The global warming fallacy? (5X8 - 3/1/11)

Posted at 8:06 AM on March 1, 2011 by Michael Olson (12 Comments)
Filed under: Five by 8

1) GLOBAL WARMING DENIER BLOCKS FUNDS FOR ENVIRO RESEARCH
The Minnesota Senate Environment committee blocked a handful of projects from receiving dedicated environmental proceeds from the Minnesota Lottery. The projects were for planning and research, including global warming research; others were for environmental education. The chair of the committee says global warming research is a waste of money.

"If I have to go on record and say global warming, I think it's a farce, I think it's a fallacy. ... When it comes to that kind of studying, I can't be anything other than honest, I just don't buy it. And I think there's a lot of folks that don't" -- Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, chair of the Senate Environment Committee (MPR)

Republican leaders said they wanted to set aside a pot of money to deal with emerging issues, such as chronic wasting disease in deer, aquatic invasive species, and the emerald ash borer.

2) CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE HERE TO STAY?
One of the problems with Chronic Wasting Disease is that it sticks around and infects animals long after the initial carriers of the disease are gone. A deer hunter in Southern Minnesota opines that it will take government involvement to return health to Minnesota's deer herds.

It is likely that some folks will stop deer hunting altogether, for fear of harvesting and eating an infected animal. Others will continue to hunt, but they'll have their deer tested before eating the venison. Some will probably keep hunting and eating venison, irrespective of the disease. But two things are for sure -- the DNR will need to continue indefinitely its CWD surveillance, and hunters and maybe even non-hunting taxpayers will be stuck with the bill - Chris Kolbert (Post-Bulletin).

3) GOV WALKER PRESENTS BLUE PRINT, PUBLIC SUPPORTS UNIONS
After two weeks of protests in Madison and around the country, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R ) is poised to outline his union-gutting budget.

Walker issued Senate Democrats, who are on the lam, an ultimatum: come home and vote, or cost the state $165 million* in bond refinancing.

A new poll suggests that Walker is losing the battle of hearts and minds. The Pew Research Center poll indicates that the public is standing with the unions and not Walker.

4) MORE CLARITY ON THE RIGHT?
Remember yesterday morning when you were reading that News Cut item about the DOS attack on American's for Prosperity? It's all about the Koch brothers and the Wisconsin protests over collective bargaining. The act of making AfP's website difficult to access has turned AfP into a more distinctive voice on the right on matters of the Wisconsin budget and collective bargaining.

RedState defined the DOS event as a hypocritical move by the left that silenced the free speech rights of AfP.

Anonymous defined the act of crashing the AfP site as symbolic.

"[W]e, Anonymous, targeted only two pieces of the Koch brothers' vast empire of pawns. It is the opening salvo of what has become a call to arms for the American people, to stand up and fight against the corruption that has been slowly, insidiously invading the Democratic process. "

5) INDIE ROCK NOT DEAD, JUST CHANGING
This review from The Current of Toro y Moi's new album provides a snapshot of the current state of indie rock. Read it and you will know what the kids are talking about these days.

This album might feel like something of a disappointment at first. The sheer euphoric connectivity of Toro y Moi's debut is scarcely replicated here. Still, repeat listens reveal a nuanced and intriguing continuation of some of the ideas of Bundick's debut. More importantly, Underneath the Pine showcases his willingness to take risks with Toro y Moi's sound, incorporating new influences with care and aplomb.

TODAY'S QUESTION
A reported deal between legislators and Gov. Mark Dayton could clear the way toward an alternative licensing plan for teachers. Today's Question: What might teachers without traditional training bring to the profession?

WHAT WE'RE DOING
Midmorning (9-11 a.m.)
9- Fighting Terrorism: Is The Playbook The Same in 2011?
Does Osama bin Laden remain the greatest threat to America's security? Or have home-grown, self-radicalized, "lone wolves" become a bigger danger to the United States?

Guests: Ralph Boelter, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Minneapolis office and Michael Scheuer, Former CIA Intelligence Officer.

10- Faith and suffering in song
Conductor and composer Andre Thomas says that when choirs perform spirituals, they need to understand both the joy and the pain of the slave experience. He joins Midmorning to discuss the legacy of spirituals and their meaning for modern-day audiences.

Guest: Andre Thomas, conductor, composer, and arranger of choral music and professor of music at Florida State University.

Midday (11 a.m. - 1 p.m.)
11- Governor Mark Dayton in studio to discuss the new revenue forecast and the state budget. (CALL-IN)

12- New American RadioWorks documentary: Power and Smoke: A Nation Built on Coal.

* "million" was missing at first post.

Michael Olson is the editor for Minnesota Today and is filling in on mornings for Bob Collins this week.

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Comments (12)

Some of those "emerging issues" that we might have to deal with are directly affected by global warming. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any in MN (yet), but in the western US, they are dealing with the expanding range of bark beetles, because the winters no longer get cold enough to kill them off. As a result, not only are they dealing with devastated forests, all of those dead trees cause huge fire danger.

Posted by MR | March 1, 2011 8:35 AM

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$165 for bond refinancing? Sounds like a bargain!

Posted by Jon | March 1, 2011 8:41 AM

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”The act of making AfP's website difficult to access has turned AfP into a more distinctive voice on the right on matters of the Wisconsin budget and collective bargaining.”

What does this mean? If I guess your meaning, I don’t know how you can say this.

Posted by Jamie | March 1, 2011 9:39 AM

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@Jamie: Not to speak for Michael, but my take would be that by taking down that website the implication is that they are an important voice in the debate. As a result more people on that side of the argument may go to AfP for information making their point of view more well known and potentially more "important".

Posted by JackU | March 1, 2011 10:05 AM

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#1 - I find it interesting that climatological facts are ignored. One does not need to believe that climate change is caused by the actions of human beings to recognize that the data shows generally higher temperatures, shrinking sea ice and more extreme conditions around the world. So even if you don't believe that we are the cause of climate change it should still be worth while to research what it might result in and how the state may end up paying for natural disasters that result from these changes in climate.

Posted by JackU | March 1, 2011 10:12 AM

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The Seattle Times has a story related to the climate change question - the story is about a study that predicts the demise of lodgepole pines by 2080 because of climate change (aka global warming). See http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014360807_disappearingpines01.html

Posted by AmosFiveAndDime | March 1, 2011 11:17 AM

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@jamie thanks for your comment. My point is as @JackU indicated. Given the crowded GOP presidential field, Tea Party spokespeople and multitude of conservative voices trying to get recognized on this issue -- I think AfP now has a more prominent role in the debate after being silenced by the DNS attack.

Posted by Michael Olson | March 1, 2011 11:57 AM

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"[W]e, Anonymous, targeted only two pieces of the Koch brothers' vast empire of pawns. It is the opening salvo of what has become a call to arms for the American people, to stand up and fight against the corruption that has been slowly, insidiously invading the Democratic process. "

I guess Anonymous is oblivious to the corruption and special interests public unions pose to the democratic process. Even FDR was against public unions and history now proves him right on this point.

If the anarchists would like to know who keeps their drugs illegal, they should look at who it is they are defending.

Posted by Drae | March 1, 2011 12:51 PM

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At Climatologist Judith Curry's website Climate Etc the "believers" and "deniers" are working through a list of things they agree on and how certain they are of what they believe.

It is all rather interesting.

When you read it, you realize that much of what the IPCC predicts is based upon supposition that based upon guesses that are based upon models of things we really don't know anything about.

Posted by GregS | March 1, 2011 9:27 PM

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@JackU - I swear that we know each other. Our views are so simular on this. Global Warming cause might be political, but all should even agree that it is actually happening.

Posted by BJ | March 2, 2011 8:31 AM

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BJ, we can all agree that not only is global warming happening but that the happening began prior to the industrial era (early 19th century). A fact that confounds the popular narrative, since climate science still cannot explain this.

While it may be rational to suggest that some 20th century warming is the result of industrial activity, it is not rational to speculate how much or how much warming will result in the next 100 years because climate science still does not understand what drives climate.

However, what is most rational of all - is to reflect on how climate science and the Green Movement has been corrupted and discredited by exaggerated claims about global warming.

Yesterday, I posted a link to Climatologist Judith Curry's website Climate Etc

Today, she hosts a discussion on The Long Death of Environmentalism

From her blog:

Last week Breakthrough co-founders Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus returned to Yale University for a retrospective on their seminal 2004 essay, “The Death of Environmentalism.” In their speech they argued that the critical work of rethinking green politics was cut short by fantasies about green jobs and “An Inconvenient Truth.” The latter backfired — more Americans started to believe news of global warming was being exaggerated after the movie came out — the former made false promises that could not be realized by cap and trade. What is an earnest green who cares about global warming to do now? In this speech, Nordhaus and Shellenberger reflect on what went so badly awry, and offer 12 Theses for a post-environmental approach to climate change

First, more, better, or louder climate science will not drive the transformation of the global energy economy. The resources necessary to make such a transformation will not be forthcoming in pursuit of climate benefits that are uncertain and far off in the future. Many greens have imagined that as the evidence of climate change becomes ever clearer, the case for action will become stronger. But the reality is that the more our understanding of the full complexity of the climate system advances, the greater the uncertainties about the impacts of climate change and the attribution of those impacts to anthropogenic activities will become. This is not because the evidence for anthropogenic warming will become weaker. It will in fact become stronger. But our understanding of how that warming impacts the climate system at regional and local scales will become harder to characterize, not easier.

Second, we need to stop trying to scare the pants off of the American public. Doing so has demonstrably backfired. Climate skepticism is on the rise, every snow storm is the subject of partisan rancor, and we are no closer to acting in any meaningful way to address climate change. Skepticism about climate science has been motivated by concerns about the remedies that greens have proposed. The solution is not more climate science but rather a different set of remedies

See the website for the next ten points.

Posted by GregS | March 2, 2011 8:58 AM

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By the way, the use of the term "Denier" in the title should not have passed a style book check. It is an extremely derogatory term that equates objecting to lousy science with Holocaust denial.

Posted by GregS | March 2, 2011 11:44 AM

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