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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The university is alleged to be a place where a
variety of views are thoughtfully considered if not embraced.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Would that it were so.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>-T</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=starbliss@gmail.com href="mailto:starbliss@gmail.com">Ted Moffett</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=nickgier@adelphia.net
href="mailto:nickgier@adelphia.net">nickgier@adelphia.net</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, March 29, 2007 2:16
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Amazonian
Deforestation and Global Warming:Was:Ed theViking, Greenland, and Global
Warming</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Nick et. al.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://philip.inpa.gov.br/publ_livres/Preprints/1996/REPLACE-FEM.pdf"
target=_blank>http://philip.inpa.gov.br/publ_livres/Preprints/1996/REPLACE-FEM.pdf
</A><BR> </DIV>
<DIV>-----</DIV>
<DIV>Ted Moffett<BR> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=gmail_quote>On 3/15/07, <B class=gmail_sendername><A
href="mailto:nickgier@adelphia.net">nickgier@adelphia.net</A></B> <<A
href="mailto:nickgier@adelphia.net">nickgier@adelphia.net</A>>
wrote:</SPAN>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">Greetings:<BR><BR>I've
not seen this message in my in-box, so I'm sending it again.<BR><BR>I just
wanted to verify that my source on methane release from livestock was from
the UN's FAO report that Megan cited. <BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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. <BR><BR>Nick
Gier<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
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