[Dean's World] Dean: I Am Not A Global Warming Heretic, or Denier

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Posted by Dean:
I Am Not A Global Warming Heretic, or Denier
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1187217523.shtml


   I am a skeptic.

   For people who truly understand, a "skeptic" does not say "I think X
   is not true." A skeptic says, "I am not convinced about X, and I have
   some tough questions." Which, to me, has always been where science
   truly starts.

   I'm often astonished how some people, especially some with college
   degrees in science, can't distinguish the difference.

   Many of my friends and teachers who have been working scientists have
   told me a certain dirty fact: there are an awful lot of "scientists"
   who are nothing but bureaucrats and self-serving suckups and
   administrative button-counters and bottle-washers-- just like every
   other honest and admirable profession in the world.

   On global warming, my exact position has been the same for years:

   1) It is undeniable that there is Climate Change.
   2) It is virtually 100% certain that human beings are contributing to
   Climate Change.
   3) It appears highly likely that there is a general warming trend in
   the world at the moment.
   4) CO2 levels have clearly been increasing globally for decades.

   So, given that I agree to all of that, what exactly am I "doubting" or
   "denying" or expressing "heresy" or whatever on? I await a succinct
   answer upon that.

   In the meantime, what is not clear to me, and has not been clear to me
   for some time is:

   1) The increase in CO2 levels is the primary cause of whatever warming
   trend we've seen recently. How sure are you? It's okay if you have
   some doubt. But how high is that doubt? 10%? 20%? 30%? What's your
   confidence interval?
   2) Regardless of how certain you are, a separate question: is this
   truly the most important ecological question we face as a species and
   as a planet? Should this truly be our #1 priority, ecologically and in
   terms of nationa, species, or planetary-survival?

   I've been saying most of this pretty consistently for quite some years
   now. Indeed, I'm pretty sure that (aside from maybe a sarcastic
   comment now and then) that I haven't changed my view on that in a
   decade.

   For the record, I have read [1]Al Gore's Earth in the Balance
   cover-to-cover, including all footnotes, and checked many of his
   references. Have you?

   I've also read [2]Rarchel Carson's Silent Spring by the way. Have you
   read it, Mr. Self-righteous Liberal or Ms. All-Knowing Conservative? I
   even have the special edition where Al Gore wrote his own introduction
   to it somewhere in my library. I remember being as unimpressed with it
   as I was with Al Gore's incredibly self-serving, messianic political
   campaign movie, [3]An Inconvenient Truth, which he quite transparently
   hoped would transport him to the Presidency in 2008 and still hopes
   will make him a viable candidate in 2012. (Which is just fine by the
   way, but let's not kid ourselves that this man is in any way smarter
   or more noble than, say, George Bush or Bill Clinton, because he
   isn't. Although he's still a more honest pseudo-documentarian
   propagandist than, say, a hatemonger like [4]Michael Moore).

   Indeed, for some time now I've been saying that if Al Gore and their
   supporters would just drop their destructive opposition to nuclear
   power, I would be willing to compromise and support some of their
   other proposals which I found dubious. All they had to do was stop
   demonizing nuclear power (the most environmentally friendly,
   greenhouse-gas-free form of power generation ever invented), and Al
   Gore publicly refused to do that.

   Nix that, and I'm not on your side and will never be, and will instead
   continue to do my best to (A) educate people on why they've been
   snookered by the ridiculous luddites who oppose nuclear power, and (B)
   continue to point out why everyday people should be skeptical of
   global warming scaremongers, especially those who clearly have a
   financial motive behind such scaremongering.

   "Denier?" "Heretic?" "Doubter?" Yeah. Pick whatever convenient label
   helps you ignore the substantive arguments raised here (and elsewhere,
   not just by me but by many others).

References

   1. http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Balance-Ecology-Human-Spirit/dp/1594866376/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-2934385-8933625?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187217353&sr=1-1/deansworld01-20
   2. http://www.amazon.com/Silent-Spring-Rachel-Carson/dp/0618249060/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-2934385-8933625?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187217892&sr=1-1/deansworld01-20
   3. http://www.amazon.com/Inconvenient-Truth-Al-Gore/dp/B000ICL3KG/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-2934385-8933625?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1187218498&sr=1-1/deansworld01-20
   4. http://www.davekopel.com/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-in-Fahrenheit-911.htm