I am not a scientist. I don’t even play one on TV.
I am an artist.
I did have the interesting job of illustrating an archeological text once, though, and I worked for several years designing exhibits for a couple of historical museums, where I picked up a smattering of Earth Science (I know that Satan could not have made fossils, because fossils are cool). I really enjoyed my brief stint in scientific illustration and still have great fondness for the natural sciences.
For this reason, irresponsible pseudo-scientific claptrap disguised as news reporting still rankles me, and I had to comment on THIS SENSATIONAL ARTICLE from FOX News (no less).
Setting the intellectual tone, we have the hysterical headline – "Unhealthy Earth: Global Warming Takes Toll".
The problem with this alarmist statement is in the assumption that if conditions on Earth are changing, that must be a sign that the planet is sick.
Listen, if that is the case, then the whole history of Earth is just one dread disease after another. If climate change = an unhealthy Earth, then the Earth has never been healthy.
Global temperature fluctuations are the norm. The only constant in geologic history is change. This change has been sometimes sudden and violent, sometimes gradual, but the one thing we can never reasonably expect is that the Earth should just stay the same. Environmental stasis is a utopian myth, and a uniquely stupid and dangerous one. Species have been going extinct since there have been species. Glaciers form. Glaciers melt. During the little ice age we have been in, glaciers have been forming. If the mean global temperature swings back upward, they will melt, as sure as God made little green apples. This can be taken as a sign of nothing except business as usual.
From a scientific perspective, all the hand-wringing over melting glaciers amounts to a misplaced and even neurotic nostalgia.
The article goes on to make temperate scientific observations like this;
"Some scientists say the receding glaciers, like canaries in a coal mine, are providing an early warning system for the Earth. They say human-caused global warming is making the sea level rise and can spawn floods — called glacier outbursts — brought on by glacial melting. "
Alright… first of all, any time you see an assertion that begins with "Some scientists say…" you need to remember, once you get to the end of the statement, to tack on the qualifier "and some don’t" (this is also true of the phrase "Many modern theologians think…", or "most modern scholars agree", or other such vaguely authoritative-sounding set-ups).
Secondly, this paragraph, by using the phrase "human-caused global warming" leaps from science to sheer propaganda. There is wide scientific debate on the extent to which human activity contributes to global warming, if it does to any measurable degree at all. It may be in fashion to blame SUVs or spray deodorant, but serious scientists are looking to volcanic activity, variances in the energy output of the sun, and a myriad of other natural causes as the prime sources of climate change, as has been the case throughout history. Can we nudge the atmosphere a little one way or another? Maybe, but the jury is still out. The assertion that human activity is behind climate change is a bald political statement, not a scientific one.
Not surprisingly, later in the piece we read;
"Some advocates say industry is largely responsible for global warming, and that large corporations should be held to their promises."
In case we doubt this assertion, it is backed up with weighty statements from Dan Becker, of the highly scientific and politically neutral Sierra Club. Nowhere in the piece do we hear from a scientist who might attribute global warming to natural causes, or who might see it as no cause for hysteria. Never do we even see the possibility that such a scientific viewpoint even exists.
I have come to expect a bit more from Fox News. Who wrote this screed? It sounds like something from a college news rag.
Should we use the Earth’s resources responsibly? Should we minimize pollution? Reduce waste? Be good stewards? Of course! But to help us do that we need good, reliable information, not junk science.
Coudn’t have said it better myself!
I’ve read recent articles that state that Mars is experiencing global warming and that the Martian polar ice caps are receding in size, and that the sun’s energy output has increased, and that may be responsible for the increases in global temperatures here and on Mars.
Nah! I think the global warming on Mars is caused by SUVs sent there by Halliburton.
that was me
Everytime I read a global warming scare article in the MSM it never says how much hotter it is getting? I did read in this CRISIS article that the actual increase is less than 1 degree in the last century.
http://www.crisismagazine.com/february2004/feature1.htm
Bill912,
I want to drive my Suburban on Mars!
Take care and God bless.
J+M+J
Tim, Tim, Tim… of course the climate cannot change! Everything everywhere forever must be just like it was in 1968. If not, the Boomers will cry and stomp their feet.
Excellent points, Tim. I’d wish we’d hear even one news story with the issues you raised.
It is no longer global warming – The eco- worshippers have tried the little ice-age and the global warming ploy only to get caught on the wrong side -in Montreal they shifted to Climate change and announced cold-hot-wet-dry -is all man’s fault – they now can’t be embarassed by weather changes or short climate shifts. They have no evidence that climate is influenced by anthropomormic means – this is about hardnose deceptive politics -Need I remind you that still communist, Mikhael Gorbachev (the ex KGB head of one of the biggest pollutor nations of all times) is now head of international Green Cross – The environment is the easy way to defy national (our) sovereignity. That plus wealth transfer is what Kyoto was about. These people scare panthiests and eco-worshippers into doing their useful idiot politics for them.
Case closed.
ICE MELTS! Good Lord, man, what next?
Bill 912,
Halliburton sucks!
Anon2: An example of intelligence, maturity, and tastefulness!
By the way: is THAT all it takes to get your goat?
Maybe I can get Mr J.A. himself to comment by referring to….
“State of Fear” by Michael Crichton.
Not much of a novel, but a great rant against the junk science that is practiced today. Oh, and I really liked it. A lot.
Jimmy actually did a post on “State of Fear”, Brian, and agreed that it was not much of a novel.
Pretty stinky writing, in his view.
Being right is one thing… being interesting and engaging is another.
I have found that, with FOX, you have to take the icky sensationalism of which they are so fond, if you want to get the “fair and balanced” take they offer on the real news stories. Phooey.
That being said, thumbs up Tim! I couldn’t have said it better.
Kudos, Jimmy. It’s really hard to see the facts beofre so much hysteria and the power-grabbing potential of global warming.
FWIW, here are some:
– the average Earth temperature is still ower than before the Little Ice Age which ended just 2 centuries ago.
– a volcanic eruption like Pinatubo’s out does mankind’s carbon and sulfur outputs since man exists on Earth by a few orders of magnitude.
And there are many proofs of it all which are easily ignored:
– when Pinatubo erupted, the average Earth temperature fell by 1F. Any return to normal is a welcome global warming.
– Greenland was called so by the Vikings in the 10th century because it wasn’t totally covered with ice yet.
Whenever I hear about global warming or world pandemic, although not a world domination conspiracy theorist, I can’t help but worrying about the sugestions that come about. Always that all nations should relinquish their sovereigneity to Koffi Annan and his UN minions.
Greenland even had farms 1000 years ago. Lief Ericson got to North America because he was looking for lumber to use in building.
Tim J,
Yes, I know. I posted in that thread also. I was setting out a little bait to see if I could get our esteemed host to nibble. 😉