Enjoy debating issues and ideas so much that it has to be my favorite recreation. So I was surprised when former mayor Dave Cieslewicz unleashed a short string of profanities last week when Your Squire expressed agnosticism on the human contribution to “global climate change.”
Fortunately, Mitch Henck’s show is now exclusively on-line so it faced no retribution from Barack Obama’s FCC. (Find it here.)
The science is settled, said Citizen Dave. I riposted that science is never settled.
• Neanderthals were brutish, ape-like hominids. Oops! Turns out they were about as intelligent as homo sapiens, just never achieved the population numbers to accumulate knowledge and beat the demographics.
• Menopausal women should get hormone supplements. No they shouldn’t. Well, maybe it’s a good idea, after all.
• Avoid eggs for breakfast. Too much cholesterol. What d’ya know? There’s such a thing as good cholesterol. Enjoy your eggs benedict!
• Phrenology? Cutting edge back in great-grandpa’s day.
From the NY Times: Recommendations pushing low-fat diets may have led to an increase in carbohydrate consumption, which many experts now believe may have made the obesity epidemic worse. Coffee was considered a potential carcinogen, until overwhelming evidence led to its recognition as part of a healthy diet. You were told you should never miss breakfast, you should drink more water and you should use natural sweeteners like honey. Except none of those things are well supported by science.
4 responses to “The science is settled, except when it isn’t”
Sure Dave, I can see your point. I feel the exact same way about religion! 🙂 But, let’s play a little betting game here…cause you’ve got kids, right? Someone that you theoretically are preserving your place on earth for their future use?
So…let’s say the majority of climate scientists are right…that we’re near a tipping point over which we may not be able to return. So an investment now to avoid what may be permanent change in our habitat in what appears some pretty bad scenarios. Versus…ignoring all them darn science guys because, well, we got the oil, we got the coal, let’s use it! Allows us cheaper goods, a better life, more things we can consume now.
Maybe you see where I’m going with this: if you’re a betting man…what odds will you take? How ’bout your kids? Seems to me that your family farms, I do too. I was raised to try and leave this place better than when I came into it. Climate change deniers seem to have missed that lesson somewhere…or don’t care. Either way, that bothers me.
This argument was lost when “Global Warming” became “Climate Change”. And when it couldn’t be proven, only “settled”. And strike three you’re out when, despite you having the burden of proving your hypothesis you have to call skeptics “deniers”.
Please explain the fact that wherever the economy is the most centrally controlled that is where you find the most polluted places on the planet. Look what it cost Germany to clean up the GDR. Witness China today.
The climate is SUPPOSED to change. The planet has warmed and cooled often enough that history can be defined as what humans do between glacial periods.
The last of five came through Madison at five times the height of the capitol dome.
And finally, its not a zero sum game. If the planet warms then Wisconsin gets a longer growing season and the coastal elites watch their expensive real estate really go underwater.
If I still lived in Mad Town I’d be burning all the #2 soft coal I could get my hands on.
Such a planner you are! 🙂 Cat’s litter boxes get dirty too…you’re supposed to clean them. Please make a note of that. 🙂
We will blow ourselves up before any of the climate change stuff comes true.
And I have a degree in meteorology.