[Vision2020] Amazonian Deforestation and Global Warming:Was:Ed theViking, Greenland, and Global Warming

[Nick Gier]

Good Morning Visionaries:

A very serious allegation has been leveled against presumably all 
doctoral committees in the world: to wit, that Ph.D. candidates must 
conform to a "left-wing" agenda, curiously defined as "humanity is 
the root of all evil."

There is a delicious irony in this ludicrous hypothesis: all theses 
done at conservative Christian schools that use Luther's or Calvin's 
doctrine of human depravity would have to be declared "left-wing."

Unless the person can support such a comprehensive and breath taking 
claim, I think we can all be safe in assuming that U. S. doctoral 
committees hold their students to the highest objective standards for 
which our graduate schools are world famous.

Looking back at my 1973 dissertation on Martin Heidegger, who was the 
first Nazi rector at Freiburg University, I'm at a loss how either I 
or my committee could have had a "left-wing" agenda.

Nick Gier

At 08:39 AM 3/31/2007, you wrote:
>Ted makes an important point about the political pressures faced by 
>scientists in an academic environment which encourages if not 
>enforces conformity to conventional wisdom.  The resulting group 
>think is hardly conducive to flushing out truth from prejudice and 
>presumption. In such an environment where one's doctoral thesis if 
>it is to be accepted, must tow the left wing, humanity is the root 
>of all evil paradigm, it is obvious how an aspiring scholar might be 
>tempted to slant her research to please those who hold her future in 
>their hands.
>
>The university is alleged to be a place where a variety of views are 
>thoughtfully considered if not embraced.
>
>Would that it were so.
>
>-T
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <mailto:starbliss at gmail.com>Ted Moffett
>To: <mailto:nickgier at adelphia.net>nickgier at adelphia.net
>Cc: <mailto:vision2020 at moscow.com>vision2020 at moscow.com
>Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 2:16 PM
>Subject: [Vision2020] Amazonian Deforestation and Global 
>Warming:Was:Ed theViking, Greenland, and Global Warming
>
>
>Nick et. al.
>
>I'm not sure you should defer to my research on methane and other 
>global warming impacts of livestock, given the complexity and room 
>for error on such a difficult subject.  But this interesting 
>analysis that can be read in pdf form at the web link below, that in 
>part examines cattle raising impacts on the Amazon rain forest, 
>might shed light on this issue.
>
>I cannot vouch for the correctness of the data and conclusions from 
>this study presented in 1996, especially given the rapid rate of 
>change in that area of the world, indeed, all over our 
>planet.  However, this paper reveals the daunting complexity of 
>environmental studies, while demonstrating the exacting and sobering 
>work that constitutes the day to day efforts of most scientists, who 
>usually don't have the inclination to politicise their work, despite 
>the claims of many that the hundreds of scientists gathering data on 
>global warming have an agenda to slant their conclusions towards 
>alarmism on human induced global warming.
>
>Given that scientists sometimes face political, career, or economic 
>pressures to slant their work, defending the independence of the 
>community of scientists to present their findings without these 
>pressures biasing their efforts, is fundamental if the public is to 
>be accurately informed of major scientific developments that can 
>significantly impact the world at large, such as climate change from 
>human activity.
>
>Recently on C-SPAN testimony of NASA climate scientist James Hansen 
>before the US Congress was presented.  He mentioned that he thought 
>the censorship of his scientific conclusions regarding human impacts 
>on global warming, by the Bush administration, was akin to the 
>censorship of science in the former Soviet Union.
>
><http://philip.inpa.gov.br/publ_livres/Preprints/1996/REPLACE-FEM.pdf>http://philip.inpa.gov.br/publ_livres/Preprints/1996/REPLACE-FEM.pdf 
>
>
>-----
>Ted Moffett
>
>On 3/15/07, <mailto:nickgier at adelphia.net>nickgier at adelphia.net 
><<mailto:nickgier at adelphia.net>nickgier at adelphia.net> wrote:
>Greetings:
>
>I've not seen this message in my in-box, so I'm sending it again.
>
>I just wanted to verify that my source on methane release from 
>livestock was from the UN's FAO report that Megan cited.
>
>However, I respect Ted's research and reasoning skills and I would 
>be happy to defer to his judgment on this issue since he has done 
>more research on this than anyone on this list.
>
>Thanks, Ted, for making it clear that raising beef cattle, no matter 
>how they fart, is a terribly inefficient and enviornmentally 
>disastrous way of getting the protein that we need.
>
>Nick Gier
>
>
>----------
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"Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to 
human affairs."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Abstract truth has no value unless it incarnates in human beings who 
represent it, by proving their readiness to die for it."
  --Mohandas Gandhi

"Modern physics has taught us that the nature of any system cannot be 
discovered by dividing it into its component parts and studying each 
part by itself. . . .We must keep our attention fixed on the whole 
and on the interconnection between the parts. The same is true of our 
intellectual life. It is impossible to make a clear cut between 
science, religion, and art. The whole is never equal simply to the 
sum of its various parts." --Max Planck

Nicholas F. Gier
Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Idaho
1037 Colt Rd., Moscow, ID 83843
http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/home.htm
208-882-9212/FAX 885-8950
President, Idaho Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/ift.htm

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