"On December 7, leaders from 192 countries will gather at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to determine the fate of our planet. Let’s turn Copenhagen into Hopenhagen. Sign the Climate Petition and become a citizen at hopenhagen.org."
I recently visited the UN Global Climate Change Conference website out of curiosity. When I made the “Hopenhagen” icon and blurb (above) appear on my Facebook wall, I received criticism from family and friends who missed my (intended) sarcasm.
COP15 is going to "determine the fate of our planet"? How absurd! How arrogant! This whole Climate Calamity is a crock! Who is leading the charge? The (honorable?) Al Gore is one of the most visible promoters of global warming … (oops!) cooling … (oops!) climate change … (oops!) climate CRISIS! While Mr. Gore is undoubtedly a skilled politician and accomplished speaker, he’s not the brightest bulb in the string when it comes to responsible science. He has surgically extracted scientific facts that support his agenda and repackaged them so even the knuckle-dragging Average Joe could understand his message. To claim that human activity is responsible for causing the undeniable climate shift we are experiencing and (worse) that humankind can reverse that change is the epitome of human arrogance.
Even if you rode the small bus to your “Rocks for Jocks” class you would know that the geologic record contains well-documented evidence of global sea level fluctuations associated with climate changes across millions of years. In Al Gore’s televised Inconvenient (yet profitable) Truth he theatrically showed a climate change graph that was restricted to the most recent Holocene which conveniently excluded the preceding peak which nearly equals present day conditions.
You don’t have to include a great deal more of the graph to see what I mean: http://teachingboxes.org/seaLevel/lessons/lesson4_SeaLevelCurveGraph.htm
As a professional scientist, I find the “spinning” of perfectly good data into a promoted agenda particularly distasteful. Heaven knows that real scientists strive daily to remove or mitigate subjectivity and personal bias from the process. If I turned out this kind of science at work, I wouldn't be invited to Oslo - I'd be shown the door! At this point I am nearly certain that Mr. Gore’s rhetoric has surely surpassed bovine flatulence as a source of “greenhouse gas”. Did I mention that this is how he makes a living?
What really chaps my … well, “sticks in my craw” … is that despite his prostitution of my science, and his promotion of an “Incomplete Truth” Mr. Gore has succeeded in starting an important dialogue. At an emotional level there is nothing bad about rallying a global community around being more energy efficient, less polluting, and more conservation-minded with Earth’s natural resources. One can easily anticipate that the resolutions, accords, and protocols likely to result from COP15 will financially burden countries and companies alike. While the overall direction likely to be taken is laudable the timeframe for change promoted by this “crisis” will strain everyone.
But the delegates attending COP15 are all exceedingly “green” well-meaning folks, right? If that is the case then why have the majority arrived in their private jets, and why have they booked up 200 limousines for the week in Copenhagen. I have found when travelling there that trains/subways are great for getting around, even though walking is the norm – most locals bicycle to and from work and around town. I wonder what the carbon footprint of COP15 would look like?
COP15 is going to "determine the fate of our planet"? How absurd! How arrogant! This whole Climate Calamity is a crock! Who is leading the charge? The (honorable?) Al Gore is one of the most visible promoters of global warming … (oops!) cooling … (oops!) climate change … (oops!) climate CRISIS! While Mr. Gore is undoubtedly a skilled politician and accomplished speaker, he’s not the brightest bulb in the string when it comes to responsible science. He has surgically extracted scientific facts that support his agenda and repackaged them so even the knuckle-dragging Average Joe could understand his message. To claim that human activity is responsible for causing the undeniable climate shift we are experiencing and (worse) that humankind can reverse that change is the epitome of human arrogance.
Even if you rode the small bus to your “Rocks for Jocks” class you would know that the geologic record contains well-documented evidence of global sea level fluctuations associated with climate changes across millions of years. In Al Gore’s televised Inconvenient (yet profitable) Truth he theatrically showed a climate change graph that was restricted to the most recent Holocene which conveniently excluded the preceding peak which nearly equals present day conditions.
You don’t have to include a great deal more of the graph to see what I mean: http://teachingboxes.org/seaLevel/lessons/lesson4_SeaLevelCurveGraph.htm
As a professional scientist, I find the “spinning” of perfectly good data into a promoted agenda particularly distasteful. Heaven knows that real scientists strive daily to remove or mitigate subjectivity and personal bias from the process. If I turned out this kind of science at work, I wouldn't be invited to Oslo - I'd be shown the door! At this point I am nearly certain that Mr. Gore’s rhetoric has surely surpassed bovine flatulence as a source of “greenhouse gas”. Did I mention that this is how he makes a living?
What really chaps my … well, “sticks in my craw” … is that despite his prostitution of my science, and his promotion of an “Incomplete Truth” Mr. Gore has succeeded in starting an important dialogue. At an emotional level there is nothing bad about rallying a global community around being more energy efficient, less polluting, and more conservation-minded with Earth’s natural resources. One can easily anticipate that the resolutions, accords, and protocols likely to result from COP15 will financially burden countries and companies alike. While the overall direction likely to be taken is laudable the timeframe for change promoted by this “crisis” will strain everyone.
But the delegates attending COP15 are all exceedingly “green” well-meaning folks, right? If that is the case then why have the majority arrived in their private jets, and why have they booked up 200 limousines for the week in Copenhagen. I have found when travelling there that trains/subways are great for getting around, even though walking is the norm – most locals bicycle to and from work and around town. I wonder what the carbon footprint of COP15 would look like?
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Atta boy, Mark ! You make me proud! I'l retract that offer of that bridge that I was going to sell you. I admit that I did jump the gun a bit posting on your Facebook comment. You have to understand that living here in Massachusetts, I am surrounded by these "liberal weenies" who "think"(read "feel") and speak this way. These are the people that are still driving around proudly displaying thier "Clinton/Gore, Gore/Lieberman, Kerry/Edwards and Obama/Biden bumper stickers on their cars...and their not driving hybrids either!
ReplyDeleteVery good commentary on "Dopenhagen"...keep 'em coming!