This is tragic. A unique site where the giant cuttlefish migrates and breeds is under threat by the construction of a desalination plant that would render the local waters unsupportable to cuttlefish life. This must be stopped!
There is a petition: sign it.
(via Cuttlefish, of course)
(Also on FtB)
There’s a reason I really despise Libertarianism…but still find them hilariously twisted. Here’s a case of a columnist defending the science of Rick Perry. You know that evolution stuff? It’s not that important. Creationism is a waste of time and it makes Perry look “unsophisticated”…but so what? There’s a real problem here, and it is all those liberals who’ve fallen for the junk science of “global warming”.
It is interesting watching the nation’s defenders of reason, empirical evidence, and science fail to display a hint of skepticism over the transparently political “science” of global warming. Rarely are scientists so certain in predicting the future. Yet this is a special case. It is also curious that these supposed champions of Darwin don’t believe that human beings–or nature–have the ability to adapt to changing climate.
Like 99 percent of pundits and politicians, though, I have no business chiming in on the science of climate change–though my kids’ teachers sure are experts. Needless to say, there is a spectacular array of viewpoints on this issue. The answers are far from settled. There are debates over how much humans contribute. There are debates over how much warming we’re seeing. There are debates over many things.
But even if one believed the most terrifying projections of global warming alarmist “science,” it certainly doesn’t mean one has to support the anti-capitalist technocracy to fix it. And try as some may to conflate the two, global warming policy is not “science.” The left sees civilization’s salvation in a massive Luddite undertaking that inhibits technological growth by turning back the clock, undoing footprints, forcing technology that doesn’t exist, banning products that do, and badgering consumers who have not adhered to the plan through all kinds of punishment. Yet there is no real science that has shown that any of it makes a whit of difference.
It’s perfect: the author is trying to set himself up as a defender of good science, but he does it by 1) trivializing the importance of the most fundamental concept in biology, and 2) being a denialist about climate change. Scientists are certain (to a reasonable degree) about predicting the future in this case because all the data points in this direction — you have to willfully reject the evidence in order to disagree. Maybe if he were a little less blasé about evolution he’d also realize that this isn’t an issue of capacity to adapt — trust me, you don’t want to live under an intense selection regime that changes the population’s mean physiology in a few generations — but of a common sense recognition that rapid climate change will be disruptive and have a severe economic cost.
And the answers are settled. Ongoing climate change is a fact. Pretending there is a serious debate about it is what the creationists do.
I suppose one solution would be to blow up all the factories and return to a 15th century lifestyle…if we didn’t mind killing a few billion people in the process, and wanted to live lives of hard labor in squalor. I don’t see anyone on the left advocating that, though. Instead, I see advocacy for sustainable energy policies and a demand that industry factor in all of the invisible, long-term costs that they’ve been hiding — which is, of course, anathema to Libertarians who believe in giving corporations a free ride at the expense of human beings.
(Also on FtB)
Go watch this video of Bill Nye explaining global warming to a Fox News babbler. You can see why he’s a national treasure: he cocks those eyebrows, he clearly thinks he’s dealing with a knucklehead, but he goes on to slowly and carefully explain the science to him. All those years of children’s programming pay off perfectly when dealing with our conservative media — treating the announcers like small angry children is just perfect.
You can also see the shortcomings of television, though. The patient, thorough approach bumps up against the tiny time windows and short attention spans all too soon.
(Also on FtB)
John Abraham, college professor, squares off against Lord Monckton, crank and poseur, in this lecture on the science of climate change. It’s very good and fillets the silly old goose quite well.
(Also on FtB)
When I was in London last month, Richard Dawkins and I had a public conversation sponsored by the British Humanist Association, and now you can watch it wherever.
And here’s the Q&A:
I was sent this cartoon by Mia. Mom really doesn’t love us any more than anything else.
Environmentalism is actually an act of self-defense.
(via Humon)
The Minnesota Senate’s loudest voice against climate change, it’s chief denialist, is a Republican (of course) named Michael Jungbauer.
Sen. Jungbauer is fond of making pronouncements from on high regarding the scientific weakness of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He takes positions in direct opposition to 98 percent of published and peer-reviewed climate, atmospheric scientists and glaciologists. But the water and sewer treatment specialist by day is, apparently, quite knowledgeable on all manner of science. It certainly appears to be. He uses big words and cites studies in his lectures.
Now here is the amusing thing. Jungbauer attended Moody Bible College, Anoka Ramsey Community College, and Metropolitan State University (nothing wrong with the latter two, but the first is a bit dicey). He has not even completed his bachelor’s degree; he’s kind of a flaky dilettante. So, no credibility there.
He also claims to be an ordained minister, but but again, he’s a failure — he hasn’t even completed the course work at Moody Bible College. Instead — are you ready for this? — his sole academic credential is…
The truth is that Jungbauer was ordained by Christian Motor Sports International out of Gilbert, Ariz. His Senate biography says the organization provides “chapel services, pastoral care, outreach and Christian fellowship at car races, car shows, cruise-ins and tractor pulls.”
Clearly, he’s nothing but a shill in the pockets of the Tractor Pull industry.
It’s a new blog from the region I’ve always felt was home, so I have to mention it.
Also, the top entry there is about water, something always on the minds of Pacific Northwesterners, so I have to tie it into a weird story from Portland: a man was seen peeing in one of their reservoirs, so they’re draining it completely at a cost of $35,000. Seriously? That’s just silly squeamishness. Fish and amphibians and passing birds and insects and mammals are busy peeing in our water supply all the time; insects are dying and falling into the reservoirs and rotting in them. And let’s not forget the bacteria and viruses that constantly drizzle in. It’s all so dilute, though, that it is of no consequence at all.
Once again, politicians are going on little, petty crusades to help the government economize, and as usual, they go for cheap shots that do nothing, other than to reveal their screwed up priorities. Here’s Joe Biden, letting us know where the real problems lie.
Did you know that the government spends millions to maintain buildings that have sat vacant for years? Or that your tax dollars pay to needlessly ship copies of the Federal Register to thousands of government offices across the country even though the same information is available online?
And I bet you didn’t know that your tax dollars pay for a website dedicated to the Desert Tortoise. I’m sure it’s a wonderful species, but we can’t afford to have a standalone site devoted to every member of the animal kingdom. It’s just one of hundreds of government websites that should be consolidated or eliminated.
Hey, Joe! Did you know that the cost of maintaining that website dedicated to an entire species is about $125/year?
And the cost of the war in Afghanistan is currently at $423+ billion?
I would like our representatives to take a rational, cost/benefit analysis of major government programs and actually make changes that make a difference, instead of this penny-ante grandstanding.
The Democrats should know that if there is any liberal, ecologically minded candidate running in the primaries for the presidency, I’ll vote for them without a qualm. I’m probably going to be stuck voting for Obama/Biden again in the national election, but I’ll be holding my nose and only pushing that lever under protest, because the Republican candidates will be even worse.
This video begins with a clip from Glenn Beck which nearly had me running away screaming, but stick with it — it thoroughly explains the false scandal.
