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Re: fHuman vs. natural influences on the environment



charliew@hal-pc.org (charliew) wrote:
>In article <31F6611B.2A35@hydro.on.ca>,
>   Dan Evens <dan.evens@hydro.on.ca> wrote:
>>Environmental reporting is some of the WORST journalism you 
>>are ever likely to find. Not only is it rife with the usual 
>>problems of simplifying things for Joe-Couch, but it also
>>suffers from being a political hot button.

I don't agree.  Environmental reporting is about like all other
reporting--some is accurate and some is not.  I don't think you
will find many other readers of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN who will
agree with you that it carries shoddy science.

>And the usual argument is roughly at the level of "oh we 
>don't really know anything for sure,

Actually this is characteristic of scientific pronouncements.
It seems ironic that you would view it as indicating weakness.
What it is is an attempt to be strictly accurate.

>so we better do things my way."

That's not reporting.  Can't you distinguish between scientific
journals and, say, an activist mailing from Greenpeace?

>Good point.  If I gave a presentation to management and made 
>this statement, I probably wouldn't have my job for long.  
>In my profession (engineering) you had better get some 
>answers before drawing attention to an issue, or your 
>credibility will be rapidly lost (sound familiar?).

Yeah, but science is different from business.  Scientists who
venture a little further out and say what they think is really
happening, without being careful to add in all of the caveats,
are usually strongly criticized--examples are Stephen Schneider
and James Hansen--for going beyond what the data shows.

I don't recall the exact number at the moment, but CO2's
residence time in the atmosphere is long--certainly tens of
years.  And that means the emissions we are producing now
will continue to affect the atmosphere well into the future.
Since we have only modest knowledge of what the impacts will
be, there is a good reason for suggesting that we should take
action now to reduce emissions.

Tom Gray
Director of Communications
American Wind Energy Association

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-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Gray <tomgray@econet.org>





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