What are we teaching our children?
Guest post by Russ Steele, NCwatch
Ellen and I spent the day at the new California Academy of Science building yesterday and really enjoyed the experience, except for the crowds. I break out in crowds. With spring break in full force, there were hordes of children, the lines to the tropical rain forest sphere, the aquarium, bugs in 3D, and the planetarium were long. One display that did not receive much attention was the global warming, save the planet from global warming display. Or, as it was properly labeled the Ocean Warming display.
The interactive display to save the polar bear cub, by creating more ice by reducing greenhouse gases was empty the three times I passed by the booth. [A carbon] “hockey stick” was is full view.
There was a clever device to demonstrate the value of carbon credits to off set the family carbon foot print stood unused except for one young man and his dad. There was no pushing and shoving to observe these displays or use the interactive tools.
For the most part these displays were ignored, except for a few casual observers seeking refuge from the long lines at the real science displays. This lack of interest and participation seems to reflect the recent Gallup Polls indicating people are not really concerned about global warming, or ocean warming either. It could be our children have caught on to the scam, or they have reached global warming overload for the school lessons, and want some real science for change of pace.
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Notice on the CO2 hockey stick how they have the horizontal axis starting at 280ppm?
It is the usual trick to make the uptick appear much MUCH larger than it really is. If they used an accurate and honest scale, starting from zero, then the true scale of the increase would be demonstrated. Ah, but, that would not look as scary would it?
OT – Snow and Blizzard Conditions Predicted for Washington DC April 27 – 28
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7970274.stm
Aron, I don’t know where you live but low ceiling rooms are diabolical for large groups of people and rely entirely on costly and polluting air-conditioning to maintain even half-decent air to breathe.
It was sarcasm! I was referring to environmentalists who have said homes in eco-towns should be built with low ceilings to make them cheaper to heat. It’s another example of their lack of foresight.
I lived in Mumbai for over a year, spent most of time in a low ceiling room. It was very hot, needed air-conditioning and a ceiling fan switched on 24 hours a day. Even then I lost 30 pounds of weight, developed breathing problems and lost cardiovascular fitness.
I won’t talk about the black hole of Calcutta. That’s an extreme example!
I just had a thought today. In the past million years there has been plenty of Ice Ages and periods of Global warming. We all know that. We all do also agree that when temps warmed up, CO2 when up. We all can agree on that. When temps went down, CO2 levels went down. And we all still can agree to that. But, what cause the change from one cold period to a warm period. The change in temp causes a change in CO2. Should scientist addressed what cause the change not relationship between the two.
What made the earth warm up in the past, heck if there was a good reason and that some how aliens dumped ton’s of CO2 in our enviroment and that cause our warm up then heck, we should stop burning oil. I would like to know is the relationship of the planet warming and the amount of CO2 increased over the same time. CO2 does not get created out of thin air, something in the past cause the planet to warm, and if it was more CO2, where the heck that came from!!!
I hope that you guys follow me, they say that in the past more CO2 made the planet warmer. If human pump more CO2 in the air it would make thinks warmer. This is their arguement. We need at that point ask, well was dinosaurs creating the CO2.
From now on, I going to listen to their theories and try to lead it to arguement of previous global warming on earth and the increase CO2 levels relationship and then ask, where did that increase in CO2 come from?
Mike Ryan (12:23:05) :
Mike Ryan, I suspect I follow the same religion as you, and am routinely mocked for it, by the secular humanist crowd which interestingly constitute the majority of the AGW true believers, I merely enjoy pointing out that they have become that which they despise, yet are so caught up in their righteous indignation that they cannot grasp even that simple truth.
As far as being offensive, well, sorry. I find the concept of offense at the written opinion of another to be a little thin skinned. Disagree, out argue, subdue with superior reasoning and logic, but some guy said something eminently reasonable about defending to the death the right to say potentially offensive things.
I wonder if deficit dollars were spent on this project so that the very children that were being propagandized will be paying for this political tripe in the future. The terminator’s new tax hike will take place in a few days insuring that most large purchases will now occur were the tax bite is less. More jobs will leave the state.
Meanwhile the oceans continue to cool, the sea ice is at the 30 year average and the sun is still in a funk. I hope we will not be looking like Dr. Soon’s book on a prior funk in the sun.
The new museum is a fiasco
The old museum needed to be rebuilt to meet Earthquake standards. Before the “upgrade” the exhibits were the focus and the building was just a container. The rebuild process was taken over by Enviros and now the building is the focus, with exhibits secondary. The upgrade cost ~$500M and thus tickets are now $25 per adult, $15/$20 per child up from $10/$5. A family membership used to cost $60/year, now it $160. We used to be members and visit all the time, but we have not been since it reopened and even if we do go, it will be a onetime event.
I watched a TV show on building the new museum and one thing that clearly came through is that the green roof is HEAVY and requires a LOT of structural steel to support. All the spending on the building meant less was available for exhibits. What a mess…
We can all help out with the “lights off hour”.
Refuse to play or watch AIT. The TV, DVD player and surround sound can all be turned off, saving us a ton of electricty.
I feel cooler already…
IRELAND’S BIRDS have fared well over the past decade, with many species showing population increases, according to a major new study.
It appears they like it warm.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0328/1224243618753.html
The Academy of Sciences is in the pockets of big environmentalism. Gore and his cronies make millions thanks to their connections with that organization.
So-called “scientists” don’t understand that true knowledge can be found in sites like this, where people with real understanding of earth science, mathematics, physics, and economics are truly free to express their highly informed opinions, without fear of their research budgets being cut off for not following the official line.
I read about the exhibit somewhere and, my wife has asked me a couple of times to take the kids. I’ve resisted because I don’t like getting angry in public. I may, however, go and check it out, maybe print out a copy of the ocean cooling graph that was posted on here this week, and see if I can find someone to give it to strategically.
I used to live right by the place when I was at UCSF, right on Lincoln Way. It was great then – the late night planetarium shows set to Pink Floyd music were very “entertaining”.
I had a feeling that it would be full of global warming propaganda, and I unfortunately I was right. I can’t believe that I was talked into going to it! It’s sad that a few aquariums, some stuffed animals and enviro-fascist brain washing passes as science these days. My favorite part was that garbage cans were labeled “landfill”. I felt so dirty after giving $25×2 to these looters that I spent the rest of the day in the shower trying to wash off the shame…to no avail.
I’m not concerned by the lack of interest in Global Warming Propaganda, as evidenced in the post.
I am concerned that children will associate science with scaremongering, environmentalist propaganda and visions of inevitable future apocalypse, rather than as a tool to understand the Universe and better themselves. I worry that children will be turned off the wonders of science because of the irresponsibility and dubious ethics of a relatively small number of academics.
I worry that children will see science as just another faith position, as another form of (extreme left-wing) political stance, as a dated fashion statement, as an empty philosophy.
Hansen 2005:
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2005/Imbalance_20050415.pdf
“This energy imbalance is the ‘smoking gun’ that we have been looking for”
Hansen 2009:
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2009/Copenhagen_20090311.pdf
Climate models, using typical presumed scenarios of climate forcings for the
past century, suggest that the planet should be out of energy balance by +0.75 ± 0.25 W/m2, but observations of ocean heat content change (averaged over the 11-year solar cycle) suggest an imbalance of only +0.5 ± 0.25 W/m2 (absorbed solar energy exceeding heat radiation to space).
“We do not have measurements of aerosols going back to the 1800s – we don’t even have global measurements today.
Any measurements that exist incorporate both forcing and feedback.
Aerosol effects on clouds are very uncertain.”
“Even if we accept the IPCC aerosol estimate, which was pretty much pulled out of a hat, it leaves the net forcing almost anywhere between zero and 3 watts.”
So now if only Hansen had the right numbers for aerosols, we could then know what knobs to turn to control climate. How long can this charade go on?
Sounds to me like someone should pull the fire alarm in that part of the building.
Some CO2, some halon–yeah that should frost their onions a bit.
Anthony,
Thanks for the edits. I have to agree with some of the comments about the building being the focus rather than the science. Even the planetarium show starts with the building and the roof and it’s environmental advantages, and the need to save the frail earth. Through out the discussion of the plants and galaxies, was a CO2 sub-context. We live in the green zone, and too much CO2 and we will soon be like Venus, out side the green zone.
OT Obama is hosting climate change meetings in April. See http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/03/28/obama-climate-summit.html?ref=rss
Well, Human Achievement Hour seems to be taking off well in my neighborhood! While downtown Nashville looks a bit dark, my neighborhood is lit up like New Years Eve!
LATE SEASON WINTER STORM???? Does NOAA know something and are not telling the MSM????? Late season or late winter? late spring? anyone?
Great lakes …WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 11 PM THIS EVENING TO 6 PM EDT SUNDAY…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GAYLORD HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 11 PM THIS EVENING TO 6 PM EDT SUNDAY. SNOW WILL OVERSPREAD THE AREA LATE THIS EVENING…BECOMING HEAVY AT TIMES OVERNIGHT INTO SUNDAY MORNING…BEFORE TAPERING OFF LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON. SOME THUNDER IS ALSO POSSIBLE WITH THIS STRONG LATE SEASON WINTER STORM. SNOW MAY OCCASIONALLY MIX WITH OR CHANGE TO SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN… MAINLY ALONG AND EAST OF A LINE FROM CHEBOYGAN TO CADILLAC. A TOTAL ACCUMULATION OF 6 TO 8 INCHES OF HEAVY WET SNOW IS EXPECTED ACROSS THE WARNING AREA…THOUGH ANY MIX WITH SLEET OR FREEZING RAIN WILL RESULT IN LOWER TOTALS. NORTHWEST WINDS WILL INCREASE TO BETWEEN 15 AND 25 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS INTO SUNDAY AFTERNOON… WHICH MAY PRODUCE AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW.
A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW OR WINTRY PRECIPITATION WILL MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL…USE EXTREME CAUTION.
Two sunspots or something like that? Watch ye SOHO.
This fits a pattern of slightly abated enthusiasm in the AGW camp. I’ll admit that the extremists continue unabated. But, they are compelled to do so, because they have no road back. They either see the disaster happen or their reputations and livelyhoods evaporate.
But, there are regular folks in the alarmist sector who have seen the grafitti and are now adopting CYA* positions.
You will see more and more abstracts, papers and powerpoint presentations that question “the answer”.
*Cover Your (donkey)”
O/T But I see this paper, presented by a certain Mr. Hansen at the recent Copenhagen propaganda-fest, is getting a lot of web time
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2009/Copenhagen_20090311.pdf
It is surprising for two reasons. 1) It’s candour 2) Its vacuity.
Aerosol Forcing Not Measured .. Based in good part on presumptions … Aerosol forcing practically unknown
Even if we accept the IPCC aerosol estimate, which was pretty much pulled out of a hat, it leaves the net forcing almost anywhere between zero and 3 watts.
Dan @ur momisugly 14:22:45
Have you watched the Great Global Warming Swindle video, available on google video??
Also, you are asking an innocent and obvious question, which does not get answered. All those “climate scientists” need to keep their jobs and won’t actually do any, you know, like, climate science.
However the AGW propaganda juggernaut trundles on….. The Australian press were reporting that a, “Billion people and over eighty cities world wide turned their lights out for Earth hour.”…..
That is a down right fib…. But the journalists just don’t seem to care about truth and impartiality anymore…. The Australian ones, anyway.
Shades of Orwell.
My clever nephew taught me something about recycling which I suspect isn’t well understood. Most “recyclables” can only be recycled two or three times, before they are useless. Even glass winds up as part of asphalt after about four recycles. Since we all believe science will be better in the future, we should stop recycling and do all the mining now, so that the earth will have longer to recover from the mining process. All the stuff to be recycled by much more efficient processes in the future should be stored in clearly marked and maintained places where we can monitor their natural degradation, and utilize the otherwise wasted outgases they produce, like methane. Future recycling engineers will be able to find these resources without searching or disrupting the fragile environment, because we have clearly marked them. My nephew, the mining engineer, said we should call these places (Wait for it, wait for it!) “Municipal Landfills”.