Global Climate Change
Because it's Earth Day, I figure it's a good time to wonder why climate change is a political issue. Are the debunkers afraid they'll have to pay damages for flooding and lost coastal real estate? Or are they simply offended because Al Gore made a movie about it? Or is it simply a case of a four-year-old saying "Lamp? What broken lamp? I don't know anything about it! I wasn't even near it when it fell off the table!" (And maybe the four-year-old is right, and the cat did it. But it doesn't change whether the lamp is broken.)
I worry about it because it seems like something that anyone who is afraid of drought, flood, famine, hurricanes, tornados, unseasonable weather, etc. should worry about. Because they will affect us in very real ways, in price of food, lifestyle, availability of water, all those things we take for granted. Things that don't always go away if you ignore them.
It's funny, though, how people attack "the science" behind it. Yeah, so? Maybe it's because I know how science, like sausage, is made. Ever read books like "the Double Helix"? It's not always elegant, but it's a best effort. And if sometimes things have wiggle, it's called "margin of error" and is present in all science. There are folks who say it's all invalid because of some minor flaw. (Of course, I, not being an academic, would welcome anyone finding an area of shortcomings, as it gives me data to work with in correcting the model. I guess I'm strange that way, as it seems to startle people when I accept new data and use it, such as when I'm researching history or something.) But that's just it. It's usually just small quibbles. And, as my high school chemistry teacher used to say "we might find out something tomorrow where we'll have to throw out the whole book and start over." Science is not absolute. But wow, do folks get significant. And it never hurts to ere on the side of caution.
Don't they realize that, ultimately, Mother Nature doesn't care? That saying that late freeze has nothing to do with global climate change has no effect on whether this year's peach crop won't set?
I worry about it because it seems like something that anyone who is afraid of drought, flood, famine, hurricanes, tornados, unseasonable weather, etc. should worry about. Because they will affect us in very real ways, in price of food, lifestyle, availability of water, all those things we take for granted. Things that don't always go away if you ignore them.
It's funny, though, how people attack "the science" behind it. Yeah, so? Maybe it's because I know how science, like sausage, is made. Ever read books like "the Double Helix"? It's not always elegant, but it's a best effort. And if sometimes things have wiggle, it's called "margin of error" and is present in all science. There are folks who say it's all invalid because of some minor flaw. (Of course, I, not being an academic, would welcome anyone finding an area of shortcomings, as it gives me data to work with in correcting the model. I guess I'm strange that way, as it seems to startle people when I accept new data and use it, such as when I'm researching history or something.) But that's just it. It's usually just small quibbles. And, as my high school chemistry teacher used to say "we might find out something tomorrow where we'll have to throw out the whole book and start over." Science is not absolute. But wow, do folks get significant. And it never hurts to ere on the side of caution.
Don't they realize that, ultimately, Mother Nature doesn't care? That saying that late freeze has nothing to do with global climate change has no effect on whether this year's peach crop won't set?