Re: [Phys-l] Solving American ______________

["John Clement" <clement@hal-pc.org>]

Actually there are quite a large number of global warming deniers.  Some of
them are are scientists who go to great pains to prove that the Earth is a
stable system because it is God given to us for our use.  George Bush used
to be a denier, but not admits there is global warming.  If you look at
national surveys a large fraction of the population of the US does not
believe in global warming.  And there are religious right groups which use
theological argument to deny that it is possible.  Again they support one
party over the other, and have pushed that party into silence or even
outright denial.

Then of course there is the second level who believe that it is a temporary
phenomenon, or just due to natural cycles.  But the climatologists are aware
of the cycles, and claim that they do not adequately explain the current
trends.  Of course the role of greenhouse gasses is well known, and the
increase in CO2 is definitely man made.  The big problem comes when the
oceans warm enough to outgas more CO2 which will drive the climate to ever
higher temperatures, and may not be stoppable.  The catastrophic melting of
all glaciers my be several hundred years in the future, but we do not know
the actual time scale.  Sometimes we are surprised by these sorts of things.

What to do about it is definitely a political question, but the science
should not be political.  The possible solutions are certainly scientific,
but which ones are implemented is a political question.  The big problem in
our country is that we have one party that is being dominated by
anti-scientific groups.  While by no means all of the member of that party
are deniers, or even members of the religious right, they are cowed into
silence.

When you start looking at the stupid beliefs that are being pushed, one of
the more surprising is the "birthers".  This is a substantial group that
believes that Obama was born outside of the country.  It is a fairly large
group, and again, it votes for only one party.  American politics is now
driven by ideological and religious concerns, something that doesn't happen
as much in Europe.  The number of people who do not "believe" in evolution
is just below 50%, which is astounding in our day and age.

Science has been taught as "facts" rather than models that we use to explain
physical observations.  This is the same way that religion is taught.  Once
we disconnect science from being just facts, the problem of conflicts
between religion and science go away.  Religion is revealed, while science
is constructed by us as a rational explanation.  We are responsible for
educating the teachers, and so far it has not produced uniformly good
understanding of science.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX

> There are very few people that are true deniers of climate change. Yes,
> climate change is occurring.
> The Earth is a dynamic system, where things change on various time scales.
> People that are labeled
> "deniers" are often more aptly labeled "skeptics" because they question
> scientific methods or
> conclusions based on available information (to them).