Thursday, October 15th is Blog Action Day and this year's theme is Climate Change. I plan to take part in that, but I will be blogging to remain skeptical about our ability to contain CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases in material enough ways as to offset climate change effects. I'll be taking that viewpoint, as the other 99% of participants will be posting to believe and take action. This is why I'll be the Climate Change Contrarian.
I thought I would post a few pre-event pieces and thereby avoid one humongous blog entry. I'll start by explaining basically where I stand after doing a lot of reading and a fair amount of research on it. I've also previously stated that what has happened in our atmosphere and what is being reported about our current atmospheric conditions is absolutely true. Where I differ is in the logic of the predictions of what it all means. And, when I compare what I believe with others who have written about it, I find that my beliefs are very closely aligned with those of the late scientist and author Michael Crichton.
You may be saying, wait. You mean the guy who wrote ER, The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park? Yes, that'd be him.
If you think Crichton was just a writer, you need some edumacation. Checking out his official website would be helpful. While you are there, be sure to read his biography. You will see he was a medical doctor and additionally, had expertise in public policy of medicine, computer modeling, anthropology and human endocrine and immune systems. He understood thoroughly how to assess good research and he knew the perils of predictions based on statistics interpreted by political idealogues.
Also on his website are copies of his various white papers and speeches. One in particular is germaine to our conversation here. I highly recommend it to everyone, especially those of you who fervently believe we must act drastically and comprehensively to save the planet from greenhouse gases, and we should have started yesterday. I grew up being taught that to really know your subject you must know the opposition's best argument, so here it is:
The Case For Skepticism on Global Warning
Read it and come back for a discussion on Thursday...
