Crazed By Bad Science?

For many months now I have encountered debates and circumstances that, in my view, demand a concerted effort to: expose charlatan politicians, rediscover facts (scientific facts not convenient or inconvenient ones) and develop rational policies to deal with global warming. I am asking for your participation and collaboration.

Recent observations

• More and more people are worried about global warming


• More people are adamant that it 's all human caused


• Virtually all seem to have come to believe that it is all reversible, if we just wanted to try seriously enough


• Few appear willing to pay any price for remediation but most will sanctimoniously advocate action at someone else's expense


• Energy conservation, at least in the US is at best a posturing with virtually no action

Many research papers widely available and unread by the masses show that a general and gross misunderstanding exists for the following reasons:

• Global warming is UNQUESTIONABLE


• Valid proof that it is primarily human-caused is scant at best or non existent


• Much documentation demonstrates that the "human caused" conclusion was reached through data selected to prove a political view, not a scientific conclusion


• Politicians in search of a crusade have hijacked the subject and the discussion leading the masses to convenient lies and conclusions to build their popularity and importance at the expense of logically grounded policy decisions. In some cases they have even publicly admitted doing so


• The artistry of popular politicians rests in having framed a very complex subject in simple sound bites that followers could repeat like a mantra to create a state of increasing fear


• Scientists holding dissenting opinions continue to present their view in technical and scientifically rigorous language that is unread by the masses and has little effect on political opinion and action

The cost of the convergence of the above includes:

• The virtual impossibility of sensible debate as 1. Global warming as a fact, 2. Human responsibility for it and 3. the possibility of its reversibility are systematically confused so that anyone disagreeing with points 2 or 3 is immediately attacked and tar-feathered as if refusing item 1


• Incorrectly framed or unfocused debate leads to: a. pursuing quixotic reversibility strategies of staggering cost, b. prevents consideration of policies of amelioration of an unavoidable event, c. dilutes a legitimate effort to change undesirable social habits to improve the stewardship of the planet

The purpose of this blog is to encourage the collection and presentation of scientific truths in as simple terms as "inconvenient truths" have been so that all participants in the discussion may weigh all facts, not just the "inconvenient" ones.

I propose a Wikipedia-like effort where contributors create posts that meet these criteria:

1. Summarize the message of your post in 200-400 words


2. Add supporting data and quotations using outside links to pages, PDFS, etc.


3. Write in outline form with brief simple factual statements and paragraphs of few lines (write for non scientist, for non-engineers, write for 6th graders)


4. Challenge yourself to communicate in simple terms and leave the subtle nuances and uncertainties in your links and quotations. They will demonstrate your understanding of the complexities and uncertainties involved, but you will create material that the average-Joe (6th grader) may read and may be moved to look at your references and become a rational participant in the debate.

This we MUST do or else we allow ignorant debate of inconvenient truths to lead to the disastrous consequences of ill conceived policies.

Our grand children will leave in a warmer world without doubt, we must incite better stewardship of the planet without a doubt, but we do not need to pay for quixotic crusades that will leave unattended the needs of those who will be impacted the most by global warming (example: if global warming will cause the Seychelles Islands to go under the ocean we need to spend resources to prepare to relocate and aid the poor inhabitants. If we spend the money in a quixotic crusade to reverse warming to find that it is not reversible by humans, we will have nothing left to cope with reality inconvenient as it will be). Let's push to put our money where it can make life better for people that need it not to enlarge the ego of self important and self appointed leaders.

Thank you for your participation.