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Sunday, February 15, 2009

Global WarmingClimate Change

I am a bit of an agnostic on Global warming, now known as Climate Change.  I am a STRONG advocate of alternative fuels, new ways of doing business and other actions to reduce our dependence on liquid fossil fuels.  I am not sure Climate Change is all bad.  Wasn't life better when winters were longer and ice from the Merrimack was cut and stored, to be used to keep ice boxes working during the summer?

Now comes George Will with an OpED (Washington Post, Sunday, 15 February 2009), "Dark Green Doomsayers."

Mr Will trots out the normal arguments about how we were concerned about Global Cooling only a few decades ago--a time period familiar to many of us older voters.  Then there is Arctic Ice:
According to the University of Illinois' Arctic Climate Research Center, global sea ice levels now equal those of 1979.
I could be accused of posting on this subject just to see what my friends say.  But, I do have some serious questions, including one that Mr Will alluded to.

What is the optimum global climate?

The Supplemental Question is, who benefits (to include flora and fauna, but also nations and peoples) and who loses with this optimum climate?

Regards  --  Cliff
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1 comment:

The New Englander said...

Cliff,

Ever read 'State of Fear' by Michael Crichton? I got it from one of those free book exchanges, just a beat-up paperback copy that I grabbed only because I recognized the author and had time waiting for a flight.

I'm glad I did, because I admit it forced me out of the global warming groupthink shared by many who don't have formal scientific/tech backgrounds but read enough popular press to be familiar with -- and sometimes subscribe to -- the popular shibboleths of the day. The book isn't amazing, but the great part comes at the end (after the novel itself) where Crichton uses a series of statistics to totally skewer people's pre-existing beliefs about climate change.

If you get a chance, I recommend you grab State of Fear and read the Epilogue..tons of great stats similar to the one you mentioned about the ice. He's got some great stuff on the urban heat island effect, and contrasts, for example, a rising trend in New York City temperatures with a falling trend in temperatures in rural upstate New York for the same years.

The people Crichton was really going after with State of Fear are those who, if asked, "Do you believe in global warming?" would instantly say, "Yes," but if grilled a bit for the hard scientific background behind their belief, would quickly show there's no substance behind it.

best,
gp

2/15/2009 09:56:00 PM

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