Spring Break
Opinions clash in global warming debate
Jason Le Miere
Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: News
In the only country still debating whether global warming is man-made, according to SJSU professor Alex Gershenson, another contest to discuss it was held Tuesday night at San Jose's Rotary Club.
The event, put on by The Conservative Forum of Silicon Valley, saw two speakers on each side of the issue go head-to-head for 90 minutes on the validity of global warming and its attribution to the activities of humans.
"No other civilized, developed country is having these kinds of debates, period," said Gershenson, an environmental studies professor at SJSU. "It is very frustrating. The overall understanding of how science works is very low in this country."
Four individuals presented a large array of graphs and data to the 500-plus attendees in an attempt to demonstrate the validity of their arguments.
The team representing the opinion that global warming is man-made, consisting of SJSU professors Eugene Cordero and Alex Gershenson, weighed their arguments on the consensus of opinion within the scientific community.
The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, commissioned by the United Nations, included 2,500 scientific experts from around the globe.
"The IPCC report that just came out states that most of the warming is very likely due to human cause greenhouse gases," Gershenson said.
Despite the scientific prowess of the panel's reports, the team arguing that global warming is not man-made disregarded its validity.
"What I'd do with the IPCC report is to put it in the trash can because that's all it's worth," said Dennis Hollars, who holds a doctorate in astrophysics from New Mexico State University.
His brazen pronouncement produced an eruption of laughter among the packed audience. Hollars produced a similar reaction from the crowd when, challenged by Gershenson about the inconsistencies of the data in the graphs he was presenting, he claimed to "not care" which one was accurate.
The event, put on by The Conservative Forum of Silicon Valley, saw two speakers on each side of the issue go head-to-head for 90 minutes on the validity of global warming and its attribution to the activities of humans.
"No other civilized, developed country is having these kinds of debates, period," said Gershenson, an environmental studies professor at SJSU. "It is very frustrating. The overall understanding of how science works is very low in this country."
Four individuals presented a large array of graphs and data to the 500-plus attendees in an attempt to demonstrate the validity of their arguments.
The team representing the opinion that global warming is man-made, consisting of SJSU professors Eugene Cordero and Alex Gershenson, weighed their arguments on the consensus of opinion within the scientific community.
The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, commissioned by the United Nations, included 2,500 scientific experts from around the globe.
"The IPCC report that just came out states that most of the warming is very likely due to human cause greenhouse gases," Gershenson said.
Despite the scientific prowess of the panel's reports, the team arguing that global warming is not man-made disregarded its validity.
"What I'd do with the IPCC report is to put it in the trash can because that's all it's worth," said Dennis Hollars, who holds a doctorate in astrophysics from New Mexico State University.
His brazen pronouncement produced an eruption of laughter among the packed audience. Hollars produced a similar reaction from the crowd when, challenged by Gershenson about the inconsistencies of the data in the graphs he was presenting, he claimed to "not care" which one was accurate.
Viewing Comments 1 - 7 of 11
R James
posted 11/20/08 @ 4:33 AM PST
Hang on - let's get a few facts straight. Firstly, there is more and more doubt that global warming is due to human activity. In fact, there's growing evidence to the opposite. (Continued…)
Bob
posted 11/20/08 @ 1:47 PM PST
The New Zealand government is currently deciding how far to commit itself to Kyoto and/or ETS legislation. As part of this they have suspended all decisions until they have completed a commissioned study into all aspects of the global warming question, both for and against. (Continued…)
Dr A Burns
posted 11/21/08 @ 1:19 PM PST
Look at the data ... the world has been cooling for the past decade. Despite this, an ex-railway engineer with no training in climatology, who heads up the IPCC, claims it is warming ! Thousands of politicians and millions of uneducated, unthinking masses follow blindly. (Continued…)
Greg
posted 11/21/08 @ 1:31 PM PST
How about the 30,000 scientists who do not believe global warming is man-made? What I find interesting is that in spite of the Bay Area's supposed open-mindedness, its residents are just the opposite on global warming and actually choose to be closed-minded to scientific fact. (Continued…)
Ralph Bernstein
posted 11/26/08 @ 7:36 PM PST
There is a significant difference between scientific reasoning and analysis, and simple opinions and assertions. Trust the experts, who use mathematical modeling and atmosheric physics, and ignore the people who think they know something, but do not have the scientific education, interlect, and tools to really understand the processes. (Continued…)
Daniel
posted 12/21/08 @ 1:09 PM PST
What I find fascinating is the "they are scientists, they know what they are talking about" argument. I would point out that in the 1970's, the "consensus" of scientists were convinced that we were on the verge of entering a global cooling period, with much of the same predictions of disaster that we are seeing now. (Continued…)
andy
posted 10/22/09 @ 1:50 AM PST
i think global warming is wrong. i think that if people didn't do stuff like spray themselves with deoderants and hairspray, we might be alright. i also kind of blame it n the cows of britain. (Continued…)
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