Working backwards

In the so-called tree-hugging bleeding heart liberal Bay Area, 26% of the nearly 1000 people who filled out an online survey at SFGate.com said that global warming is not man-made (more people will vote, but the percentages won’t change much). Sure, it’s not a scientifically accurate survey of opinions in the Bay Area… but I’m left wondering Who are these people? Who at this time in history is still on the fence about global warming? Do they live with their heads in the sand or have cotton growing out of their ears?

Last night, we had dinner with our friend Lori who told us that her dad with a PhD in Chemistry doesn’t agree with the meteorologists’conclusions about global warming. I doubt that he’s looked at the data or statistics or run the numbers himself. How likely is it that all the people studying climate change agree with one another? Put 100 academics in a room to talk about anything and you’ll usually get 100 different opinions, but climate change academics all agree on this matter: carbon dioxide is heating up the planet and it’s very likely it’s a man-made problem.

My best guess is that, like other doubters, Lori’s parents are starting with a political position—I hate (fill in the blank here: Al Gore, environmentalists, etc.)—and arrive at their scientifically unsupportable position.

So how bizarre is it that many evangelicals have acknowledged and responded to the science and threat of global warming. For a group that will fight tooth and nail on the topic of evolution, these guys are showing some grit in going against a socially conservative Whitehouse and conservative thinktanks.

In fact, the Whitehouse did finally acknowledge the science of global warming, they’re just not willing to do anything about it. That’s because they’re actually worried about economic repercussions. Think about that. This Whitehouse, the same one that has driven America into record debt is worried about the economy.

What would happen *gasp* if we were to pump millions of dollars into alternative energy research? We might actually create new jobs, become an economic powerhouse worldwide reselling these technologies, and fuel a new economy (pun intended).

Related to this: it’s been known for years that the Yangtze River dolphin would soon be extinct if nothing was done to protect it from the increased polution and use of the waters it lived in. In June, reports said scientists were making a last ditch effort to save the few remaining individuals. There was no bias in this science. No one was starting with a conclusion (we must change China’s environmental policies) and working backwards to support a conclusion. It was just a fact. The animals were dying out. They would go extinct unless China changed the way they managed the river. There was no agenda other than saving a unique and important animal. Well, last month, the animals were declared extinct.

Also related to this: The World According to Dubya.