The other day at Buncombe Politics we had an excellent example of how politicized science has become. Davyne Dial made a post about a test that found chemicals known to be used in fracking in a tributary in West Virginia. Here are my first few comments: Interesting... we are already exposed to those and they are in our water system. His test needs to be repeated with lots of publicity and verification. No harm in being careful. They should also test upstream of the site. After those comments, I did some digging and linked to an article that showed the site had a known problem following regulations: Heres a look at the history of the site... I cant speak to the accuracy of this website, just that it has a history of the site along with previous violations. So what is the only logical response to those nefarious comments? You guessed it... why does Mark Cates hate kittens and puppies? You can read the entire exchange here and decide for yourself if taking two samples on one day, downstream from the site, is all that is needed to reach a valid scientific conclusion on the issue. Personally I think the original test is a good first step, but should be expanded so that we make sure our water is safe. on.fb.me/1Acm90H However, the point of this post is really about why being skeptical is a very healthy and crucial approach to ALL science. Ive come up with a few titles... take your pick. I didnt leave NASA, NASA left me. This is not the unprecedented acceleration in Seal Level Rise you are looking for. Why are so many people around the world unconcerned with Catastrophic Man-Made Climate Change? Anyway, Catastrophic Man-Made Climate Change proponents are often dumbfounded that people dont see taking action on climate change as a priority. In this instance they are right, people dont see taking action on climate change as a major priority. In this UN survey, millions of respondents from around the world were given 16 choices of priorities and Action on Climate Change came in last. Heck, it even came behind Internet access. data.myworld2015.org/ So why isnt Climate Change a bigger priority? Heres my two cents... the average human really isnt dumb. We hear alot of claims that humans are dumb, but I dont actually think we are. Sometimes we are uninformed. Sometimes we are uninvolved. Sometimes we are busy. Sometimes we are blinded by ideology, but in general, humans are not dumb. As a matter of fact, I think we are pretty smart. On a gut level humans have a pretty good understanding of the world and I think that is why most people arent buying into Catastrophic Man-Made Climate Change. We hear words like unprecedented, catastrophic, extreme over and over again and our BS filter sets off a warning. I think this built in skepticism is a strong and healthy part of human nature. I think that skepticism has done a good job at keeping us alive and moving us forward at the same time. So that brings us to NASA and its important to note that NASA played a major role in shaping my life. I grew up loving NASA and wanting to work at NASA. It pains me to say this, but I didnt leave NASA, NASA left me. How? Many ways, but heres one... right now at the NASA website you can read this: Global sea level rose about 17 centimeters (6.7 inches) in the last century. The rate in the last decade, however, is nearly double that of the last century.(4) climate.nasa.gov/evidence/ Wow, the rate in the last decade is nearly double that of the last century! Thank goodness we live in the mountains and really, who cares about the east coast of North Carolina anyway? Theyve been neglecting Western North Carolina for over two centuries and I say we charge them extra as they move to escape the flood. However, thats a really bold statement endorsed by NASA at their website. Perhaps we should look at what that (4) part is really saying? So I did... here is a link to the (4). psmsl.org/products/reconstructions/gslGPChange2014.txt When we look at the data for this century, youll notice something a little fishy about the sea level. All that acceleration NASA used to create that scary post happened in about one year this century. If we look closely the data is all spikey right there at the end of it and sure enough, that creates a big acceleration. If you look at ALL the data it looks pretty linear, but if you cherry pick it, then yeah, its pretty scary. How spikey is the data you ask? Lets just say its porcupine kind of spikey. In one year we had about 20% of the entire increase for the previous century. To put it in really simple language... if throughout the entire last century you earned 100 dollars, all you have to do this century to make 20 dollars is work one year. Not a bad gig, if you can get funding for it. Wait a second, why didnt those flat-landers say anything about a 20% increase in one year over the previous century! What gives? How did they miss it? Where did all the water go? Surely a 20% increase in one year over the previous century caused serious damage. Someone, somewhere had to be impacted by such an increase in the Sea Level. Or perhaps, no one was impacted because it only happened in the data? Could this data be right? Maybe, but I kind of think someone might have been impacted by a 20% increase over the previous century. Also, when I look at 10, 20, 60, 100 years worth of data and I dont see that kind of spike it sets off my spidey senses. In my opinion, it should set everyones off. If this is a human signal, it just seems odd we dont find another example of it in the data, unless we go back to the ending of the Little Ice Age. Back in the day, I worked on missile guidance and radar systems. When our data looked like that, we had a phrase to help us understand the data better. We said, Look, another UFO. No one takes that data to the Colonel and says, Sir, we caught another UFO. Should I just sit down, shut up and accept the data? No doubt, some would have me choose that path, but I just dont think that is how humans work. Even those who are proponents of Catastrophic Man-Made Climate Change have pretty good spidey senses when they apply their intellect to say... the military industrial complex, or George W. Bush. Data... its whats for breakfast.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 15:53:01 +0000