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Reythia
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Global Warming Deniers
Recent Newsweek Article:
The Truth About Denial
This isn't a useful article in terms of getting information on global warming, but it's interesting to see how our society (not just government, but everyone else too) can be impacted by the well-funded words of a few.
One of the parts I found most interesting (though not surprising) is that very few of the dissenting scientists in the global warming "debate" actually do formal research on the subject. This doesn't surprise me, since I DO work in the area and have never heard any of my colleages call global warming a "hoax" or an "exageration". But what I find is sad is that society allows these people to influence our political and social decisions to an extent equal to those who DO study the subject for a living. It would be like me trying to convince the public that a new medical drug is dangerous, when 99% of the doctors out there disagree with me. I'm free to have an opinion, of course, but my testimony shouldn't be weighted the same as those people who know more about biology and medicine than I do!
"39 percent of those asked say there is "a lot of disagreement among climate scientists" on the basic question of whether the planet is warming" (according to Newsweek). For the record, this is NOT the situation. If anyone doubts that, please tell them to sit in on any presentation on the topic at an American Geophyiscal Union (AGU) or International Geophysical Uniion (IGU) conference. Both (despite the names) are world-wide conferences where the people who actually study the subject meet to discuss things. And I don't think I've heard ANYONE there who claims global warming is a myth.
*sigh*
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8/13/2007, 11:25 am
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Re: Global Warming Deniers
"39 percent of those asked say there is "a lot of disagreement among climate scientists" on the basic question of whether the planet is warming" (according to Newsweek).
This is just like the evolution "debate." I've actually talked to a couple of people recently who believe that most scientists don't believe in evolution! Incidentally, one of those people believes that dinosaurs and humans co-existed, and cites the 100-year-old Paluxy hoax as evidence. 
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8/13/2007, 5:56 pm
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Reythia
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Re: Global Warming Deniers
*cringe*
A lack of basic scientific comprehension is one of the things I least like about today's world. We use science (or the results of it) all day, every day. Yet far too many adults don't even know the basics of how their TV or cell phone works. It causes me pain.
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8/13/2007, 9:27 pm
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Savaial
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Re: Global Warming Deniers
I think human nature pushes us to focus only on what we consider important. We simplify and label in order to make our daily lives easier or more efficient.
I am appreciative of the fact that diversity in thought prevents stagnation. Everyone is good at something and everyone has a focus. When they line up to compliment each other, great or terrible things can happen.
I am a good driver but I have a terrible sense of direction. My mate is a terrible driver but he knows where we are. Together we get where we are going.
In global warming we need the nay-sayers, because too often we blindly follow the media or propaganda just to simplify our lives. Those people we consider crackpots at least challenge us to think and get out of the labeling for a little while...
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8/14/2007, 7:44 am
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Reythia
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Re: Global Warming Deniers
Savaial said:
In global warming we need the nay-sayers, because too often we blindly follow the media or propaganda just to simplify our lives. Those people we consider crackpots at least challenge us to think and get out of the labeling for a little while...
Would you say the same about, say, gravitation? Would you agree that we should give equal weight to the opinions of people who say "Gravity is a hoax! It doesn't exist!" and those who say "Gravity exists and is real!"?
Mind you, I'm all for giving time to those who say, "Global warming is happening and people are affecting it in an important way, but we don't know all the details yet." This is scientific (and it's what most scientists believe).
If you walked up and down the halls of my office place and asked each engineer or scientist how many degrees they predicted the average world temperature to rise by 2100, you'd probably get a wide-spread collection of answers. (Mind you, most of us are directly or indirectly involved in producing climatalogical data, so we actually can back our opinions up with data.) Our current predictive ability is limited -- just noting the accuracies of the nightly weather forecast shows that. We know the errors are large -- we measure those too.
But the errors aren't so large that they bring the result into question. Though you might get a dozen answers during your walk down my hallways, ALL of those answers would tell you that the mean temperature will rise -- and significantly so (ie: beyond the bounds of any of our measurement errors).
It's good to have dissent in science -- it keeps us thinking, which encourages learning. But to say "the Earth is not warming" or "Humans are not causing that warming" is as far from the facts as saying, "Gravity doesn't exist". That's not science, it's just denial.
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8/14/2007, 1:30 pm
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Re: Global Warming Deniers
It's nice to have topics we agree on, Reythia, this being one of them. 
Savaial, if you change "naysayers" to "skeptics," then I would agree with you for the most part. Yes, skeptics can keep us from running too far in the wrong direction, but naysayers only serve to confuse people and stifle the truth.
The Rush Limbaughs of the world, who proclaim from the mountaintops that our planet is not getting warmer and that humans have no control over its temperature, are not doing us any favors. It's already known that the world is getting warmer, and it's better to have people disagreeing on "why" and trying to come up with a solution, than it is for people to listen to people like him and ignore the fact all together.
People who honestly say, "I'm not sure that's the case (or the reason, etc), but let's test it and see," or, "That doesn't seem possible, but I'll test it, see what happens, and report my results," help keep us on the right path as much as possible.
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8/14/2007, 7:53 pm
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Savaial
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Re: Global Warming Deniers
This is all very reasonable. I just hold value in the crackpots to some degree, it's just a soft spot or some hamartia I carry.
Not that I don't think global warming is happening. It's quite obvious winter isn't anything like what it used to be, at least where I live.
...or maybe it's the hot air from the population explosion in my county.
For the record I despise Flush Limbaugh. I think he's a big fat idiot.
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8/14/2007, 9:17 pm
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Dorotea
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Re: Global Warming Deniers
I don't deny that Global Warming is a threat, but I think that it's become a "trendy" issue among celebrities, much like Patriotism was trendy in the months following 9/11.
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8/15/2007, 3:50 pm
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toxiczen
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Re: Global Warming Deniers
trying to keep the world from going to complete **** is one trend I'm happy for...
---
"Love is the strongest force the world possesses, yet! it is the humblest imaginable."
~Gandhi
"it is easier to tell the truth: you don't have to remember anything"
~Mark Twain
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8/15/2007, 4:34 pm
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Lesigner Girl
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Re: Global Warming Deniers
Limbaugh isn't just an idiot. He's an arrogant idiot with too much airtime.
Unfortunately, the patriotic trend caused more division than anything, but the focus on global warming is one trend that can actually help the world.
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8/15/2007, 8:02 pm
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