Thursday, November 30, 2006

TCS Daily - A Conversation with Bjorn Lomborg

TCS Daily - A Conversation with Bjorn Lomborg: "t's at the stage where people are saying its even worse than we thought yesterday, and that it is going to be catastrophic, and chaotic and disruptive - all these kinds of words. This has actually led to one of the lead modellers in the UK to come out and say it's bizarre that before we had the debate between the climate change skeptics and the scientists, and that now we have the debate between the scientists, who are now becoming the skeptics, and those who are saying it's all going to end in chaos, when it is going to do nothing of the sort - and this is not what the UN panel is telling us.

Perhaps this is most clear when you look at the movie from Al Gore. Everything he says is technically true. He says for instance that if Greenland melts, sea levels will rise about 20 feet. This is technically true. But of course the very evocative imagery of seeing Holland disappear under the waves - or New York, or Shanghai - leaves the impression that this is all going to happen very soon. Where in fact the UN climate panel says that the sea level rise over the next 100 years is going to be 30 cm - about 20 times less than he talks about. So there is a dramatic difference between what we're being told and what we're actually seeing. Which is also why I am writing a new book which comes out next fall on climate chang"

9 comments:

cf said...

My question is how much money and resources will be wasted by politicians who are scientific illiterates yielding to this propaganda before the truth gets its head above the dreck being peddled?

Charlie Martin said...

Oh, that's easy: lots.

Anonymous said...

Pols as scientific illiterates or as eco-boondoggle profitable dreck specialists?

Warmingmongering pays in votes and "moral" authority, and keeps the funds flowing back to uni's and greens at home in the most natural of election-convection cycles.

Unknown said...

I heard something other day about an ancient lost city being found under water off the coast of India. Now obviously this city went under water a long time ago. That means the water has been rising for a long time. Maybe it is just the way of things.

truepeers said...

the debate between the scientists, who are now becoming the skeptics...

-Seneca, anyone, can you point to a source where we can get a good over-view of the field of play - the major players in climate change, the major skeptics, the shifts in opinion, etc.? I need something with which to confront the piece-meal erosion of people's faith in the future...

Anonymous said...

terrye:

It was not a city. Later investigations proved it was just rocks that had fractured in ways suggestive of a stepped pyramid and terraces, etc. You can google (now generic - like "kleenex" - and undeserving of capitalization?) around and look for the story. It first appeared on the BBC website and also has a wikipedia entry.

Ed onWestSlope said...

terrye,
Not to be picky but, "That means the water has been rising for a long time." is not the only option. The soft sediments beneath these stones, or whatever may be settling (consolidating is the $5 word). Part of the problem with New Orleans is the entire delta is settling, to include the relatively new dikes. I have read numbers ranging from 4" to over 10" in the last 30 to 50 years.

Part of good science (to include engineering & normal analysis) is to correctly pair the observed effect with the proper cause. I know you know this.

Charlie Martin said...

Tur, I think AEI just had one. I'll try to track it down.

Charlie Martin said...

Ach, "Tru", not "Tur". Dammit.