[extropy-chat] on The Climate Change Question

[Amara Graps]

Brent Neal:
>Thanks for posting this to the list - I'll be interested in checking
>those articles. I had only seen the Physics Today article previously
>(by virtue of it coming to my doorstep, sadly.).

You're welcome.

>I fear, however, that you are wasting your time and breath in trying
>to convince the so-called 'climate skeptics' to consider rational
>evidence.

No I wrote that immediately after I finished reading Lean's article

(Judith Lean ''Living with a Variable Sun,'' June 2005, Physics
Today.)

so then expressing my impression. She did a great job. While I think
the articles in Physics Today are generally of high quality, this one
blew me away. A comprehensive and readable synthesis of so much good
information!

>My experience has been that their rejection of any evidence
>pointing towards human-driven global warming borders on the religious.
>  No matter how much evidence I've seen to the contrary, I still hear
>it claimed, frequently, that there are 'no reputable scientists' that
>believe in global warming.  Even more disturbing is the persistent
>rejection that climate scientists are interested in how the solar
>cycle has affected warming trends, despite ample evidence to the
>contrary.  My only explanation is that they are indulging in classic
>psychological projection, attributing to their opponents the symptoms
>of their own pathos.

To be honest I've not carefully followed all of the arguments, but
this story is an old one; perhaps 20 years of arguments/discussions.
I have atmospheric scientist friends who were convinced 10 years ago,
at the same time (10 yrs ago) the solar physicists in the group I was
working were not as convinced as them. Lean's article shows to me that
an agreement about many aspects of global warming exists now among the
relevant scientists. I don't know when this general agreement began,
but it seems to exist now.

Me, I am just a bystander, not very interested in convincing anyone.
I am highly selective in my magazine subscriptions (weekly journals and
some overseas shipping costs are a killer on my poverty budget), so I
cannot ignore when, in a short period of time, I am reading articles
in my magazines on the same topic, and they are concluding more or
less the same thing. There is a lot of supporting evidence now.

Amara
-- 

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Amara Graps, PhD          email: amara at amara.com
Computational Physics     vita:  ftp://ftp.amara.com/pub/resume.txt
Multiplex Answers         URL:   http://www.amara.com/
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      "Trust in the Universe, but tie up your camels first."
                (adaptation of a Sufi proverb)