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By Dennis Byrne
RealClearPolitics
Among the environmental slogans sprinting across the big screen during the Oscar's paean to Al Gore was this stumper: We can reduce human greenhouse gas emissions to "zero."
I might have read it wrong; it might have said that we can reduce increases in the emissions to zero, which still is utopian silliness at best, or, if it were remotely possible, a formula for global economic disaster.
In any case, it is true. We can eliminate all human global warming emissions--if all 6.7 billion of us on Earth were dead. That way, there'd be no one around exhaling huge quantities of carbon dioxide, reportedly the most ruinous of the greenhouse gases.
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2 comments:
Dennis,
Actually, they are recommending the extermination of the human race. There was a crack-pot professor here at the University of Texas that recommended that 90% of the earths population should be wiped out by plauge to restor earth's balance. So there you go. They're all lunitics.
R in Austin, Tx
Dennis,
I would love nothing more than to agree with you. There's little doubt that the Global Warming debate is far from over, and the contribution by the human race, if any, is still highly in doubt.
But you err, and do so quite seriously. If I may quote you:
"Instead of strengthening their side of the global warming debate with intelligence discussion--yes, a legitimate one still is underway--they undercut their own credibility by playacting. The fact is, the verdict still is out on whether human activity is warming the Earth toward a "tipping point" from which it never can recover. This isn't like picking an Oscar winner; you don't do science by taking a vote"
That is simply wrong.
No one in Hollywood has undercut their own credibility in the eyes of the American public or the overwhelming majority of the worlds' literate population. They may be "playacting" but no one seems to notice, and those who do, for the most part, simply don't care. It's as if those who take the high road can do no wrong. I don't need to present you with history's examples.
The verdict is in. True, the science is not. But in the context of public opinion -- those opinions that sway politicians who make THE decisions -- the verdict most certainly is. Global Warming is caused by humans. Period. There is little opposing debate that is heard beyond the halls of academia, science or the blogshpere. Cries for rational thought are branded as "Global Warming Denial".
And, sadly, it is very much like picking an Oscar winner. You see, "science", as practiced by society is in fact a popularity contest. We in fact "do" science by taking a vote. Many years ago the world voted that the earth was flat. And indeed it was. Those who disagreed were heretics. Throughout history we "voted" to find some of our citizens guilty of causing great harm to society by practicing witchcraft, and as punishment, we voted to burn those poor innocent citizens alive. That tradition continues in Darfur today.
Dennis, you mean well. But when we can watch Islamic terrorists murder innocent Israelis, but win the PR war, the game for Global Warming "deniers" is up. Unless good is very, very careful, and considers public relations as its number one priority, we may find that "science" is the realm of those with a vote. That true global warming is well out of our control. And the very "fanatics and airheads" you speak of, will control public opinion to the point where natural global warming triggers increasingly draconian solutions in a desperate attempt to reign in a beast that is not of our making and well out of our control.
In the end we may all suffer the ravages of a warmer planet. But unless we all play our PR cards right, we'll find that those ravages will be mild compared with the human toll extracted by those who blame all of us as the cause, and therefore demand that we sacrifice in a hopeless attempt to control that which is out of our reach.
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