We do get such a load of twaddle written on to this and other fora that one wonders where it comes from. Were people so badly educated? Are so many people in the pay of
Exxon and other polluters?
I suspect that the ignorance demonstrated is because people read something in their daily paper and take it as the truth. Often what is published in newspapers combines poorly understood science with seriously bad journalism. A very good example in today's
Daily Mail:
Turkey Twizzlers are GOOD for you and polar bears AREN'T dying out! | Mail Online
Haven't enough space or time to go into all the lies here but take a few:
1 "Meanwhile, data from between 1880 and 2000 shows a close correlation between increased solar activity and higher average temperatures on Earth. So couldn't it be that the Sun is responsible for heating us up after all?" Patently the sun warms us up (no sun, no heat); probably solar activity causes changes in Earth temperature;
however this does not mean that
other phenomena don't also have an effect on climate. No mention of the 'greenhouse effect' at all.
2 "But so confident are property owners in the Maldives that the sea is receding, they are building a flurry of lavish seafront hotels."
Bizarre - who's advice would you prefer: the majority of the world's scientists or a group of property developers and estate agents?
3 "But what is often ignored is that in the Earth's past, carbon dioxide levels have often been as much as ten times higher than they are today."
I don't know any scientist who would ignore this. The high CO2 levels in the Devonian era coincided with the highest temperatures on the formed Earth: when most of the land surface was desert - it's where our sandstones come from. This one is a bit of an own goal.
4 "A widespread belief has emerged that organic foods are better for you than others because they do not contain 'chemicals' used in large- scale conventional farming. This dogma is wrong. All plant nutriment comes from the air, in the form of CO2, and from water-soluble chemicals in the soil. The composition of these chemicals is the same, whether they come from a plastic bag or from 'natural' manure or compost."
Ignores the toxins poured onto food plants and animals and the pollution caused by industrial farming.
I could go on and on ..... The original authors have provided a few half truths but not published alternatives; the newspaper has gone even further and said that the book
proves the opposite of what scientists say ... Gets my prize for bad science but I'm sure there is more out there!
