But the thinky-critters who had decided that the other thinky-critters had in fact set in motion changes that would eventually kill off the other critters and green things had a lot invested in their theories. It got them elected to high office. It got them money to do more studies. It got them dates with Hollywood stars. And they called it 'Global Warming'. They called anyone who disagreed with them 'deniers' and they did their best to make it seem as if anyone who even had a question about their methods or motives was a 'denier' and they even tried to make sure that 'deniers' didn't get jobs in the climate-predicting industry.
And so they proposed that Something Must Be Done. This 'something' was a bit mushy around the edges; no one was quite sure what it entailed. But mostly, it was thought, that since messing up the earth had been relatively fun and easy, fixing it would have to be difficult and painful. It would have to involve lots of the thinky-critters giving up their things and their money and living as their pitiful ancestors had, for long periods of time. And this was not guaranteed to fix things, but it might.
Some thinky-critters objected to this; they lived in countries which had not yet had their turn at having fun messing up the earth, and they resented being asked to help fix it. They were called 'emerging nations'. So the thinky-critters decided that the emerging nations would not have to put themselves in hardship to fix the planet. But the other nations would have to.
Now, this voluntary privation would cause the 'developed nations' to not be competitive with the 'emerging nations', but the thinky-critters who felt that the earth was broken by the agency of other thinky-critters didn't care. They wanted something to be done, and they didn't much care if it caused great hardship or if it caused nations to no longer be great, powerful, or wealthy.
Fortunately, some of the thinky-critters were not fooled. They knew that the 'Global Warming' might indeed be real, and that some of it might even be caused by the agency of thinky-critters, but they also thought that given how well the weather was predicted, the chances of climate being predicted was even less of a science; and that even if it was accurate, there might or might not be anything thinky-critters could do to fix things, and even if they could fix things, the chances were low that the things they would do would the right things. And that giving up huge amounts of money to fix things that might or might not be a problem, and which they might or might not even be able to fix, while giving up their economy and letting the 'emerging nations' take over instead, was not really something that they wanted to have happen.
So they said "Stuff it, bone heads." And that was the end of that.
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