I saw a Space.com article today entitled, Can Venus teach us to take climate change seriously? While Space.com writers should know quite a bit about the other planets, the article was a fount of misinformation and gross exaggeration. The obvious purpose of the article was scare us into taking increasing carbon dioxide levels seriously, following on the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NC4) report (which I’m still trying to digest). After repeating the NC4 claim that “10 percent of the U.S. … [Read more...]
Are There Really No Downsides to Fighting Global Warming?
Recently, on a social media platform I won’t name, a well-meaning person summarized in classic form the typical layman’s—and, to be candid, the typical politician’s—case in favor of drastic efforts to reduce manmade global warming. That offers a great opportunity to answer in clear, simple terms that other laymen can use. So, here and in parts two, three, and four, I’ll present his case, and my responses. To begin with, Bob (not his real name) wrote, “I don’t know any person over 20 years old … [Read more...]
Can Space.com Teach Us Anything Useful about Climate?
I saw a Space.com article today entitled, Can Venus teach us to take climate change seriously? While Space.com writers should know quite a bit about the other planets, the article was a fount of misinformation and gross exaggeration. The obvious purpose of the article was scare us into taking increasing carbon dioxide levels seriously, following on the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NC4) report (which I’m still trying to digest). After repeating the NC4 claim that “10 percent of the U.S. … [Read more...]