Our "Notable Incapacity" for Anything
In Arthur Clarke's science fiction novel "Childhood's End", benevolent aliens from forty light-years away visit Earth, end all wars, help form a world government, and essentially create a utopia. When asked why they were helping mankind, their reply was, "Your race has shown a notable incapacity for dealing with the problems of its own rather small planet."
On the real Earth, we can expect no help from non-Earth entities or from mythological super beings. We are on our own and had better shed this "notable incapacity" to deal with our problems. Earth really doesn't care if humans go extinct. The planet will do just fine without us.
As with any problems, a solution first requires the realization that problems exist. And yes, we have a multitude of them. The top problems, from a quick internet search include: species extinction, war, nuclear proliferation, malnutrition and hunger, clean water, health care, population growth, peak oil consumption, renewable energy sources, education, poverty, and climate change. This letter will address climate change.
Recent writers to the review (Jun 12, 2013) disagree with the vast majority of climate scientists about climate change. Mr. Reith claims that the temperature rise from 1930-70 was zero in spite of increasing industrial output. He is correct if you ignore pre-1930 and post-1970 data. The temperature increases on both sides of the 40 year lull.. This is referred to as cherry picking the data to make your point. Mr. Reith claims that there is more ice at the Artic and Antarctic than in 1979. Not quite. According to his reference, Arctic ice has been decreasing (not increasing as he claims.) He is correct that Antarctic ice has increased, but this is sea ice. Antarctic land ice has been decreasing.
To quickly address his other claims: the last decade has been the warmest on record; chlorofluorocarbon concentrations don't correlate with temperature increases over the last century; from 1850 to 1970, temperature and solar activity both increased, but from 1970 to today, the temperature increased while solar activity leveled off; since 1985, North Atlantic tropical storms have increased dramatically.
Dr. Mullendore makes a valid point about the Little Ice Age around 1700. This is also a subject of speculation for climate scientists. However, solar activity leveled off around 1970 while temperatures increased. Dr. Mullendore states that temperatures haven't increased since 1996 and he is correct, although he ignored an unmistakable trend. Average temperatures were flat from 1970-78, from 1978-87, from 1987-1996, from 1996-2003, and from 2003 to today. (See image below.) However, the relentless overall trend from 1970 to today has been upward, as are carbon dioxide levels.
Could the vast majority of climate scientists (97%) be wrong about climate change? Absolutely, but it is very much more likely that it is the vast minority of climate change deniers (3%) who are.
I'll close with a few more references. Tom Chapin, in his song "Walk the World Now, Children" sings, "Walk the world now, children, treat it lovingly, And the world will last forever and a day." However, I tend to be a pessimist and relate to Norah Jones in "Sinkin' Soon" when she sings, "Well were gonna be sinking soon." But just maybe we'll eventually figure out, before it's too late, how to deal with our "notable incapacity."
JLF
On the real Earth, we can expect no help from non-Earth entities or from mythological super beings. We are on our own and had better shed this "notable incapacity" to deal with our problems. Earth really doesn't care if humans go extinct. The planet will do just fine without us.
As with any problems, a solution first requires the realization that problems exist. And yes, we have a multitude of them. The top problems, from a quick internet search include: species extinction, war, nuclear proliferation, malnutrition and hunger, clean water, health care, population growth, peak oil consumption, renewable energy sources, education, poverty, and climate change. This letter will address climate change.
Recent writers to the review (Jun 12, 2013) disagree with the vast majority of climate scientists about climate change. Mr. Reith claims that the temperature rise from 1930-70 was zero in spite of increasing industrial output. He is correct if you ignore pre-1930 and post-1970 data. The temperature increases on both sides of the 40 year lull.. This is referred to as cherry picking the data to make your point. Mr. Reith claims that there is more ice at the Artic and Antarctic than in 1979. Not quite. According to his reference, Arctic ice has been decreasing (not increasing as he claims.) He is correct that Antarctic ice has increased, but this is sea ice. Antarctic land ice has been decreasing.
To quickly address his other claims: the last decade has been the warmest on record; chlorofluorocarbon concentrations don't correlate with temperature increases over the last century; from 1850 to 1970, temperature and solar activity both increased, but from 1970 to today, the temperature increased while solar activity leveled off; since 1985, North Atlantic tropical storms have increased dramatically.
Dr. Mullendore makes a valid point about the Little Ice Age around 1700. This is also a subject of speculation for climate scientists. However, solar activity leveled off around 1970 while temperatures increased. Dr. Mullendore states that temperatures haven't increased since 1996 and he is correct, although he ignored an unmistakable trend. Average temperatures were flat from 1970-78, from 1978-87, from 1987-1996, from 1996-2003, and from 2003 to today. (See image below.) However, the relentless overall trend from 1970 to today has been upward, as are carbon dioxide levels.
Could the vast majority of climate scientists (97%) be wrong about climate change? Absolutely, but it is very much more likely that it is the vast minority of climate change deniers (3%) who are.
I'll close with a few more references. Tom Chapin, in his song "Walk the World Now, Children" sings, "Walk the world now, children, treat it lovingly, And the world will last forever and a day." However, I tend to be a pessimist and relate to Norah Jones in "Sinkin' Soon" when she sings, "Well were gonna be sinking soon." But just maybe we'll eventually figure out, before it's too late, how to deal with our "notable incapacity."
JLF
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