[Krydor]

Telegraph Article

Is it me looking to confirm my bias? Who really knows for sure, but the above long read from a not blogger turns the science of climate change on it's ear.

[Outback Frito Pendejo]

Interesting read. Sadly, science can be politicized.

I was watching a nice PBS show about penguins last night, and the narrator was stressing how climate changes were endangering some of the penguin species. When scientists have competing views on dinosaur metabolism they bend over backwards to get fair exposure for them, but this was presented as simple fact. I do think there's something to human activity affecting the climate, but since the different camps are so polarized it's hard to follow the arguments without suspecting bias.

[Krydor]

Yeah, that's the annoying thing. Science is supposed to be "pure". It's supposed to be a self correcting discipline, and overall, it is. When they refuse to self correct based on personal bias, you get the freakin' Piltdown Man and assorted other things.

I suspect that Climate Change may soon become another Piltdown Man. That's not to say that everything is fine and dandy, environment wise. It might just be, however, that a whole pile of effort was wasted because no one factored in the sun when it comes to how hot things get.

[The Canadian Content]

Human-caused or not, climate change is drastically affecting penguins (especially Antarctic species). The two main problems are:

1. the currents are shifting, so the water's not as cold in the Southern Ocean as it used to be. This results in fewer krill being available to penguins as a direct food source and to fish that penguins eat.

2. the pack ice around Antarctica is melting earlier in the year than it used to. As a result, the ocean is reaching penguin chicks who have not had time to fledge. They fall into the ocean before they're ready and either drown or freeze to death.

The Arctic Ocean is seeing similar early-melting trends, which is resulting in polar bears drowning. They have always been able to swim across fairly vast expanses of ocean, moving from floe to floe, but now the floes are fewer, smaller, and farther apart. The bears can't make it anymore.

Sad times all around for polar animals.

[modified for typo]

[Ryan Who Loves Punk]

Haha oh God won't someone please think of the penguins?!

MODIFY: Wait, Polar Bears too? Huh. If it's getting those guys, I think human beings might actually be in some trouble. Polar Bears are tough, they could take a million five year olds.

[salmonjunkie]

psychofish said:

The Arctic Ocean is seeing similar early-melting trends, which is resulting in polar bears drowning. They have always been able to swim across fairly vast expanses of ocean, moving from floe to floe, but now the floes are fewer, smaller, and farther apart. The bears can't make it anymore.

Sad times all around for polar animals.

[modified for typo]

Is that why they end up on weird islands that emit strange EMG signals?

[Krydor]

Penguins are vital to the ecosystem. Without them, washed up Hollywood actors would not be able to voice cartoons starring penguins. Then, we would have a glut of Hollywood actors doing bad commercials.

Save the Penguins, Save the Entertainment Industry!

[The Canadian Content]

Indeed.

[Loki]

I was going to reply on Sunday, but got busy. So -

Krydor, I suspect you're looking to confirm your bias. This guy may have some legitimate points. Good for him if he does. Just because a scientist comes to a conclusion does not mean it is correct. It may seem correct based on the current available knowledge and data, but the conclusion may later be rendered false or incomplete based on newly discovered data. Any scientist worth their salt should be willing to re-examine their data and conclusions as new data rolls in.

That said - assuming this guy has some legitimate points, what he has done is dissprove some reports. Which is good. Faulty data needs to be fixed so correct conclusions can be drawn. But what he has not done is prove that global warming is a myth. There are hundreds of thousands of reports using multitudes of sources all around the globe concerning global warming. Averages alone would state that within those there are bound to be reports that are incorrect and need to be corrected. But disproving one, two, ten - even a hundred - does not disprove the global warming theory.

[williamssl]

I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but if you haven't seen the Al Gore "Manbearpig" episode of South Park, by all means check it out.

Excerpt:

[Krydor]

Loki,

Oh, I agree. Global Warming is a fact, it's a fact because climate cycles are real deals. The issue that has yet to be resolved is the overall impact man has had on the current cycle.

The main report he has taken care of is the 2001 UN report that is extensively quoted as the authority on the man made element of climate change. Does that mean it's time to go back to the drawing board? Yes. That's what science does.

What bothers me the most about what is going on, and has been mentioned by others who are not at all me, is this strange religion like aspect to environmentalism. Crichton (he of Jurassic Park) did a couple of speeches on that subject, which I recommend. I'd exerpt, but there is a strict no exerpting policy.

I do admit that I have a bias and like it confirmed. However, certain things that I have read over the years go far beyond a simple bias against tree huggers. Manipulation of scientific data to push a political agenda just irks me. When I see at least two instances of willful ignorance of specific items, it brings the rest of the theory into question.