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A comment on We Have Four Years to Save Ourselves from Climate Change, Harvard Scientist Says. Parent comment

Re:We Have Four Years to Save Ourselves from Climate Change,... by jefflombardjr on Wednesday June 12, 2019 @09:02AM (#20164088)
1. Al Gore didn't say this, James Anderson did. James Anderson is a "Harvard University professor of atmospheric chemistry best known for establishing that chlorofluorocarbons were damaging the Ozone Layer."

2. You're right about the rhetoric - it has been around for centuries but so have major ecological disasters. The Dust Bowl alone forced tens of thousands of poverty-stricken families to abandon their farms, unable to pay mortgages or grow crops, and losses reached $25 million per day by 1936 (equivalent to $450,000,000 in 2018).[0] I can hardly fathom the true cost of something that impacts the entire planet.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl

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Re:We Have Four Years to Save Ourselves from Climate Change,... by WillPostForFood on Wednesday June 12, 2019 @09:26AM (#20164294)
Al Gore has made the claim multiple times:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ice-caps-melt-gore-2014/

e.g. in 2007:

Their latest modelling studies indicate northern polar waters could be ice-free in summers within just 5-6 years. Professor Wieslaw Maslowski told an American Geophysical Union meeting that previous projections had underestimated the processes now driving ice loss.

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Re:We Have Four Years to Save Ourselves from Climate Change,... by stubish on Wednesday June 12, 2019 @10:02AM (#20164712)
Could, not would. Like smoking can kill you, not smoking will kill you. It is a common and fundamental English language pattern, clearly indicating doubt and should never be misinterpreted as certainty.
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Re:We Have Four Years to Save Ourselves from Climate Change,... by WillPostForFood on Wednesday June 12, 2019 @12:15PM (#20166220)
Fair enough, but could is enough to play on people's fears. Immigrant X could be a terrorist. Food additive Y could cause cancer. You can't then claim you didn't say "would".

Note that things like tobacco cancer warnings use use can/could not will/would, and the intent of the message is still clear.

"SURGEON GENERAL WARNING: Cigar Smoking Can Cause Lung Cancer And Heart Disease."

"WARNING: This product can cause mouth cancer."

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