Danny Glover: Haiti earthquake because of Copenhagen summit

[maddog]

Says Glover (http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/pact_with_gaia/): “When we see what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen, this is the response, this is what happens, you know what I’m sayin’?” His obscene opinion would be bigger news if Glover had – like Pat Robertson – idiotically blamed a less-fashionable deity.

[Ixion]

I don't know if this directly relates, but I have some friends that strongly believe that global warming is the cause of the earthquake. Forgive my ignorance, but 1) does the level of global warming we are seeing now have any significant impact on seismic activity? and 2) wasn't Port-au-Prince on a fault line that was expected to shift soon?

[truethat]

Whenever a Natural Disaster happens I think of George Carlin's remark that the planet will shake us off like a bad case of fleas.

[maddog]

I don't know if this directly relates, but I have some friends that strongly believe that global warming is the cause of the earthquake. Forgive my ignorance, but 1) does the level of global warming we are seeing now have any significant impact on seismic activity? and 2) wasn't Port-au-Prince on a fault line that was expected to shift soon?

1) No.

2) It is on a fault line, but "expected" is a bit too strong of a word. The science of predicting earthquakes is ... hmmm... how to say it.... still developing. More like - it's on a fault line, there will be an earthquake there sometime, but when or how strong is wide open.

[ravdin]

Danny Glover is an idiot. News at 11.

[Ixion]

1) No.

2) It is on a fault line, but "expected" is a bit too strong of a word. The science of predicting earthquakes is ... hmmm... how to say it.... still developing. More like - it's on a fault line, there will be an earthquake there sometime, but when or how strong is wide open.

Thanks. It was as I expected. I guess I was a little mislead by this AP article which said Scientists who detected worrisome signs of growing stresses in the fault that unleashed this week's devastating earthquake in Haiti said they warned officials there two years ago that their country was ripe for a major earthquake.

Their sobering findings, presented during a geological conference in March 2008 and at meetings two months later, showed that the fault was capable of causing a 7.2-magnitude earthquake — slightly stronger than Tuesday's 7.0 quake that rocked the impoverished country.
Bolding mine. I figured that there was some predictive measures involved, even if it was only +/- a decade or so. However, later in the article they mention Their conclusions also lacked a specific timeframe that could have prodded quick action to shore up the hospitals, schools and other buildings that collapsed and crumbled, said Paul Mann, a senior research scientist at the University of Texas' Institute for Geophysics.
Nevertheless, my geologic and seismic knowledge is pretty limited, so I have to rely on public access such as the AP for this kind of information. Here is a link to the whole article for those that want to read it:
Scientists warned Haiti officials of quake in '08 (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100115/ap_on_re_us/us_haiti_earthquake_warning)

[Vortigern99]

I don't understand the correlation Glover is making between Copenhagen and Haiti.

Is he saying that (his) God is angry because we couldn't agree on how solve the AGW problem?

Or that (his) God is incensed that we even tried to find a solution in the first place?

Or that since we couldn't solve AGW in the snap of a finger, it has led inexorably to the Haiti disaster owing to an imagined connection between AGW and seismic activity?

I'm a bit confuzzled.

[Abdul Alhazred]

Never mind how stupid it is or that no one cares in a general way what Danny Glover says.

This is about to become part of The NarrativeTM.

VIDEO (http://www.linktv.org/about/blog/post/355/danny-glover-on-haiti-and-climate-change-we-have-to-act-now) (linktv.org)

[dudalb]

I guess that playing a lead role in the crappy "2012" flick makes Glover an expert on how to handle Disasters.

[dudalb]

Danny Glover is an idiot. News at 11.

But he played the President of the United States in "2012"! That makes him a expert on natural disasters......

[dudalb]

1) No.

2) It is on a fault line, but "expected" is a bit too strong of a word. The science of predicting earthquakes is ... hmmm... how to say it.... still developing. More like - it's on a fault line, there will be an earthquake there sometime, but when or how strong is wide open.

The ability to accurately predict the timing of earthquakes, or when a big one is imminent, is a long,long,way off.

[Upchurch]

Man, he's too old for this :rule10

[Careyp74]

What is The Narrative?

[Careyp74]

Hollywood actors are not doing their part in combating AGW. If more don't pitch in, I think there will be an earthquake there as punishment.

[iiwo]

1. The video was garbled just enough and Glover was talking just fast enough that I can't be certain I heard correctly.

2. I'm not sure he is saying the earthquake happened because of the climate summit, but that the "internationalism" of the response may have been due in part to the recent climate summit. I think he may be saying that by raising various nations eyebrows to the possibility of disasters in the Carribean (and elsewhere, obviously), and that unless we can come together as a world, internationally (like we did at the summit) future disasters (such as those caused by global warming) will have poor responses.

3. Listen to the video again, and see #1...

[HawksFan]

Hollywood actors are not doing their part in combating AGW. If more don't pitch in, I think there will be an earthquake there as punishment.

I've been advocating Air Force practice bombing along the San Andreas fault for some time now. I think it would be the best thing to happen to this country in a long time for Hollywood and the greater Los Angeles area to drift off into the Pacific.

[lomiller]

Says Glover (http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/pact_with_gaia/): “When we see what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen, this is the response, this is what happens, you know what I’m sayin’?” His obscene opinion would be bigger news if Glover had – like Pat Robertson – idiotically blamed a less-fashionable deity.

Both are stupid, but moderately famous people saying stupid things generally isn’t newsworthy in it’s own right. Robertson’s comments have an extra layer of offensivness that made them newsworthy.

[FlamingMoe]

Both are stupid, but moderately famous people saying stupid things generally isn’t newsworthy in it’s own right. Robertson’s comments have an extra layer of offensivness that made them newsworthy.
What layer is that? Both are claiming the quake is retribution for something. Whether the doler of justice is God or Our Mother Earth, I don't see how either of them is more offensive or stupid than the other.

[Travis]

I think we need more context to know exactly what he meant. Robertson and Rush were pretty blatant in what they meant....this is rather ambiguous.

[rwguinn]

I've been advocating Air Force practice bombing along the San Andreas fault for some time now. I think it would be the best thing to happen to this country in a long time for Hollywood and the greater Los Angeles area to drift off into the Pacific.
Pardon me, but isn't the Pacific plate moving TOWARD the North American plate?
Breaking the fault loose would put much of California into Nevada and Arizona, not adrift in the ocean?
And putting Californians closer to Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico is a terrible thing to do to those states

[Ixion]

Pardon me, but isn't the Pacific plate moving TOWARD the North American plate?
Breaking the fault loose would put much of California into Nevada and Arizona, not adrift in the ocean?
And putting Californians closer to Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico is a terrible thing to do to those states

Yeah, we get enough California drift as it is. :boxedin:

[ravdin]

What layer is that? Both are claiming the quake is retribution for something. Whether the doler of justice is God or Our Mother Earth, I don't see how either of them is more offensive or stupid than the other.

To me, the difference is that Danny Glover didn't blame the Haitians. So while Pat Robertson's comments were hateful and stupid, Danny Glover's comments were just stupid.

[Darth Rotor]

Glover points out that in this great moment of internationalism, the U.S. has the opportunity to rebuild its relationship with Haiti, and he voices a warning that disasters like this will inevitably strike again as climate change continues.
The clause after "and" was not quite related to the opening comment. Danny seems to have non sequitured there.

Maybe he ought to just send a nice check to the American Red Cross or Doctors without Borders. Beats attacking the problem with hot air, which of course adds to global warming! :p

DR

[Thunder]

Danny Glover thinks he is still the President in "2012".

[FlamingMoe]

To me, the difference is that Danny Glover didn't blame the Haitians. So while Pat Robertson's comments were hateful and stupid, Danny Glover's comments were just stupid.
So it's worse to blame the Haitians for their geological misfortune than to blame everyone else for it?

I don't see it.

[ravdin]

So it's worse to blame the Haitians for their geological misfortune than to blame everyone else for it?

I don't see it.

If you are unable to distinguish between the victims of a natural catastrophe and everyone else in the world, then I don't think anything I say here will convince you otherwise. We'll have to agree to disagree on that subtle point.

[Captain.Sassy]

1. The video was garbled just enough and Glover was talking just fast enough that I can't be certain I heard correctly.

2. I'm not sure he is saying the earthquake happened because of the climate summit, but that the "internationalism" of the response may have been due in part to the recent climate summit. I think he may be saying that by raising various nations eyebrows to the possibility of disasters in the Carribean (and elsewhere, obviously), and that unless we can come together as a world, internationally (like we did at the summit) future disasters (such as those caused by global warming) will have poor responses.

3. Listen to the video again, and see #1...

Yeah, he's totally talking about the international cooperation to mount a response here. He's not (from what I can decipher) saying that global warming did the earthquake.

However, it's hard to figure out whether he means that 'the world got together at Copenhagen, and it's getting together to help Haiti too' or 'the world couldn't get its act together in Copenhagen, and the necessary coordinated response to the Haitian earthquake has also been slow in coming'.

[iiwo]

North America and the Pacific plate are not pulling apart.

They are not being crushed together.

They are sliding past each other, like two cars sideswiping each other, or like some guy "accidentally" brushing a girl in the bar. The little slice of land that is on the ocean side of the fault will, in all likelihood, end up out to sea eventually, but for now it is quite nicely butted up to the land on the North America side of the fault.

Generic Example (http://facweb.bhc.edu/academics/science/harwoodr/GEOL101/study/Images/StrikeSlipRLFault.gif)

[FlamingMoe]

If you are unable to distinguish between the victims of a natural catastrophe and everyone else in the world, then I don't think anything I say here will convince you otherwise.
The difference I'm not seeing is how it's worse to blame one group of people for an earthquake than it is to blame another group of people for the same earthquake. That is, after all, what we were talking about.

Do try to keep up.

[Darth Rotor]

However, it's hard to figure out whether he means that
Yep.

[lomiller]

What layer is that?

Yeah, that’d be because Robertson’s remark implies that black people should be punished for not accepting their rightful place as slaves...

[Redtail]

Yeah, he's totally talking about the international cooperation to mount a response here. He's not (from what I can decipher) saying that global warming did the earthquake.

However, it's hard to figure out whether he means that 'the world got together at Copenhagen, and it's getting together to help Haiti too' or 'the world couldn't get its act together in Copenhagen, and the necessary coordinated response to the Haitian earthquake has also been slow in coming'.

It sounds as if he mixed two points he was trying to make. One that the response is so quick partly due to everyone coming together in Copenhagen. Two that the islands are also in danger because of the possibility that global warming causes hurricanes. (I don't know how true that is.)

[Eyeron]

Sigh. What is it about disasters that bring out the stupid in people?

[dudalb]

Danny Glover thinks he is still the President in "2012".


Don't steal my lines, man.

[I less than three logic]

After watching the video, it seems to me that the "this" Danny was referring to in the OP's quote is the global response to aid Haiti in the wake of this disaster, not the earthquake itself.

[MaGZ]

I've been advocating Air Force practice bombing along the San Andreas fault for some time now. I think it would be the best thing to happen to this country in a long time for Hollywood and the greater Los Angeles area to drift off into the Pacific.

A better idea would be underground nuclear testing.

[hgc]

His obscene opinion would be bigger news if Glover had – like Pat Robertson – idiotically blamed a less-fashionable deity.


No, if he blamed it on the Haitian people - like Pat Robertson - it may have been bigger news.

In any case, massive ignorance.

[rwguinn]

North America and the Pacific plate are not pulling apart.

They are not being crushed together.

They are sliding past each other, like two cars sideswiping each other, or like some guy "accidentally" brushing a girl in the bar. The little slice of land that is on the ocean side of the fault will, in all likelihood, end up out to sea eventually, but for now it is quite nicely butted up to the land on the North America side of the fault.

Generic Example (http://facweb.bhc.edu/academics/science/harwoodr/GEOL101/study/Images/StrikeSlipRLFault.gif)
Ha! You SAY it was an accident.

[icerat]

Not an issue with Haiti as far as I know, but global warming *is* expected to contribute to earthquakes (and volcanos) as the melting of galciers apparently changes the pressure on tectonic plates quite significantly. I recall reading that changes in sea level may also have effects.

[iiwo]

Ha! You SAY it was an accident.

<Shifty eyes...>

>_>

<_<

[steve s]

North America and the Pacific plate are not pulling apart.

They are not being crushed together.

They are sliding past each other, like two cars sideswiping each other, or like some guy "accidentally" brushing a girl in the bar. The little slice of land that is on the ocean side of the fault will, in all likelihood, end up out to sea eventually, but for now it is quite nicely butted up to the land on the North America side of the fault.


There's a little bit of everything going on out west. Scroll down to the bottom of this page (http://www.platetectonics.com/book/page_5.asp), there's a good map showing what's going on. Divergent faults in the Gulf of California, as well as in the Pacific Northwest (along with some subduction.) And in the middle is the San Andreas transform fault. It's a veritable smorgasbord of geologic activity.

Steve Sl

[Pardalis]

When we see what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen, this is the response, this is what happens, you know what I’m sayin’?

Actually no, Danny.

[iiwo]

There's a little bit of everything going on out west. Scroll down to the bottom of this page (http://www.platetectonics.com/book/page_5.asp), there's a good map showing what's going on. Divergent faults in the Gulf of California, as well as in the Pacific Northwest (along with some subduction.) And in the middle is the San Andreas transform fault. It's a veritable smorgasbord of geologic activity.

Steve Sl

Details, details ;)

No, you are quite right. And there is at least one smaller plate sandwiched in there nicely up near WA iirc. I was referring just to the part between LA and San Francisco, but you are absolutely correct for adding to my mildly ambigous statement :).

[screensnot]

I don't know what Glover was trying to say. I would never go so far to say that any particular earthquake was caused by global warming. But...

The weight of glaciers in the north, and ice on Antarctica, do affect the shape of the Earth's crust. As some of that ice melts away, the crust will adjust. That could lead to more earthquakes in some areas. I guess it's also possible that it relieves some pressure in certain areas, thereby abating some earthquakes.

[J. Wellington Wimpy]

Says Glover (http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/pact_with_gaia/): “When we see what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen, this is the response, this is what happens, you know what I’m sayin’?” [/COLOR]

Five bucks says that Glover doesn't even "know what [he's] sayin.'":D

[maxpower1227]

Danny Glover thinks he is still the President in "2012".

Someone should inform him that that title has just been revoked.

[fuelair]

I guess that playing a lead role in the crappy "2012" flick makes Glover an expert on how to handle Disasters.

That's probably the one. I already have had one student concerned that the earthquake was a Sign of Things to Come.:jaw-dropp

[fuelair]

Hollywood actors are not doing their part in combating AGW. If more don't pitch in, I think there will be an earthquake there as punishment.:D:D:D

[CompusMentus]

Thanks. It was as I expected. I guess I was a little mislead by this AP article which said
Bolding mine. I figured that there was some predictive measures involved, even if it was only +/- a decade or so. However, later in the article they mention
Nevertheless, my geologic and seismic knowledge is pretty limited, so I have to rely on public access such as the AP for this kind of information. Here is a link to the whole article for those that want to read it:
Scientists warned Haiti officials of quake in '08 (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100115/ap_on_re_us/us_haiti_earthquake_warning)


Like you, I am no seismologist but this quote from the article.....


a 7.2-magnitude earthquake — slightly stronger than Tuesday's 7.0 quake


.....Waved a flag to me (my emphasis)

The scale used in estimating earthquake intensity is logarithmic isn't it? So a .2 rise would be significantly stronger? Just wondered.

Compus

[fuelair]

Pardon me, but isn't the Pacific plate moving TOWARD the North American plate?
Breaking the fault loose would put much of California into Nevada and Arizona, not adrift in the ocean?
And putting Californians closer to Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico is a terrible thing to do to those statesSort of, but the motion at the SA fault is actually Northward on the PP side - the western side of Ca is headed to Alaska, not Nevada.:D (I laugh thinking this could be turned into a very long remake of an old John Wayne movie.)

[fuelair]

The data (thanks, and a tip of the fuelair hat, to www.dogpile.com ): http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF6/686.html

[Ausmerican]

There's a little bit of everything going on out west. Scroll down to the bottom of this page (http://www.platetectonics.com/book/page_5.asp), there's a good map showing what's going on. Divergent faults in the Gulf of California, as well as in the Pacific Northwest (along with some subduction.) And in the middle is the San Andreas transform fault. It's a veritable smorgasbord of geologic activity.

Steve Sl

Too many details. Break this down for me. I live in Arizona. Where do we have to hit to become beachfront property? All else is irrelevant.

[Whiplash]

Danny Glover is an idiot. News at 11.


So is Pat Robertson, but that is this forums equivalent of a Fox News Alert, followed by a week of round table discussions.

ETA: I've seen the attempted distinction of one blaming the people and the other not. I'm shocked anyone expects that distinction alone is enough to turn one story into a completely unknown back burner, and the other into the worst, most heinous thing a person has said in the 21st century.

[MattusMaximus]

Danny Glover is an idiot. News at 11.

If Danny Glover and Pat Robertson were to be in the same room together, then they would implode into a black hole of stupidity

[Travis]

Do we have any conclusive proof yet that he was specifically blaming the earthquake on global warming or that he was talking about the response?

[Skeptic]

For some people, "global warming" is a religion, with the planet itself taking the place of a wrathful god which punishes us for our (environmental) sins.

This has about as much to do with the actual science of global warming as the belief that the zodiac controls our lives had to do with radio astronomy.

[NWO Sentryman]

Damn, i was expecting him to say "Port Au Prince was just a few days from retirement"

[Pardalis]

The useful idiot food chain:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/perdalis/usefulidiot.jpg

[Redtail]

Do we have any conclusive proof yet that he was specifically blaming the earthquake on global warming or that he was talking about the response?

Nothing that I've heard, but that he was referring to the earthquake is much better for the republicans.

[Skeptic Ginger]

1) No.

2) It is on a fault line, but "expected" is a bit too strong of a word. The science of predicting earthquakes is ... hmmm... how to say it.... still developing. More like - it's on a fault line, there will be an earthquake there sometime, but when or how strong is wide open.
Actually, there was a prediction the very fault under Haiti was at risk of rupture because it had recently shown signs of increased stress. (Very recently on a geologic time scale.) This was reported in a conference in Haiti in 2008. There was little money or time to address the building hazards.

But I don't want to side track the thread.


.... Here is a link to the whole article for those that want to read it:
Scientists warned Haiti officials of quake in '08 (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100115/ap_on_re_us/us_haiti_earthquake_warning)Yep, you saw the same report.

[Skeptic Ginger]

The ability to accurately predict the timing of earthquakes, or when a big one is imminent, is a long,long,way off.That again depends on what type of precision you are looking for.

Around here, for example, we are at risk for the really BIG ONE when the Cascadia Fault ruptures. There is fascinating GPS monitoring going on over the Olympic Peninsula that detects the whole peninsula rising up and down like an inch worm. If it ever rises without falling you know that tension is building and a rupture is much more likely than not.

Maybe they don't know the date and time, but warning signs are detectable in many cases if the monitoring is adequate.

[Skeptic Ginger]

I think we need more context to know exactly what he meant. Robertson and Rush were pretty blatant in what they meant....this is rather ambiguous.Yeah, I'm still confused here over who/what Glover is blaming.

[Skeptic Ginger]

Maybe this has been posted but I was having trouble sorting it out from the thread posts, but I think what he is saying is not that climate change caused the quake, but rather that the world isn't doing enough to prevent disasters among the impoverished peoples of the planet.

That's my take anyway.

[tyr_13]

So is Pat Robertson, but that is this forums equivalent of a Fox News Alert, followed by a week of round table discussions.

ETA: I've seen the attempted distinction of one blaming the people and the other not. I'm shocked anyone expects that distinction alone is enough to turn one story into a completely unknown back burner, and the other into the worst, most heinous thing a person has said in the 21st century.

Are you going to count the number of posts in the threads, and complain when this one doesn't get as many as the ones about people with a hell of a lot more power than Danny Glover (who I had to look up who the hell he is)?


-------


Wow, that guy said a very stupid thing.

[ravdin]

So is Pat Robertson, but that is this forums equivalent of a Fox News Alert, followed by a week of round table discussions.

ETA: I've seen the attempted distinction of one blaming the people and the other not. I'm shocked anyone expects that distinction alone is enough to turn one story into a completely unknown back burner, and the other into the worst, most heinous thing a person has said in the 21st century.

I don't have any expectations at all as to how the media will spin the comments. I think that Glover's comments and Robertson's are equally stupid (i.e. blaming anything other than natural circumstances for the disaster)- but not equally heinous. Robertson, besides being a moron, implied that the Haitians brought this on themselves, which is something that Glover did not do.

[Skeptic Ginger]

Could someone post the exact wording of how Glover blames global warming?

That is not what I hear when I listened to the clip. I hear him saying the richer countries are allowing the poorer countries to suffer without any effort to prevent it.

I'm not commenting on the validity of that position just yet, it's oversimplistic. But the claim here Glover is blaming global warming as causing an earthquake seems to me to be misconstruing Glover's words.

By all means, correct me if I am wrong, but do so with some quotes or transcripts that make it more clear what Glover actually said.

[bigred]

Dudes, it's all El Nino, duh.

[fuelair]

Too many details. Break this down for me. I live in Arizona. Where do we have to hit to become beachfront property? All else is irrelevant.You won't - any time in the next hundred thousand or so years - unless a correct size object hits in the right spot - but then you won't be able to take advantage of it. Only Californians east of the SA fault line get that chance - well, their long distant descendants anyway.