Humility and Global Warming
Excellent article here on the potential pitfalls of the current global warming modeling. I am not arguing that global warming is not occurring or that we cannot prevent it, we must simply remember that we still do not know all the variables in the equation.
Canadian scientist David Suzuki was recently being interviewed on the radio when a global warming skeptic called in. He became furious at the mere thought that global warming was not tied to industrial activity. Refusing to engage in a possibly futile, but useful, debate, he stated that the debate was over and walked off the show.
This seems very unhealthy and not likely to win friends. The truth is, as E.O. Wilson has explained, we are so ignorant of our natural world that we do not even know what we do not know.
A little humility and scientific discussion can go a long way.
Published on August 13, 2007