Behind enemy lines in Academia (Global Warming)

5/8/03 | SteveH

[SteveH]

I am taking a [math] class at a public institution of higher learning. Student projects are being presented. One project models consumption and of course comes to the conclusion that we are consuming too much for our own collective good as a planet.

The presenter mentioned in passing the global warming trend and said that something was needed to counteract it, since it was a manmade phenomenon and a side effect of consumption. This was said without support. I asked whether the speaker believed global warming by man) concept in view of all the controversy, and the speaker responded affirmatively.

The prof chimed in and said a NAS study conclusively demonstrated that global warming (by man) was found by that study, so she believed it.

I held off and later did a web search. I came up with an article in the Wall Street Journal by one of the NAS authors ("The Press Gets It Wrong", WSJonline, June 11, 2001, by Richard S. Lindzen) here.

I sent the article by email to the presenter and the prof, and asked them what I -- and the WSJ author, who was one of the NAS authors-- had missed concerning the global warming controversy.

That was about 36 hours ago, and I have not heard anything back yet. I will go back to class soon.

I am now wondering if it was appropriate to send the email. It was done in the Socratic philosophy, a spirit that does not seem like it is very popularon campus these days (any more? did it ever thrive anywhere?).

Anyway, I would welcome any thoughts.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Check this list of articles:

List of articles with discussion on The Global Warming Hoax

Give us a report back, please!

Look at this especially:

Winter in Big Cities of the East Ranked Among the Coldest Since 1950 -

[theDentist]

As long as you now realize you will probably get a D or an F, then attend anyhow. Remember, you are "Questioning Authority", and since PC viewpoints are accepted by professors as the ultimate Authority, you can drive him/her "mad".

[Black Agnes]

You're going to fail...You're going to fail....(sing-song)

[Black Agnes]

ping.

[Mr. Lucky]

You will do much better in college once you learn to parrot the politically correct line (and quench the resultant fire in your gut with huge quantities of beer)

[Sam Cree]

I have a prof who is very politically correct and leftist, yet she welcomes well thought out dissent. It depends on the prof, many are not so tolerant.

[LiteKeeper]

education bump

[kidd]

I admire your bravery. Next time do it anonomously. I hope the professor is open minded enough to consider it, or at least not hold it against you.

Here is an excelent article, if you need it: http://www.oism.org/pproject/s33p36.htm

[Mihalis]

...It was done in the Socratic philosophy, a spirit that does not seem like it is very popular on campus these days...

It is not very popular anywhere these days. The essence of the Socratic method is the search for truth, whether subjective or objective. Many people today (mostly of the liberal kind) are only interested in the promotion of a political or ideological agenda they don't even understand.

On the issue of global warming most liberals and environmentalists will tell you it's man-made, something that no one has been able to prove. For a diverse discussion of the subject go to:

http://www.energypulse.net/centers/article/article_display.cfm?a_id=237

[maclogo]

I assume that you support Truth. Sending the article to WHOMever will merely show that sometimes the general "perception" is wrong. In this case, the PC perception, driven by the media. You did the right thing. Be true to yourself and the truth and you will never be regretful.

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

Of course it was appropriate. If this kind of communication gets you in hot water where you are, you're wasting your time and tuition there. Brush the dung off your sandals, transfer to a school that encourages thinking, and move on.

[katana]

IMHO it was entirely appropriate for you to send them the essay by the NAS researcher. It's good scholarship to research and share information, especially when it challenges unsupported statements being presented as fact.

That being said, liberals and especially academics do not take well to being corrected and these days can be unbelievably obtuse when confronted with facts that don't support their preconceptions.

It's sad, but this wasn't always the case. I used to have a lot of friends who were big-L Liberals and the give and take between us was good natured. Being challenged forces you to examine the premises of your beliefs and makes you stronger in the end. Liberals have gotten to the point now where their beliefs are treated like religious dogma and as such not open to question, logic, or fact.

I wish you luck, but don't be surprised if you're suddenly being treated like a turd in a punch bowl.

[ThanhPhero]

Liberals have gotten to the point now where their beliefs are treated like religious dogma and as such not open to question, logic, or fact.

Because as liberals have approached ever closer to monopoly in Academe their assertions have deviated farther and farther from the real world and there is less room to maneuver intellectually.There are not many more arguments possible so emotion comes to be the entirety of the argument and there is no rational response acceptable to an emotionalist.

By countering an assertion, one only shows that one is evil. In a class situation not agreeing with the professor in most cases just probves the student has not learned anything and therefore does not merit a good grade.

[Doctor Mongo]

Steve H should have considered the response of Socrates's contemporaries to his philosophy - they dosed him with hemlock for his challenges to their intlellectual orthodoxy.

[boris]

MIT researcher finds evidence of global warming on Neptune's largest moon

JUNE 24, 1998

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- We're not the only ones experiencing global warming. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher has reported that observations obtained by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based instruments reveal that Neptune's largest moon, Triton, seems to have heated up significantly since the Voyager space probe visited it in 1989. The warming trend is causing part of Triton's surface of frozen nitrogen to turn into gas, thus making its thin atmosphere denser.

While no one is likely to plan a summer vacation on Triton, this report in the June 25 issue of the journal Nature by MIT astronomer James L. Elliot and his colleagues from MIT, Lowell Observatory and Williams College says that the moon is approaching an unusually warm summer season that only happens once every few hundred years. Elliot and his colleagues believe that Triton's warming trend could be driven by seasonal changes in the absorption of solar energy by its polar ice caps.

"At least since 1989, Triton has been undergoing a period of global warming. Percentage-wise, it's a very large increase," said Elliot, professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and director of the Wallace Astrophysical Observatory. The 5 percent increase on the absolute temperature scale from about minus-392 degrees Fahrenheit to about minus-389 degrees Fahrenheit would be like the Earth experiencing a jump of about 22 degrees Fahrenheit.

Triton is a simpler subject than Earth for studying the causes and effects of global warming. "It's generally true around the solar system that when we try to understand a problem as complex as global warming -- one in which we can't control the variables -- the more extreme cases we have to study, the more we can become sure of certain factors," Elliot said. "With Triton, we can clearly see the changes because of its simple, thin atmosphere."

The moon is approaching an extreme southern summer, a season that occurs every few hundred years. During this special time, the moon's southern hemisphere receives more direct sunlight. The equivalent on Earth would be having the sun directly overhead at noon north of Lake Superior during a northern summer. Elliot and his colleagues believe that Triton's temperature has increased because of indications that the pressure of the atmosphere has increased. Because of the unusually strong correlation between Triton's surface ice temperature and its atmospheric pressure, Elliot said scientists can infer a temperature increase of 3 degrees Fahrenheit over nine years based on its recent increase in surface vapor pressure. Any ice on Triton that warms up a little results in a big increase in atmospheric pressure as the vaporized gas joins the atmosphere.

Scientists used one of the Hubble telescope's three Fine Guidance Sensors in November 1997 to measure Triton's atmospheric pressure when the moon passed in front of a star. Two of Hubble's guidance sensors are normally used to keep the telescope pointed at a celestial target by monitoring the brightness of guide stars. The third can serve as a scientific instrument.

In this case, the guidance sensor measured a star's gradual decrease in brightness as Triton passed in front of it. The starlight got dimmer as it traveled through Triton's thicker atmosphere and then got cut off completely by the moon's total occultation of the star. This filtering of starlight through an atmosphere is similar to what happens during a sunset. As the sun dips toward the horizon, its light dims because it is traveling through denser air and because the sun's disk gets "squashed."

By detecting that Triton's atmosphere had thickened, astronomers were able to deduce that the temperature of the ice on Triton's surface has increased. "This pressure increase implies a temperature increase," Elliot wrote. "At this rate, the atmosphere has at least doubled in bulk since the time of the Voyager encounter." Like the Earth, Triton's atmosphere is composed mostly of molecular nitrogen, but its surface pressure is much less than that of the Earth--about the same as that 45 miles high in the Earth's atmosphere.

In their Nature paper, Elliot and his colleagues list two other possible explanations for Triton's warmer weather. Because the frost pattern on Triton's surface may have changed over the years, it may be absorbing a little more of the sun's warmth. Or changes in reflectivity of Triton's ice may have caused it to absorb more heat. "When you're so cold, global warming is a welcome trend," said Elliot.

About the same size and density as Pluto, Triton--one of Neptune's eight moons--is 30 times as far from the sun as the Earth. It is very cold and windy, with winds close to the speed of sound, and has a mixed terrain of icy regions and bare spots. Triton is a bit smaller than our moon, but its gravity is able to keep an atmosphere from completely escaping because it is so cold. Its composition is believed to be similar to a comet's, although it is much larger than a comet. Triton was captured into a reverse orbit by Neptune's strong gravitational pull.

Other astronomers who participated in this investigation are MIT research assistant Heidi B. Hammel and technical assistants Michael J. Person and Stephen W. McDonald of MIT; Otto G. Franz, Lawrence H. Wasserman, John A. Stansberry, John R. Spencer, Edward W. Dunham, Catherine B. Olkin and Mark W. Buie of Lowell Observatory; Jay M. Pasachoff, Bryce A. Babcock and Timothy H. McConnochie of Williams College.

This work is supported in part by NASA, the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society.

[boris]

World Climate Report Online

This temperature update presents the NASA satellite measurements of monthly temperature anomalies—the difference between the observed values and the 1979–1998 mean values. Global satellite measurements are made from a series of orbiting platforms that sense the average temperature in various atmospheric layers. Here, we present the lowest level, which matches nearly perfectly with the mean temperatures measured by weather balloons in the layer between 5,000 and 28,000 feet. The satellite measurements are considered accurate to within 0.01°C and provide more uniform coverage of the entire globe than surface measurements, which tend to concentrate over land.

March 2003: The global average temperature departure was 0.104°C; the Northern Hemisphere temperature departure was 0.085°C; and the Southern Hemisphere departure was 0.122°C.

Below: Monthly satellite temperatures for the Northern Hemisphere (top) and Southern Hemisphere (bottom). Trend lines indicate statistically significant changes only.

[meadsjn]

It was done in the Socratic philosophy, a spirit that does not seem like it is very popular on campus these days (any more? did it ever thrive anywhere?).

For at least the last 22 years, academia has operated on sophistry. Even the schools of Business, Science, and Math are eaten slam up with stupid.

CONTENTS · GUIDE · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition. 1995.

sophistic

ADJECTIVE: Containing fundamental errors in reasoning: fallacious, false, illogical, invalid, specious, spurious, unsound. See CORRECT, TRUE.

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Have her take the GLOBAL WARMING TEST.

[DensaMensa]

That test is silly. The correct answers are (1) It is not as warm now as at the time of the Vikings, when they discovered America. (2) The "greenhouse effect" as applied to the earth remains a theory. It has not (perhaps cannot) be proven, but so what anyway...? (3) It is the SUN which is the primary cause of the earth not being a chunk of space ice. The answers offered are inadaquate.

Those first quesions/answers were so bad I didn't even look at the rest.