Sunday, July 5, 2009

Oh, you thought it was about science, Dr. Aldrin?

by Smitty (h/t Tigerhawk)

Buzz Aldrin was in the Telegraph, with a nice note on the hottest hoax around:
But while trying to spread the word about the possibilities of space, Dr Aldrin said he was sceptical of climate change theories.
"I think the climate has been changing for billions of years," he said.
"If it's warming now, it may cool off later. I'm not in favour of just taking short-term isolated situations and depleting our resources to keep our climate just the way it is today."

Note to Dr. Aldrin: antrhopogenicglobal warmingclimate change has everything to do with money and power, and precious little to do about the environment.
The climate weenies can't predict the weather accurately for next year any better than an almanac.
While there are plenty of common-sense arguments to be made in favor of clean air, water, and smart stewardship of resources, keep your antennae tuned to two frequencies:
  • Guilt--you should be ashamed of X behavior, possession, or attitude that is perfectly reasonable and legal
  • Fear--you should capitulate to the superior ideas of authority Y, because if you don't you'll be assaulted/impoverished/internationally shamed/die of cancer
Appeals to fear and guilt are prima facie evidence that your prima donna evangelist is peddling primo farce.
Apparently Dr. Aldrin hasn't received the briefing.
Probably hanging around Dr. Dyson too much.

Update:
Right on cue, "A plethora of corroborative data shows that this year’s sea ice levels in the Arctic are the lowest seen in 800 years."

7 comments:

  1. Smitty: That's true about the Arctic ice. I have the log book of a voyage to Greenland made in 1209 by one of my Viking ancestors, Paco Herring-Breath, and the relevant entry reads as follows: "By yimminy, ve can't seem tew find any ice dis trip atall, an' our ale iss goin' flat. De reindeer meat is goin' bad, tew. Next time, by golly, ve yust bring vater an' Slim Yims."

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  2. There are shockingly low levels of ice in this tumbler. Now THAT's a crisis.

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  3. So, we have polar ice data from the year 1209? Whodathunkit!

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  4. It was so nice of that young man to include that marvelous picture, a profound image really, of the polar bear. It made me feel so sad and guilty.

    We are killing 2,000 polar bears and polar bear cubs every day with our sickly dependence on oil.

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  5. Cool... so those two simple rules apply just as well when dealing with fundamentalist religious nuts too, right?

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  6. So, we have polar ice data from the year 1209?

    Exactly. We've really only been tracking weather for the past 200 years or so, right? So how the HELL do we know for sure what happened nearly a millennium ago?

    It's all about money and control.

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  7. @Chris:
    You mean you're not already?

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