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Archive for the ‘Environmental Hall of Shame’ Category

Nominate Your Favorites for the 2011 Environmental Hall of Fame/Shame

Tue ,03/01/2012

Each year, this site takes a poll to find those most deserving to receive recognition in the Environmental Hall of Fame and the Environmental Hall of Shame. Nominations are now open for those who have most affected the environment by words or action. With the ongoing  debate about environmental regulations, a number of possible nominees should be easy to find.  Please send your nominations  for the Environmental Hall of Fame and for the  Hall of  Shame by e-mail through the “Contact” link.  You also may place your nomination in the comment section ,  but if it includes a link, the spam blocker may catch it. If you wish, you may  include a short reason that your nominee should be chosen and suggest a suitable gift if they win. 

For example, Congressman John Sullivan might be nominated in the Hall of Shame category for introducing a bill in Congress that would require the EPA to do a cost-benefit analysis on for every rule it makes. His legislation would create a huge amount of paperwork for the EPA and would make its job impossible to do, which seems to be his goal. A suitable gift might be a large piggy bank in which to keep the donations that action has earned him. Or, Congressman Frank Lucas may be nominated in the Hall of Fame category for acknowledging that climate change might affect our food supply. A suitable gift might be a crystal ball, so that he can show other members of the Congress what the future might look like if we do not act to mitigate climate change.

Nominations will be taken until January 31st, 2012. The nominees will then be  listed  and this site will conduct a poll in February to determine the winner in each category.   The  2011 year’s winner in the Environmental Hall Fame category will receive the “Most Noble Prize in Environmental Science” and a  suitable gift. The winner in the Hall of  Shame category will receive the “Ignoble Prize”and a gift also.  Past years winners and their gifts were:

                      Hall of Fame    –    Gift                                             

2010        RealClimate.org  – A recommendation from this site. ( Priceless)  

2009        Benno Hansen,  ThinkAboutIt Blogger – A Subscription to Science News.           

                      Hall of Shame    

2010         Koch Brothers – A petition to the Wizard of Oz for a social conscience.

2009         SpaceGuy,  Newsvine Blogger – The movie Wall-E, his view of the future of Earth.

You may suggest a suitable prize for your nominee. Please be imaginative, as particularly thoughtful or humorous  nominations will  be recognized and published on this site.

(C) 2012  J.C. Moore

  

The 2010 Environmental Hall of Fame/Shame Winners

Thu ,24/02/2011


This year the contest was carried out on three websites and the results were combined.  Your votes have been tabulated to determine  the person who has most affected the environment through word or deed.

The 2010 Environmental Hall of Fame winner is RealClimate.org. As Physicist Retired said in his nomination, “This consortium of climate scientists has developed a comprehensive collection of data and analysis open to the public, with materials and discussions at basic, intermediate, and advanced levels of understanding. It is one of the most effective tools we currently have to combat – with real facts – the ongoing claims made by deniers.” The site will receive the Most Noble Prize in Environmental Science, a heartfelt thank you, and a recommendation from the sites where this will be posted. Arnold Schwarzenegger and John Kerry  were tied for second place, and should receive, as Dowser put it, “Thanks, for standing firm. May God bless you!”

The Environmental Hall of Shame recipients are the Koch Brothers. They could use the publicity as they have been secretly funding candidates who oppose environmental regulations through their Americans for Prosperity Organization. They also clandestinely fund a number of think tanks that produce white papers, written by scientists with compromised ethics, that dispute the scientific research on climate change. They will receive the “Ignoble Prize in Environmental Science” and in the spirit of Oz, we will petition the Wizard to give them a social conscience.

Second place goes to Jane Lubchenco. As one blogger put it, ” I nominate her as a key player in the cover up of the death and destruction of the Gulf of Mexico, and in the vilification of those Marine Scientists who have concluded that there is a huge amount of oil left in the Gulf.”  Her nominators were certainly the most creative in proposing prizes, and their names have been omitted, just in case. The proposed awards included: “The golden Tar Ball award . Yes , a big trophy cup over flowing with tar balls.”  “A picture of ten moon’s hanging over the side of an oil stained shrimp boat , with a For Sale sign on the shrimp boat.” “The old oil from every thing you will change the oil in this coming year. Cars, boats, motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles whatever sits in your garage or drive way. Think of it as a new form of recycling. Mail it to her.” Finally, someone wished to combine Jane’s award with Tony Hayward’s: “An all expense paid yacht trip for the two across the Gulf at the height of the spill, with an eternal flame lighting the bow.”

Hall of Fame Nominations and Percentage of Votes :

RealClimate.org – For providing facts to counter the propaganda by climate change deniers. (45%)

Govenor Arnold Schwarzenegger – For helping defeat Proposition 23, an effort to gut California’s environmental laws and heavily funded by Texas oilmen. (27%)

Senator John Kerry – For his efforts to usher a Cap-and -Trade bill through the .S. Senate. (27%)

China – For making real efforts to develop alternate energy sources. (0%)

Hall of Shame Nominations and Percentage of Votes :

The Koch Brothers, owners of Koch Oil – For slowing progress on a sound energy policy by funding climate change deniers. (46%)

Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Head of NOAA – For her role in the Gulf oil spill, being too friendly toward the oil companies she was to regulate, and damage to the fishing industry. (38%)

Tony Hayward, ex-chairman of BP – For decisions leading up to the oil spill and for saying, “I want my life back.” (8%)

China – For surpassing the U.S as the number one country in pollution emissions. (8%)

Remember, check www.realclimate.org for the facts on climate science. And, keep in mind those who you wish to nominate for the 2011 Awards,  which  will be held next December.

Poll: Vote for the 2010 Hall of Fame/Shame Candidates

Fri ,21/01/2011

Please vote for the nominee  you think has most affected the environment through word or deed. The 2010 winners in the in the Environmental Hall of Fame poll will receive the “Most Noble Prize in Environmental Science” and a suitable gift. The winner in the Environmental Hall of Shame category will receive the “Ignoble Prize in Environmental Science” and also a mostly suitable gift. The poll will close on February 15th.

If you wish, please post a reason for your vote and a suggestion for a suitable gift for your favorite candidate. Some great gifts have already been proposed and they will be mentioned when the winners are announced. The author will buy the gifts from his copious blogging  earnings so please don’t worry about the expense.

Hall of Shame Nominees:

> Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Head of NOAA – For her role in the Gulf oil spill, being in bed with the oil companies she was to regulate, and damage to the fishing industry.

>Tony Hayward, ex-chairman of BP – For decisions leading up to the oil spill and for saying, “I want my life back.”

>China – For surpassing the U.S as the number one country in pollution emissions.

>The Koch Brothers, owners of Koch Oil – For slowing progress on a sound energy policy by funding climate change deniers.


Hall of Fame Nominees:

> China – For making real efforts to develop alternate energy sources.

> RealClimate.org – For providing facts to counter the propaganda by climate change deniers.

> Govenor Arnold Schwarzenegger – For helping defeat Proposition 23, an effort to gut California’s environmental laws and heavily funded by Texas oilmen.

>Senator John Kerry – For his efforts to usher a Cap-and -Trade bill through the U.S. Senate.

Vote below. Please do not click “Vote” until you have picked a candidate from each category. Pick one Hall of  Shame candidate – then scroll down, using the little microphone symbol, and pick a Hall of Fame candidate. Then click “Vote” to register your choices.

Poll is closed. See winners at http://jcmooreonline.com/2011/02/24/the-2010-environmental-hall-of-fameshame-winners/.

Nominations for the 2010 Environmental Hall of Fame/Shame

Tue ,07/12/2010

Each year, this site takes a poll to see who the readers think is the most deserving person to receive recognition in the Environmental Hall of Fame or Hall of Shame. Nominations are now open for the person who has most affected the environment by words or action. With the debate on environmental regulation coming up, a number of possible nominees should appear.  Please send your nominations  for the Environmental Hall of Fame and for the  Hall of  Shame by e-mail through the “Contact” link  along with a short reason that your nominee  should be included. You may also suggest a suitable gift for them if they win.  You may also place your nomination in the comment section,  but if it includes a link, the spam blocker may catch it.

Nominees will be taken until January 15, 2011 and the nominees will then be  listed  and a  vote  taken.  The  2010 year’s winner in the Environmental Hall Fame (or Shame)  category will receive the “Most Noble (or Most Ignoble Prize) in Environmental Science” and a  suitable gift. For instance,  while last year John McCain  might have deserved a framed picture of a trout swimming upstream  in the  Fame Category, this year he might deserve a picture of a trout flip/flopping on the bank in the Shame category. Let us hope that, after the election, he will flip back in and continue upstream. In the  Hall of Fame category  for instance,  John Kerry might receive a gold star  for his work on environmental legislation or Arnold Schwarzenegger might receive a model electric car for promoting the bigger ones.

You may suggest a suitable prize for your nominee. Please be imaginative, as particularly thoughtful or humorous  nominations will  be recognized and published on this site.

(C) 2010

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Man Made Disasters: Where Were the Engineers?

Mon ,22/11/2010

“Many man made disasters are caused by a failure of ethics.”

Disasters: Most man made disasters are sudden with explosion, fires, deaths, and highly visible damage. The public is outraged, the incident is investigated, blame is assigned, and laws are made to prevent it from ever happening again. It is not the same with the climate change disaster taking place. It is happening slowly, with thousands and thousands of CO2 sources, and its full effect will not be known for generations. Who is responsible for preventing the disaster?  Although many individuals take responsibility on a personal level, many businesses put their short term profits first, and politicians lack the will or do not want to offend their big donors.

Scientists now have clear and convincing evidence that  the climate is changing but their role, however, is limited to education and research. It is the engineers who have the knowledge and the power to respond – as they design, build, operate, and approve every major project. It may not be fair to put such responsibility on the engineers, but their ethics requires it. The most important responsibility of engineers in performing their duties, according to the Engineering Code of Ethics, is to

“Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.”

Many disasters at first seem to be failures of engineering, technology, or materials, but on further examination the real cause is often found to be a failure of ethics.  Two recent major disasters could have been prevented or the damage mitigated if the engineers had followed – or been allowed to follow –  their code of ethics. When technological disasters happen, the first question should be” Where were the engineers?”.

The Gulf Oil Disaster: To satisfy our need for oil, we have had to search wider, drill deeper, and take greater risks. The Deepwater Horizon platform was a technological marvel, capable of drilling oil wells where the ocean was a mile deep. As British Petroleum was completing its Maconda Well from the platform, an explosion and fire occurred. Eleven men were killed and 17 injured by the explosion and fire. The platform eventually sank, breaking the pipe. The blowout preventer, designed to shut off the oil flow in case of such a disaster, failed. Over 4.5 million gallons of oil poured into the Gulf before the flow could be stopped. The environmental damage to the oceans, wildlife, and estuaries from the oil and from the million gallons of corexit, a toxic detergent sprayed to break up the oil, may not be known for decades.

There were a number of key decisions that led up to the disaster that should have been approved by the engineers. Any one of them, had it been made with engineering ethics in mind , could have  prevented  the disaster or ameliorated its effect on the workers and the environment. BP claimed the explosion was caused by the gas released at the sea floor warming as it rose to the surface. However, the gas would have expanded and cooled. Clearly, there was a source of ignition at the surface. Why weren’t the ignition sources that might lead to an explosion eliminated. The workers quarters could have been explosion proof – why weren’t they? Why did Halliburton proceed with cementing the well when the results of the pressure tests were inconclusive? Why was a particular type of cement used on the well, when it had given inconclusive performance tests? Who made the disastrous decision to replace the drilling mud with seawater? Why were problems with the blowout preventer not addressed? Were early efforts directed at trying to save the well or to prevent a major oil spill disaster? Were efforts directed toward covering up the disaster rather than trying to mitigate the environmental damage? And the list of questions goes on. The most critical of which is why BP ever started  drilling in a very risky and unstable zone alongside  a salt dome.

Obviously, what happened cannot be changed but, as the investigation into the cause continues, it is important to know who made the key decisions and why. The role of the management in the decision making was to make a profit for the company and to weigh the benefits and risk against the costs. The role of the government in the disaster is clouded by the cozy nature of the relationship between the regulators and the oil companies it was charged to regulate. The role of the engineers should have been, first and foremost, to protect the public.

The Challenger: It was a different type of disaster, but  it has some important lessons as the Challenger Space Shuttle is one of the most studied disasters. Most people think that an engineering failure led to the disaster, but in fact, it was a failure of ethics. One difficult problem in the design of the space shuttle was how to transport the large fuel tanks to the launch site. Morton Thiokol won the contract by designing fuel tanks that could be transported to the site in sections and sealed back together with rubber O-rings. The O-rings were effective down to 40°F, but below that, the rubber stiffens and its ability to seal the tanks had not been tested.

The January 1986 Challenger launch was to carry Christa McAuliffe, the teacher the year, into space. The weather had been cool and uncooperative in Florida that January and there had been several delays in the launch. President Reagan was planning to include the education aspect of the shuttle launch in his State of the Union speech and, for that and other reasons, pressure was building on the shuttle team to proceed with the launch. However, the temperature was predicted to be 29°F on the morning of January 28 and the engineers strongly recommended against the launch. The decision whether to launch was the responsibility of Bob Lund, the vice president of engineering for Morton Thiokol. On the advice of his engineers, he recommended against the launch.

However, Jerald Mason, the general manager of Morton Thiokol, called a meeting to discuss the decision. He asked Bob Lund to “Take off your engineering hat and put on your management hat.” He was asking Lund, in effect, to put aside his engineering ethics and weigh the very unlikely possibility of an accident against the public relations benefits of launching on schedule. Apparently, that argument worked as Lund approved the launch, despite the fact that the predicted launch temperature was outside of the operational specifications. At 59 seconds into the launch, the O-rings failed and the rocket exploded, plunging the Challenger into the ocean and killing all seven astronauts. It was the worst disaster in the U.S. space program’s history.

“Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.” In our increasingly technical world, the public, you, me and everyone else, must trust our safety to the engineers who design, test, and make decisions about the products we use. Engineering schools now include the study of professional ethics in the curriculum and try to convey to students their importance. However, in some instances, engineers do not follow their ethical code because of financial rewards, job security issues, peer pressure, or company loyalty. Many ethical violations are discovered and investigated only when they lead to a major disaster. But, what about environmental disasters whose full effect may not be be known until far into the future? It is particularly important that engineers begin to see protecting the environment as part of their ethical obligation to protect the public.

(c) 2010 J.C. Moore

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The Green Dragon : Is Global Warming a Religion?

Sat ,30/10/2010

How can a book go wrong with this introduction by Publius Redux? “Now, here is a novel analysis of the undercurrent of urgency and irrationality characteristic of climate doomsayers’ prophecy. This explains the haunting familiarity of the preaching and proselytizing we have endured from the climate change fearmongers.” (1)

Publius is introducing The Green Dragon by Dr. James Wanliss (2), a book about how environmentalism is committed to “the reconstruction of a pagan world order” and “rejection of Christian spirituality.” The author argues that the environmental movement “is a religion with a vision of sin and repentance, heaven and hell. It even has a special vocabulary, with words like ‘sustainability’ and ‘carbon neutral.’ Its saints are Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.”

That would certainly add to Al Gore’s list of accomplishments, Vice President, acclaimed movie director, Nobel Prize Winner, now possibly a Saint. I’m not sure how you can Canonize the entire IPCC, or Al Gore while he is living, but reality is apparently not a problem here.

Dr. Wanliss is upset by the strength of the Christian environmental movement which is based upon good stewardship. He blames this on the National Council of Churches as he goes on “Both professing Protestants and Roman Catholics bear a burden of guilt for the current political mess we are in with the global warming and other hysterias,” he argues. “If the church had not turned from the gospel of Jesus Christ it is unlikely the Green Dragon would have been able to so deeply sink its fangs into our lives.”

Perhaps that’s a bit dramatic, but there’s more: “There has been, in past decades, a cosmic shift towards a social climate that begins to favor the environment — polar bears, trees, and bugs — over human beings.” Well, where would we be without the bears, trees,  environment, and umm … bugs?

He continues “environmentalists have infiltrated Christian higher education by careful placement of teachers and teaching materials on environmental activism in schools associated with the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. Little by little the wolves try to douse Christian resistance and lead sheep by troubled waters to accept the inevitability of a divine environmental movement.” And, according to him, they want to “synthesize a Christian environmentalism that can succeed “only by exorcising truth, and ultimately, by expelling Christianity.”

It’s hard to argue with that. Instead we’ll just fast forward to the reception Dr. Wanliss, Pablius, and their followers get when they stand before the Pearly Gates.

St. Peter: Why are all of you here?

Dr. Wanliss: We exposed the Global Warmists as pagans. We have saved Christianity from their influence. We’re here to claim our rightful place in heaven.

St. Peter, looking into a large black book: Hmmm. It says under Dr James Wanliss – “Poor stewardship, led a movement whose followers damaged the Earth that God had given man.”

Dr. Wanliss, looking nervous: We didn’t know it would turn out that way. Pollution is invisible – the changes to the Earth were so small at first – and we thought CO2 was only a plant food.

St. Peter: We gave you Science so you would understand those things. Didn’t you study it?

Dr. Wanliss: You know how those Global Warming scientists are, always going around casting doubt on our beliefs. You can’t be a Global Warmist scientist and be a Christian.

St. Peter, peering over his glasses: I don’t know. We’ve let a lot of them into Heaven. Who are you to judge them? And, he thundered, God is a little upset about that damage to the Earth.

Dr. Wanless, looking distraught: Are you going to send us to, to …?

St Peter: No, no. That’s not the punishment for poor stewardship. We’re going to send you back to Earth so you can clean up the mess you helped make of it.

Dr. Wanliss: But, but.. it’s hot down there and it’s certainly not a pleasant place to live. How would we know what to do?

St Peter, with a dismissive gesture: Some of you are scientists. Maybe you’ll get it right next time. We’ll check on you in 50 years. Poof!

(1) http://depantzd.newsvine.com/_news/2009/12/24/3674500-climate-the-new-god-of-left-wing-christianity (This article is now listed as  “removed by the Newsvine community”).

(2)http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2009/ss_politics0954_12_10.asp

Can the Wall Street Journal Be Trusted?

Thu ,29/07/2010

This  guest article is a letter by a small businessman sent to the Wall Street Journal:

The Wall Street Journal has published many articles on climate change. Most all claimed the science was unreliable and discredited the scientist, whose emails were stolen. However three investigations have cleared the scientist. I have both a major in Journalism & Business and I am ashamed of the yellow journalism the Wall Street journal has discredited itself with in this area. Is it that  Rupert Murdock’s News Corporation* backs the skeptics; is it his desire for sensationalistic headlines;  or, is it the paper has incompetent or biased writers and editors in the area of climate science?

I fear the one paper I buy almost daily at the newsstand and depend on for business information has lost its credibility. How can I make reasonable business decisions without undistorted facts.  I have been a businessman for 30 years in the oilfield through boom and bust.  How can I depend on the world’s top business paper if it does not investigate and check its facts. Now, the question is “Can I depend on your paper to give me the facts I need for my small oilfield drilling service to survive?”

At this juncture, I wonder if I can count on the Wall Street Journal to make your grievous errors right?  At age 57, I hope so for my children’s and my grandchildren’s  sake. I want them to have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink at a cost of 4/10 of 1 percent of their income  in the future, as I do now.

Guest author: David Moore

*Editors note:  Rupert Murdoch also owns Fox News and the NY Post.

Anthony Watts: Dooming the Planet?

Wed ,21/07/2010

The interview: It’s a powerful story. In an interview with Tom Minchin titled ” Doomed Planet” , Anthony Watts tells how he went from a simple student questioning the reliability of Purdue’s  weather station to a science skeptic saving the world  from “Noble Cause Corruption”.  (1) Watts, editor of the anti-science website Wattsupwiththat, is now on a tour of Australia where he is spreading his message to the faithful for $25 a ticket. As one of Anthony Watts’ followers commented on the interview:

“Anyone who is an engineer or scientist can understand what turned Anthony from a believer in anthropogenic global warming to a skeptic.”

That’s apparently money, influence, fun, and perhaps a little revenge.

Watt’s Career: Watts began his career at Purdue University where he studied Meteorology and Engineering. He has not been forthcoming about how long he attended, whether he graduated, or whether he is “AMS Certified”, as sometimes claimed. After he left college, he worked as a radio and TV weather presenter until he founded Wattsupwiththat, a website that posts anti-science literature and commentary. (2) Wattsupwiththat is rife with misquotes, cherry-picking, unsubstantiated claims, title inflation, attacks on scientists, and distorted research. (3) Still, Watts has a number of faithful followers who apparently are made up of disgruntled ex-scientists, those excluded from science by the required rigor, those who profit from the status quo, and members of institutes or think tanks funded by fossil fuel companies.

The Surfacestations Project: Watts has limited credentials in the field of climatology and, though amateurs sometimes make great discoveries, that is not true in his case. While at Purdue, Watts worked part time at their weather  temperature collection site. Building on that experience, Watts has established the Surfacestations Project, a study of weather stations aimed at discrediting NOAA’s temperature data. To counter his repeated attacks on the scientific data, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) did a thorough study of the temperature stations and found that their results were reliable (4). Watts lost any credibility he might have gained as a scientist when the AGU asked him to participate in the research – and he declined. And, though the Surfacestations Project is now completely discredited, Watts is still collecting donations to fund it.

The AGW Conspiracy: To justify his attacks on science, Watts claims there is a worldwide conspiracy of scientists which distorts his True Science,  the Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) conspiracy. There are advantages to inventing a worldwide conspiracy to explain  things such as:

Skeptics can’t get their ideas published? It’s not the lack of credible research, it’s “censorship” by the AGW who controls the peer review process.

Skeptics can’t get funding? It’s not  a lack of reasonable and competitive research proposals, it’s because the AGW controls the government and its funding processes.

Skeptics can’t make unfounded Climategate charges stick? It’s because of the AGW whitewash.

Skeptics can’t get their claims to agree with scientific evidence and reason? It’s because the AGW controls Reason. ??? Wattsupwiththat?

Watt’s goes on in the interview:

“I think that if you want skeptics to have an even keel in the debate, skeptics need to push their position more often and that means writing more letters to the editor, to newspapers, to magazines and trade journals and to scientific journals.”

The skeptics would, of course  have a more even keel in the debate if they did the research necessary to back up their claims. Instead, they repeat disproven hypotheses, dispute peer-reviewed research without evidence, personally attack scientists, and refuse to follow the methodology or the ethics of science.

Noble Cause Corruption: Watts has even found a psychological disorder to explain the AGW’s motives… Noble Cause Corruption, a malady once reserved for law enforcement vigilantes. According to Watts:

“A less obvious but perhaps even more threatening type of misconduct in law enforcement is Noble Cause Corruption… Noble Cause Corruption is a mindset or sub-culture which fosters a belief that the ends justify the means…. The officers who adopt this philosophy lose their moral compass. Noble Cause Corruption is a belief that what you’re doing is so much more important than what anyone else is doing because your cause is noble, you’re saving the planet, and because you’re saving the planet, you are doing it for the good of mankind…. And so all of those things combine to put a blinder on you as to what you’re really doing.”

That’s a nice bit of sophistry. Scientists who wish to be good stewards of the Earth are actually, according to Watts, guilty of Noble Cause Corruption. If that is true then his followers, who would let the Earth be destroyed through ignorance and greed, are guilty of a much worse malady called Ignoble Cause Corruption.  Indeed, if  Watts and his followers have their way, we may  end up being the “Doomed Planet”.

(1) http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/doomed-planet/2010/06/anthony-watts-interviewed

(2) wattsupwiththat.com

(3) Some examples, but not nearly an exhaustive list , are

(4) Menne, Matthew J.; Claude N. Williams, Jr., and Michael A. Palecki. Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres (American Geophysical Union) http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/ushcn/v2/monthly/menne-etal2010.pdf.

Environmental Hall of Fame/Shame 2009 Awards

Mon ,08/03/2010

Your votes have been tabulated for the person who has most affected the environment through word or deed. The 2009 winner in the in the Environmental Hall of Fame category is Benno Hansen. He is  a ThinkAboutIt Blogger from Copenhagen who recently was a winner of the the European blogging competition for his articles on the environment.  He will receive the “Most Noble Prize in Environmental Science” and a years subscription to Science News.

The winner in the Environmental Hall of Shame category is SpaceGuy, a Newsvine Blogger. He has seeded the most articles about the stolen CRU e-mails and has been a strong critic of climate change research. He has designed a Moon colony and  says he  “Is totally dedicated to getting us off this planet”.  He will  receive the “Ignoble Prize in Environmental Science” and a copy of the movie Wall-E, which characterizes his view of the future of Earth.

The votes are tabulated below:

Votes for Hall of Fame

  • Al Gore (10)
  • Senator Barbara Boxer  (2)
  • Benno Hansen,  ThinkAboutIt Blogger ( 11)
  • Govenor Arnold Schwarzenegger (1)

Votes for Hall of Shame

  • George Will (2 )
  • Senator James Inhofe (7)
  • SpaceGuy, Newsvine Blogger  (14)
  • Arthur B. Robinson (0 )

What Causes Global Warming?

Tue ,10/11/2009

Petroleum geologist John Brock asks, “Can we really stop climate change?” (1) and concludes we can’t. I agree with him that using geo- engineering to reduce global warming is a bad idea but I strongly disagree with the idea that we can’t do anything about it. The Tulsa World article, “Turn up the Savings.”(2) lists a number of things you can do to cut global warming and also reduce your energy bill.

Geo-engineering would  have unintended consequences, and it would not address the underlying problem.  Burning fossil fuels puts 30 billion tons of CO2 into the air annually along with mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and radioactive isotopes. Much of those end up in the environment and in the food chain. Like carbonated water, the oceans are now 20% more acidic than a century ago (3) and the mercury level in tuna has gone up 30% since 1990 (4).

NASA’s data shows that the past decade has been the hottest on record and that the Earth is now 1.2° warmer than it was a century ago. Global warming, like a fever of 99.8, is a sign that something is wrong. The warming has not been caused by volcanoes, sunspots, changes in solar output, or cosmic rays from the stars, and it is not part of the natural cycle of nature. It’s caused by us and it is up to us to do something about it.

(1)   http://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/article.aspx?subjectid=65&articleid=20091107_65_A17_Tebgni286922

(2)   http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20091109_15_A1_TlaWrd833051&archive=yes

(3)   http://observationsofanerd.blogspot.com/2009/10/climate-change-whats-worse-than-heat.html

(4)   http://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2009/08/