Adventist Media Response and Conversation

Monday, July 10, 2006

When Science Isn't Science

Recently the Spectrum Blog has posted a couple of posts which assert the idea of human created Global warming. In the most recent post after quoting the Adventist church statement on Global Warming Alex says:
We really have nothing to lose on this. The science is in. The biblical basis has been established for awhile. Advocating for and practicing the sustainability of God's creation is a great way to help out our coreligionists (and everyone else) in the developing world and make our communities and faith healthier as well.
Is the science really in? That is the question. If it is really Science than it is verifiable, hardly what we find in the area of Global warming. In fact when in a comment I posted a link on Spectrum Blog to an actual pdf file of a 1975 Newsweek article which gave dire warnings of the coming global cooling Alex responded:

Ron,

Wait, Glen Beck (some radio dj) and a novelist are your information choices on one of the most important SCIENTIFIC issues facing the human race. . .of course the jury will still seem out.

Did you really link to a page where the guy's motto is: The fusion of entertainment and enlightenment.

Both of their professional goals are not truth, but sales. As long as there is a debate, they have something to talk about. And as has been shown, some in the media have created a controversy around global warming when in fact, the scientific journals have not found a solid, peer-reviewed article that counters the evidence trend of climate change.

Spoken like someone who has not read or listened to either Glenn Beck or Michael Crichton. This from a website which promotes Al Gore's movie, I am sure Alex thinks there is no political ambition there, I mean he invented the internet right? (I believe it is one of the untruths of the movie, about no peer-reviewed article countering the evidence Click here to see more about how Gore's presentation is not as he portrays) I won't bother to defend Glenn Beck because he has both a radio and TV show and is quite capable of defending himself. And Michael Crichton is not simply a novelist who happens to make speeches before the press club, Senate hearings and is a graduate of Harvard Medical School who just wants to sell books.

For those unlike Alex at Spectrum Blog there is a lot of good information provided in Michael Crichton's speeches. This is not about environment care which is the confusion people like Alex create, there is no need for global warming to deal with such environmental concerns. The globe has been hotter and colder and life will go on either way at least that is what history shows us. When we talk Global warming we are dealing with issues we don't understand and that is the problem that comes from those who pretend that they know the cause and produce dire warnings of impending disaster.

Here are the titles of the speeches on Michael Crichton's website. The underlying issues are very important and they relate to more then merely global warming:


"Fear, Complexity, Environmental Management in the 21st Century"
Washington Center for Complexity and Public Policy, Washington, D.C.
November 6, 2005

"Testimony of Michael Crichton before the United States Senate"
Committee on Environment and Public Works, Washington, D.C.
September 28, 2005

"The Impossibility of Prediction"
National Press Club, Washington, D.C.
Janaury 25, 2005

"Science Policy in the 21st Century"
Joint Session AEI-Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C.
January 25, 2005

"Environmentalism as Religion"
Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, CA
September 15, 2003

"Aliens Cause Global Warming"
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
January 17, 2003

"Why Speculate?"
International Leadership Forum, La Jolla, CA
April 26, 2002

"Ritual Abuse, Hot Air, and Missed Opportunities: Science Views Media"
American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science, Anaheim, CA
January 25, 1999

"Mediasaurus: The Decline of Conventional Media"
National Press Club, Washington D.C.
April 7, 1993



2 comments:

j said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
j said...

State of Fear made for a great airplane read on my way to Costa Rica about six months ago.

I agree that we should be promoting environmental care based on concepts of stewardship.

That is of course if we accept the premise that Christ in Matt. 25:14-30 set forth that we will be held accountable for what we do with the resources entrusted to us.

To be imparted with such a responsibility gives Christians motivations far beyond global warming doomsday scenarios to act for responsible use of the earth and its resources.

Certainly therefore we, as Christians, don't need global warming to prompt us to promote environmental concern. We have that motivation already!