The second of an unmissable series of four 1-hour videos from National Geographic.
The background and introduction to the first episode was published yesterday. So I won’t natter on today saying more or less the same thing.
But I will add this thought.
The videos are tough viewing but compelling because they show the complexity and inter-relatedness of all forms of life on our Planet. It shows that the debate about climate change/global warming/call it what you will is not a simplistic do you or do you not believe mankind is at the root of the changes. No it’s a much more complex question about the threat to our whole biosphere, as Patrice Ayme so eloquently spelt out on March 2nd. These videos make that crystal clear.
Here’s the second episode,
National Geographic – Strange Days on Planet Earth – Part 2 of 4 – One Degree Factor
Learning from Dogs 
And after watching these videos one begins to wonder ……. where are all the skeptics now?
“I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.” -Tolstoy
(as skeptic lies on the ground, sounds may be heard ….. Boot! … boot! …. boot! …) 🙂
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(Native Indian) Chief Seattle was right: All things are connected….
In the 1970s James Burke produced a TV series called Connections. This series blows that out of the water completely (no pun intended). The connections uncovered here are truly terrifying.
Here’s another: Richard Lindzen has been denying the reality of anthropogenic climate change for at least 20 years. I believe he has done more than just about anyone else (with the possible exception of Dr S Fred Singer) to prevent necessary changes in energy policy in the USA and elsewhere. That is why I believe he must now be stopped. If he can be stopped, I believe it will be the beginning of the end for climate change denial.
As this programme ably demonstrates, the karibu of the Alaskan Arctic, the zoaplankton and crabs of the Pacific Ocean, the children of Trinidad, and the sea fan corals of the Carribean cannot wait much longer for the lies to stop: If they do not, ocean acidification and temperature rise will cause mass extinction of marine species due to their inabilty to form calcite shells and/or because “hibernation” will be permanent.
I therefore think Lindzen and Singer should be put on trial for crimes against biodiversity (i.e. not just humanity).
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I fully agree with your comments, Martin. If climate scientists are expected to bring forth all their research, field data and so on into the open then I would expect that all these called skeptics also be made to show their own findings and how they came to their conclusions.
It has long pained me how skeptics are allowed to denigrate and belittle the reputation of other scientists all the while getting away with some of the most atrocious and deceiving comments ever made to humanity.
I don’t know what institutions the skeptics belong to but I would welcome any and all investigations by these bodies on the behavior of some of their scientists, what these men are doing to science disgraces the lot of us 😦
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I was aware of Lindzen’s links to the Heartland Institute but, I am soooo glad I mentioned the CATO institute in my complaint to MIT – as it is this that seems to be the most long-standing plank in Lindzen’s ideologically-driven need to deny that humans are damaging the environment.
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Just one more thing … you know me …. 🙂
Prof Lindzen says the following “….The fact that the Earth’s average surface temperature is fifteen degrees centigrade…..”
And right there he buries the rest of his findings because:
The average temperature on earth “is 15 Deg” which means that if we remove Global Dimming from the equation then this elevates the average global temperatures for 2010 to 15.70 Deg. C. well above the average; and there is nothing he can now say or do to disprove his own statement 🙂
Should I carry on disproving his comments or is this enough to show him off as a charlatan? 😦
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No, please don’t let me stop you: Knock yourself out, go right ahead, go for it, reach for the sky, the world’s your oyster… (need I say more?) 🙂
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Charlatan is the word, indeed. I could not believe all the statements of this Lindzen, which disproved all he said. Where does he come from?
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Well great fun to wake early and see you two have been having a decent chin-wag already! P.
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Good morning (GMT-7) Paul. Given that Donald (GMT+11) doesn’t know what sleep is and I am GMT… Think of us as the nightshift.
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GMT? Globaly Mutated Transambulists 🙂
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Fascinating reports, thanks Paul!
Various indicators of catastrophe give every indication of growing at a much faster clip than in any of the greatest extinctions before.
Worse: there are no energy system to use to eschew the emergency, to replace what we have now with something sustainable (solar could work but not yet with the presently deployed tech). A crash program is needed, say on nuclear liquid thorium reactors (which have enormous advantages on present enriched uranium reactors, such as neglectable waste, and extreme safety).
Meanwhile, it seems as if Obama cut the Mars science budget down to zero. unilaterally cancelling two big missions with ESA, among other things.
I guess it all makes sense: if we don’t look at what happened there, on Mars, it won’t happen here… On Earth. So many Afghans to kill, so many bankers to enrich, so little money to go look out there (the wise men who lead saved 1.2 billion dollars, what the Pentagon spends in ten hours…)
http://patriceayme.wordpress.com/
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Patrice, The sense of pain you feel comes over very powerfully. And in so many ways it would be so easy to abandon hope. But mankind also has a remarkable ability to change. As the saying goes, ‘we always do the right thing, after we have exhausted every other option!’ Interesting times! Thank you, again, for your thoughtful comments. Paul
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