This is for people who want to learn something other than the pundits spouting off. http://climate.nasa.gov/
On Tue, Jul 3, 2012 at 1:12 PM, Ruhl, Nathan <[email protected]> wrote: > When I first saw the title of this posting, I was immediately drawn to the > word 'confronting'... and not in a positive way. I do not believe that it is > necessary to 'confront' deniers. Confrontation breeds a defensive attitude, > and being forced into a corner on a issue does not lead to rational thinking. > After only a few responses, the discussion on this list-serve seems to be > moving in that direction already. There is a need for dialogue, not > ideologues... and that goes for both side of this particular issue. > > Like many ecologists, I'm often approached and asked for my opinion on > global-warming/climate-change (despite NOT being a climate change specialist) > by students, members of the public, and family members. Most of the time > people genuinely want a more educated opinion/explanation, but I've also been > approached in a hostile manner a number of times... sometimes the person > asking the question (regardless of which side of the issue they are on) > already thinks they know the answer and is just looking to lock horns. My > approach to answering questions about global warming and climate change has > been simply to explain, to the best of my knowledge, what the state of the > 'science' is and to challenge the inquisitor to draw their own conclusion. > It goes something like this: > > Regardless of WHY the planet has warmed, there is no denying that it HAS > warmed recently. What the impact of that warming will be is a much more open > question. Will it lead to runaway heating? Will it cause ocean currents to > shift? Will it trigger an ice-age? Will it exacerbate the loss of > biodiversity we are currently seeing? Is it a short-term phenomenon that > will self-correct? We have evidence that these things may occur, but we > don't know for sure. However, we are in a position, as a species, to change > our life-history/style such that we can, to some degree, mitigate the impact > of global warming on climate change. Should we? Do we take a chance that > the impact of global warming, unchecked, will not lead to dramatic climate > change with it's corresponding consequences both for humans and for the other > organisms that inhabit this planet? > > Someone responded in a previous post that the 'deniers' deny because they are > scared of the 'truth' of global-warming-induced climate change. I humbly > submit that the advocates are equally, if not more, scared... and in my > personal opinion, with good reason. > > Nathan Ruhl > Ohio University > > > ________________________________________ > From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news > [[email protected]] On Behalf Of David Inouye [[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2012 1:10 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Confronting climate deniers on college campuses - EOS > Forum > > Paul, > > Please read some credible writings on warming before throwing out > "incredible" claims about things you have no evidence for. > > As a start, I suggest reading up on recent "lack of warming here: > > http://blog.chron.com/climateabyss/2012/06/the-danger-of-looking-for-patterns-in-short-time-series/ > > AND follow the two links given towards the end of the article. > > Regards, > Gunnar > > ----------------------------------- > Dr. Gunnar W. Schade > Department of Atmospheric Sciences > Texas A&M University > 1104 Eller O&M Building > College Station, TX 77843-3150 > > e-mail: [email protected] > http://georesearch.tamu.edu/blogs/oaktreeproject/ > ----------------------------------- > > "... if we invented the automobile today, would we > invent a car ... would we say "I know: We'll run on > a finite fossil fuel, we'll export a half a trillion > dollars of our GDP, we'll spend hundred of billions > of dollars on our military to protect that interest, > AND it will pollute the environment! You know it just, > it doesn't make sense." > > Brad Pitt on The Daily Show, 1 Feb 2012 -- Malcolm L. McCallum Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry School of Biological Sciences University of Missouri at Kansas City Managing Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology "Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive" - Allan Nation 1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea" W.S. 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