Deluge in July

Oh...here is a picture I took of the Delaware River overflowing WAY over its banks.

Skeptical environmentalism or the eco-nazi?

I am currently reading the book The skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg. I would say that it was thirty dollars completely not wasted. For any aspiring environmentalist either proffessionally or by interest, it is a book for you! While there are many, many things that I do not agree with the author about, he does make a few good points. We do need to question what he calls "The Litany." This "litany" is the oft repeated schpeal that the world is going to end and everyone is going to die because there is almost no hope (I am exaggerating a little bit). There is no reason why we should not question it. It will keep our data fresh, and our minds open.

Also, it is not only a look into "the other side's view," but also what is becoming fodder for their "cannons." If we can research this book and find well documented arguments against what he has to say, then we can do our homework in advance.

There are a few things that I do agree with him about. Although I am sure I will have more input when I get further into the book. One: is that things are not ALL doom and gloom. Some things are improving.

Also, some of the environmental agencies used to report statistics do not cite their information of document it well. This is a call for these agencies to be a little bit more careful. In a way I liken it to the OJ Simpson case, where (in my opinion) a guilty man was allowed to go free due to some messed up evidence retrieval and data collection. Faulty procedures...

He is a statistics man, so he is definatly a number cruncher. He knows how to mess with them better than anyone else. I had to keep in mind that these were numbers he was primarily getting from the UN, and not from his own research. Forest cover was one such issue. He has said in his book that forest cover has increased in the last 50 years. Numerically it has...unfortunatly the numbers have a great capacity for being fudged by the localities collecting them. Not only that, but a forest with decreased density was still considered forested area. Plus, old growth forests with diverse wildlife has been diminished while new growth could have taken its place, but offering no refuge for the old growth dependent species (such as the spotted owl).

Where will my opinion be in a week or two? Probably more and more against this guy...but I have challenged some of my beliefs due to his writings. That is definatly a healthy thing, in my opinion.