Global Weirding!

"The fact that it has snowed like crazy in Washington — while it has rained at the Winter Olympics in Canada, while Australia is having a record 13-year drought — is right in line with what every major study on climate change predicts: The weather will get weird; some areas will get more precipitation than ever; others will become drier than ever."

That quote is from Thomas Friedman, who, in a recent New York Times article, suggests ways to quiet the fears and untangle the confusion of the American people on global warming.  Friedman attributes the confusion to constant berating and belittlement of the concept by certain politicians ("Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina tweeting that “it is going to keep snowing until Al Gore cries ‘uncle,’”)  and others (see what Donald Trump said below).  What's a person to believe?   Read the rest of the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/opinion/17friedman.html?ref=opinion

Friedman prefers the term "Global Weirding," and I think he may be onto something well beyond the weather.  Take the things coming out of Donald Trump's mouth, for example.  He is so worried that China will gain a competitive business edge if the U.S. enforces scrubbers while China dilly dallies about getting its green act together, he'll say any old thing to head policy-makers off at the pass.  Trump's statements that Washington, DC snow is proof against climate change, and cause for retracting Al Gore's Nobel Prize have been widely reported, but it's much more fun to check the actual transcript of the Neil Cavuto interview from which these tidbits were extracted: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,586403,00.html.

I wonder, Mr. Trump - if the earth shifts and the world as we know it turns topsy turvy because we all ignore global warming - what good will our competitive edge be to us?

My mother taught me to look inside a man - not to focus on the superficial.  But just this once, Mom, please let me rub that ugly comb-over in his  face.  The things that come out of Trump's mouth are just as unkempt as the hair on his head.  Global weirding, indeed!

REAL or HOAX, part II

In my June 30 blogpost, http://bit.ly/3OsiGT , I asked some very cool people (scientists, environmental ethicists) what to think about the Heartland Institute's recent publication of well-written contrarian information to contest the reality of climate change. One of those cool people pointed me to Grist, a site focused on environmental journalism. I turned around and asked Grist (also cool people) what it thought of the Heartland material. I got a prompt reply from Ashley Braun, Grist's Community Coordinator, listing some articles Grist has written about Heartland.

I should note that the Grist articles raise doubts about Heartland, but aren't filled with the kind of hard core data that an academic wants to see. For me, the most interesting inference, and one which Grist reports blogger Kevin Grandia at DeSmogBlog is trying to back with proof, is the claim that the long list of scientists who supposedly side with Heartland on the status of climate change may be partially falsified. You can read about this in the fourth article noted below, "DeSmogBlog uncovers Heartland lies." And likewise, the second article, "A look at the non-experts speaking at Heartland Institute's denialist sideshow," raises questions for me about the validity of Heartland's conference speakers, but doesn't actually put the validity question to rest. As a lawyer and a researcher, Grist's objections (many of the speakers, on the face of it, seem under-qualified to be considered experts on climate change) raise the question, but I could see a circumstance where someone's job title doesn't account for other activities that may have created expertise. I want to know more about the speaker's own claims as to the source of their expertise. Finally, the June 30th post gave a weighty nod to ideology. Grist's last article on the list does a good job of outing the ideological bent of the web of climate change nay-sayers. As I said on June 30th, I don't begrudge anyone their ideology. But we are human, and ideology often colors our abilities to consider evidence that may be contrary to our belief system. When we're dealing with a problem as potentially devastating to the earth and its inhabitants (including us) as global warming, that warrants a mind open enough to consider the worst case scenario. I'm a pragmatist. I believe we should "plan for the worst and hope for the best," as opposed to planning for the best, and finding ourselves facing the worst.

Ashley's response is below.


"Hi Sandy,

Thanks for contacting Grist and for questioning what’s going on with the Heartland Institute. We’ve been keeping an eye on them and their climate denial conferences for a while now. Here’s a list of our coverage, which may be useful to you and your friends:


Heartland Institute terrified of Grist, http://www.grist.org/article/global-warming-deniers-grist-not

A look at the non-experts speaking at Heartland Institute’s denialist sideshow, http://www.grist.org/article/A-roomful-of-cynics/

Do as Heartland says, not as it does, http://www.grist.org/article/do-as-heartland-says-not-as-it-does/

DeSmogBlog uncovers Heartland lies, http://www.grist.org/article/skeptics-lie-news-at-11/

Heartland’s climate experts: No actual expertise required, http://www.grist.org/article/air-quote-experts/

The Heartland conference recycles the usual climate change skeptics in its speakers list, http://www.grist.org/article/four-hundred-skeptics-try-19/

Marc Morano’s secret list of climate deniers, http://www.grist.org/article/Moranos-misinformation-machine/

Best,
Ashley


Ashley Braun Community Coordinator
206.876.2020 ext. 232
710 Second Ave, Seattle, WA 98104
Celebrating 10 Years as A Beacon in the Smog.®
Party crashers welcome. www.grist.org"

CARTOON SATURDAY!

I miss Saturday morning cartoons. We were still little then. We woke up and rolled disheveled from beds to the den couch. Generally before Mom was even awake. Later, thrilled that the three wild animals she brought into the world were under the taming trance of the tube, Mom often gave us cereal and toast on a tv tray in hopes of prolonging her peace and quiet. There we stayed all morning, watching show after show, until cartoons finally melted into some boring adult program like "Gone Fishin." We'd snap out of it, climb down from the couch, and get on with being animals. Then we got old enough to be bussed to the synagogue for "Saturday school," and an era came to an end.

Which characters were your favorites? This is going to date me, but what the heck.

Mine included the political (Rocky & Bullwinkle), the occultish (Casper, Beetlejuice), the musical (The Monkeys), and period pieces (The Flinstones, The Jetsons). I'm not sure which genre can contain Popeye, although I liked some Popeye cartoons and was bored and aggrevated by others. My favorite - Bluto (or was it Brutus?) as a bedouin, living in what appeared from the outside to be a tiny desert tent, but upon entering was seen to be an enormous arabian palace full of rooms, people and camels.

For old time's sake, and also for the sake of our planet, I thought I'd offer up some cartoons for your Saturday morning viewing pleasure.

What follows is a series of five short but extremely entertaining cartoon videos written by Robert Krulwich. Entitled "Global warming: It's All About Carbon," they explain the science behind global warming. They are fun! They are informative. I learned a thing or three about the chemistry of carbon without even trying.

I found them on "Climate Connection," apparently a joint project of NPR and National Geographic, http://tinyurl.com/4abbko There's a lot more stuff on that website besides cartoons.

So, without further adieu, get back into your pajamas if you're already out of them, put your breakfast on a tv tray, and settle in for Cartoon Saturday!

By the way, if you're interested in why Popeye's nemesis was sometimes Brutus, sometimes Bluto, click here, http://blogs.chron.com/fantasyfootball/2008/12/post_70.html, and scroll down a little.