Number Watch is a site that was first brought to my attention last summer by Rush Limbaugh. It is an interesting website run by a rather eccentric (I mean that as a compliment) Professor John Brignell. On the first page we are told the purpose of the site without apology or attempts to hide an agenda.
WELCOME TO NUMBER WATCH
All about the scares, scams, junk, panics, and flummery cooked up by the media, politicians, bureaucrats, so-called scientists and others who try to confuse you with wrong numbers.
This site is devoted to the monitoring of the misleading numbers that rain down on us via the media. Whether they are generated by Single Issue Fanatics (SIFs), politicians, bureaucrats, quasi-scientists (junk, pseudo- or just bad), such numbers swamp the media, generating unnecessary alarm and panic. They are seized upon by media, hungry for eye-catching stories. There is a growing band of people whose livelihoods depend on creating and maintaining panic. There are also some who are trying to keep numbers away from your notice and others who hope that you will not make comparisons. Their stock in trade is the gratuitous lie. The aim here is to nail just a few of them.
The index lists such tempting morsels as “March of the Zealots,” “In Praise of Carbon,” and “Global Warming as Religion.” But, the item that Rush mentioned and has brought fame, if not fortune, to Prof. Bignell is his list of things reported in the news as caused by global warming. The list begins with
Acne, asthma, agricultural land increase, Africa devastated, African aid threatened, air pressure changes, Alaska reshaped, allergies increase, Alps melting, Amazon a desert, American dream end, amphibians breeding earlier (or not), anaphylactic reactions to bee stings, ancient forests dramatically changed, animals head for the hills, Antarctic grass flourishes, Antarctic ice grows, Antarctic ice shrinks, Antarctic sea life at risk, anxiety treatment, algal blooms, archaeological sites threatened, Arctic bogs melt, Arctic in bloom, Arctic ice free, Arctic lakes disappear, Arctic tundra to burn, Atlantic less salty, Atlantic more salty, atmospheric circulation modified, attack of the killer jellyfish, avalanches reduced, avalanches increased…These items are in alphabetical order. Note that this partial list is only from the items beginning with A. All of the items are linked to the press report that mentions that particular devastation. In all there are nearly 500 such claims, some few being plausible, many absurd, and most hilarious.
You’ll note that global warming can be blamed for most everything. If it’s unseasonably hot, it’s global warming. Too cold? Blame global warming. Earth spinning faster, global warming. Earth slowing down, yep, that’s global warming, too. The Atlantic more salty, global warming. Atlantic less salty, same. You get the point. This is only for the open-minded. If you are a true believer of man-made global catastrophe, I doubt you'll be amused.
3 comments:
If you look around at the day to day movements of the global community, you can find panic in the man who is trying to dump his Baer-Sterns stock before it evaporates, or a candidate trying to re-report a plane flight, but you do not find panic on the globe warming up.
Panic is hysteria in action.
People are still scratching their heads on how they started bombing Iraq because of 911. Now that was panic.
So, to say a website exists that can bring panic in check when there is no visible panic doesn't make any sense.
I would like to see an explanation about why energy companies are in a panic to rush to newly unfrozen arctic oil reserves. Is the ice melting up there?
The sun, when after condensing and forming the planets, probably had to cool off for a billion years or so before earth could evolve life.
Once the temperature output of the sun stabalized, life evolved.
So to counter your arguement, it was global cooling that caused everything.
Since our orbit and tilt varies, so does the climate. Therefor, warming and cooling occur.
Also, since we know that the chinese fish that have replaced all of the native species of fish in the great Mississippi river were introduced by one man, we can never underestimate the effect of any action by any individual.
So maybe your friend's website could help promote an idea, that after total adoption by society, leads to the demise of the human species.
The truth is that for all of our scientific discoveries, we still know very little. The problem is that we think we know so very much.
I think it is both wise and prudent to approach some of our endeavors with a little more restraint. We are selfish and hedonistic (me too I'm not perfect either by any means).
I think there is a very strong case both for and against global warming. Why don't we discipline ourselves a little and do what we can to try to make things better for everyone. Reduce, reuse, recycle. As for bio-fuels, right now I think it's probably not a good idea. I could be wrong and so could you, but I still think we should try to do our best to be decent and responsible with the gifts we've been given.
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