The Earth is the Lord's

Starting points on Global Warming

A pastor wrote in this week in response to an ESA ePistle post. He had this to say:

"Please send me your proof, not theory, on global warming."

The best emails are short and to-the-point.

I think he must have meant that he wanted proof of human impact on global warming, because no-one really disputes global warming--that's just a measurement. Actually, I heard a friend say recently he didn't believe in global warming based on just a few recent years of data--either because 1998 was such a hot year that its temperature wasn't surpassed until 2005, or because 2006, though hot, wasn't as hot as 2005. It's better to look at a longer time period, as the graph from NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies shows. There are some wiggles along the trajectory but it's the 20th century trend that matters most.

Two pilots were coming in for a landing, and they found it very challenging. After they stopped the plane, one of them said "Man, that was a short runway." The other looked from side to side and gawked, "But look at how wide it is!"

Sometimes we look at things at the wrong scale, and forget to see the big picture.

So, the implied question still stands, where the proof that global warming science is true?

The Hilarity of Poverty

At the NYT, Paul Krugman's Friday column ("Conservatives are Such Jokers") reminded us that not only is there a breed of conservatives who don't care about the poor, but that some entertain themselves by poking fun at the poor. One example from Krugman's column

On Wednesday, President Bush vetoed legislation that would have expanded S-chip, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, providing health insurance to an estimated 3.8 million children who would otherwise lack coverage.

In anticipation of the veto, William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard, had this to say: “First of all, whenever I hear anything described as a heartless assault on our children, I tend to think it’s a good idea. I’m happy that the president’s willing to do something bad for the kids.” Heh-heh-heh.