My question is "What does SCIENCE say?" See the difference? Not all scientists are bright, or honest, or unbiased. They are simply people who did a bunch of courses and a bunch of labs. My daughter has a Phd and, guess what , there are lots of things in her field that she doesn't know. I have had occasion to be helped by some amazing doctors, I have also rubbed shoulders with some pretty clueless ones. Degrees don't necessarily impart intelligence or wisdom.
Remember that for 40 years, scientists said that fat was bad for our health. Now they say it's sugar.
I remember in the 1970s, scientists said we would run out of oil in 10 years. They are not all-knowing.
The latest article referred to some data from 1981 to the present. Wow, a giant sample in the history of the world. But always fear, the sky is falling. In 1998, we had a terrible ice storm in eastern Ontario and Quebec. I'd never seen anything like it, but old people from our area said it was like the storm of 1950. So if I only looked at my own life, it was unprecedented, but historically it wasn't.
I have a real problem with urban jet-flying eco-warrior telling us what's up in the environment. I am up close and personal with the nature around me. I have the mosquito , black fly, deer fly bites to prove it. I have scars from poison ivy that I got from my dog brushing against the plants. I have lots of beetles, caterpillars,and other insects that frequent my garden. I can tell you about the butterflies and birds and animals and native plants in the area.. A while back a famous actress thought she would help out a Native Canadian band who were upset about potential environmental damage to their area. When she got there, they told her to get lost. What did she know about their land? Exactly. When Native people talk about the environment, I listen because they actually know what they are talking about.
Which brings us to wildfires. Native Canadians, Americans and Aboriginal people in Australia have for years been warning of terrible fires if the forests were not managed properly. And so...
A park in Montana that has glaciers had to replace signs that said the glaciers would be gone by 2020.
That's what the scientists said.
And then there's Greenland - funny name for a frozen, snow covered island. Except that it used to be green.
I see that in the last 40 years our growing season is a little longer. Our summers are cooler( yes, cooler!) and our winters milder. So , the climate is changing but climate is always changing. Ancient Aztec civilizations sacrificed children to try to control the ever changing weather. Other ancient civilizations disappeared because of disastrous growing seasons. It's nothing new. Remember the Dust Bowl of the 1930's? Super hot and dry.
As far as temperature taking, headlines like " hottest summer ever!!!!" Uh-huh.Back in the 1700s or before, there were lots of weather stations taking temperatures, right? Also, temperature is so variable even in a small area. I could put 6 thermometers around our property and they would all give different readings and next year, any particular thermometer would give a different reading because the environment around it would likely have changed: a taller tree, a new building,more ground plants,etc. Let's take the temperature of the ocean and account for all the variables of currents, weather, underwater volcanoes, etc.
Right now volcano Taal is erupting in the Philipines. It will be a major weather influencer of 2020.
So there is my rant. I love nature and I try to be kind to my little patch of it. But I don't like a bunch of pushy,noisy people and politicians trying to manipulate me.
