George Will’s unspeakably irresponsible musings on climate change this weekend (TPM dissects it with the serious analysis it does not deserve.) prompt the following two reflections:
It was cooler last night than it was twelve hours before, and that was true almost everywhere on the planet. Day after day, anywhere you look, again and again it’s gotten cooler, and it will again tomorrow. Want long-term trends? Check out the temperatures anywhere in the US over the last six months; down, down, down. Same with sea level rise: I was out with my dogs at the shore yesterday, and I could see the sea level going down right in front of me. It’s called ebb tide, and any idiot can see how it refutes climate alarmism. We don’t need no stinking scientists, just go to the beach and watch!
Anyway, if there is any global warming, it’s not man-made, so we shouldn’t do anything about it. This principle presumably will apply to the incoming asteroid, especially because the space mission to blow it up or steer it will entail higher taxes, or (gasp!) deficit spending, classic generational theft. Not to mention the next earthquake: not man-made, not something we should do anything about, like onerous building codes or relief efforts afterwards. Flouting the will of God by interfering with His planetary works surely invites more trouble down the line. Ignoring the lessons of His Will is impious, and probably risky as well.
The most interesting point in Will’s column is his embrace of popular judgment (especially in a population that is even more down with evolution after a century and a half than, um, the Turks are) as a guide to risk analysis. He’s probably aware, as the rest of us are not, of the revolution in biology (I mean what living things do, not what scientists think about it) in the early 20th century. In one country after another (but not everywhere, yet) viruses and bacteria had to step up and start causing diseases previously incited by night air, stepping on cracks in the sidewalk, deficient piety, and all those other causes, because people came to believe they did! Praise be for public opinion; I can almost feel the climate cooling down as the global warming poll numbers drag the atmosphere back into line!
