The Whatcom Excavator
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Who's Planning Our Lives?
    • Diminishing Property Rights
    • NGO's & Public-Private Partners
    • Agenda 21
    • Buzzwords
    • Deep Thought
    • Best Available Science
    • Best Available Humor >
      • Humor Archive
  • The DREDGE
    • Gotta See This
    • How To Dredge
  • Bulldozed
    • Eco-Activism and County Policy
    • CELDF - "Democracy"
    • ALERT: Community Energy Challenge
  • Pig Trough
    • ReSources
    • Sustainable Connections
    • BALLE
    • ICLEI
    • Whatcom County Community Network
    • Big Wheels Award
  • Contact Us

Local Scientist, Politician in AGW News

3/28/2013

6 Comments

 
The Seattle Times posted this news item about Senator Doug Ericksen of Ferndale, and Professor Emeritus at Western, Don Easterbrook :

OLYMPIA — The Senate Energy, Environment and Telecommunications Committee hosted a global warming skeptic on Tuesday who testified for more than an hour that it’s a bunch of hooey.

Don Easterbrook, an emeritus geology professor from Western Washington University, told lawmakers that there is no global warming, that the Antarctic ice sheet is not melting, sea levels are not rising and severe storms are not increasing in frequency.

And one more: “CO2 cannot possibly cause global warming. The reason is because there is so little of it. It is a trace gas,” Easterbrook said. “If you double nothing you still have nothing.”
Rather than go by the overtly snarky Times report, maybe it would be better to view this video of Easterbrook's testimony, where he presents the raw data. WE strongly encourage you to take the time to watch this hearing. One of the most important quotes from his testimony is, the data shows, "CO2 is the result of global warming, not the cause of global warming."

The Times article continues,

Easterbrook was invited by the panel’s chairman, GOP Sen. Doug Ericksen, of Ferndale, who has said he has doubts about climate change himself.

Ericksen’s committee recently stripped language out of a bill, requested by Gov. Jay Inslee, that asserted the state was experiencing a series of problems because of climate change. Inslee has testifed that there’s no debate about the science and that Washington should become a leader in dealing with climate change.

Democrats on the committee questioned Easterbrook’s statements.
Sen. Ranker clearly found this line of dialog to be quite nettlesome, saying, "Ninety-five percent of the peer-reviewed data very clearly states climate change is real, it’s happening, it’s human caused. To have a bold discussion about the facts is ridiculous."

With all due respect, it would appear that Sen. Ranker clearly does not understand the role of peer review, nor the role of science in getting at the truth. WE would hate to think he would prefer not to let inconvenient facts get in the way of landmark public policy.

Sen. Ranker asked Dr. Easterbrook why the overwhelming body of peer reviewed articles support anthropogenic global warming. The reason, which Easterbrook chose not to provide, is that government grants, and career advancement in certain fields of research, only support the pursuit of "politically correct" results. 

Peer review does not guarantee the truth. Done right, it can sometimes help. But it can also go horribly wrong. Scientists are just as prone to cling to dogmatic beliefs, and are just as prone to corruption as anybody else. Science goes to hell when it becomes politicized. 

Anthropogenic climate change has become extremely politicized, and belief in the scientific research seems to fall along party lines. An abstract describing a research paper at The Cultural Cognition Project at Yale Law School describes an interesting behavior: 

The conventional explanation for controversy over climate change emphasizes impediments to public understanding: limited popular knowledge of science, the inability of ordinary citizens to assess technical information, and the resulting widespread use of unreliable cognitive heuristics to assess risk. A large survey of U.S. adults (N = 1540) found little support for this account. On the whole, the most scientifically literate and numerate subjects were slightly less likely, not more, to see climate change as a serious threat than the least scientifically literate and numerate ones. More importantly, greater scientific literacy and numeracy were associated with greater cultural polarization: respondents predisposed by their values to dismiss climate change evidence became more dismissive, and those predisposed by their values to credit such evidence more concerned, as science literacy and numeracy increased. 
The abstract continues,

 We suggest that this evidence reflects a conflict between two levels of rationality: the individual level, which is characterized by citizens’ effective use of their knowledge and reasoning capacities to form risk perceptions that express their cultural commitments; and the collective level, which is characterized by citizens’ failure to converge on the best available scientific evidence on how to promote their common welfare. Dispelling this “tragedy of the risk-perception commons,” we argue, should be understood as the central aim of the science of science communication.
The full research paper can be downloaded here. 

With that in mind, The Washington Policy Center renders this opinion:

A bipartisan majority passed the Governor's climate legislation today in the State House, sending it to Jay Inslee's desk for his signature. The bill enjoyed bipartisan support in the Senate as well.

The reason so many legislators crossed the aisle to support it, is that it included a measurement of environmental effectiveness. Previous climate legislation simply adopted the latest politically trendy option without an up-front assessment of potential effectiveness.

The Governor's climate bill, on the other hand, required an analysis of the various potential climate strategies including "the effectiveness in achieving...emission reduction objectives, including the cost per ton of emission reduction." This echoes a proposal we've offered in the past in our Environmental Priorities Act, which would "ensure the state spent its scarce resources on approaches that yield the greatest environmental benefit." It is an approach used in the past by the Natural Resources Defense Council to find the best ways to reduce carbon emissions.
The effort in this bill is to try to hold everyone accountable for proof, not conjecture when it comes to our tax dollars and burdensome government  regulations. 
6 Comments
Kris Halterman link
3/29/2013 04:00:38 pm

Me thinks that State Senator Rankor needs to get off the Islands and tune-in to the news and science of the day. Even the people he staunchly defends are on the brink of having to admit that their consensus was manufactured, the data flawed and THERE IS NO GLOBAL ANTHROPOGENIC WARMING."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/twenty-year-hiatus-in-rising-temperatures-has-climate-scientists-puzzled/story-e6frg6z6-1226609140980

Reply
WE Editors
3/29/2013 05:41:38 pm

Now-now, there. No letting facts get in the way of policy.

"Science is solved." Science was a settled matter in 1633 too, by the Roman Inquisition that found Galileo "gravely suspect of heresy" for revealing inconvenient facts. The man was sentenced to indefinite imprisonment, commuted to house arrest, under which he remained for the rest of his life.

Reply
Kathy
3/30/2013 10:00:58 am

Tossing this out there but would you and your sharp witted folk be willing to write letters directly to the President of WWU (Bruce Shepard president.shepard@wwu.edu) on how Housen publicly wronged and insulted a fellow colleague, Professor Easterbrook, as quoted by the AP article about his testimony in Olympia? As you all well know, Dr. E. is an expert in that field. This is in our own back yard and, in my opinion, worth pushing back on directly on Dr. E.'s behalf. Suspect that he certainly will say something himself, but know it helps to have numbers around when someone in the right is unjustly smeared, especially in such a public manner.

Housen's quote spread everywhere, nationally, through multiple media outlets:

"I think it's unfortunate that someone who really isn't an active expert in their field is being chosen to discuss this important topic," said Bernie Housen, chairman of Western Washington University's geology department. [Bernie Housen]

Three of the articles where this quote can be found are at these links below and will have to be cut & pasted to activate – there were more than these:

GoSkagit
http://www.goskagit.com/news/state/wash-senators-hear-from-global-warming-skeptic/article_8d97ea2f-5dc3-5f18-a0c8-9be3172bb026.html

Associated Press
http://hosted2.ap.org/OREUG/04ee9408d3494d62b4180aae818a8efd/Article_2013-03-26-Climate%20Change/id-4212dae3ab464ba5829ae58e668c4475

Dallas Morning News
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WA_XGR_CLIMATE_CHANGE_WAOL-?SITE=TXDAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Professor Easterbrook has authored 10 books and 150 journal publications. Dr. E. has presented 31 research papers to international forums in 13 countries. Worldwide, he is a current climate science expert and is one the top people in his field. Dr. Easterbrook’s CV is here: http://myweb.wwu.edu/dbunny/dje_cv.html

I, and many others, believe that this egregious misreporting should be answered.

Thanks for your consideration.

Reply
Mike Newman
3/30/2013 11:24:50 am

Bernie Housen, chairman of Western Washington University's geology department has made some disparaging comments about one of his colleagues that he disagrees with. Unfortunate...but this is the tactic of the radical left. Their agenda, particularly on the environmental front, has always been heavy on emotion and weak on hard science. No one denies that the fumes from burning gasoline or other fuels are not good for us. What we deny is the constant crisis mode of the far left. Smog, acid rain, depletion of the ozone layer, global warming (now climate change), acidification of the oceans (a replay on acid rain)....all presented in crisis mode. None of the dire predictions have ever manifested themselves. If we intend to live on this earth we need to protect our environment...but, if we intend to live on this earth we need to take a reasonable approach and stop trying to create crisis.

Reply
Dave
3/31/2013 03:22:21 pm

Sent to me by an email correspondent in a timely manner:
"The Washington Post

The Arctic Ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consulafft, at Bergen , Norway

Reports from fishermen, seal hunters, and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone. Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes.

Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the gulf stream still very warm. Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared.

Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelts which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds. Within a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable.

* * * * * * * * *
I apologize, I neglected to mention that this report was from November 2, 1922, as reported by the AP and published in The Washington Post - 90 years ago ! "

Reply
Doc Martin
4/2/2013 07:34:14 pm

Senators "crossed the aisle" to support the new climate bill because it requires tangible measurement and accountability. That would only work if there were definitive science and objective agencies. We have neither. Without rational underpinnings, it's hard to believe the bill will do anything but create more havoc.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    WE Dredge!
    Picture
    Posting Rules:
    This forum is moderated.  Please make an effort to substantiate claims that support opinion.  Gratuitous profanity and ad-hominem attacks will not be accepted.  You can create a "nickname" if you'd like, and you don't have to reveal your e-mail address.   Feel free to share information and your honest thoughts.

    Categories

    All
    Agenda 21
    Best Available Science
    Big Government
    Eco Activism
    Ethics
    Freedom
    Planning
    Property Rights
    Science
    Small Business
    Social Engineering
    Taxes
    Welcome

    Archives

    January 2022
    September 2020
    August 2020
    April 2020
    November 2019
    August 2019
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011


    Automatic Updates

    Do you want to be notified when new content is added to this newsfeed? Most browsers allow you to subscribe to our Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed. Click on the RSS link below, and follow the instructions.

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.