Best Crock yet?
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KIDS' LIVES MATTER so let's stop climate change
Open Mind 
Thanks, and seeded on a forum that has 500,000 members donating CPU time for [publicly, none patentable] research through distributed computing, to include one on clean energy..
On the downside, Peter seems to have his own resident troll now, Mr. daveburton….
For a laugh (or a groan) take a look at Bastardi’s latest comments on Fox News. AGW violates the 1st Law of Thermo? Is the man really that stupid? How can he possibly be a meterologist and be this dumb?
Yes, definitely the best crock yet, and there have been some very good ones.
Aside from the excellent material in the video, one thing that struck me was Limbaugh appealing to authority–scientists(!)–when he said it was cooling (“scientific temperature research surveys”). He has no problem wanting climate scientists drawn and quartered, but if he thinks their information supports him, he uses that to bolster his claim. What is it? Scientists and their work are corrupt, or scientists and their work are reliable?
That probably makes a good litmus test for any crank. Do they reject all research that contradicts them and claim the establishment (academia, science academies) is suppressing the truth, but then in the next sentence say, “This is true–research from [insert highly prestigious university/science academy here] says so.”?
Yah, Peter Sinclair does trojan work, and he is one of the clearest voices coming through on the topic of climate change. But… it’s all preaching to the converted.
I had a night out with the lads and ladies from work tonight, and we all work on what you would call cutting edge computer programming stuff. Took a straw poll, and not a single one of my colleagues had even heard about Climategate. I’m talking deer in headlamps reactions here. Then I did a gentle probe to get a feel for their general awareness about AGW. They couldn’t care less. My company would represent a fairly good cross section of people who you would think would be up on this stuff. And this is in Ireland, which, IMO, would have a better standard of education than in my homeland, the U.S.
Extrapolate that into the general population, and there is simply no sense of awareness about AGW (as I have discovered with my extended family). Meh. We’re doomed.
One of the more astute among us did ask me, though “How far in the future do you think AGW will begin to affect us?”. Off the cuff, I said “Probably about 20 – 30 years out, it will become quite apparent that we have soiled our nest, but by then it will be too late to take any effective action”. Too that, he reacted: “Oh, I thought it might be 50 years, by which time it wouldn’t affect me”.
That attitude is what we are up against, as I’m sure most of you are all aware. Still… depressing. It seems apathy will be the death of us all yet.
I’m not sure which is worse. Dealing with people who just don’t care, or dealing with someone like my dad who still apparently thinks Obama is a far-left communist and that global warming is a hoax/conspiracy. It is somewhat amusing though to see how quickly he’ll change the channel when the news starts talking about the record heat this summer.
Yeah, well, “To that he reacted” would have been better.
I would have said it is already affecting us.
Me, too, and I don’t even live in Oklahoma. Interesting to see if there’s any short-term shift in attitudes there and in Texas.
I’m hoping that we won’t have to wait 20-30 years for increased clarity that the ‘crock-sellers’ are bankrupt.
Kevin, hi,
Yeah, you’re right. I should have said 10 years instead of 20 or 30. Either the methane clathrates are going to kick in soon, and/or the changing weather patterns are going to hit the main crop growing areas. I think this is why I have become depressed of late. I’m saddened by the fact that through our greed and short-sightedness, we have handed an absolute mess to future generations.
Even sadder is the realisation that 95% of humanity is blissfully unaware of what is about to hit them…
MetzO’Magic .
It will not be apathy that will be our death–many of the denialati care very deeply. Rather it is self-delusion. People have no apetite for truth when it isn’t what the want to believe. For what it is worth, I don’t anticipate extinction of the species any time soon, but our numbers are going to die way, way back, and we will likely never be the dominant species on the planet. I suppose that is a boon where the health of the planet is concerned.
Coincidentally, I’m currently reading Amy Seidl’s “Finding Higher Ground: Adaptation In The Age Of Warming.” She’s a biologist, and the book examines adaptation in both biological and behavioral senses. I’m not very far along with it yet, but I note Bill McKibben gives it a good word. A summary review of it might be my next writing project once I get the last of the “Fire From Heaven” articles out the door.
Anyway–and back to the point–her main thesis is that we need not only to think about adaptation, but to start taking action–not as a replacement for mitigation efforts, but alongside them, since even if mitigation begins to be undertaken much more seriously that hitherto, we will still have a considerable warming commitment we will need to adapt to. The upside is that she thinks there is considerable room for effective adaptive action–or so I gather from what I read so far.