How Silly is Climate Change Denial?

[Tyger]

Interesting exercise, which is what Thom Hartmann is doing here. You can hear the many talking points fielded by deniers.

Lone Liberal - The Grand Climate Conspiracy Exposed

TEXT: "Published on Dec 4, 2014: Kris Ullman, Conservative Commentator/Activist & Horace Cooper, National Center for Public Policy Research joins Thom Hartmann."

 

[manxman]

deniers of what ?.
That RT anchorman, would have been unconscious within 2 minutes if we were in the same room, and he took that attitude with me..

 

[Tyger]

For those interested in the new and on-going science and conversation/debate about the significance/meaning of the observations being made, I post the following.

Caution: You have to read with understanding, not politics, nor a filter. That's a given. Much, however, is now a general working theory - that Climate Change is occurring, that Warming is a fact, and that all evidence points to human activity producing the deciding dose of CO2, aiding in all the foregoing. However, the overall system is understood to have many unknowns - as this article acknowledges.

We have an unusual situation: the 'cure' for our situation is so positive that it is a wonder that regardless of the suggested causes the cure would be embraced. A change in energy sources means local control, for one - a very different kind of organized world. It's strange to me that deniers tend to be people with a strong belief in an Illuminati-New-Word-Order-Control kind of thing - when a world shifting to sources of natural energy will mean more local control and personal freedom from centralized government. Or that's what I see as I plot out the 'if this goes on' scenarios.

Research casts alarming light on decline of West Antarctic glaciers By C Mooney and J Warrick December 4, 2014
LINK: Research casts alarming light on decline of West Antarctic glaciers - The Washington Post

TEXT: "For two decades, scientists have kept a close watch on a vast, icebound corner of West Antarctica that is undergoing a historic thaw. Climate experts have predicted that, centuries from now, the region’s mile-thick ice sheet could collapse and raise sea levels as much as 11 feet.

"Now, new evidence is causing concern that the collapse could happen faster than anyone thought. New scientific studies this week have shed light on the speed and the mechanics of West Antarctic melting, documenting an acceleration that, if it continues, could have major effects on coastal cities worldwide.

"Twin papers this week show that the rate of ice loss from West Antarctica is increasing — with the acceleration particularly pronounced in the past decade — and also why this is happening: Warmer ocean waters are pushing up from below and bathing the base of the ice sheet. The findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that the effects of climate change are outpacing scientific predictions, driven in part, scientists say, by soaring levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

"It often has been speculated that West Antarctica may be the most unstable of the world’s great ice sheets, a group that also includes the still-larger Greenland and the massive East Antarctica. And research published in May suggested that for the oceanfront glaciers of West Antarctica, held in place by moorings at the seafloor, a point of no return already may have been reached. Now, researchers at the University of California at Irvine, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and three other institutions have reconciled several measuring methods, including those based on satellite and radar measurements, to determine just how much ice mass West Antarctica has lost to the oceans in the past two decades.

"The researchers found that the ice sheet contributed about 4.5 millimeters, or 0.18 inches, to global sea-level rise from 1992 to 2013, with more than 70 percent of the loss occurring in the second half of that time period — meaning the rate of loss is accelerating. “For long-term stability and small sea-level rise, accelerating mass loss is not reassuring,” said Pennsylvania State University glaciologist Richard Alley, commenting on the paper, which was published Tuesday in Geophysical Research Letters.

"A second study, published Thursday in the journal Science, explains why this is occurring. It turns out that in the Amundsen Sea off the West Antarctica glaciers, warmer deep ocean water is “shoaling,” or rising from below, and lapping at the base of the glaciers. The surface ocean waters around Antarctica are generally quite cold because of snow and runoff from the glaciers, but these warmer waters are managing to push up to the ice shelf. “We now show that the ocean is the major contributor of heat” to West Antarctica, said lead study author and oceanographer Sunke Schmidtko of the University of East Anglia in Britain. “And it’s not just the shelf itself — it’s something that happens offshore in the global ocean.”

"This could ultimately prove to be one of the most important geophysical processes on the planet, for the simple reason that the ice sheet of West Antarctica would, if it collapsed entirely, contribute about 3.3 meters, or nearly 11 feet, to global sea-level rise, Alley said. “There are strong reasons to believe that if the thinning goes too far, it might cross a threshold and then accelerate much more rapidly,” he said.

"The great ice sheets of the world, like West Antarctica, are so massive that, at present, they exert a gravitational pull on the surrounding ocean, which slopes upward toward them. However, the loss of West Antarctica would lead to less gravitational pull and more water spreading out across the ocean — a secondary effect that would further contribute to sea-level rise worldwide. And the Northern Hemisphere — including the United States, a nation that has contributed more than most to the current global-warming trend — could get a bit extra, Alley said.

"The research is just the latest suggestion of the possibly worsening effects of climate change. On Wednesday, the World Meteorological Organization said that 2014 is on track to be one of the warmest years — and perhaps the warmest — on record. Ocean surface temperatures have been unusually warm, particularly in a year in which the El Niño weather phenomenon did not materialize.

"The findings from West Antarctica could call into question one principal finding from the latest report of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), considered to be the world authority on global warming. In 2013, the panel put its high-end projection for likely global sea-level rise, by the year 2100, at a little more than three feet. But the researchers studying West Antarctica are not so sure. “The upper bound defined by the IPCC, they may underestimate some of the components, particularly the ice sheets,” said UC-Irvine’s Isabella Velicogna, an author of the paper estimating the rate of ice loss from West Antarctica’s glaciers.

"So how fast could the loss of West Antarctica unfold? Velicogna’s co-author, Eric Rignot of UC-Irvine, suggested that in his view, within 100 to 200 years, one-third of West Antarctica could be gone. Rignot noted that the scientific community “still balks at this” — particularly the 100-year projection — but said he thinks observational studies are showing that ice sheets can melt at a faster pace than model-based projections take into account. The consequences of such an amount of sea-level rise for the United States — or for any other coastal region — are staggering to contemplate.

"Benjamin Strauss of Climate Central, whose Surging Seas project tracks the possible effects of sea-level rise and who was not involved in either study, said he estimates that “12.8 million Americans live on land less than 10 feet above their local high-tide line.” Of course, by the time West Antarctica may have begun contributing more significantly to sea-level rise, these numbers will presumably have increased. Strauss also estimated that $2.4 trillion worth of property is occupying this land (excluding Alaska and Hawaii). The cities that would be most affected include Miami, New Orleans and New York. The amount of sea-level rise contemplated here is quite similar to the storm surge seen in New York during Hurricane Sandy — a surge of 9.4 feet over the normal tide level was recorded at the Battery — only it would be permanent.

"Other scientists urged caution in interpreting the findings, saying it is not clear whether the recent accelerated melting is an anomaly or a persistent phenomenon that will continue into the future. Ocean circulation patterns in the south polar region are still not fully understood, and it is possible that the migration of warmer water into the Amundsen Sea is unrelated to the overall climate warming trend, said Olga Sergienko, a glaciologist at Princeton University’s Cooperative Institute for Climate Science who was not involved in the studies. “This represents only about 20 years of observation, and on the time scale of ice sheets that’s just a blink,” said Sergienko, who also is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J.

"Understanding the role ocean currents play is important because air temperatures in this region of Antarctica are too low to contribute significantly to the loss of surface ice, said Michael Oppenheimer, a geosciences professor at Princeton who was not part of the new studies. But he added that the rate of melting in the future depends on complex interactions that require additional study to fully comprehend. “The warm water appears to be gradually melting away the ice shelves and interacting with ice on land,” Oppenheimer said. “One of the things we don’t know is how much of that warm water is sitting there because of global warming and how much is sitting there because of some natural process. “It is suspicious,” he added, “that we’re seeing this acceleration at the same time that the world is warming.”

"The Antarctic, isolated from Earth’s other land masses and influenced by patterns of wind and ocean circulation that are unique to the South Pole, has been slower to show signs of warming than other parts of the planet. Many climate-change skeptics have noted that winter sea ice around the continent has expanded and thickened in recent seasons, even as the Arctic continues to lose ice cover. But climate scientists say seasonal changes in Antarctica sea ice do not contradict the overall warming pattern seen in the rest of the world. “The land ice is clearly losing mass,” Oppenheimer said. “Counter-intuitively, as ice is being lost from Antarctica in various places, there is additional fresh water coming to the surface of the ocean. And fresher surface water freezes more easily.”

 

[Tyger]

deniers of what ?.
That RT anchorman, would have been unconscious within 2 minutes if we were in the same room, and he took that attitude with me..

Really? What exactly was his attitude that you find so offensive that you would have him unconscious - I assume you meant you would have him KO'd. So that is how you deal with someone who doesn't think the way you do? Have you found that modus operandi productive over the years?

Note: Thom Hartmann is not an "RT anchorman". His show is on the RT Network.

Thom Hartmann described what he was engaging in as a 'rumble' - a wrestling match - two against one. They were all in on the 'rumble'. Listen to the points being made by each 'side'. A bit of fun but some important back-and-forth.

Can't take the heat, Manxman, when its emanating from the other side? It was either you or Pixel who posted the interview from the Austrailian show that was pretty much three against one. That one you liked. This one not so much. Wonder why.

 

[Tyger]

What was not mentioned regarding the interview link posted above - with a deft side-step about Thom Hartmann's 'attitude' - was that Thom Hartmann's lead-in to the 'rumble' were comments about US Senator Inhofe - who believes that "God controls our planet, that 97% of scientists are wrong and that Climate Change is one big giant conspiracy theory [he believes Barbra Streisand heads up this conspiracy, as he stated in 2009], could possibly in January - with the changeover to the Republicans in the Senate - be heading up the Senate Environment and Works Committee. Yes, a climate denier could be tasked with heading the committee that is suppose to be dealing with climate change in the US."

The following article articulates - or foreshadows - what is in store for us all here in the US when the Republicans take over the Senate in January, at least vis-a-vis Climate Change and controlling the Fossil Fuel emissions of the US.

Energy Firms in Secretive Alliance With Attorneys General By Eric Lipton DEC. 6, 2014
LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/u...0141207&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=54852892&_r=0

TEXT: "The letter to the Environmental Protection Agency from Attorney General Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma carried a blunt accusation: Federal regulators were grossly overestimating the amount of air pollution caused by energy companies drilling new natural gas wells in his state. But Mr. Pruitt left out one critical point. The three-page letter was written by lawyers for Devon Energy, one of Oklahoma’s biggest oil and gas companies, and was delivered to him by Devon’s chief of lobbying.

" “Outstanding!” William F. Whitsitt, who at the time directed government relations at the company, said in a note to Mr. Pruitt’s office. The attorney general’s staff had taken Devon’s draft, copied it onto state government stationery with only a few word changes, and sent it to Washington with the attorney general’s signature. “The timing of the letter is great, given our meeting this Friday with both E.P.A. and the White House.” Mr. Whitsitt then added, “Please pass along Devon’s thanks to Attorney General Pruitt.”

"The email exchange from October 2011, obtained through an open-records request, offers a hint of the unprecedented, secretive alliance that Mr. Pruitt and other Republican attorneys general have formed with some of the nation’s top energy producers to push back against the Obama regulatory agenda, an investigation by The New York Times has found. Attorneys general in at least a dozen states are working with energy companies and other corporate interests, which in turn are providing them with record amounts of money for their political campaigns, including at least $16 million this year. They share a common philosophy about the reach of the federal government, but the companies also have billions of dollars at stake. And the collaboration is likely to grow: For the first time in modern American history, Republicans in January will control a majority — 27 — of attorneys general’s offices. The Times reported previously how individual attorneys general have shut down investigations, changed policies or agreed to more corporate-friendly settlement terms after intervention by lobbyists and lawyers, many of whom are also campaign benefactors.

"But the attorneys general are also working collectively. Democrats for more than a decade have teamed up with environmental groups such as the Sierra Club to use the court system to impose stricter regulation. But never before have attorneys general joined on this scale with corporate interests to challenge Washington and file lawsuits in federal court. Out of public view, corporate representatives and attorneys general are coordinating legal strategy and other efforts to fight federal regulations, according to a review of thousands of emails and court documents and dozens of interviews.

" “When you use a public office, pretty shamelessly, to vouch for a private party with substantial financial interest without the disclosure of the true authorship, that is a dangerous practice,” said David B. Frohnmayer, a Republican who served a decade as attorney general in Oregon. “The puppeteer behind the stage is pulling strings, and you can’t see. I don’t like that. And when it is exposed, it makes you feel used.”

"For Mr. Pruitt, the benefits have been clear. Lobbyists and company officials have been notably solicitous, helping him raise his profile as president for two years of the Republican Attorneys General Association, a post he used to help start what he and allies called the Rule of Law campaign, which was intended to push back against Washington. That campaign, in which attorneys general band together to operate like a large national law firm, has been used to back lawsuits and other challenges against the Obama administration on environmental issues, the Affordable Care Act and securities regulation. The most recent target is the president’s executive action on immigration.

" “We are living in the midst of a constitutional crisis,” Mr. Pruitt told energy industry lobbyists and conservative state legislators at a conference in Dallas in July, after being welcomed with a standing ovation. “The trajectory of our nation is at risk and at stake as we respond to what is going on.” Mr. Pruitt has responded aggressively, and with a lot of helping hands. Energy industry lobbyists drafted letters for him to send to the E.P.A., the Interior Department, the Office of Management and Budget and even President Obama, The Times found. Industries that he regulates have also joined him as plaintiffs in court challenges, a departure from the usual role of the state attorney general, who traditionally sues companies to force compliance with state law. Energy industry lobbyists have also distributed draft legislation to attorneys general and asked them to help push it through state legislatures to give the attorneys general clearer authority to challenge the Obama regulatory agenda, the documents show.

" “It is quite new,” said Paul Nolette, a political-science professor at Marquette University and the author of the forthcoming book “Federalism on Trial: State Attorneys General and National Policy Making in Contemporary America.” “The scope, size and tenor of these collaborations is, without question, unprecedented.” And it is an emerging practice that several former attorneys general say threatens the integrity of the office. “It is a magnificent and noble institution, the office of attorney general, as it is truly the lawyer for the people,” said Terry Goddard, a Democrat who served two terms as Arizona’s attorney general and who, like Mr. Frohnmayer, reviewed copies of the documents collected by The Times. “That independence is clearly at risk here. What is happening diminishes the reputation of individual attorneys general and the community as a group.”

"Mr. Pruitt, who has emerged as a hero to conservative activists, dismissed this criticism as misinformed. “Those kinds of questions arise from the environment we are in — a very dysfunctional, distrustful political environment,” Mr. Pruitt said in an interview. “I can say to you that is not who we are or have ever been, and despite those criticisms we sit around and make decisions about what is right, and what represents adherence to the rule of law, and we seek to advance that and try to do the best we can to educate people about our viewpoint.”

"This year, Mr. Pruitt joined with a group aligned with Mr. Hamm to sue the Interior Department over its plan to consider adding animals such as the lesser prairie chicken to the endangered species list, a move that Mr. Hamm has said could knock out “some of the most promising land for oil and gas leases in the country.” The suit was filed after Mr. Hamm announced that he would serve as the chairman of Mr. Pruitt’s re-election campaign. “Time and time again, General Pruitt has stood up and bravely fought for the rights of Oklahomans in those instances when the federal government has overextended its hand,” Mr. Hamm said as his role in Mr. Pruitt’s re-election effort was announced.

"A Potent Ally: Energy industry executives and lobbyists from across the United States saw great potential in Mr. Pruitt, a gifted politician who had been a state legislator and a minor-league baseball team co-owner and executive before running for attorney general. Among them was Andrew P. Miller, a patrician 81-year-old former Virginia attorney general. Mr. Miller is a regular at gatherings of state attorneys general at resort destinations, and his client list includes TransCanada, the backer of the Keystone XL pipeline; the Southern Company, the Georgia-based electric utility, which has a large number of coal-burning power plants; and the investor group behind the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska.

"For the energy industry, Mr. Pruitt was an easy choice. “There’s a mentality emanating from Washington today that says, ‘We know best,’ ” Mr. Pruitt said during his 2010 campaign. “It’s a one-size-fits-all strategy, a command-and-control kind of approach, and we’ve got to make sure we know how to respond to that.” Among Mr. Pruitt’s first acts was to create a “federalism office,” which challenged the Obama administration’s plan to reduce haze in southwestern Oklahoma by requiring coal-burning electricity plants in the state to install new pollution control equipment. His interaction with the industry, Mr. Pruitt said during an interview at his Oklahoma City office, has been motivated by a desire to gather information from experts, while defending his state’s longstanding tradition of self-determination.

That ethos, he said, is depicted in a large oil painting in his office that shows local authorities with rifles at the ready confronting outsiders during the land rush era. “The founders recognized that power concentrated in a few is a bad thing,” Mr. Pruitt said. In a state dominated by the energy industry, Mr. Pruitt’s stands have been widely popular. “Attorney General Pruitt has been a champion for our state,” said State Senator Mike Schulz, a Republican who is the majority floor leader. “The State of Oklahoma is in a better position than the E.P.A. to regulate drilling.” But Mr. Pruitt’s ties with industry are clear. One of his closest partners has been Harold G. Hamm, the billionaire chief executive of Continental Resources, which is among the biggest oil and gas drilling [...]"

The article is quite long. To finish reading the text please click on the link, for those who are interested.

The fact is - while there is a decided movement in the US towards initiating solutions to the Climate situation, an extremely strong and powerful counter-force to that is now stepping into power in the US. Individual states in the US will forge ahead with local Climate Change solutions but not the whole country. It's going to be a very interesting next two years - not necessarily in a good way. In two years the US has it's next presidential election with more senatorial and representative seats up for re-election. We shall see how it will go - if it swings even more to the Republicans or not. In the meantime we are in for a very bumpy ride at the very least - and possibly some very, very sad realities unfolding for the world, that likely are unavoidable at this point anyway, according to some.

 

[Tyger]

The following will appear tangent but it is relevant, because this is what we in the US are battling - and I suspect many other countries are dealing with in their own way. Only Republicans and (very big) business are at the table in an ALEC Conference. The journalists are banned from observing - so that were it not for outside-the-box reporters like Thom Hartmann we would know naught of what is taking place. Here is where a great deal is being set in motion - and why the Attorneys General can act in concert as noted above. It is why we will be having a very bumpy ride in the next two years. Watch what comes out of ALEC vis-a-vis Climate Change.

The Secret ALEC Conference You Don’t Know About

TEXT: "Published on Dec 4, 2014: Jane Carter, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), joins Thom Hartmann."

 

[manxman]

Really? What exactly was his attitude that you find so offensive that you would have him unconscious - I assume you meant you would have him KO'd. So that is how you deal with someone who doesn't think the way you do? Have you found that modus operandi productive over the years?

Note: Thom Hartmann is not an "RT anchorman". His show is on the RT Network.

Thom Hartmann described what he was engaging in as a 'rumble' - a wrestling match - two against one. They were all in on the 'rumble'. Listen to the points being made by each 'side'. A bit of fun but some important back-and-forth.

Can't take the heat, Manxman, when its emanating from the other side? It was either you or Pixel who posted the interview from the Austrailian show that was pretty much three against one. That one you liked. This one not so much. Wonder why.

No he would have ended up unconscious for shouting over me, for trying to intimidate me, and it would of been very swift,, that kind of 'Gerry Springer' TV, masquarading as political debate is exactly why you are being ridiculed .

You present a 2 minute sham political debate, between NOBODIES when asked what convinces you of runaway global warming, again the 95% of the world population do not know your micky mouse politico's or your mickey mouse interviewers, or even the mickey mouse tv or news outlets.


You have gone back to your Butterfly in the garden routine, because you have no logical way of explaining to us in your OWN words the the illogical LEAP OF FAITH.




The butterfly routine is such, you have recently entered the runaway global warming garden, and there are daisie's everywhere.
Top of the garden, bottom of the garden, daisies everywhere.
Political diasies, science daisies, green daisies, environment daisies, crazy daisies, oil daisies, gas daisies, coal daisies, over-crowded daisies, solar daisies, modelling daisies, many daisies of all sorts of types, a butterfly's wet dream.

Your trouble is you just flit from one to the other, repeatedly, in any random order that takes your fancy, which ever one smells the best at the time, and you are oblivious to the turd that most of the daisies you visit are growing thru the centre of.


Ive suggested we start with the biggest daisy here.


...................................................


I will make it simple for you to convince me and many others that Catastrophic Climate Change, leading to extinction, due to runaway Global warming, that is caused by manmade co2 emissions, as you claim is correct.

And remember it is YOUR claim.

Show me the models that enable you and mad mike to make this leap of faith.

Show me the models, by that i mean the corroborating parallel independent modeling that forecast the future climate you are so sure of, is their any ?.

Or is the modelling secret ?, the criteria and data used etc etc, i mean they would be open and honest with such dire predictied consequene's from their modelling wouldnt they.
I mean you would want your modelling to be stress tested by the very best scientific minds, if they are forecasting extinction.

What about the tremendous fuel poverty the poor will suffer, the extortinate taxe's we will all suffer, our childrens tax's wasted on a politically motivated fantasy, just to prop up a broke country, and failing president who make's great tweets,, if those secret models are wrong..

And explain to us what it is about the modelling that makes you so sure of the deadly forecast consequence's if we dont completely drop fossil fuels now, convince me/us.

Convince me/us why i should be all for having the human race turned upside-down, because of some wooey semi secret science, making an extraordinary claim.


...................................................


We ALL undestand WHY you want to stay with CRAZY daisy talking about political and green daisies, and avoid visiting the BIG RUNAWAY GLOBAL WARMING daisy in the centre of the garden, [[especially with the last 18yr hiatus]].
That is the ACTUAL topic of the debate WE are having here in this thread, which are the extraordinary claims from the IPCC noted above, but ofcourse you know that, you only pretend you do not 'get it'.

Your contributions are little more than political/green /enviromental info-mercials.

Some of us need more than that, to get off the fence, when it comes to extraordinary claims, even more so when so much is at stake, which is the near future extinction of mankind due to manmade co2 emissions.

For me all it would take is an open peer review, of the predictions, the extraordinary claims are based on.

 

[Tyger]

No he would have ended up unconscious for shouting over me, for trying to intimidate me, and it would of been very swift,, that kind of 'Gerry Springer' TV, masquarading as political debate is exactly why you are being ridiculed.

No, it isn't. What a joke. I have not been the one who has been engaging in denigrating posting, Take a look at yourself, please.

You present a 2 minute sham political debate

Hardly 2 minutes and hardly sham - but superficially it is exactly what you and Pixel have done on this thread. It is exactly the kind of shout-fest you and Pixel praised when it was a video of three deniers shouting down one Climate Change Scientist.

What you fail to address are the real points being made in the 'sham' debate. How about Senator Inhofe? Barbra Streisand?

You are 'cherry-picking'. You don't address any of the very valid points made. Rather you make it about 'tone'. Tone!

You have been conducting yourself as the quintessence of an Oxford don here on this thread, I am guessing you think. Tone!

between NOBODIES

Really? Not impressed with Thom Hartmann's credentials, are we? Thom Hartmann has considerable bona fides. Try reading his seminal book: The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight.

What exactly are your credentials btw? Written a book have we? Scientist? Public figure of some standing?

In order for you to be 'impressed', what do you need? Obvious power, status and money? I wonder why exactly you think those speaking - especially the two on 'your side' - are 'nobodies'.

when asked what convinces you of runaway global warming,

Read my posts. Your question is already answered. I don't have time for this.

But I'll also say it very, very slowly: I. Am. Not. Having. A. Conversation. With. You. Got it? The fact that you've been trolling my posts does not a conversation make. Got it? That's just the way it is. Capishe? ["Do you understand?"]

again the 95% of the world population do not know your micky mouse politico's or your mickey mouse interviewers, or even the mickey mouse tv or news outlets.

You may get your jollies from this, I don't. There is nothing regarding how you textually behave that is productive.

You have gone back to your Butterfly in the garden routine, because you have no logical way of explaining to us in your OWN words the the illogical LEAP OF FAITH.

Ah, my OWN words. Read my posts.

This has got to be a cultural difference, based maybe on gender differences in how you are raised in your country. I don't know. But I find none of this either interesting nor enticing - quite the reverse. It leaves me dead cold. In my world, one walks away from someone who behaves like you do. You are not worth the effort imo.

As for the rest, I hope you find that person you want to answer your questions in exactly the way you need them answered. To be clear, I am not that person because you have chosen/targeted me.

The best I can make out is that you do not actually read posts, though I now have evidence that you do listen to some of the videos. However, it seems to be clear that you don't get the nuances nor the complexity. If you read you would have your answers - you would not need me to be giving you the answers with every word spelled out.

 

[Tyger]

The changes that are underway can seem abstract and unreal for those not dealing with them on a daily basis. Forward looking municipalities - especially those near water - are either starting, or have long since - been factoring in sea-level rises in their civic planning (in the US). Regardless of politics, alternative energy sources are long overdue to break the monopolies and change the status quo, never an easy moment at any time of change-over in an economic base. (Colorado, an example)

The Cost Of Climate Change
The old man and the rising sea
On one of the most vulnerable islands in America, a longtime caretaker makes peace with climate change.
LINK: The old man and the rising sea - The Washington Post

1st NOTE: Having lived in Washington D.C. some years 'back when' I know Assateague and Chincoteague Islands. The point to keep foremost is the speed with which the changes are now happening. Natural processes that would have taken decades or centuries are now happening within a decade.

2nd NOTE: I have dramatically edited the below article for brevity.

3rd NOTE: When you click then link, you will have to scroll down to get to the article. The Post has changed how they link to an article, or else this is just a fluke for this article today.

TEXT: "BERLIN, Md. — Assateague, a 37-mile-long smear off the shores of Maryland and Virginia, is the East Coast’s climate change canary. It’s one of the most vulnerable islands in America, almost certain to be one of the first places claimed by the rising sea. As 190 nations began talks on climate change Monday in Peru, barrier islands like Assateague offer a preview of issues countless coastal communities will soon face.

"Barrier islands scroll up and down the Eastern Seaboard, remnants from the Ice Age. They are attractive vacation spots, and several of them have been heavily built upon, like the Jersey Shore or Miami Beach. Much of the construction happened before people fully understood that these places are particularly volatile.

"The clues had been accumulating for decades: Beachfronts were thinning. Storms regularly kicked down dunes and sent sand flowing to the far side. Geologists realized that the very nature of barrier islands is to roll over, typically toward the mainland, as waves and weather erode one side and build up the other.

"Climate change adds fresh danger. Sea levels are rising faster, and there will be more violent, seashore-scouring storms. In the least aggressive scenario, scientists believe that these effects will accelerate the natural turnover of these islands. In the more aggressive scenarios, climate change will happen too quickly for the islands to keep up. They will either break up or drown.

"Assateague is one of the first places in the National Park system to tackle its destiny head-on, forming a master plan for all the contingencies that climate change might bring. The process sets an example for shorelines all along the East Coast, where communities are accelerating toward similar decision: hold fast, or beat a retreat? In many locales, retreat remains heresy. Politicians vow to keep the bay at bay, or worse: vote to bury forecasts of the rising tides. But on Assateague, there will be no heroic engineering efforts, no last stands against the sea.

"Places like Assateague are a constantly shifting compromise between the sand and the sea. Gentle waves nourish the beach; stiffer waves scour it. The angle between the waves and the beach matters as well. Waves rarely hit an island dead-on. They approach obliquely, and the net effect on Assateague is that the sand is shunted southward. The other way that the ocean shapes a barrier island occurs during a storm, when the waves wash over, carrying sediment across the island. The storms sometimes also cut inlets, which usher through great quantities of sand. These processes add bulk to the landward side, making the island wider. In this fashion, the island rolls slowly landward, a couple of feet or more a year. The problem arises when people start building on these formations. Eventually, the island will migrate out from underneath them. Climate change will only accelerate the process.

"One northeaster in 1998 eroded the shore by nearly the span of a football field in some places. These storms damaged the artificially maintained dunes near the beach at Tom’s Cove, and a decision was made to led the dunes go natural. And if the island was going to roll over, then the buildings were just going to have to roll with it. In 2009, the Obama administration ordered agencies overseeing federal land to explicitly account for climate change in their planning processes. When Kicklighter took over Assateague that same year, she made climate change the central issue of the new management plan, which is still in draft form.

"Assateague was one of the first national parks to conduct this decision making specifically with different climate change scenarios in mind. Recent studies suggest that barrier islands all along the Atlantic are at a threshold. If the sea starts to rise any faster — as even the most conservative models predict — these places may start to rapidly migrate or break apart. Recognizing Assateague’s fragility, several different courses of action were proposed.

"When Hurricane Sandy hit the Eastern Seaboard in 2012, it gave a preview of the kinds of storms that seaside towns might soon see with increasing frequency. On a barrier island in New Jersey, two neighboring towns are erecting a 15-foot-tall steel seawall to protect themselves at a cost of $23.8 million. They are also planning to put in 22-foot-tall protective dunes. In these places, the balance between cost and benefit has not yet tipped in favor of retreat. But more storms are coming."

 

[Tyger]

As this article indicates all the changes taking place can have multiple causes - that climate change exacerbates. Once the ball starts rolling - feedback loops are engaged. We should have long since been restricting development on flood plains. We've known that for donkey's years, but we never restrained ourselves. Now with the changes afoot the consequences of foolish civic planning decisions will come home to roost.

What's clear is that a movement inland to higher ground is necessary. Flood plains and deltas need to be treated with more respect for the natural habitat and less development. A slow process but inevitable.

NOTE: You must scroll down once within the link to get to the article for the graphics. Grrr!

The Cost Of Climate Change
The yoga-mat effect: Why the D.C. region is literally sinking into the sea
It's not just that the sea is rising. It's that the sand in many areas of the Mid-Atlantic is sinking.
LINK: The yoga-mat effect: Why the D.C. region is literally sinking into the sea - The Washington Post

TEXT: "The sea is rising, and this we can be sure of. Records from over a century of tide gauges worldwide show a steady upward trend, a few millimeters each year on average. Strangely, these sticks in the water don’t all tell the same story. In different places, the sea seems to be rising more slowly or faster.

"The mid-Atlantic in particular has witnessed some of the fastest encroachment. Over the past century, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that sea levels have been rising roughly 1.8 millimeters a year. In the region between New Jersey and Virginia, it’s been double that: [see Graphic]

"Locals have long felt the tide inching closer and closer. The record is in their backyards, many of which now abut the ocean. Carolyn Cummins is a past chair of the Worcester County Planning Commission, which includes Ocean City and Assateague Island. “I live in a house where the bay is from here to that window,” she says, gesturing across the room maybe 20 feet away. “And that house was built in 1950.”

"In the past couple of decades, satellite measurements have confirmed what geologists have long suspected: It’s not just that the sea is rising. The land here is sinking. Here’s a map of that from the United States Geologic Survey: [see Graphic] The process is still something of a mystery, but in the Chesapeake region there are two main suspects.

"First is the problem of groundwater withdrawal. Digging wells and drawing water from the ground has consequences. The earth compacts and the surface of the ground starts to sink, slowly, but noticeably. Near San Jose in California, for instance, the land can move up and down by more than an inch yearly, depending on how much underground water is removed, and how much is replenished.

"Then there is a post-Ice Age phenomenon called, opaquely, “glacial isostatic adjustment.” A better name might be the yoga-mat effect. Imagine your foot is a glacier. Step on a yoga mat. Look at how the yoga mat bulges up near the edges of your feet. Now step off the yoga mat. Look at how the places that had bulged up are now sinking. That’s glacial isostatic adjustment. The Earth’s surface is a lot like a yoga mat. It’s a thin, crusty skin floating on squishy molten rock.

"Tens of thousands of years ago, the Laurentide Ice Sheet covered most of Canada and reached as far south as Pennsylvania. In places it was up to two miles thick. The weight of all that ice caused the surface of the earth to squish up around the edges. Now that the glacier is gone, the land is slowly settling back. Canada is rising up—and the mid-Atlantic region is sinking.

"In the Chesapeake region, it’s believed that land subsidence has contributed to about half of the measured rise in sea levels in the last century. Some of that comes from removing water from underground, and some of that is glacial isostatic adjustment. Reducing fossil fuel emissions will tame some of the sea level rise, but it won’t fix the natural sinking of the land. Which means that in places like the mid-Atlantic, communities will have to adapt to the increased flooding and inundated backyards.

"In Worcester County, Cummins has been campaigning for years to put limits on coastal development. “Where my house is, when those lots were planned, there were two streets in front of me,” Cummins says. “They’re now underwater. It’s teaching people how they’re going to live with that.”

 

[Tyger]

It's about the status quo - the power grid, fossil fuel industry - fighting for its existence. But it doesn't have to be that way, as California shows. The collaborative nature taking place in this state is the wave of the future. Germany is also way ahead on the curve. Also, developing countries are going from fire to solar - by-passing coal and oil altogether. The world is changing.

Why Elon Musk's Batteries Scare the Hell Out of the Electric Company By Mark Chediak Dec 5, 2014
LINK: Why Elon Musk's Batteries Scare the Hell Out of the Electric Company - Bloomberg

TEXT: "Climate: Now or Never
"Here’s why something as basic as a battery both thrills and terrifies the U.S. utility industry. At a sagebrush-strewn industrial park outside of Reno, Nevada, bulldozers are clearing dirt forTesla Motors Inc. (TSLA)’s battery factory, projected to be the world’s largest. Tesla’s founder, Elon Musk, sees the $5 billion facility as a key step toward making electric cars more affordable, while ending reliance on oil and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. At first blush, the push toward more electric cars looks to be positive for utilities struggling with stagnant sales from energy conservation and slow economic growth.

" "Yet Musk’s so-called gigafactory may soon become an existential threat to the 100-year-old utility business model. The facility will also churn out stationary battery packs that can be paired with rooftop solar panels to store power. Already, a second company led by Musk,SolarCity Corp. (SCTY), is packaging solar panels and batteries to power California homes and companies including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)

“The mortal threat that ever cheaper on-site renewables pose” comes from systems that include storage, said Amory Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a Snowmass, Colorado-based energy consultant. “That is an unregulated product you can buy at Home Depot that leaves the old business model with no place to hide.”

"J.B. Straubel, chief technology officer for Palo Alto, California-based Tesla, said the company views utilities as partners not adversaries in its effort to build out battery storage. Musk was not available for comment. The Tesla systems are arriving just as utilities begin to feel increasing pressure worldwide from the disruption posed by renewable energy.

"Lima Meeting
"In Germany, the rapid rise of tax-subsidized clean energy has undermined wholesale prices and decimated the profitability of coal and natural gas plants. Germany’s largest utility EON SE (EOAN) said this week it will spin off its fossil-fuel plant business to focus on renewables in part because of new clean energy competitors coming onto its turf.

"Threats to the traditional utility model come as energy and environment take the world stage at the latest round of United Nations climate talks that began Dec. 1 in Lima. Delegates, backed by global environmental groups, want to leave the conference with a draft agreement to tackle climate change by lowering carbon-dioxide emissions -- something that has eluded them for years. The Rocky Mountain Institute’s Lovins has installed solar on his house in Snowmass and uses it to power his electric car. His monthly electric bill: $25. He has a lot of company.

"100,000 Plug-ins
"In California, where 40 percent of the nation’s plug-in cars have been sold, about half of electric vehicle owners have solar or want to install it, according to a February survey by the Center for Sustainable Energy, a green-energy advocate. More than 100,000 plug-ins have been sold in California, according to data from HybridCars.com and Baum & Associates, though EVs make up less than 1 percent of all U.S. car sales. Few homes and businesses use solar and back-up-battery storage, proof for some utilities that the systems remain a hard sell outside of states like California or markets like Hawaii where high power costs make solar competitive.

"Still, the Edison Electric Institute, a trade group representing America’s investor-owned utilities, recently announced that its members will help to encourage electric vehicle use by spending $50 million annually to buy plug-in service trucks and invest in car-charging technology. “Advancing plug-in electric vehicles and technologies is an industry priority,” said EEI President Thomas Kuhn.

"Charging Stations
"Analysts think the industry has been slow to react. Tesla, SolarCity and green-energy companies are already moving aggressively into unoccupied space. “Some of the more nimble companies that think and move more quickly, they are beating the utilities to the punch,” said Ben Kallo, a San Francisco-based analyst for Robert W. Baird & Co. Tesla has installed 135 fast-charging stations, some powered by solar, across North America where its Model S drivers can refuel for free. NRG Energy Inc. is building a network of public charging stations in major cities that drivers can access on a per-charge basis or for a flat monthly fee of about $15. And then there’s the home front. In a July report, Morgan Stanley said Tesla’s home and business energy-storage product could be “disruptive” in the U.S. and in Europe as customers seek to avoid utility fees by going “off-grid.”

" ‘Sufficient Appreciation’
" “We believe there is not sufficient appreciation of the magnitude of energy storage cost reduction that Tesla has already achieved, nor of the further cost reduction magnitude that Tesla might be able to achieve once the company has constructed its ‘gigafactory,’” Morgan Stanley analysts wrote. Tesla sees itself taking on a grand mission -- not just to lower emissions from cars and trucks, but to have a societal impact. “If we only do it on the transportation side, we ignore the utility side, and we are probably ignoring half of our responsibility,” said Mateo Jaramillo, director of powertrain business development at Tesla Motors, at the recent Platts California Power and Gas Conference in San Francisco.

"Tesla and Oncor Electric Delivery, owner of the largest power-line network in Texas, have discussed a $2 billion investment in stationary battery storage to solve the problem of fluctuating output from wind and solar. Tesla and SolarCity are separate entities and only share management at the board level. Tesla fell 2 percent today to $223.71 in New York.

"Smart Home
"A glimpse of that future can be seen in Davis, California, where Honda Motor Co. has developed a “smart home” that produces more energy than it uses while charging a plug-in car. The home was designed in collaboration with SolarCity, PG&E Corp. and the University of California at Davis to showcase energy-efficient and renewable technologies. It will serve as a home for a member of the UC Davis community and a lab for the study of new businesses and technologies.

"SolarCity rival SunPower Corp. is offering its solar and storage systems to buyers of electric cars from Audi AG and rebates for solar-panels to Ford Motor Co. plug-in customers. SunPower also has struck a partnership with homebuilder KB Home to begin installing solar and storage systems in California. The time when residents can charge their electric cars with excess solar stored in their home batteries is “not decades away, that is years away,” said SunPower CEO Tom Werner.

"Holy Grail
"Both SolarCity and SunPower say their goal isn’t to move customers completely off-grid, just to reduce their dependence on it. “Grid storage has been the Holy Grail for renewables because the energy is intermittent,” Kallo said. “Finding a way to store that is very powerful.” For the power companies, the stakes are high. In June, EEI issued a call to action, saying converting people from gasoline cars to electric vehicles is nearly essential for survival. The report concluded: “The bottom line is that the electric utility industry needs the electrification of the transportation sector to remain viable and sustainable in the long run.”

"To that point, executives at some of the nation’s largest utilities from New York to California say they are preparing their grids for more plug-in cars, reaching out to automakers and working with regulators to make sure customers as well as the utilities benefit from the trend.

"Natural Partnership
" “I read a lot of articles about Elon Musk versus the utility companies,” said John Shipman, who heads electric vehicle programs at New York-based Consolidated Edison Co. “I don’t see it that way at all. There is a natural partnership that can exist there.” In California, where electric vehicle adoption is the highest in the nation, and Governor Jerry Brown has set a goal of having 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2025, utilities are already in the game. “The electric grid will be just as important in the years to come because the grid is becoming the platform that makes it possible for people to plug in solar panels, batteries and charging stations,” said Ellen Hayes, a PG&E spokeswoman. “Having a solar panel that isn’t connected to the grid is like having a computer that’s not connected to the Internet.”

"Edison International’s Southern California Edison and Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas & Electric have proposed investing about $500 million in car charging stations. Along with PG&E, they are backing a proposal that would loosen restrictions on utilities owning charging facilities.

"Grid Upgrades
"There is yet another side to the argument -- can utilities manage the load? “Electric vehicles can be the best thing to ever happen to our industry or the worst thing to ever happen to our industry,” said James Avery, a senior vice president at San Diego Gas & Electric. Avery doesn’t foresee most customers leaving the grid, but does see the risk of an influx of electric cars that overtaxes the network. SDG&E, whose territory has the highest penetration of plug-ins in the U.S., plans to spend as much as $3.2 billion to upgrade its grid. It already offers cheaper rates for EV owners to charge overnight when power demand is lowest. Southern California Edison is planning to spend about $9.2 billion through 2017 to allow the two-way flow of electricity on its system, said Edison International CEO Ted Craver. “We are certainly big supporters of electric transportation,” Craver said. He added: “That electric car isn’t just going to stay at home. It’s going to go other places. It’s going to need to get charged in other places. And I think our ability to provide that glue for all those things that are going to plug into that network is really how we see our core business.”

"Shifting Landscape
"Some utilities are more amendable to the shifting landscape than others. Last year, Pinnacle West Capital Corp.’s Arizona Public Service raised the ire of its customers and the solar industry by tacking on a monthly fee of about $5 for residents with solar systems. Adding fixed connection charges or additional fees to such customers may cause more of them to defect, said Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute.

“Utilities should look at Elon as a brilliant entrepreneur and innovator who is helping create the new electricity industry and betting against him hasn’t worked so well,” Lovins said. “I would look at ways to benefit from what he is bringing to the market.” "

 

[Tyger]

The shift in the US away from oil and coal means a significant shift away from interest in oil producing regions of the world. If the US is self-sustaining, that means less wars in the world - since the US is a major warring nation right now. When there are no more wars for the US that means that massive amounts of money now funneled to the US military gets freed up for things in the US like infrastructure and social programs. The possibilities for the future health and well-being of Americans and the world are staggering to contemplate. We will survive but in a new way.

Climate Change and all it's consequences still looms. What we've set in motion will not stop on a dime, but changing what we put into the atmosphere is a beginning. We never know what nature will do in response. She keeps surprising us. She may do so yet again as we start to mend our ways.

 

[Tyger]

For those interested in understanding the conversation on Climate Change over the past 100 years, this might help. The going is very thick and technical at times but gives the background needed. Be wary of deniers that engage in immediate ad hominem attacks, rather than focus on the issue. Personal dislike of a person is not a reason to discount them. However, it is important where someone gets their paycheck, which always becomes an issue with deniers being paid a salary by the fossil fuel industry.

The Global Warming Reader: A Century of Writing About Climate Change - by Bill McKibben March 27, 2012

TEXT: "Our most widely respected environmental writer brings together the essential voices on global warming, from its 19th-century discovery to the present

"With the rise of extreme weather events worldwide--witness the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Sandy, Irene, and Katrina, and the sustained drought across the American West--global warming has become increasingly difficult to deny.

"What is happening to our planet? And what can we do about it? The Global Warming Reader provides more than thirty-five answers to these burning questions, from more than one hundred years of engagement with the topic. Here is Elizabeth Kolbert's groundbreaking essay "The Darkening Sea," Michael Crichton's skeptical view of climate change, George Monbiot's biting indictment of those who are really using up the planet's resources, NASA scientist James Hansen's testimony before the U.S. Congress, and clarion calls for action by Al Gore, Arundhati Roy, Naomi Klein, and many others. The Global Warming Reader is a comprehensive resource, expertly edited by someone who lives and breathes this defining issue of our time."

Amazon Review: "In GWR, Bill Mckibben (editorially) lays it out for anyone to see and understand. There is no controversy anymore. That was yesterday. We have changed our climate and the time for action is unfortunately now. If you don't believe that, then you must be living in a dark cave. If you (or we) don't care, then perhaps that's another problem. Read the book. It's made up of a variety voices on the subject dating back to the very concept of man-made climate change. If you can get by the first few, very detailed, scientific explanations of atmospheric CO2 and temperature correlation dating back to the late 19th century, the remaining texts and reports are more then entertaining. They are disturbing. Hopefully, disturbing enough to wake you up from your indifference, or disbelief, and prompt you to help with a incredibly challenging paradigm shift in how we conduct ourselves on this planet. Waiting another 10 or 20 years is not an option, unless, of course, we just don't care what we leave behind for our kids. The point of no return is about now."

 

[pixelsmith]

Interesting new word for 2014.
Is this word ok to use here? Tyger has "denier" which is not accurate but we let him use it. We can continue using "alarmist" if climatard seems too offensive.


“Climatard” is new but is most definitely a word that should see heavy use since its inclusion in the lexicon.

Climatard

Function: noun

Date: 2014

Definition(s):

A person with no formal education or training in science, who believes that carbon dioxide is a pollutant and that the world’s climate is being disastrously altered by human emissions of this vital gas which is essential to life. Favors drastic, unreasonable measures, with no proof that they will have any effect and which will cause real, immediate economic devastation for the poor and middle class. Flies into a rage if you don’t agree with him.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mike]

As climate models predicted decades ago, places that once got lots of rain, now often get more. Since the 1950’s, Northeastern downpours have grown 74 percent heavier. They’re 45 percent heavier in the Midwest, 26 percent heavier in the Southeast, and 21 percent on the Great Plains. Likewise, places that got less rain in past, now see intensifying drought.

These extreme precipitation shifts are a double edged sword: Torrential rains increase runoff – dumping silt, topsoil, pesticides, road salt, sewage, and industrial contaminants including coal ash, oil, and natural gas fracking fluids, into rivers. Lack of rain hurts too: drought concentrates pollutants in shrinking volumes of water and promotes algae blooms that suffocate aquatic systems.

Such mad hydrological mood swings are worsening as global warming escalates, hammering and shattering the world’s great river systems. None go untouched.

Rivers, not dollars, are our nation’s lifeblood. These vital arteries give us our drinking water, grow and transport our crops, provide energy, offer recreation and spiritual rejuvenation. They are sickening as the world warms. Their impoverishment threatens national security, the economy, ecology, and life itself.

A proactive response to climate change is needed now – but won't happen without you. So travel to your childhood swimming or fishing hole, to your “home stream”, and see if it still flows sweetly or is lost to memory… perhaps forever.

We can protect our waterways from global warming, but not without a huge political sea change. After seeing the state of your “home stream”, maybe you’ll become part of the wave that will bring that change.

Our Rivers in Trouble | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

 

[mike]

[QUOTE="pixelsmith, post: 209918, member: 3] and that the world’s climate is being disastrously altered by human emissions [/QUOTE]

Oh man you just giving it away now.

Its not just the climate, its the entire eco system....... And yes it is being disastrously altered by human emissions.

You can split hairs and try and distract with abstracts, but thats whats happening

You are quite literally fiddling while rome burns

Meaning
To occupy oneself with unimportant matters and neglect priorities during a crisis.

 

[flipper]

Unfortunately...the people of Maryland have to rely on a major portion of our electricity from the --- imho --- an obsolete form of fission power, generated from the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant.

No...fusion won't light my house tonight, but the fusion plasma encased foofighter did light-up the sky the night of my sighting; along with the visible communication form that fusion power can be harnessed as a clean power source.

There is a lot of evidence that free energy is being suppressed. Is it the dark matter or dark energy they know is there and cannot find. THANK YOU FOR BRINGING INTO THIS DISCUSSION THE PARANORMAL. Here is a video that suggests that it is currently in use. If it is readily available, we would not be worried about CO 2 or our use of hydro carbons.

 

[Randall]

Here's a bit on the greenhouse effect. There are some people who don't believe the greenhouse effect has any effect. I think those people are ignoring the science or are believers or promoters of conspiracy theories.

http://www.skepticalscience.com/empirical-evidence-for-co2-enhanced-greenhouse-effect-advanced.htm

 

[Randall]

There is a lot of evidence that free energy is being suppressed. Is it the dark matter or dark energy they know is there and cannot find. THANK YOU FOR BRINGING INTO THIS DISCUSSION THE PARANORMAL. Here is a video [ see original post ] that suggests that it is currently in use. If it is readily available, we would not be worried about CO 2 or our use of hydro carbons ...

Interesting information, but not so sure about the conclusions or theories. I'm not saying I have any answers, but I agree that there seems to be more going on with the WTC disaster than we've been told. The idea that makes most sense to me is that after the planes hit, those in control of the situation feared the buildings would topple on their own or from more attacks and cause a huge amount of damage, so they activated a controlled demolition protocol that had been secretly installed as a countermeasure after the first attack on the WTC in 1993. I have a hard time with any sort of weird energy weapon. I can see how floor upon floor smashing into each other could pulverize concrete and softer materials into dust.

 

[manxman]

May aswell include 911 in with global warming, and complete the circle jerk

Im taking a break from this shower of assholes pixel, your on your own.

The question of Umbrellaology and Runaway Global Warming.

Dear Sir:
I am taking the liberty of calling upon you to be the judge in a dispute between an acquaintance and i, who is no longer a friend.
The question at issue is this: Is my creation, umbrellaology, a science? Allow me to explain this situation. For the past eighteen years, assisted by a few faithful disciples, I have been collecting materials on a subject hitherto almost wholly neglected by scientists, the umbrella. The results of my investigations to date are embodied in the nine volumes which I am sending to you under separate cover. Pending their receipt, let me describe to you briefly the nature of their contents and the method I pursued in compiling them. I began on the Island of Manhattan. Proceeding block by block, house by house, family by family and individual by individual I ascertained 1) the number of umbrellas possessed, 2) their size, 3) their weight, 4) their color. Having covered Manhattan after many years, I eventually extended the survey to the other boroughs of the City of New York, and at length completed the entire city. Thus I was ready to carry forward the work to the rest of the state and indeed the rest of the United States and the whole know world.

It was at this point that I approached my erstwhile friend. I am a modest man, but I felt I had the right to be recognized as the creator of a new science. He, on the other hand, claimed that umbrellaology was not a science at all. First, he said, it was silly to investigate umbrellas. Now this argument is false because science scorns not to deal with any object, however humble and lowly.

Then why not umbrellas? Next he said that umbrellaology could not be recognized as a science because it was of no use or benefit to mankind. But is not the truth the most precious thing in life? And are not my nine volumes filled with the truth about my subject? Every word is true. Every sentence contains a hard, cold fact. When he asked me what was the object of umbrellaology I was proud to say, >To seek and discover the truth is object enough for me=. I am a pure scientist; I have no ulterior motives. Hence it follows that I am satisfied with truth alone. Next, he said my truths were dated and that any one of my findings might cease to be true to-morrow.

But this I pointed out, is not an argument against umbrellaology, but rather an argument for keeping it up to date, which is exactly what I propose. Let us have surveys monthly, weekly or even daily to keep our knowledge abreast of the changing facts. His next contention was that umbrellaology had entertained no hypotheses and had developed no theories or laws. This is a great error.
In the course of my investigations, I employed innumerable hypotheses.

Before entering each new block and each new section of the city, I entertained an hypothesis as regards the number and characteristics of the umbrellas that would be found there, which hypotheses were either verified or nullified by my subsequent observations, in accordance with proper scientific procedure, as explained in authoritative texts.
(In fact, it is interesting to note that I can substantiate and document every one of my replies to these objections by numerous quotations from standard works, leading journals, public speeches of eminent scientists and the like.) As for theories and laws, my work presents an abundance of them. I will here mention only a few, by way of illustration. There is the Law of Color Variation Relative to Ownership by Sex.

Umbrellas owned by women tend to great variety of color, whereas those owned by men are almost all black.
To this law I have given exact statistical formulation. (See vol. 6, Appendix I, Table 3, p. 582.) There are the curiously interrelated Laws of Individual Ownership of Plurality of Umbrellas, and Plurality of Owners of Individual Umbrellas. The interrelationship assumes the form, in the first law, of almost direct ratio to annual income, and in the end, of almost inverse ratio to annual income. (For an exact statement of the modifying circumstances, see vol. 8, p. 350.) There is also the Law of the Tendency towards Acquisition of Umbrellas in Runaway Global Wrning. To this law I have given experimental verification in chapter 3 of volume 3. In the same way I have performed numerous other experiments in connection with my generalizations.

Thus I feel that my creation is in all respects a genuine science, and I appeal to you for substantiation of my opinion.