Hi Andy,

Ok, you've shamed me into it. I admit it. Global warming is real. No,
really, it is. Really.

And thanks for the invitation to the Yakima Audubon meeting. I'm sure there
will be some beautiful slides.

A more careful read of my original tongue-in-cheek comment regarding a
possible explanation for the sudden bird death phenomenon questions not
whether we are seeing global warming. We are. The real question is whether
global climate change is man-made or part of a natural oscillation, the
latter of which we see volumes of evidence for in the fossil record, and
more recently in studies of solar fluctuations.

The most "compelling" evidence for man being the culprit (and by extension,
the savior) goes something like this.

Humans have been on the scene during the most recent temperature rise,
engaged in activities that we think could cause a climate change, therefore
humans are causing the climate to change. After that, there is a lot of
theory that can never be proven or disproven, which by itself is
scientifically inedible.

It has been a scant couple of decades since the earth's inhabitants were
warned of looming global deep freeze. And with a virtually instantaneous
about-face we somehow find the current idea more compelling?

The inquiring thinker has reason to foster a healthy bit of skepticism of
this kind of thinking and most other dogma. Without wishing to pigeonhole
Tweeterdom, it could be said by observation that most here are not your
average skeptics, and not ones to exhibit such sacred fervor on any other
topic.

And it is interesting to note how often an advocate's answer to an
environmental problem is to immediately look for the man-made global climate
change angle, urging others to take their pat answer at face value, while at
the same time doing precious little to change their own lifestyles in the
meaningful ways they would so easily impose on others.

Nowadays the nearly universal reaction of trying to shame, belittle or
embarrass anyone with questions about the idea of man-made global climate
change flies in the face of dearly-held ideas of scientific enquiry.
Placing off limits the simple questioning of an idea is the definition of
dogma, canon law and ideology. It would be embarrassing for a true
scientist to be doctrinaire on such a topic, because actually by definition
the two cannot coexist. Yet this is the startling mind set of many
advocates.

So, should we be concerned about global warming? Maybe, maybe not.

And the final argument is always, "Better safe than sorry...so YOU had
better shape up your lifestyle just in case."

PS: Andy and I have known each other for 22 years and have spent
considerable time together burning fossil fuels on our birding trips to
Okanogan and Douglas Counties.


Scott R
Yakima, WA
mryakima at gmail dot com

Tweeters FAQ: Bird observations, trip reports, field identification issues,
and the status, distribution, habitats, natural history, and biology of the
birds of Cascadia provide the prevalent ? but not exclusive ? subject matter
of the list.




On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 6:50 AM, Andy Stepniewski <steppie at nwinfo.net> wrote:

>
>
> Scott Ray wrote Sun, 2 Jan 2011 17:28:35 -0800:
>
> No doubt this phenomenon [falling birds] is linked to man-made climate
> change. If the
> link isn't obvious at first, surely we can find one.
>
> Scott R
> Yakima, WA
> mryakima at gmail dot com
>
> I appreciate Scott's awareness of one of the momentous challenges facing
> humankind and invite him to the Yakima Valley Audubon Society's January
> program (January 27th, 7 pm) at the Yakima Area Arboretum. A noted polar
> scientist will be speaking on climate change which Scott obviously
> wholeheartedly embraces.
>
> Scott, we'll see you January 27th, as I'm sure you would not want to miss
> this program.
>
> Here's the program: Title: Global Climate Change from the Perspective of a
> Polar Scientist:
>
> Despite polls indicating that global climate change is not a major
> concern for most Americans, there is little doubt that it will become
> one of the defining issues of the 21st century. For those who live or
> work in polar regions the impact is already very obvious, and its
> ramifications for the rest of the world very serious. In this talk, I
> will describe why our research in both the Arctic and Antarctic is
> relevant to understanding climate change, and some of the startling
> changes we are seeing. I will also describe what we observe happening in
> the larger global context, and discuss why we should all be concerned
> about our collective use of fossil carbon. Interspersed with the
> technical details will be scenery slides from scientific expeditions to
> Greenland and Antarctica in the past year.
>
> About Miles McPhee:
>
> Since obtaining a PhD in the Geophysics from the University of
> Washington in 1974, I have participated in over two dozen Arctic and
> Antarctic field programs, several of which I led as chief scientist;
> written around 50 articles for scientific journals; and authored a book
> entitled "Air-Ice-Ocean Interaction." I have participated in several
> advisory panels for the National Science Foundation, and served a term
> on the National Academy Polar Research Board, during planning for the
> 2007-2008 International Polar Year. Although affiliated with the Polar
> Science Center at the University of Washington, I have run an
> independent research business since 1984; primarily because of our
> desire to raise a family in the Yakima Valley, where as far as I know, I
> am the sole polar oceanographer.
>
> Miles G. McPhee, Ph.D.
> McPhee Research Company
> 450 Clover Springs Road
> Naches WA 98937 USA
> (+1) 509 658 2575 (fax is same)
> email: mmcphee at hughes.net
> web: http://mcpheeresearch.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tweeters mailing list
> Tweeters at u.washington.edu
> http://mailman2.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters
>
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