UPDATE: Sandra Tsing Loh has the ultimate putdown for eco-snobs.
And yet there is the exquisite pleasure of eco-stalking those who used to eco-stalk you. “Good news!” I now enthuse to formerly smug Prius-driving friends of mine. “Right this second, a SolarCity engineer and I are studying a live Google Earth picture of your house! Little shade, south-facing — how ’bout I send them over for an estimate?”
It will be about $40,000. Next step ? Loss of interest.
Sniped a scientist friend of mine: “Instead of solar, why don’t you spend the money on something less self-aggrandizing — like offering $50 to anyone with an old refrigerator?”
There you are.
The utter fatuousness of the next Time magazine issue is staggering. This interview shows just how far gone they are.
“We are experts in what we do.”
Veterans of Iwo Jima are not amused.
I have previously posted on some of the ignorance of economics so clearly demonstrated by the Time editor.
Here is more on the Time cover story that points out how the environmental activists are ignoring both science and economics. The planet has been warming for the past 60 years but the warming trend may have ended or flattened out.
For example, satellite measurements of temperatures aloft show no warming trend. Surface warming measurements may be affected by urban heat islands and, while NASA tries to avoid skewing data in the US, there has been a scandal in the placing of temperatures sensors in China. The scientist who was supposed to be ensuring that rapid urban development in China did not affect the sensors, was found to have falsified some of his data.
The data came from only 84 stations, 60% of which had no history whatsoever, and the report claims “details regarding instrumentation, collection methods, observing times … are not known.” Of the 35 remaining, over half had moved large distances (one station moving as many as five times) or had serious, known inconsistencies in the record. The report specifically contradicts Wang’s claims, concluding that “even the best stations were subject to minor relocations or changes in observing times and many have undoubtedly experienced large increases in urbanization.”Keenan immediately filed a formal allegation of fraud against Wang, a charge which is pending investigation at this time.
China is a big place with lots of land area and a rapidly industrializing society. How much did that development affect global warming ? Especially since the measurements were affected by urban heat islands. What we are seeing is a huge extrapolation of data from very shaky sources.
I’m currently reading a book titled The Deniers about scientists who are resisting the lockstep march of the anthropogenic global warming crowd and many who are paying a price.