Recently, when a paper came out claiming to prove that global warming is being caused by bacteria, not man - global warming deniers and conservative pundits alike seized upon it as proof that their side is right. Too bad the paper was a hoax.
Not only that - the journal it was printed in doesn't exist, and the scientists who wrote it – don’t exist either. It just goes to show you can’t be too careful - and if something sounds too good to be true – it probably is. For more on the story click, and the surrounding fallout, read here.
What kind of lesson can we take home from this? Well - - Never trust what you see on the internet and always check your sources.
One should take a jaundiced view of the global warming deniers and the company they attract - including scientists. Always ask: What’s their motivation? Are they sponsored by a petrochemical, or a conservative think tank, especially one with ties to big business? If so then look at their data very carefully. Look at it - but look carefully.
The vast majority of scientists support the idea that global warming is happening and they agree that man is largely responsible; and all but a few work for universities or other independent organizations that have no vested commercial interest in the debate.
The UM connection:
To check out our local connection to global warming research - go to UM’s own, and internationally respected, Climate Change Institute. Some great work is being done there. Your blogger went to one of their seminars and it frankly scared the **** out of him.
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4 comments:
Thanks for the information Kurt. I heard something mentioned about that recent "study" in passing. I have to say that I didn't take it for either fact or fiction but now that I know that it IS fiction, I can discard it as useless information.
While I am not one to deny the effects that humans have on global climate change (notice I did not say warming), I have to say that I tend to believe that we are experiencing a simultaneous climate shift.
This is just my slightly more than uneducated guess.
I am all for clean technology, and I don't think that we should help along our own demise, but I have to wonder how much is occuring without our help.
I am sure that we have accelerated things quite a bit, but I believe there is a limit.
Anyways,
do you know anything about the new Honda FCX?
It looks pretty amazing. The only thing that would discourage me from buying one is the prospect that I might be riding around on a hydrogen "bomb" (not to confuse it with a nuclear weapon, but still). I know that they say that there are different safeguards, but it still seems like some scary stuff.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Dave
Oh to be sure – there is already a global climate change in effect. Such things have been going on the millions of years. If one reads the literature carefully the problem with this shift is that the RATE of change is dramatically different, faster. Much, much faster. Is man responsible for the difference in the rate of change? Probably. We will have to wait and find out how responsible.
I have a problem with politicization of such issues. From both sides. Scientific evidence should not be dismissed just because you have a political disagreement with what the implications of that evidence. And I want to stress the knife cuts both ways.
As to the new Honda – I would let things work themselves out. Brand new technologies always have a few glitches – and in this case, as you pointed out, they could be disastrous. Hydrogen technology is probably the answer – but things always happen in actual use that the engineers don’t anticipate.
I watched the movie An Inconvenient Truth and that scared me too.
I can't say that I have any other source so my views may be biased but it truly seems like a more significant issue than many consider it to be. The results alone, according to scientists and global warming research, will be devastating.
I was actually quite devasted to hear that polar bears are walking the earth for the last time. The fish they eat are dying is what I heard and to have seen a polar bear before and thinking how children in future years won't have the privelege made me sad. We should protect every animal in my opinion. Except for spriders, ticks, mosquitos and red ants. I hate them all.
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