Libertarian Librarian

After Katrina and some of the record highs we had before and after, the global warming... advocates?... well, the folks that are sounding the warning klaxons over the dangers of global warming, were all going beserk. Which was dumb, because one or two years of abnormal temperatures means nothing.

The last few days I have heard three separate Right-wing talkers crowing about how the new UN report on global warming shows that temperature increases are not as great as was claimed in 2001, and that ocean temperatures haven't risen, ergo warming can't be occuring. And, of course, since we here in the midwest are mired in an extended cold snap-- supposed to get up to 5 today. It's a heat wave!-- the local talkers are all snarky about wanting more global warming to get rid of our sub-zero temps. Rush had the temerity to state that the 59 degree temps in Hawaii illustrate how stupid global warming theories are.

Anyway, claiming that a cold snap is evidence that no warming is occuring is as stupid as claiming that a hot summer is evidence it is occuring. And using a report that clearly warns of increased warming, and concludes that said warming is almost certainly the result of man's activities, to debunk global warming is... odd. To say the least.

But it does neatly encapsulate the inability of many (most?) in the global warming debate to take any but the most extreme positions and then try to fit available facts to their preconceived conclusions. This is true on both sides of the issue.

I mean, I heard one normally smart person, who prides himself on his use of logic and not getting caught up in emotion during debates, claim that there was no way man's influence could warm the earth since all of our energy comes from the sun. Take away the sun and see how cold it gets with just man's input was his argument. Completely ignoring the fact that the global warming theory is that man's activity concentrates the sun's energy in a manner similar to a magnifying glass, not that we are generating all this heat ourselves.

So.

Let's tone the rhetoric down a few dozen notches. And let's try to figure this out, rationally. There is pretty good evidence that warming is occuring. Less clear is whether that warming has been significantly influenced by man's introduction of large quantities of "greenhouse" gases into our atmosphere in the last 150+ years. Less clear still is what we should do about the warming, if anything, and what the results of the warming will be.

But, regardless of you opinion (mine, for the record, is that warming is occuring and man has a hand in it, but I remain skeptical of measures like Kyoto in dealing with it), what is needed is less rhetoric and spleen, and more science and dispassionate observation. Much like what this guy advocates.

The key, to me, is summed up pretty well in this paper. We are making policy decisions with profound implications without really having sufficient data to make such decisions with a reasonable confidence that they are correct. DOBA moment:

If we are to reduce our world's vulnerability to climate, it could very well be that our worst enemy is the Global Warming: Yes or No? debate itself. Climate impacts cause human suffering, economic loss, and ecosystem destruction. Meanwhile, diplomats, politicians, and scientists pursue a debate that has become too narrow, at times too personal, and increasingly irrelevant to the real impacts. As a striking example of this folly, last fall thousands of diplomats, advisers, and advocacy groups gathered in Buenos Aires to address the climate problem shortly after Hurricane Mitch killed more than 10,000 people in Central America. Some in Buenos Aries even pointed to Hurricane Mitch as a harbinger of future disasters brought on by climate change. We point to Hurricane Mitch as a failure to prepare for climate impacts today.

....

Unfortunately, in spite of the high moral rhetoric from both sides, the debate itself stands in the way of further progress. We need a third way to confront climate change, even if it means moving beyond now-comfortable positions held fast for many years.

Can I get an amen?