Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Stupid humans

This post is not intended to disparage Mr. Lovelock, but damn...he sure seems to be disparaging me:

"I don't think we're yet evolved to the point where we're clever enough to handle a complex a [sic] situation as climate change," said Lovelock in his first in-depth interview since the theft of the UEA emails last November. "The inertia of humans is so huge that you can't really do anything meaningful."

Think we've accomplished anything meaningful in 90 years?

One of the main obstructions to meaningful action is "modern democracy", he added. "Even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while."

Won't affect him. He won't be around much longer. (Plus Friedman's got his back!)

He thinks only a catastrophic event would now persuade humanity to take the threat of climate change seriously enough, such as the collapse of a giant glacier in Antarctica, such as the Pine Island glacier, which would immediately push up sea level.

"That would be the sort of event that would change public opinion," he said.

Does he mean actual evidence? Even so, it wouldn't be proof of anthropomorphic global warming.

Ending on a good note, I'll give him credit for this bit:

Lovelock. . .added that he has little sympathy for the climate scientists caught up in the UEA email scandal. He said he had not read the original emails – "I felt reluctant to pry" – but that their reported content had left him feeling "utterly disgusted".

"Fudging the data in any way whatsoever is quite literally a sin against the holy ghost of science," he said. "I'm not religious, but I put it that way because I feel so strongly. It's the one thing you do not ever do. You've got to have standards."

Their actions might be called stupid. Perhaps the scientific method is too complex for mere humans?

(alternate close: this interview left me feeling utterly disgusted)

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