More on Junk Science and clarity of thought and expression

While we are on the subject of clearly expressing ourselves, and on the subject of “junk science”, as in the below letter to Stephen Hawking, I thought I would add another recent letter in somewhat the same vein. You might be interested in the workings of an everyday devious mind (I do not have my “EBI” degree—Educated Beyond Intelligence). I am acquiring my CS degree, however (Common Sense). I hope the subject matter is of interest to you. I feel it is certainly timely.


Letter to Michael Masterson
Michael,

There is a lot of junk science going around today and we are constantly bombarded by the fear mongers about the environmental issues that supposedly plague us. Most of them are just MENTAL issues, not environmental issues.

For example, after the Exxon Valdez spill, you heard an enormous outcry from the Green movement. What follow-ups do you have today? None. Why? Because the coastline has healed far more quickly and miraculously than they ever imagined possible--hence, no cannon fodder for their cause.

Regarding the ozone hole over the Arctic: AOL news has just today released a prediction from Japanese scientists that say it should disappear altogether by 2050. I also recall several years ago hearing Paul Harvey report that the ozone hole had enlarged and extended a thousand miles further south, into lower regions of Russia--due to "colder than usual temperatures". A light went on in my head with that one. Where do these "holes" occur? Over the cold regions of the world--the poles. And if they extended further, "due to colder than usual temperatures", then could they not be naturally occurring phenomena? By the way, only 30 years ago, we were being told we were headed into an ice age. Now it is global warming. So, which is true?

As to the carbon dioxide emissions.... The proponents of the ban on these emissions are all "tree-huggers", if you will. What they fail to realize is that trees breathe CO2, and provide oxygen. If you deprive them, you deprive us, too. Not a pretty scenario.

What would happen if the earth had a more temperate climate (AKA Global Warming)? Well, for one, we should have fewer and smaller hurricanes, as these are caused by temperature differentials, not homogenous temperatures. The same with tornadoes. Who wouldn't be for that? That has my vote.

And a recent issue of the journal SCIENCE listed home cooking fires in SE Asia as the leading cause of the world's man-generated pollution, not the industrialized nations of the world. Far beyond that is the pollution put out daily by the world's volcanoes. We will NEVER reach that level.

Far more important than asking if the claims of these protesting groups are true would be to ask what the motive is for the group or person claiming it. What do they have to gain and who is backing them financially. In other words, "follow the money".

One more, although I could go on. When you calculate the vast ocean surface, a rise of a foot is nothing to most areas. Also, know that the "experts" cannot agree. Some claim a foot and others as much as 45 feet. When you are dealing with environMENTALists, you can usually assume they have multiplied by at least 10, to get the fear factor up into the range they want it to be.

n experiment you can do on your kitchen table should relax your mind and make for sweeter dreams. Place some ice cubes in a glass of water and mark the level on the glass with a permanent marker (comes off with acetone or hairspray), then let the ice melt and check the level again. It should be the same as before. Why? Because water EXPANDS 10% when it freezes, therefore becoming less dense and therefore it floats, being about 90% below the waterline. So, again the crazies have cried wolf and are made out to be liars. If there is a great degree of actual shelf ice melting, it may be due to increased volcanic activity in the polar regions. Take Iceland, for example. Look back over the news and see what has happened there. No man, nor mankind, could have produced such effects.

So, Michael, just relax and take a deep breath. Life goes on and there is little you can do about it--unless you want to add some CO2 when you can (to feed the trees and temper the weather patterns).

Take care, my friend,
Steven O'Dell