[Vision2020] Global Warming Contrarians Exposed

[Chasuk]

On Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 6:14 PM, Ted Moffett <starbliss at gmail.com> wrote:

> Chas, what "unqualified pronouncement" are you referring to?

Rereading my post, I see that my wording was poor.  To be clear, I am
not talking about the pronouncements of any of the qualified
scientists.  I am talking about the pronouncements of Vision2020
members.  No matter how many appeals to authority we might make
(supporting one side or the other), very few (if any) of us are
qualified to make a useful judgment.

Most of the squabbling seems to be along party lines.  Well,
Gore-haters, just because Gore said it doesn't make it false.
Gore-lovers, just because Gore said it doesn't make it true.

I feel like I am listening to my mother-in-law and my wife debate the
relative merits of football teams during the Super Bowl.  Neither one
of them understand a single whit about the game, nor watch it at all,
but they get caught up in the huge PR machine that is the Super Bowl.
Before this is interpreted as a sexist rant, let me add that I hate
football.  My wife is probably more knowledgeable about the game than
I am, as she at least occasionally watches the halftime.  Me, I just
watch the amusing commercials when they appear on YouTube.

I'm not saying that we should ignore Global Warning.  I believe that
we should proceed as if we are all in the
Global-Warning-Humankind-Is-Causing-It camp.  If nature is causing it,
maybe dramatic action on our part can slow it or prevent it.  Nature
sometimes slings asteroids in our path.  I'm not one of those we
should just accept Acts of God people.  If we can minimize the impact
of Global Warming, we should, regardless of its cause.