SOCIAL: A little environmental help please

Thu Jul 23 19:27:49 PDT 2009

My blood pressure is rising just thinking about your experience in the
lunchroom! I've seen a lot of research in the last few months that
skepticism among Republicans far outweighs that among Democrats and
Independents, and in fact the better educated someone is, the more likely he
or she is to believe (D's / I's) or not (R's) that climate change is real
and caused by human activity. Also, Republican disbelief actually fell last
fall (when McCain, who believes that climate change is real, was running)
and started rising again after Obama was elected.

Grist has an excellent series on its website called "How to talk to a
Climate Skeptic" available here:
http://www.grist.org/article/series/skeptics/

While they have a great series of links to dispel the most common arguments,
unfortunately there is no link to something like "Al Gore/Inconvenient Truth
is wrong"!

By the way, if it turns out that they are basing their arguments on a
skeptic named Lomberg who published (unfortunately well-publicized) drivel
last year in the form of a book called "Cool It", I've got ammo for that
too. But no need to waste your time on him and his arguments if not
necessary.

Kristina

On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 2:06 PM, Mike Kosim <mike.kosim at mac.com> wrote:

> I'd also look at the political bent of the website itself.
> They market themselves as "Free Market Environmentalists" and "Common Sense
> Environmentalists".  While they say they are not politically aligned, I
> think it is fair to say they are Regulation Opposed.  That's just a short
> list.  This site is pretty biased.  My $.02.
>
>
> Mike
>
> Here are some excerpts from their site page:
> http://www.heartland.org/suites/environment/index.html
>
> *
> *
>
> *>>They Say:*
>
> *What is Common-Sense Environmentalism?*
>
> Common-sense environmentalism recognizes that almost everyone today is an
> environmentalist. We all want a healthy, green environment for ourselves and
> our families.
>
> >>My comment:  This isn't really true.  While it would be *MORE* true if
> people acted entirely in their backyards, I don't think the CEOs of coal
> companies are living on the mountain tops they are removing!  That is, while
> people may want the best environment for themselves, this doesn't mean they
> are willing to sacrifice their yearly performance bonus in order to preserve
> the environment for strangers.
>
>
> >>They Say:
>
> The key insight that environmental advocates, and the media<http://www.heartland.org/policybot/?keyword=&Author=&Publisher=&StartDate=&DocumentNumber=&topic=12&subtopic=149&Submit=Search> that
> gives them sympathetic coverage, overlook is the First Law of Toxicology<http://www.heartland.org/policybot/?keyword=&Author=&Publisher=&StartDate=&DocumentNumber=&topic=12&subtopic=127&Submit=Search>:
> The dose makes the poison. Many “toxic” chemicals are not dangerous if the
> level of exposure is below a threshold where physical affects can be
> observed, while many “harmless” chemicals can be deadly if we are exposed to
> too much of them.
>
> >>My comment: The old addage "The solution to pollution is dilution" was
> something anti-regulation advocates liked to say about environmental
> disasters.  While it would be true in a static sense, that is, yes, if I
> diluted that drop of DDT in billions of gallons of water, it would be
> relatively harmless, this largely ignores the fact that there are many
> biological and physical systems that create high concentrations of toxins in
> our food supply. (witness tuna, a major source of mercury in the American
> diet)
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Jul 23, 2009, at 1:41 PM, Geoff Davis wrote:
>
> A more neutral version:
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7037671.stm
> The movie *can *be show in schools, but there needs to be a disclaimer.
>
> It sounds like the gist of the issue is this:
>
> Increased CO2 in the atmosphere is leading to all sorts of changes in the
> climate, but it is extremely difficult to say that any particular event is a
> direct result of increased CO2 emissions.    Gore was trying to tell a
> story, so he showed specific events (e.g. Katrina) and suggested that global
> climate change may have been responsible.  It's hair splitting.
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 1:20 PM, Jennifer Seuferer <
> jenniferseuferer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> So today I walked in on a conversation in my office lunch room between two
>> men known for their conservative & republican political views. They were
>> talking about the environment and global warming. I won't go into everything
>> they were saying because it makes me so mad I want to throw something but
>> one thing they said was that Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" could not be
>> shown in British schools because of all the inaccuracies in the film. I
>> googled this and found this article and was wondering if anyone on Social
>> could speak to some of the points in this. What concerns me is the men I
>> overheard discussing this were using this to basically write off global
>> warming or the things people do to try to help as ridiculous and uneducated.
>> If you have time please read this and let me know what you think. Its not a
>> very long article.
>>
>>
>> http://www.heartland.org/policybot/results/22160/British_Court_Rules_Inconvenient_Truth_Represents_Partisan_Political_Views.html
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
Kristina Pappas
MBA, Sustainable Management - 2008
415.812.3128
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinapappas
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