Conversations with Liz -
> From An Earlier Post <
I feel that in large part, the misunderstandings we see are in large part due to climate change fanatics like Bill Nye and sites like Skeptical Science.
As Curator of Paleontology for the Natural History of Maryland, I'm amazed at how many times Nye is overtly incorrect about the data he cites. One would think that an expert such as Nye, wouldn't make such blunders, which brings up the question, does Nye really understand what he's talking about, or is his real subconscious intent, as an actor, to stay in the public limelight as long as possible. One thing for sure, his bitter denunciation of those he disagrees with, reveals him as having an authoritarian personality with little knowledge about how the scientific method works. Rather then name calling and temper tantrums, real scientists publish their opinions and the evidence to back them up, in legitimate journals so other scientists in the field can verify as to if their statements are correct.
About Skeptical Science, in spite of trying to pass itself off as a legitimate science site, a quick examination reveals that Skeptical Science has an overt political agenda. What’s especially ominous is their black list of scientists whose findings they disagree with. That’s what Fascism is all about: expecting everyone to think alike and denigrating those that don’t. The last time this nation saw public black-lists was during the early 1950’s McCarthy Period, where thousands of people had their careers and lives ruined after being wrongly accused of being Communist subversives.
I feel that in large part, the misunderstandings we see are in large part due to climate change fanatics like Bill Nye and sites like Skeptical Science.
As Curator of Paleontology for the Natural History of Maryland, I'm amazed at how many times Nye is overtly incorrect about the data he cites. One would think that an expert such as Nye, wouldn't make such blunders, which brings up the question, does Nye really understand what he's talking about, or is his real subconscious intent, as an actor, to stay in the public limelight as long as possible. One thing for sure, his bitter denunciation of those he disagrees with, reveals him as having an authoritarian personality with little knowledge about how the scientific method works. Rather then name calling and temper tantrums, real scientists publish their opinions and the evidence to back them up, in legitimate journals so other scientists in the field can verify as to if their statements are correct.
About Skeptical Science, in spite of trying to pass itself off as a legitimate science site, a quick examination reveals that Skeptical Science has an overt political agenda. What’s especially ominous is their black list of scientists whose findings they disagree with. That’s what Fascism is all about: expecting everyone to think alike and denigrating those that don’t. The last time this nation saw public black-lists was during the early 1950’s McCarthy Period, where thousands of people had their careers and lives ruined after being wrongly accused of being Communist subversives.
Sorry, George. Can't go along with you on this ine. Evidence of the extreme harm wrought by climate change is all around us. Action is long overdue - Liz October 30, 2019
Hi Liz - I’m puzzled about why you are lecturing me about global warming, since I’ve made no criticism with regard to either human induced or natural climate change.
Not only is anthropogenic climate change real, but adding it to the natural climate change that is already occurring, and the future situation may be even worse then currently predicted.
> Background In Science
I don’t think you understand what it took for me to become a Curator of Paleontology. The Natural History Society of Maryland (NHSM) didn’t just give me the position on a whim.
Besides taking four-years worth of honors geology and related courses in zoology in the 1980s, for three years I was an educator in the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History’s Naturalist Center, where I was in charge of the geology and paleontology sections. My project, in addition to helping interested laypersons identify specimens they brought in, was to rebuild, reorganize, and re-catalogue their Local Rocks Collection, to which I added over 100 new specimens. In addition, I got to meet with various curators and see their active research. Kenneth Been, my mentor for those years, earned his ph.d, in Paleontology from the University of Cincinnati, and was at the Smithsonian before become a professor.
Over the years I’ve given talks about Earth’s geologic and climate history, ranging from the Baltimore County Library System, to Mensa conventions.
Before becoming a curator at NHSM, I spent three years there working on various projects which demonstrated my knowledge of historical geology and paleontology. Then I became an associate curator, and a year later I became a full curator, a position I share with Adrian Mialick, who oversees one of the largest private fossil collections in this area.
Besides identifying fossil specimens for the Natural History Society of Maryland, as Curator of Paleontology, I keep up with current research on major and minor extinction events, and ongoing research into both ancient and modern climates. In addition, I’m in touch with curators at the Smithsonian, the Calvert Marine Museum, and other science based organizations.
What I’m saying, is that I know far more about the realities and threats of global warming then the average person, especially those with a political axe to grind. I’m willing to publicly take on anyone with regard to any wrongful assumptions concerning the issue, especially the spread of misinformation, ignorance, and hate.
It’s important to understand that real science is based on demonstrable facts, a scientific principle known as “Empiricism,” and not on political agendas and opinions.
> Science Fact vs Political Agenda
I think you’ve mistakenly made the assumption that I don’t believe the evidence that supports both natural and human factors as influencing modern climate change, solely based on my objective criticism of Bill Nye as being a ignorant, bigoted charlatan, which he has demonstrated publicly on many occasions, and of Skeptical Science’s agenda driven denunciation of legitimate scientific research that doesn’t adhere to their authoritarian dictates.
Do you know that Skeptical Science has a blacklist of scientists whose research they disapprove of? That’s what Fascists do: expect everyone to think alike, and denigrate those who don’t.
Research evidence shows that during the previous two interglacial warming periods (about 24 periods in all over the past 2.5 million years) temperatures in southern Greenland were about 60oF. There were no ice sheets. Sea levels were considerably higher. Humans had nothing to do with it.
All of these past interglacials show signs of extinction. Tropical species thrive and expand when the Earth warms. Cool loving species either adapt or go extinct. The reverse happens when our planet start to cool again.
However, instead of informing the public about this and helping to plan for the inevitable crisis, Nye and similar-minded “intellectual” types have created this horrible animosity of sanctimonious blame and guilt that plagues our nation and hinders genuine progress.
I refuse to be silent about this, because I’ve seen over the decades how this growing overt hatred of those who question their motives, is threatening our way of Democracy.
At its essence, Democracy means the representation of many voices. This is accomplished through tolerance, not that you have to agree with others opinion’s, but you do have to respect them as fellow human beings. That’s the difference between democratic and totalitarian societies.
What Nye has done is to create an Us vs. Them society, and made a sham of the concert of tolerance. What’s alarming is how easy pseudo-intellectual progressive-types gravitate to this doctrine of hate, that mirrors the millions of Nazi’s who flocked to Hitler’s hateful rhetoric about Jews, and we saw what that brought about.
Part - 2
> “Something needs to be done”
Something already has. Since the 1970s, the United States via the Environmental Protection Agency, has brought about vast changes that have improved the environment. Gone are all the factories and plants in east Baltimore that used to fill the skies with pollutants. This has occurred throughout our nation.
Consider the automobile industry. We’ve transitioned from the days of mostly muscle cars to cars that by comparison, are more fuel efficient, smaller, and much more safe. As electric cars drop in price and improve in efficiency, gasoline may eventually only be of interest to classic car enthusiasts.
If you were to say that even more needs to be done, I’d agree with you, but to imply that nothing has been done the past 50 years is being intellectually dishonest.
50 years ago, industrial nations were the main culprit. Nowadays it’s Third World nations, particularly Communist China and India. This is in part due to their ever growing populations. In 2011 the world’s population reached 7 billion. The U.N. predicts that by 2050 the number will be 9 billion or even higher. It’s predicted that by 2013, India’s population will surpass China’s roughly 2 billion. That’s only 11-years from now.
People are consumers. The more people there are, the more that’s gets consumed, and the more waste and pollution there is.
Even without climate warming, there’s still the issue of resource and rainforest depletion.
The leading source of rainforest depletion is Communist China. They clear the forests, so they can grow the crops, that they ship to China, to feed the animals, that becomes the food for their billions of inhabitants.
Any idea on how to get communist leaders to stop this without risking starving the population?
Back in the 1940s, under Mao-tse Tung’s collectivization plan, about 40 million Chinese peasants starved to death. This is even worse then the 20 million who perished in the Soviet Ukraine because of Stalin’s collectivization plan.
As evidenced by the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre of students demonstrating for Democracy, Communist China’s leaders will not hesitate to use lethal force to quell protests.
And how do we get the world to stop reproducing?
Nye and the others, never confront real facts surrounding the issue. For them It’s just a way to justify their hate-filled, sanctimonious, holier-then-thou egos.
If we truly want to solve the world’s problems, this behavior has to stop, otherwise, problems will just continue on.
Part - 3
> Rate of Climate Change
Another misconception Nye spreads is the idea that natural climate change takes thousands of years.
A study published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the following: “Paleoclimate records indicate that climate changes of this size and speed have occurred at many times in the past.”
First observed in African lake sediments, we know that during the “Younger Dryas Period,” some 11,500 years ago, as the planet’s latest interglacial warming period, known as the Holocene Epoch began, Earth’s climate was switching back and forth between temperate and glacial, sometimes in intervals of less then ten years.
We see similar evidence in the valley surrounding Loch Ness in Scotland, where glaciers had rapidly melted, then reformed, then melted again, several times over. You can see a discussion about this in the “Loch Ness” episode of “How the Earth Was Made.”
Modern evidence is to found in the “Little Ice Age” which occurred in three major pulses from from 1350 to 1850 AD. These are attributed to sunspot cycles know as “Solar Minimums.” Less sunspots mean that the Sun is putting out less energy. Sometimes there’s a string of years where it’s 0. In the mid 17th century, in a roughly 50-year period, glaciers in the Swiss Alps advanced so far that entire villages were destroyed.
> Holocene Epoch
The Holocene Epoch, that is, the time the planet began to warm after the last glacial, is divided into 5 climatic periods that all have there own distinct climates (ka refers to “thousand years ago”. BP means ‘before present”. Notice that the longest, the Atlantic, is only three thousand years long. two are a thousand years, and two are 2.5 thousand years.
Notice that several times, climates were warmer then today.
BOREAL: Sea rise brought isolation by drowning entire coasts. In Europe, Ireland was cut off early in the Boreal, suffering an impoverishment of species. Britain was cut off by the end. Forest replaced the open lands in Europe, and forest-dwelling animals spread from southern areas and replaced the ice-age tundra mammals.
ATLANTIC: The warmest period of the Holocene, and is often referenced to as the Holocene Climatic Optimum. The sea rose to 9 feet above its present level. The temperature rise extended southern climates northward in a relatively short period. The tree lines on northern mountains rose by 2000–3000 feet. Heat loving species migrated northward.
SUBBOREAL: Equivalent to most of the Neolithic and the entire Bronze Age. The climate was generally dryer and slightly cooler than in the preceding Atlantic, but still warmer than today. The Aegean area was marked by a pronounced drought. The lakes of subtropical Africa experienced a rapid fall in water levels. Arid conditions lead to the fall of Uruk and the Akkadian Empire, and possibly the end of Egypt’s Old Kingdom.
SUBATLANTIC: began with the ROMAN WARM PERIOD which lasted to the beginning of the 4th century. Analysis of Alpine glaciers concluded that the period AD 100-400 was significantly warmer than the periods that immediately preceded and followed. The drying and cooling that followed, an average winter temperature drop of 0.4°C centered around 350 AD, may have forced the Huns to move west, thus in turn triggering the migrations of the Germanic tribes.
After this relatively short cool interlude, the climate warmed again and reached between 800 and 1200 AD almost the values of the Roman Warm Period. This event is known as the MEDIEVAL WARM PERIOD. It enabled the Vikings to settle in Iceland and Greenland. As Europe moved into the Little Ice Age, a decrease in temperature and a great number of devastating floods disrupted harvests and caused mass famine. Many settlements were abandoned and left deserted.
The LITTLE ICE AGE: (1300–1870), occurred in three pulses. The coldest period, (1645–1715), corresponds with the Maunder Minimum, a time when sunspots became exceedingly rare. During a 28-year period (1672–1699), observations revealed fewer than 50 sunspots. This contrasts with the typical 40,000–50,000 sunspots seen in modern times. Another period of low sunspot count, The Dalton Minimum, (1790–1830), also saw lower-than-average global temperatures. The earlier Spörer Minimum,(1400–1510), also coincided with a time when Earth's climate was colder than average.
The end of the Little Ice Age roughly corresponds to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Here was the beginning of humans influencing climate. That’s why I say that the climate situation is potentially worse then most people realize.
> Other Influences On Climate
Fluctuations in the Sun’s energy output has already been mentioned.
Another are Malankovitch Cycles. There are three: 1) variations in the shape of Earth’s orbit from almost circular to elliptical and back, a cycle of about 100,000 years. The more elliptical, the greater the chance for climate extremes. 2) Variations in the Earth’s axil tilt. These change in a roughly 40,000 year cycle from 22.1 to 24.5 degrees. Because of this, seasons become exaggerated. 3) Third is variations in axil wobble, a 26,000 year orbital cycle.
Plate Tectonics is another. The driest place on Earth is South America’s Atacama Desert, which formed when the Antarctic Plate separated from South America. This created the Humboldt Current, which not only circulates clockwise around Antarctica, but travels up the west coast of South America, where it creates what is called an “Inversion Layer” that prevents clouds from rising above the coastal mountain range.
In a related manner, many aren’t aware of the fact that Alaska has a desert too, the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes. Located in the Western Arctic National Park, it is called the “Mini Sahara.” Formed thousands of years ago, it has temperatures of over 100oF. The significance is that I’ve seen photos of it posted on Facebook, saying “Don’t tell me global warming isn’t real.”
Claiming this to be evidence of recent global warming is a fallacy, but it reflects a pseudoscientific trend that gained influence these past several decades.
You would think that Nye, a self-proclaimed “expert” would know of these facts, but he doesn’t, another example of ignorance being spread to the public.
There’s a thing in psychology called “Confirmation Bias,” where the conscious mind sees only what it wants and filters out information that suggests otherwise. This goes hand in hand with what is known as the “Dunning-Kruger Effect,” where certain people believe their cognitive abilities to be greater then they actually are. The slang term is “know-it-all.”
Not to dismiss human generated warming, but you’ve now learned some of the many influences that effect climate other the human activity.
Please keep these facts in mind the next you see someone on a soapbox, point a finger of blame, while yelling “Denier”.
Not only is anthropogenic climate change real, but adding it to the natural climate change that is already occurring, and the future situation may be even worse then currently predicted.
> Background In Science
I don’t think you understand what it took for me to become a Curator of Paleontology. The Natural History Society of Maryland (NHSM) didn’t just give me the position on a whim.
Besides taking four-years worth of honors geology and related courses in zoology in the 1980s, for three years I was an educator in the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History’s Naturalist Center, where I was in charge of the geology and paleontology sections. My project, in addition to helping interested laypersons identify specimens they brought in, was to rebuild, reorganize, and re-catalogue their Local Rocks Collection, to which I added over 100 new specimens. In addition, I got to meet with various curators and see their active research. Kenneth Been, my mentor for those years, earned his ph.d, in Paleontology from the University of Cincinnati, and was at the Smithsonian before become a professor.
Over the years I’ve given talks about Earth’s geologic and climate history, ranging from the Baltimore County Library System, to Mensa conventions.
Before becoming a curator at NHSM, I spent three years there working on various projects which demonstrated my knowledge of historical geology and paleontology. Then I became an associate curator, and a year later I became a full curator, a position I share with Adrian Mialick, who oversees one of the largest private fossil collections in this area.
Besides identifying fossil specimens for the Natural History Society of Maryland, as Curator of Paleontology, I keep up with current research on major and minor extinction events, and ongoing research into both ancient and modern climates. In addition, I’m in touch with curators at the Smithsonian, the Calvert Marine Museum, and other science based organizations.
What I’m saying, is that I know far more about the realities and threats of global warming then the average person, especially those with a political axe to grind. I’m willing to publicly take on anyone with regard to any wrongful assumptions concerning the issue, especially the spread of misinformation, ignorance, and hate.
It’s important to understand that real science is based on demonstrable facts, a scientific principle known as “Empiricism,” and not on political agendas and opinions.
> Science Fact vs Political Agenda
I think you’ve mistakenly made the assumption that I don’t believe the evidence that supports both natural and human factors as influencing modern climate change, solely based on my objective criticism of Bill Nye as being a ignorant, bigoted charlatan, which he has demonstrated publicly on many occasions, and of Skeptical Science’s agenda driven denunciation of legitimate scientific research that doesn’t adhere to their authoritarian dictates.
Do you know that Skeptical Science has a blacklist of scientists whose research they disapprove of? That’s what Fascists do: expect everyone to think alike, and denigrate those who don’t.
Research evidence shows that during the previous two interglacial warming periods (about 24 periods in all over the past 2.5 million years) temperatures in southern Greenland were about 60oF. There were no ice sheets. Sea levels were considerably higher. Humans had nothing to do with it.
All of these past interglacials show signs of extinction. Tropical species thrive and expand when the Earth warms. Cool loving species either adapt or go extinct. The reverse happens when our planet start to cool again.
However, instead of informing the public about this and helping to plan for the inevitable crisis, Nye and similar-minded “intellectual” types have created this horrible animosity of sanctimonious blame and guilt that plagues our nation and hinders genuine progress.
I refuse to be silent about this, because I’ve seen over the decades how this growing overt hatred of those who question their motives, is threatening our way of Democracy.
At its essence, Democracy means the representation of many voices. This is accomplished through tolerance, not that you have to agree with others opinion’s, but you do have to respect them as fellow human beings. That’s the difference between democratic and totalitarian societies.
What Nye has done is to create an Us vs. Them society, and made a sham of the concert of tolerance. What’s alarming is how easy pseudo-intellectual progressive-types gravitate to this doctrine of hate, that mirrors the millions of Nazi’s who flocked to Hitler’s hateful rhetoric about Jews, and we saw what that brought about.
Part - 2
> “Something needs to be done”
Something already has. Since the 1970s, the United States via the Environmental Protection Agency, has brought about vast changes that have improved the environment. Gone are all the factories and plants in east Baltimore that used to fill the skies with pollutants. This has occurred throughout our nation.
Consider the automobile industry. We’ve transitioned from the days of mostly muscle cars to cars that by comparison, are more fuel efficient, smaller, and much more safe. As electric cars drop in price and improve in efficiency, gasoline may eventually only be of interest to classic car enthusiasts.
If you were to say that even more needs to be done, I’d agree with you, but to imply that nothing has been done the past 50 years is being intellectually dishonest.
50 years ago, industrial nations were the main culprit. Nowadays it’s Third World nations, particularly Communist China and India. This is in part due to their ever growing populations. In 2011 the world’s population reached 7 billion. The U.N. predicts that by 2050 the number will be 9 billion or even higher. It’s predicted that by 2013, India’s population will surpass China’s roughly 2 billion. That’s only 11-years from now.
People are consumers. The more people there are, the more that’s gets consumed, and the more waste and pollution there is.
Even without climate warming, there’s still the issue of resource and rainforest depletion.
The leading source of rainforest depletion is Communist China. They clear the forests, so they can grow the crops, that they ship to China, to feed the animals, that becomes the food for their billions of inhabitants.
Any idea on how to get communist leaders to stop this without risking starving the population?
Back in the 1940s, under Mao-tse Tung’s collectivization plan, about 40 million Chinese peasants starved to death. This is even worse then the 20 million who perished in the Soviet Ukraine because of Stalin’s collectivization plan.
As evidenced by the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre of students demonstrating for Democracy, Communist China’s leaders will not hesitate to use lethal force to quell protests.
And how do we get the world to stop reproducing?
Nye and the others, never confront real facts surrounding the issue. For them It’s just a way to justify their hate-filled, sanctimonious, holier-then-thou egos.
If we truly want to solve the world’s problems, this behavior has to stop, otherwise, problems will just continue on.
Part - 3
> Rate of Climate Change
Another misconception Nye spreads is the idea that natural climate change takes thousands of years.
A study published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the following: “Paleoclimate records indicate that climate changes of this size and speed have occurred at many times in the past.”
First observed in African lake sediments, we know that during the “Younger Dryas Period,” some 11,500 years ago, as the planet’s latest interglacial warming period, known as the Holocene Epoch began, Earth’s climate was switching back and forth between temperate and glacial, sometimes in intervals of less then ten years.
We see similar evidence in the valley surrounding Loch Ness in Scotland, where glaciers had rapidly melted, then reformed, then melted again, several times over. You can see a discussion about this in the “Loch Ness” episode of “How the Earth Was Made.”
Modern evidence is to found in the “Little Ice Age” which occurred in three major pulses from from 1350 to 1850 AD. These are attributed to sunspot cycles know as “Solar Minimums.” Less sunspots mean that the Sun is putting out less energy. Sometimes there’s a string of years where it’s 0. In the mid 17th century, in a roughly 50-year period, glaciers in the Swiss Alps advanced so far that entire villages were destroyed.
> Holocene Epoch
The Holocene Epoch, that is, the time the planet began to warm after the last glacial, is divided into 5 climatic periods that all have there own distinct climates (ka refers to “thousand years ago”. BP means ‘before present”. Notice that the longest, the Atlantic, is only three thousand years long. two are a thousand years, and two are 2.5 thousand years.
Notice that several times, climates were warmer then today.
- Preboreal (10 ka–9 ka)
- Boreal (9 ka–8 ka)
- Atlantic (8 ka–5 ka)
- Subboreal (5 ka–2.5 ka)
- Subatlantic (2.5 ka–present)
BOREAL: Sea rise brought isolation by drowning entire coasts. In Europe, Ireland was cut off early in the Boreal, suffering an impoverishment of species. Britain was cut off by the end. Forest replaced the open lands in Europe, and forest-dwelling animals spread from southern areas and replaced the ice-age tundra mammals.
ATLANTIC: The warmest period of the Holocene, and is often referenced to as the Holocene Climatic Optimum. The sea rose to 9 feet above its present level. The temperature rise extended southern climates northward in a relatively short period. The tree lines on northern mountains rose by 2000–3000 feet. Heat loving species migrated northward.
SUBBOREAL: Equivalent to most of the Neolithic and the entire Bronze Age. The climate was generally dryer and slightly cooler than in the preceding Atlantic, but still warmer than today. The Aegean area was marked by a pronounced drought. The lakes of subtropical Africa experienced a rapid fall in water levels. Arid conditions lead to the fall of Uruk and the Akkadian Empire, and possibly the end of Egypt’s Old Kingdom.
SUBATLANTIC: began with the ROMAN WARM PERIOD which lasted to the beginning of the 4th century. Analysis of Alpine glaciers concluded that the period AD 100-400 was significantly warmer than the periods that immediately preceded and followed. The drying and cooling that followed, an average winter temperature drop of 0.4°C centered around 350 AD, may have forced the Huns to move west, thus in turn triggering the migrations of the Germanic tribes.
After this relatively short cool interlude, the climate warmed again and reached between 800 and 1200 AD almost the values of the Roman Warm Period. This event is known as the MEDIEVAL WARM PERIOD. It enabled the Vikings to settle in Iceland and Greenland. As Europe moved into the Little Ice Age, a decrease in temperature and a great number of devastating floods disrupted harvests and caused mass famine. Many settlements were abandoned and left deserted.
The LITTLE ICE AGE: (1300–1870), occurred in three pulses. The coldest period, (1645–1715), corresponds with the Maunder Minimum, a time when sunspots became exceedingly rare. During a 28-year period (1672–1699), observations revealed fewer than 50 sunspots. This contrasts with the typical 40,000–50,000 sunspots seen in modern times. Another period of low sunspot count, The Dalton Minimum, (1790–1830), also saw lower-than-average global temperatures. The earlier Spörer Minimum,(1400–1510), also coincided with a time when Earth's climate was colder than average.
The end of the Little Ice Age roughly corresponds to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Here was the beginning of humans influencing climate. That’s why I say that the climate situation is potentially worse then most people realize.
> Other Influences On Climate
Fluctuations in the Sun’s energy output has already been mentioned.
Another are Malankovitch Cycles. There are three: 1) variations in the shape of Earth’s orbit from almost circular to elliptical and back, a cycle of about 100,000 years. The more elliptical, the greater the chance for climate extremes. 2) Variations in the Earth’s axil tilt. These change in a roughly 40,000 year cycle from 22.1 to 24.5 degrees. Because of this, seasons become exaggerated. 3) Third is variations in axil wobble, a 26,000 year orbital cycle.
Plate Tectonics is another. The driest place on Earth is South America’s Atacama Desert, which formed when the Antarctic Plate separated from South America. This created the Humboldt Current, which not only circulates clockwise around Antarctica, but travels up the west coast of South America, where it creates what is called an “Inversion Layer” that prevents clouds from rising above the coastal mountain range.
In a related manner, many aren’t aware of the fact that Alaska has a desert too, the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes. Located in the Western Arctic National Park, it is called the “Mini Sahara.” Formed thousands of years ago, it has temperatures of over 100oF. The significance is that I’ve seen photos of it posted on Facebook, saying “Don’t tell me global warming isn’t real.”
Claiming this to be evidence of recent global warming is a fallacy, but it reflects a pseudoscientific trend that gained influence these past several decades.
You would think that Nye, a self-proclaimed “expert” would know of these facts, but he doesn’t, another example of ignorance being spread to the public.
There’s a thing in psychology called “Confirmation Bias,” where the conscious mind sees only what it wants and filters out information that suggests otherwise. This goes hand in hand with what is known as the “Dunning-Kruger Effect,” where certain people believe their cognitive abilities to be greater then they actually are. The slang term is “know-it-all.”
Not to dismiss human generated warming, but you’ve now learned some of the many influences that effect climate other the human activity.
Please keep these facts in mind the next you see someone on a soapbox, point a finger of blame, while yelling “Denier”.