Climate Change
I am a member of the greens and since the greens want to block the governments Emissions Trading Scheme I have started to take more of an interest in it. So when a neighbor of mine mentioned he was going to a presentation about climate change I went with him.
Professor Ian Plimer.
People are responsible for global warming – a load of hot air.
This is the introductory statement flashed on the screen at the start of Professor Plimer’s presentation. When I saw this introductory statement on the screen I realized Professor Plimer was a climate change skeptic, he believes in climate change he just doesn’t believe humans are responsible for it, he believes it is a natural phenomenon.
Professor Plimer is a highly educated and experienced geologist and held a lot of impressive environmental positions. If you want to see the introductory page to his book which outlines his expertise click the following link, it is quite impressive.
So I sat through the presentation and , as you would expect, it was a good show. Professor Plimer spoke with authority and there were graphs and slides and charts, the Paleolithic this and the interglacial that. “We need only look back in time and we can understand everything”, he likes the word time. At the end of it I thought “boy no wonder there is so much confusion on this issue, so many experts telling me different things”.
So at the end we had question time and the professor seemed to be enjoying himself as the supportive listeners asked him questions. Until one particular person named Nick, who proclaimed himself to be a greene, asked him some questions. “I believe the consensus of opinion” began Nick but the professor cut him off curtly, “belief is a word for religion. I don’t deal in belief I am a scientist, I deal in facts, and consensus is a word used by politicians”. The professor went on to another question, from the consensus in the room everyone else was quite happy with that.
The respect I had for professor Plimer dropped a little after that, the professor seems quite certain of his interpretation of the ‘facts’ but doesn’t seem to understand simple English. The word 'believe' is quite easy to understand, the professor believes he is right even though the majority of professors and learned men with great experience believe he is wrong. Perhaps the reason he can’t understand the word consensus is because if he did he would have to admit that the consensus among scientists of equal or greater stature than himself is that he is wrong.
Finally there was one other matter during the professors presentation that made me question him. During the presentation he mentioned that many of the scientists who oppose his conclusions are paid by grants from governments or environmental institutions, if there were no environmental issue they would not receive funding. The implication is obvious: these scientists have lost their objectivity and are motivated by financial gain. In the course of question time a lady asked the professor about his considerable connections to the mining industries and the financial support thay are giving him. His annoyed answer to that was “the cosmic dust in the atmosphere remains the same regardless of who pays for the research”.
Now when a person holds one particular standard for himself but a different usually higher standard for others, isn’t there a word in the English language for that?
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