The fear mongering around climate change needs to stop.
Here are 10 reasons I have always been skeptical of climate change theory:
1) Humans like to believe we know it all and have the answers. The weather is massively complicated involving a multitude of factors and variables. We as a human species are more primitive than we like to believe we are. We often do reprehensible things and can barely take care of each other. Look at the Syrian Civil War, our last Presidential election, the fact that there is still so much racism that we have to say Black Lives Matter in 2017, homophobia, and wage inequality as just some examples that we humans aren’t as enlightened and intelligent as we like to think we are. Therefore, I struggle to believe even our best scientists really grasp something as massively complex as the weather.
2) The weather ebbs and flows. It always has. Extreme weather events are nothing new, they have been a part of history forever. The floods of 1927, 1938, the Tri-State Tornado, The Blizzard of 1888 are just some of thousands of examples.
3) Science is always updating, amending and improving. If you had visited Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello library around the year 1800, his collection of books was regarded to be some of the best and accepted texts of the day, taken as fact. Thomas Jefferson might have even said “the debate is over” regarding a principal as he pulled a book from his shelf. Now we know that considerable parts of what was in that library have been disproved, updated, amended or debunked.
4) Almost everything should be continually questioned and inquired about. Critical thinking is a powerful weapon against ignorance. It is a huge red flag when climate alarmists shut down debate by saying “The debate is over…” or try to suppress questioning. This reminds me of Stephen Miller from a few weeks ago when he said “The powers of the President to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned.” Scary. Critically thinking and questioning are how we become smarter and more enlightened as humans.
5) The media has an economic incentive in embellishing climate change, because bad news gets attention and sells.
6) Climate change often manifests and operates as a business industry heavily motivated by money just like other capitalist business industries.
7) The weather in Vermont and winters seem absolutely fine from my experience and perspective, and if anything have actually gotten colder over the course of my lifetime.
8) Of course we should get off dependence on oil/fossil fuels and seek newer renewable energy resources. Fracking is terrible. These are old technologies and newer, better ones exist which we have failed to take advantage of. We should not pollute and we should take care of the Earth and our environment because it’s the right thing to do, not because we are scared into doing so.
9) Already some climate changes predictions have shown to be wrong, and the theory has evolved over the past 10+ years. It will likely continue to evolve.
10) Overpopulation taxes the Earth more than any amount of recycling you could ever do, and any number of Prius’ you could ever drive. Have fewer (or no) children. Adopt.
Spencer C.
Just suppose
Just suppose…
1. Anthropogenic climate change is as Trump says, “A hoax”. Then what?
Well, we’ve wasted a hell of a lot of time and money fighting a chimera.
(Nowhere near as much as we’ve wasted destroying the Middle East).
Aside from that, I don’t see much of a downside.
2. What if it’s real?
We may, just may, save the planet for future generations.
I’ll place my bets on #2.
Wagers and Risk Management
Spencer –
Following on the esteemed Tomaidh’s post, are you willing to bet the future of humanity that your opinion is correct? I myself am only about 85% convinced that climate change is real and caused by the buildup of greenhouse gasses. I know more than a few intelligent, rational people who strongly believe it is not. But even if I stood at 20% belief in its likelihood, I would act as I am now and devote a good portion of my coherent hours to dealing with it.
I ask you – if you had to drive your car home, and there were two options, and one had a known 85% probability that you and your family would have an accident and die, would your behavior be affected? How about 20%? How about 1%?
The way that a person deals with it is their choice, whether it is out of fear, or research, or working for population control.
The first thing I'd like to
The first thing I’d like to know is how old the writer is and how long has he been observing the climate.
As someone who practices allergy in Vermont for over 40 years, and as a more than casual observer of the climate, I’d say there have been significant changes in Vermont’s.
A few years ago, our grow zone was changed to reflect the warming in our area.
I have seen tree pollen dates, which theoretically start in April, start earlier every year.
The first frost has come later and later.
Finally, I wonder, from his words, whether the writer realizes there is a difference between climate and weather.
Bob Fagelson
tick tick tick
In today’s news, the US Glacier National Park has 26 of 150 glaciers from the late 19th c. remaining.
Lead scientist says: ““This is the first time in 7,000 years they’ve experienced this temperature and precipitation. There’s no hope for them to survive. We’d need a major reversal where it would get cooler, not just stop getting warmer. There’s nothing to suggest that will happen.””
Name Change
If this keeps up, we’re gonna hafta change the name of the park.
Oh boy we’re gonna die
As stating at the beginning of this article, there really isn’t any “fear mongering around climate change.”
Meteorology and climatology are branches of the atmospheric sciences and the scientific studies and records of climate.
There’s no question that “global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onward (are) attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.”
That means “us.”
Rolling and Tumbling
To put our current domestic meltdown in perspective take a gander at this article about the Doomsday Glacier. This appears in Rolling Stone, of all places.
Not that we need more to worry about, but with cliamte action being reversed, study being cut or ignored, this does look messy to say the least.
“Not that we need more to worry about”
“If all of Greenland were to melt, that’s 22 feet of sea-level rise. If Antarctica goes, it’s 200 feet. “Antarctica used to be the sleeping elephant,” says Mark Serreze, the head of the National Snow and Ice Data Center. “But now the elephant is stirring.” “
Did I mention the methane under glaciers and the permafrost?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3325230/Enormous-mounds-methane-Arctic-sea-Underwater-pingos-reveal-clues-climate-change.html
Multiple States of Water
One of the basic science lessons I think we all learn is about how water changes state from solid to liquid to gas. It’s a substance we all see and know, and the experiments are safe and interesting. (Of course, there are more sophisticated ways of looking at water. A friend in physics used to study Ice 9, one of the “levels” of frozen water, specifically.)
Snow is snow right up until it isn’t. Kids know this if they play in it. What looks like a foot of snow might be quickly collapse to nothing on a warm day. No amount of scooping or shoveling will remake the pile, and the fort is gone. Fun over, unless playing in mud is enjoyed.