Thursday, November 26, 2009

The Pitch



Climategate broke this week. Now I’m aware polls say 75% of people agree Global Warming is occurring and I have no wish to didactically pretend I have the answers sitting in my house in Barrie. Because I don’t. I only have questions.


For those of you unfamiliar, the climatologist brain trust in England at the heart of the case for Global Warming, had their emails compromised and leaked to the press. These emails included exchanges regarding subverting data that did not confirm a warming trend now as well as omitting a previous warming trend in the 30’s.


You see in recent years the data shows the earth has actually cooled. This makes it hard to extrapolate the Al Gore hockey stick graph in his movie. Also a warming trend in the 30’s (that was obviously followed by a cooling trend) does not help ramp up a unique alarm either.


If these emails are true then the question becomes....why? Well there are a couple of possible motives.


1- Money. Scientists at the fore are given increasingly larger grants as this plight gains momentum.


2- Notoriety. These scientists gain great fame amongst their peers.


Those are two very powerful motivators that could cloud objectivity, which is to say human fallibility may be in play.


Personally I have been sceptical of Global Warming for two simple reasons. Neither which are proof that it does not exist, merely red flags to me personally.


1- Telling me the earth has heated up 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit in 100 years seems erroneously specific given we were were shitting in outhouses, traveling by horse and buggy and using Morse Code. How the hell do we know the Global Temperature so exacting back then? .-..-....-.-.---.-..-.--.- “Your temperature again Addis Ababa?" ..--.-.-.----.-.-.- "78.2 or 78.3?"


2- We have had roughly 60 Ice Ages in just the last two million years. That represents massive cooling followed by obvious heating by a planet that was sparsely populated with glorified monkeys on it. No Hummers or factories back then. Theoretically we are in between Ice Ages presently and therefore in a warmer period.

This is obviously a planet in constant flux regardless of humanity when it comes to varioutions in temperature.

Now I’m not saying we humans are not polluting and making a goddamned mess of things. If you’ve read this blog enough you know I’m not saying that.


What I have been saying is that knowing the actual problem and dealing with it is the least we can do. How are we going to address a problem if we can’t properly identify it?


I am of course happy to have the debate. Not with me mind you, but between those that should be in the know and without any perverting agenda.


Perhaps Global Warming is happening. However unless you know an accredited Climatologist with a peer review finding of unmolested data...then you have just been listening to someone else regurgitate something fed to them.


When Climategate broke FOX News treated it like the bombshell that would blow the roof off a hoax while CNN treated it as suspiciously timed and lacking context. Two major journalistic operations can’t even report like journalists. Both strike me as unfairly characterizing this and I question the media’s ability to properly inform its public.


I want to quickly revisit the money motive. Goldman Sachs is one of the big corporations that are supporting a Cap and Trade initiative that is supposed to counter Global Warming. This also smells to me. If this legislation passes there will be a huge derivative business created in which people with buy and sell allowances for pollution...which is to say the brokers will be making a mint regardless.


Don’t even get me started on the myopically self-serving politicians. There is an awful lot of suspicion to be spread around.


"...as soon as you lay your hands on a conversation to steer it, it's not a conversation anymore; it's a pitch. And you're not a human being; you're a marketing rep."


-The Big Kahuna


-Life is complicated and far from perfect but it is still great.

*The Wall Street Journal has captured the dilemma well.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703499404574559630382048494.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

2 comments:

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  2. nice job bud. so many questions people should be asking, rather than feeling guilty for throwing out a bottle of water. stop eating meat if you really think there is global warming. as bill maher said, it's better to eat a salad in a hummer than a hamburger in a prius. and our boy George Carlin had some great thoughts on how the Earth would decide to do whatever it wants...

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