Global Warming (sorry)
I really hate to write an article on this. I kind of feel like I am writing a post on Paris Hilton. Does the world really need another post about Paris? My only consolation is that its unlikely anyone will actually read this.
This all started when I ran across an article about 26 Myths of Climate Change.
I think they missed one, “its just a fad”. The global warming hubub seems to me like 10% science and 90% fashion bandwagon. Eventually the world will move on to the next all-consuming hyper-important cause celeb, and global warming will be as forgotten as plus 6′s.
You can quote me on that if you live long enough to see how wrong the dystopian predictions are.
Its not that I disagree with any of the findings, just the interpretation of them. People always seem to get the meaning wrong as if logic provides meaning, when really it only provides facts. The meaning they construct seems like an application of their brain to the facts. If “reality” for a person is that the world is going to hell in a handbasket then I’ll bet the meaning that they will construe from the facts of global warming will be dire.
The people that are predicting the collapse of the planet think that they can predict the future. I see no evidence that people can predict the future. Smart of them to predict a future that only gets really bad after we are all dead. That was a truly nice touch.
Zerfore, mein furer, given zat zee vestern vorld vill inevitably be destroyed by a nuclear fire, I see no reason to vorry about zee elevated sea levels or der bleached coral. I’ll leave zese issues to be solved by zee Vorld Islamic Government zat vill form after zee obliteration of zee Satanic Vestern Evilocracy (of vhich I am a proud member in good standing).
Update: Heard an interview with the senior NASA administrator on NPR. And now, surprise, they are calling for his resignation.
3 Responses to “Global Warming (sorry)”
1 virago 18 May 2007 @ 4:24 pm
Dear Member (Satanic Western Evilocracy),
As a recent visitor to the brilliance that is tententwo.com, I have a few things to say. First off, I am in total agreement that PH is quite possibly the most monumental waste of energy in the history of humanity. Second, I’m also in agreement that global warming has earned ‘fad’ status in respect to being the cause de jour in both celebrity and political arenas. There’s nothing that politicians or celebrities love more than a good cause which is in the favor of the majority. Heck, how else are politicians from the middle States going to get elected unless they can oppose gay marriage and support the right to have a Smith and Wesson tucked into your jeans?
Despite our consensus on the ‘fad’ matter, I’m going to have to go ahead and disagree with your opinion of “seeing no reason to worry about†global warming. Now, before I put forth my argument, let me precede it by expressing my strong belief that any attempt I might make to engage you in a battle of esoteric diatribe is most likely to leave me bleeding heavily on the floor. This would be before you mop said floor with me. That said, a little humiliation is sometimes good for the character, so I’ll proceed, no matter how ill advised it might be.
I doubt that you would argue that the planet is not, indeed, warming. Numbers are numbers after all. Have temperatures gone up? Yes. Are these increasing temperatures changing our planet? Yes. Are humans contributing to this warming? This question is, most certainly, highly debatable. For every scientist I could find that would say that we are contributing in a significant and alarming way, you would assuredly be able to find one that would say the very opposite. Regardless of the cause, the media attention that global warming has been receiving is a good thing. Anything that can keep us from soiling our own bed with our blatant and thoughtless consumerism and extravagant, often needless conveniences can only be a good thing. Global warming or not, to teach people that the drops in the bucket to add up can only be a positive for this giant orb we are all crawling around on. We are talking about educating a public that does things like pay $1.90 for a bottle of water that has been flown in a jet plane from Fiji rather than drink it out of their own taps. Particularly ironic in Vancouver; given that our tap water is some of the best in the entire world. If it takes a fad like global warming to make atrocities like Hummers and piling plastic bottles into landfills taboo, then so be it. So hey, even if the hypothesis that the CO2 we are pumping into the atmosphere is dooming us turns out to be bunk, and when we are 90 you get to say “hah, told you so,†the move to have people use our resources more efficiently can’t be bad.
Don’t drop the right hand, don’t drop the right hand…
2 Mooche 18 May 2007 @ 4:28 pm
I won’t dare disagree lest I lose my only reader!
3 stillinstasis 24 September 2007 @ 6:23 am
What’s the relationship between volume, temperature and pressure? The more videos Al Gore sells, the hotter the world seems and the more pressure we feel to do something about it.
What can we do? Turn down the volume.
Al is to earth science as Henny Penny is to gravity. Stop munching the popcorn long enough to think…Our planet is dynamic. Everything evolves…What do you want? Are you sure that what you want is right enough that you’ll screw with evolution to achieve your desired outcome? God? God bless.
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