Monday, January 30, 2012

Til the Thames Freezes Over, Part Two

This will come as a horrible shock to the Global Warming Zealots
and others throughout time who sought to stifle scientific inquiry,
 but the earth is spherical, revolves around the sun
and is not the center of the universe.


Global Warming may be occurring.  After all, it would hardly be the first time in earth's long history that warming has occurred.  Cooling cycled have occurred, too.   What is interesting is that man has almost always coped better with these cycles in the past than we are today.  We've moved north, moved south, planted different crops, hunted different game, stored fuel, changed lifestyles.  And we did it slowly and in perfect rhythm with our wonderful planet.


But not today.  Today, we have turned climate change into a powerful religious orthodoxy, with priests, bishops and even false gods.  And God help you if you cross these powerful servants of the holy writ.


No sooner than yesterday's controversy reared it's ugly head (see my original blog post, yesterday) than we get news of a mini-revolt with the scientific community over the exact same issues.  It's magnificently documented in The Wall Street Journal article quoted below:

No Need to Panic About Global Warming

There's no compelling scientific argument for drastic action

Editor's Note: The following has been signed by the 16 scientists listed at the end of the article: 

In September, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ivar Giaever, a supporter of President Obama in the last election, publicly resigned from the American Physical Society (APS) with a letter that begins: "I did not renew [my membership] because I cannot live with the [APS policy] statement: 'The evidence is incontrovertible: Global warming is occurring. If no mitigating actions are taken, significant disruptions in the Earth's physical and ecological systems, social systems, security and human health are likely to occur. We must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases beginning now.' In the APS it is OK to discuss whether the mass of the proton changes over time and how a multi-universe behaves, but the evidence of global warming is incontrovertible?"
In spite of a multidecade international campaign to enforce the message that increasing amounts of the "pollutant" carbon dioxide will destroy civilization, large numbers of scientists, many very prominent, share the opinions of Dr. Giaever. And the number of scientific "heretics" is growing with each passing year. The reason is a collection of stubborn scientific facts.


----- Significant additional data follows ------- Read the entire article for complete information ------
SIGNED: Claude Allegre, former director of the Institute for the Study of the Earth, University of Paris; J. Scott Armstrong, cofounder of the Journal of Forecasting and the International Journal of Forecasting; Jan Breslow, head of the Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics and Metabolism, Rockefeller University; Roger Cohen, fellow, American Physical Society; Edward David, member, National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Sciences; William Happer, professor of physics, Princeton; Michael Kelly, professor of technology, University of Cambridge, U.K.; William Kininmonth, former head of climate research at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology; Richard Lindzen, professor of atmospheric sciences, MIT; James McGrath, professor of chemistry, Virginia Technical University; Rodney Nichols, former president and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences; Burt Rutan, aerospace engineer, designer of Voyager and SpaceShipOne; Harrison H. Schmitt, Apollo 17 astronaut and former U.S. senator; Nir Shaviv, professor of astrophysics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem; Henk Tennekes, former director, Royal Dutch Meteorological Service; Antonio Zichichi, president of the World Federation of Scientists, Geneva.
The problem is politicization of the scientific community has made discussion and even investigation into climate change nearly impossible.  Anyone who disagrees with the orthodoxy loses their job, is unable to get funding for research and become a pariah in both the scientific and political community.
There is so much we need to do to protect the earth and improve the environment, much of it in perfect harmony with the goals of the Global Warming zealots.  Third world destruction of the vast forests needs to slow or stop.  Pollution in Bejing is fatal for many of its residents.  I could go on and on.
What we should NOT do is stifle scientific investigation or lock away adversaries as the religious zealots did with Galileo so many years ago.

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