2008-05-02

Who to trust?

Caspar Ammann is a climate scientist.
David Archer is a climate scientist.
Eric Steig is a climate scientist.
Gavin A. Schmidt is a climate scientist.
Michael E. Mann is a climate scientist.
Rasmus E. Benestad is a climate scientist.
Raymond S. Bradley is a climate scientist.
Raymond T. Pierrehumbert is a climate scientist.
Stefan Rahmstorf is a climate scientist.
Thibault de Garidel is a climate scientist.
William M. Connolley is a climate scientist.

And what do all these climate scientists have in common? They run a blog called Realclimate.org, the purpose of which is "climate science by climate scientists".

And these climate scientists are convinced that anthropogenic global warming is happening and will lead to serious consequences.

I don't know people, but if some guy with a Bachelor's degree in geology starts telling me that some growth in my neck is nothing to worry about, while a General Practitioner tells me that the same growth in my neck will kill me if I don't get it removed, who should I trust?

(BTW - I don't have a growth in my neck!)

You could, for example, say that there is no consensus as to what the experts say. One "expert" says that the growth is fine, while another "expert" says that it is deadly.

You could also argue, for example, that a medical-industrial complex requires people to undergo unnecessary operations in order to keep the medical industry going. Thus the GP could, in fact, be simply scaremongering in order to get money.

But, in the end, you have to trust an expert. And if you don't trust one particular expert, then go to another. After a while, going to all these experts should give you some idea of what to do. In this case, it would be to get the growth removed.

So when it comes to Global Warming, people should go to the experts. They should go to climatologists. And anyone who goes to climatologists for advice on this matter will realise that a consensus does exist.

And that consensus is that anthropogenic global warming is happening and will lead to serious consequences.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now you've got me worried about your denial about your growth in your neck!

BLBeamer said...

My dad used to say, "That's not a growth, that's your head. Use it!"