------------------------------------------------------- CONVENTION OF THE GOAN DIASPORA FROM GOA INTO THE WORLD Lisbon, Portugal June 15-17, 2007 Details at: http://www.goacom.org/casa-de-goa/noticias.html -------------------------------------------------------
--- Santosh Helekar writes: > > The post quoted below contains disinformation and > deceptive political/ideological propaganda regarding > the scientific aspects of global climate change. To > counter such bogus information it is important to > note that the following scientific facts are now > well established: > > 1. An unprecedented rapid increase in global > atmospheric, oceanic and ground temperatures has > occurred over the last decade. > Mario responds: > Wow! Don't miss this classic example of Santosh Helekar's typically insulting, know-it-all attitude, with little regard to the contents of the post he is responding to. > Those who read my post that he is responding to would know that I quoted an interview with one of the most experienced REAL scientists on climate change. The interviewer then cited six peer-reviewed scientific studies. Ignoring this, Santosh describes my conclusion that we need to be skeptical of the claims on global warming and what is causing it as "disinformation and deceptive political/ideological propaganda", which raises a question of who is trying to deceive whom. > By the way, talking about deception, the rise in global temperature that Santosh describes as "rapid" over the last decade, has been reported as 0.7 C since 1900, and apparently, global temperatures have actually declined every year since peaking in 1998. So much for deceptive hyperbole. > A Danish scientist, University of Copenhagen Professor Bjarne Andresen has analyzed the topic in collaboration with Canadian Professors Christopher Essex from the University of Western Ontario and Ross McKitrick of the University of Guelph, and has even questioned the definition being used by the political-scientists for global temperatures, as detailed in the following article: > http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070315-13590700-bc-denmark-globalwarming.xml > After reading these opinions by REAL scientists, compare their comments with Santosh's sweeping statements about "global atmospheric, oceanic and ground temperatures". > I can only imagine what insulting language will be used to attack these scientists. > Santosh writes: > > 2. Many of its detrimental effects have already > been observed and documented. > Mario observes: > This claim is one sided at best and false at worst. On the other hand, there have been many positive effects from global warming that have also been the subject of speculation. > Here is what Professor Richard S. Lindzen, an atmospheric physicist at MIT - that's a REAL scientist, folks - had to say on this issue: > http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17997788/site/newsweek/ > I wonder what scorn and insult await Professor Lindzen for this reasonable and balanced opinion. > Santosh writes: > > 3. CO2 levels have risen rapidly and substantially > since the industrial revolution. > > 4. The post-industrial increase in CO2 is most > likely significantly due to human activity. > > 5. The rise in global temperature correlates very > well with the rise in CO2. > > 6. The temperature increase is most likely caused by > the increase in CO2 because a very small addition of > this gas, comparable to that which has been > measured, can raise the atmospheric temperature > precisely by the amount observed. This warming > effect of CO2, known as the Greenhouse Effect, was > discovered by Svante Arrhenius and others in the > late 19th century. Most scientifically literate > high school students understand this concept very > well, and can demonstrate the effect in their > school laboratory. > Mario responds: > Readers should note the liberal use of hedged comments above. For example, > a) "...most likely significantly..." > b) "...most likely caused..." > Apparently the western economies are supposed to turn their economies upside down because of something that is "most likely" today in the disputed and speculative opinions of some political-scientists whereas similar political-scientists were warning of global cooling in the mid-70s with similar certainty. In the meantime, 80% of the countries, including India and China are exempted from the Kyoto Protocols, which makes sense only to those for whom belief in global warming being caused by humans has become like a religion. > Leaving aside how Santosh would know what "Most scientifically literate school students" understand, the fact is that many REAL grown up scientists, some with decades of study and experience, are still trying to figure out what is going on and why. > For example, as mentioned in the link below, http://www.wecnmagazine.com/2007issues/may/may07.html the study of six separate ice-core studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals between 1999 and 2006 showed that CO2 levels over the past 650,000 years rose AFTER a rise in global temperature, not before. The article says, "All six studies found atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations tracking closely with temperatures, but with CO2 lagging behind changes in temperature, rather than leading them. The time lag between temperatures moving upor downand carbon dioxide following ranged from a few hundred to a few thousand years." > This indicates to any serious observer that they need to be skeptical of the kinds of angry, insulting and questionable assertions we see from evangelical environmental fundamentalists like Santosh, who seem to get very upset when their orthodoxy is challenged by a growing number of scientists and observers with common sense. >
