The climate is warming. It is almost certain this is caused by emissions of greenhouse gases caused by human activity. Nobody has come up with an alternative explanation that stands up. If the present warming trend continues, nasty things will probably start happening to humans within the next century, possibly the next decade. Something must be done. If nothing is done, then the benign climatic conditions that have sustained human civilisation for 10,000 years are in danger of collapse to be replaced by… well, write your own disaster movie.
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- Elizabeth Barrette (
ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
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busy
Global Warming Is Real
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Content notes for "The Little Shadow Across the Grass"
These are the content notes for " The Little Shadow Across the Grass." Read about the Grunge. The Ghost Dance was meant to " roll…
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Setting notes for "The Little Shadow Across the Grass"
These are the setting notes for " The Little Shadow Across the Grass." Read about the Blackfeet Reservation. This map shows Glacier…
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Character notes for "The Little Shadow Across the Grass"
These are the character notes for " The Little Shadow Across the Grass." Many of the character names came partly from Blackfeet…
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Content notes for "The Little Shadow Across the Grass"
These are the content notes for " The Little Shadow Across the Grass." Read about the Grunge. The Ghost Dance was meant to " roll…
-
Setting notes for "The Little Shadow Across the Grass"
These are the setting notes for " The Little Shadow Across the Grass." Read about the Blackfeet Reservation. This map shows Glacier…
-
Character notes for "The Little Shadow Across the Grass"
These are the character notes for " The Little Shadow Across the Grass." Many of the character names came partly from Blackfeet…
December 3 2009, 16:49:18 UTC 11 years ago
I wish the climate deniers would quit deluging us with the same old piles of speculative conspiracy theory.
Scientists are among the groups least likely to lie and cheat in general, as I see it. As George Monbiot has pointed out, it is shameful if there is any secrecy or misrepresentation involved in scientific research, and if the research process and the data are out in the open, other scientists will be the most effective guarantee that any given group of scientists is honest; they'll replicate the research and publish their results. The research lab where the emails were stored and from which they were stolen has started a bottom-to-top investigation and the chief of the lab has stepped down until the investigation is complete. Any misconduct will be discovered and punished, and nothing similar will happen in the future.
In the meanwhile, decades of evidence and research show trends that are almost unassailable. To accept the deniers' proposition, I would have to accept that the vast majority of climate scientists over the last several decades have been liars and/or criminals, engaged in a conspiracy against the tiny minority that don't share their opinions. This I am unwilling to accept.
Thoughts
December 3 2009, 18:50:54 UTC 11 years ago
Well, the way we've set up our scientific field these days does encourage scientists to distort their data, and a fair number of them do that. But the concept of scientific method is sound, and the collective field of scientists does tend to generate reliable data over time. The distortions usually get caught and corrected as different people test each other's data.
>>In the meanwhile, decades of evidence and research show trends that are almost unassailable.<<
True. There are no guarantees, but the weight of evidence is compelling.
There is also the matter of plain common sense:
1) We've been removing vast amounts from the ecosystem for a long time: plants, animals, whole species, large bioregions. This cannot have a good effect on the intricate system of the biosphere. If it fails to have a disastrous effect, that will be due to luck and/or brilliant design on the part of evolution/Gaia/God/whatever, not due to responsible behavior on the part of humanity. This is like removing small pieces of an airplane before every flight, and expecting it to keep flying indefinitely.
2) We've been dumping vast amounts into the ecosystem for a long time: carbon, toxic pollutants, etc. Some of these are things the ecosystem was designed to handle in amounts smaller than we are adding. Some of these are things it was not designed to handle at all. Once again, this is not going to improve the biosphere as a whole. It is likely to cause serious harm; we will be very lucky if it does not. This is like welding random bits of junk to an airplane and expecting it to keep flying indefinitely.
3) We are all part of the biosphere in which we live. What happens to it, happens to us. We're dumping toxins into the atmosphere while clearcutting forests; the rate of asthma and other breathing disorders is climbing. We're dumping toxins into the water and draining marshes; the rate of cancers is climbing. We're putting artificial colors, preservatives, flavors, hormones, fertilizers, and other chemicals into the plants and animals and foods we eat; the number and severity of allergies is going up. We have done so much that it's often impossible to pin down a specific cause for a specific problem, because there's no way to weed out all the other variables! But as a general rule, dumping things into a system that it wasn't designed to handle is likely to cause malfunctions; when there is dumping and there are malfunctions, they are more likely to be related than unrelated. To be alive is to belong to the biosphere; it is not possible to separate oneself from it. So whatever we do to the biosphere must have some kind of effect on us. Thus, whenever we abuse the biosphere by ripping out large parts of it and/or inserting things it can't handle, we are almost certainly harming ourselves. And if the engines of the airplane fail, the rest of the plane is not going to stay up in their while they fall. The whole plane crashes.
I don't like relying on luck. I don't like meddling with things that we don't fully understand, especially when our lives and the survival of our species depend on those things continuing to function properly. I believe that humanity has a moral responsibility and a practical need to take good care of the Earth, and that we are collectively shirking that. I do not consider it rational to ignore warning signs and simply hope they do not indicate imminent disaster. I prefer to have a sound and sustainable way of living in the world. But this worldview is not very popular.