Making The World Safe For Science - One Supermodel At A Time
Want To Cure Global Warming? Make Really Big Sunglasses
Sometimes aging scientists get nostalgic for no good reason. Sometimes aging scientists get nostalgic for a very good reason. Environmentalism of the 1970s is a very good reason for scientists to get nostalgic.
You see, when I was a young scientist the big fear was a new Ice Age. Yes, the trend had been that in the 20th century to-date, even with all those big factories pumping out noxious gas and fumes, the earth was cooling. Pollution was the problem, they said. Too much sulfur was preventing the sun's yummy rays from entering terra firma.
Now it turns out global warming is the problem. That means - you guessed it - we don't have enough pollution preventing the sun's yummy rays from entering our atmosphere.
Fear of a new Ice Age at least made sense. Throughout earth's history, 90,000 of every 100,000 years has been Ice Age. And it's been 12,000 years since the last one, which means we are overdue.
Global Warming doesn't make as much sense. Most global warming doesn't come from people or factories, it comes from plants. I don't know about you, but I get tickled trying to think of ways environmentalists can blame Big Business for too many plants. Then again, TIME Magazine can write most anything with a straight face - they did a big cover story on global warming that had in its first paragraph, "Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us."
Maybe the guys at TIME are confused about what the words "suddenly" and "unexpectedly" actually mean. I can't pick up a newspaper without reading about global warming. TIME goes on to say that we're all going to Hell in a handbasket because of glacial ice sheets melting and a 20-foot rise in the oceans. It's like WaterWorld, only with better actors.
Wait ... Archimedes lived a long time ago and even he knew better. Those glacial ice sheets can melt all they want and it doesn't make a bit of difference in the level of the oceans. Now, if all of Greenland melted, that would be a problem - but the temperature of Greenland itself isn't rising at all.
Some scientists are no different from any other government pork-barrel recipients. They only think about funding. Like the saying goes, "No bucks - no Buck Rogers." Since global warming is the cause celebre du jour, that is where some will go to get money.
So what are those scientists claiming is the answer to global warming? Make really big sunglasses. Or mess with the clouds to act more like our old friend pollution - the easiest answer of all is to inject more sulfur into the atmosphere, which is one of the proposals geo-engineers have out there.
Yes, you read it correctly. We spent trillions of dollars creating government regulations and re-tooling factories to halt the emission of sulfur into the atmosphere so now we will need to spend trillions to create a government agency to inject sulfur into the atmosphere. Sometimes I hate scientists. And I am one. And I hate irony!
Let's not panic just yet. After all, global warming only became a problem when George Bush took office in 2001. Al Gore says we still have 10 years before catastrophe occurs. And 10 years just happens to be 2 years until the next election plus the 8 years to the end of his second term as President if he wins. So at least we know he has a plan.
posted by Buckaroo at 7:38 AM
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