[Nuff]

I'm not sure what century USA is in, but most motorcycle this days are required to have catalytic converters. At least in australia and europe. Also 2 stroke sales are prohibited. How do I know? Since the 2009 Triumph Daytona 675 I've purchased had one. You can even buy a brand new bonnie this days and it will have FI and a catalytic converter. Do you want to buy a modern Japanese or European motorbike? It's going to be a 4 stroke and have a converter. I'm not sure about american hogs, since the engines are ancient and the performance is subpar, I imagine they don't get them fitted in USA, but I could be wrong.

[GeneV]

I'm not sure what century USA is in, but most motorcycle this days are required to have catalytic converters. At least in australia and europe. Also 2 stroke sales are prohibited. How do I know? Since the 2009 Triumph Daytona 675 I've purchased had one. You can even buy a brand new bonnie this days and it will have FI and a catalytic converter. Do you want to buy a modern Japanese or European motorbike? It's going to be a 4 stroke and have a converter. I'm not sure about american hogs, since the engines are ancient and the performance is subpar, I imagine they don't get them fitted in USA, but I could be wrong.

Most Harleys you see around my neck of the woods barely even have pipes, much less a converter.

[redrockcoulee]

I think I remember reading that even with the modern technology motorcycles are not as clean as their gas mileage would leave on to believe. But how many people leave their bikes idling so their air conditioner keeps the bike cool for the rider upon their return? It is about not wasting energy and using it smarter and using smarter energy not pitting bikes against cars . We can have our toys and our joys and what we think we need to live comfortably but we need to make wise decisions and decrease our emissions. But as long as the nay sayers have us talking about the non important things we will not be moving towards the important thing, sustainability, can we live the way we are now and the next generation being able to do the same? Perhaps if we make the changes we need to but NO if we refuse to address the problem or address it by pointing fingers and doing nothing ourselves.

By the way excessive moisture in the fields might be a bigger problem here this summer than the drought.

[magkelly]

Me, I'm not that worried about climate change. I'm just waiting for Mama Nature to mutate some virus and wipe 2/3 of us off the planet again. She does seem to do that once in a while if you haven't noticed. Send some lethal thing our way that we can't fight very rapidly so that we die off in great numbers and de-populate again. What's a few extra inches of ocean in some places compared to say something like a mutated Plague? If you think that humans haven't impacted this eco system in a potentially disastrous way think again. All those drugs we take and flush away every day are getting into everything we eat, into the air, the earth, mutating bacteria even as I type. Super bugs are becoming a regular thing and we don't have all the medications we'd need to fight them off and likely won't. We've already got new drug resistant strains of TB and HIV. Bird Flu is about 4 mutations away from becoming an airborn Super Plague they say. A volcano erupting, an an earthquake or a hurricane can take out a few hundred, maybe a few thousand people. A mutated plague can take out billions.

[boriscleto]

Surprise: Fox News Fails Paleoclimatology | Blog | Media Matters for America

[boriscleto]

It was over 100 F for just the 10th time in the last 110 years today in Syracuse.

[ihasa]

In the UK we're having the coldest, wettest summer since 1993. This Spring we were technically in 'drought' with warnings of hosepipe bans and reservoirs running dry. Since then we have had 8.7 inches more than average rain, and very little sun. So global warming must be wrong, eh?

The bad weather is caused by the jetstream. Normally the jetstream lies to the north of us, and dumps it's load on Scandinavian countries. This year it has drifted south, right over us, and the cause for that is supposed to be higher than average arctic temperatures - the temperature difference between the arctic and the tropics influences the position of the jetstream.

[jogiba]

Sea ice in the Arctic has melted faster this year than ever recorded before, according to the US government's National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC).

Satellite observations show the extent of the floating ice that melts and refreezes every year was 318,000 square miles less last week than the same day period in 2007, the year of record low extent, and the lowest observed at this time of year since records began in 1979. Separate observations by University of Washington researchers suggest that the volume of Arctic sea ice is also the smallest ever calculated for this time of year.

Scientists cautioned that it is still early in the "melt season", but said that the latest observations suggest that the Arctic sea ice cover is continuing to shrink and thin and the pattern of record annual melts seen since 2000 is now well established. Last year saw the second greatest sea ice melt on record, 36% below the average minimum from 1979-2000.

"Recent ice loss rates have been 100,000 to 150,000 square kilometres (38,600 to 57,900 square miles) per day, which is more than double the climatological rate. While the extent is at a record low for the date, it is still early in the melt season. Changing weather patterns throughout the summer will affect the exact trajectory of the sea ice extent through the rest of the melt season," said a spokesman for the NSIDC.

The increased melting is believed to be a result of climate change. Arctic temperatures have risen more than twice as fast as the global average over the past half century.

Arctic sea-ice levels at record low for June | Environment | The Guardian