Jayne Miller (WBAL) - Global Warming, et al
Hi Jayne, the global warming issue is very real. As I see it though, climate change zealots and other assorted "progressive" types are equally responsible for the political situation our nation now finds itself in. Rather then using a positive approach to educate people, we've had for decades now, all these intellectual wannabes going around calling people who question things like climate change “stupid morons.”
I grew up learning there was no such thing as a stupid question, and hearing the admonition to “Question Authority.” How that spirit has changed.
Though a jazz pianist and composer by profession, I’ve always been interested in natural science. In the 80s I was considering switching careers to becoming a historical geologist. As a result I took four years of honors geology courses and taught for three at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History’s Naturalist Center.
In the process I learned that Earth’s climate changes all the time, and sometimes rather quickly.
For instance, about 11,000 years ago in the time called the “Younger Dryas,” researchers found lake sediments in Africa showing that climate was switching back and forth from temperate to glacial in intervals of less then ten years.
In more recent times, roughly1350 to 1850 AD, there was the “Little Ice Age,” that effected climate in three separate pulses. Though worldwide in scope, it was mostly felt in Europe. There was one 50-year episode, where Alpine glaciers advanced to the point where they had covered farms and villages.
Not to dismiss mankind’s influence, but many climatologists feel that at least in part, the warming we see is due to the planet’s natural cycles.
It would be easy if there was a method to distinguish natural from manmade climate change, but there isn’t. I keep up regularly with published research in a number of scientific fields, and I’ve yet to see a single paper on how we can separate the two.
What this means is that climate change policy is policy by assumption, and that bothers me.
Rather then acknowledge this disparity, there’s grown up this attitude of hostility directed against those who don’t toe the party line, and it’s affecting America for the worse, and it’s coming from what used to be the Democrat Party.
There have been a number of times when I’ve shared what I learned, about research that’s readily available, where I’ve ended up being denigrated and called all sorts of names. This isn’t a phenomena that’s confined to Facebook either.
A couple of years ago, Bill Nye (the science guy) appeared on Meet The Press to discuss climate change. Embraced by the global warming crowd, I had expected him to give a good accounting of real evidence of why we should be concerned. All he did when questioned though, was to issue the charge of “denial.” Not one single time did he offer a shred of evidence to back his position. As you can tell, I was very disappointed.
So while I don’t support Trump, I clearly understand his attraction to the millions of Americans who have been marginalized by what used to be the “peoples” party.
I grew up in the 50s. My parents, being lower middle class white people, were Democrats. If alive today, they’d be despised.
Two months ago I saw someone call Trump supporters “stupid white people.” I said her remark was blatantly racist. Her response was “they need to be educated” - and there’s your fascism, expecting everyone to feel and act the same way.
Thank you for your time and interest,
George F. Spicka
www.georgefspicka.com
Twitter: 3/22/2017
I grew up learning there was no such thing as a stupid question, and hearing the admonition to “Question Authority.” How that spirit has changed.
Though a jazz pianist and composer by profession, I’ve always been interested in natural science. In the 80s I was considering switching careers to becoming a historical geologist. As a result I took four years of honors geology courses and taught for three at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History’s Naturalist Center.
In the process I learned that Earth’s climate changes all the time, and sometimes rather quickly.
For instance, about 11,000 years ago in the time called the “Younger Dryas,” researchers found lake sediments in Africa showing that climate was switching back and forth from temperate to glacial in intervals of less then ten years.
In more recent times, roughly1350 to 1850 AD, there was the “Little Ice Age,” that effected climate in three separate pulses. Though worldwide in scope, it was mostly felt in Europe. There was one 50-year episode, where Alpine glaciers advanced to the point where they had covered farms and villages.
Not to dismiss mankind’s influence, but many climatologists feel that at least in part, the warming we see is due to the planet’s natural cycles.
It would be easy if there was a method to distinguish natural from manmade climate change, but there isn’t. I keep up regularly with published research in a number of scientific fields, and I’ve yet to see a single paper on how we can separate the two.
What this means is that climate change policy is policy by assumption, and that bothers me.
Rather then acknowledge this disparity, there’s grown up this attitude of hostility directed against those who don’t toe the party line, and it’s affecting America for the worse, and it’s coming from what used to be the Democrat Party.
There have been a number of times when I’ve shared what I learned, about research that’s readily available, where I’ve ended up being denigrated and called all sorts of names. This isn’t a phenomena that’s confined to Facebook either.
A couple of years ago, Bill Nye (the science guy) appeared on Meet The Press to discuss climate change. Embraced by the global warming crowd, I had expected him to give a good accounting of real evidence of why we should be concerned. All he did when questioned though, was to issue the charge of “denial.” Not one single time did he offer a shred of evidence to back his position. As you can tell, I was very disappointed.
So while I don’t support Trump, I clearly understand his attraction to the millions of Americans who have been marginalized by what used to be the “peoples” party.
I grew up in the 50s. My parents, being lower middle class white people, were Democrats. If alive today, they’d be despised.
Two months ago I saw someone call Trump supporters “stupid white people.” I said her remark was blatantly racist. Her response was “they need to be educated” - and there’s your fascism, expecting everyone to feel and act the same way.
Thank you for your time and interest,
George F. Spicka
www.georgefspicka.com
Twitter: 3/22/2017