Week of 29 July 2019: Rebuttal to column of 8 July 19, "Thoughts on the Environmental Dialogue"
Jim Thompson
Email Jim at jthompson@taii.com Listen to this column in your favorite format My column of 8 Jul 19 elicited a number of comments from readers. At the time our feedback form at the bottom of each column was not working (it is now, thanks to these fine folks bringing this to our attention) and they wanted to be able to make their voices heard. This is an appropriate idea, so I wrote to them as a group on 11 Jul 19 with the following message: "You are receiving this email because you and others expressed an opposing view to Jim Thompson's Nip Impressions column of 8 July 2019 (Thoughts on the Environmental Dialogue). We want to let you be heard. We will publish all the rebuttals we get as one column dated Week of 29 Jul 2019, provided you follow these ground rules:
"Due to our publishing schedule, we will need your work no later than end of the business day, 19 Jul 2019. If it is close but not within our guidelines, we will work with you. If it is simply a rant, we won't, and you won't be published. "Thanks for your interest in Nip Impressions." I thought this was fair, as these are generally the rules I follow when writing Nip Impressions. Only two of the people who received these ground rules chose to respond in a timely fashion and stayed generally within in them. Another veered far from them, fought with me over them, and is not included. But before we get to their responses, I thought I would share an interesting article that I was pointed to by my daughter, a noted renewable energy engineer and scientist who works for the US government (and with whom I often disagree). It is along the lines of some parts of my 8 Jul 19 article, but she did not share it until after the 8 Jul 19 article was published. You can find this article at: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/5/29/17386112/all-life-on-earth-chart-weight-plants-animals-pnas. Then, there are two sites that I consult regularly on the issue of climate change. I am sure our respondents will disagree with their veracity (and their funding), however, in the interest of fairness to all sides, I include them without comment here. I will hasten to say they are considered by some to be political. https://www.heartland.org/ and https://wattsupwiththat.com/ It is important to note that I put my comments at the beginning of this column, not the end, for I desire that you, dear reader, leave this column with the words of the rebutters, not mine, fresh in your mind. Now to the rebuttals: *** Onlypulpandpaperjobs.com has hundreds of registrants! [03.01.19] *** This is from John Fitzgerald (johnronaldfitzgerald@gmail.com): Dear Mr. Thompson and Nip Impressions Readers- One point of agreement is that name calling is counter-productive regardless of one's beliefs. Often those who believe in Anthropogenic Climate Change are labeled by those with differing views as Environmental Extremists or even Environmental Terrorists; a colleague friend of mine referred to us (I include myself in the believing persuasion) as "a bunch of nuts". So, if placing a label indicates a weakness in one's position, then those on the other side of the discussion must be subject to the same criticism. If I must use a label for those with doubts, then Climate Change Skeptic would be my preference. Perhaps one of the biggest casualties of Global Warming is the ability of people to disagree in a civil manner without resorting to name calling or other verbal insults. I agree with the notion that the consensus opinion is often proven to not be correct. It may ultimately prove that the climate change "crisis" is either less severe or more severe than the current consensus regards it. You had mentioned how Galileo was ultimately correct in his view of the universe. I might point out that Steven Hawking (the most brilliant scientist since Einstein or Newton and one who often promoted iconoclastic ideas), never- the-less regarded anthropogenic climate change as a fact and was very concerned that mankind is not yet seriously addressing it and that we are already very close to the point where it becomes irreversible. In the case of Galileo his findings were contradicting not scientific research but religious dogma that stated the earth was the center of the universe. In this case, those disagreeing with Anthropogenic Climate Change are contradicting the overwhelming consensus of research derived by use of the scientific method. Regarding the stadium analogy, there are a number of concerns with the argument-
The level of CO2 in the atmosphere was very stable up until about 1800 with the rise corresponding to the Industrial Revolution rather than the American Revolution (1776) so there is no reason to wrap a link to the American Revolution into the discussion. Regarding, the level of crowding or lack thereof of the human species on the planet it is a matter of opinion. It is interesting that Jacksonville Florida, the city in the US with the largest area was chosen for the calculation presumably to maximize the calculated space per person; if San Francisco California (a city with almost the same population as Jacksonville) had been chosen instead, the calculated available space per human would have decreased by a factor of 16. However, the square footage space required for a human being to occupy is a specious argument. The real question is the square footage of space required to support that human being in terms of food, energy, water, and of course the waste products that his or her existence creates. The discussion ignores other negative impacts of global warming including more intense tropical cyclones. extremes of rainfall (both flood and drought), the advance of tropical vector borne diseases into more northerly latitudes, the rapid advancement of warmer climate zones into both higher elevations and higher latitudes causing ecosystem disruption, as well as the previously mentioned ocean acidification and sea level rise. By the way, a personal poll of college educated professionals (not including any climate scientists themselves) that I have been keeping for the last several years indicates about 44% believing anthropogenic global warming needs to be addressed while 56% hold a wide variety of contrary positions on the subject. Where the viewership of Nip Impressions truly currently lies on this matter is easily resolved. Just e-mail Jim Thompson your position on the following scale: Human Driven Climate Change-aka, Anthropogenic Global Warming 1 - Highly Skeptical 2- Somewhat Skeptical 3-Uncertain 4- Somewhat Believe 5- Strongly Believe Must provide name and e-mail to avoid multiple votes by same person. However, scientific fact will be the ultimate arbitrator of this matter, as scientific reality does not care about opinion polls. Jim Thompson once (1/3/2011) said in a "Nip Impressions" column "all climate is local" meaning people should judge climate change based on their local experience (full quote below *1). The local perspective is a good one as warming in the United States has been very unequal thus far. States like Florida, Delaware, and California for example have experienced far more warming in terms of extreme changes than have states like Kansas and Mississippi. However, on that basis think of some local experiences in the eight short years since Jim wrote that column - of Paradise and other California communities with the fires, Houston after Hurricane Harvey, Dominica and Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan, the US. Northeast after Hurricane Sandy. While all extreme weather events cannot be blamed on climate change, the warming climate is loading the dice. Best Regards and Try to Be Civil Even with Those with Whom You Strongly Disagree, John Fitzgerald *1 "From now on I'll look out my window to form my judgments on the climate. One could possibly say all climates are local, as well as pollution. In fact, I will say it; if I can see or measure it and it is something that is not where it is supposed to be ... that is pollution." <January 3, 2011, Jim Thompson> *2 Sandy (2012) - tropical cyclone hybrid with largest wind field kinetic energy at U.S. landfall Haiyan (2013) - most intense tropical cyclone at time of landfall anywhere in world on record Harvey (2017) - most extreme rainfall ever from landfalling hurricane in US history Maria (2017) - most destructive hurricane ever for Puerto Rico and Dominica 2018 California Fires - largest and most destructive in CA state history
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I'll point out a response to a survey as John proposes above is not scientific, however it could be interesting and have its own merits. If you choose to respond, please put "Fitzgerald Survey Response" in the subject line so I can find it. --- Next, we have this from Annette Wright (ajssmithwright@gmail.com): Mr. Thompson, Thank you for your column and for not name-calling those of us who are climate change believers. Your guesstimate that 90% of your audience is still skeptical is both surprising and disappointing. I hope that you are wrong that it is that high. There are two essential questions: 1. Do you believe that climate change is real and caused by humans? 2. Do you think that we should try to do anything to mitigate it? Skepticism is healthy but the data overwhelmingly support that climate change is real and is caused by humans. You made a great point about our environment that "The question is what is left to do, and what is the cost, measured by any metric, to accomplish what is left to do." I appreciate and share your concern over government intervention - taxes and creating an unequal competition/advantage to different countries, etc. So as far as what to do about it, I like the idea of a carbon fee and a 100% return per capita dividend regardless of income as proposed by Dr. James Hansen. I have shared my current perspective, but I am continually searching for what others I respect think about the subject which is why I'm so intrigued to learn exactly what your audience actually thinks. Our industry is collectively a great group of intelligent people. Again, thank you for covering such an important topic. No matter which side you are on, there are likely serious consequences. Maybe I am deluded but I like to think that our industry can be part of the solution since as you point out in your email signature, a working forest provides wildlife habitat and carbon storage, etc. We need to do a better job of spreading our message of sustainability.
Best regards,
Annette Smith-Wright --- Thanks, everyone. Be safe and we will talk next week. ___________________ Onlypulpandpaperjobs.com has taken off like a rocket! Over fifty jobs are posted, in many interesting categories. These jobs are in at least 15 different US states. [06.19.19] **** Employers are on board with Onlypulpandpaperjobs.com. There are nearly forty employers located in fifteen different US states and six other countries. [06.19.19] ________ Other interesting stories:
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