Receding glaciers,
melting snow on Mt. Kilimanjaro, and reduced polar bear habitat were purported
to prove that global warming was occurring. Actually, the temperature at the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro
never rises above the melting point of ice.
Reprinted from
Curmudgeon’s Wastebasket Originally Posted January 27, 2010
“Jaded Julie, I’m concerned that
many people don’t understand basic science.”
“If basic science means physical
chemistry and thermodynamics, I would be concerned that you are concerned. In
fact, Curmudge, I would consider you to be an unrealistic zealot.”
“No, Julie. I mean really basic
grade-school stuff. Let’s write a play to illustrate a very simple lesson. The
time is almost 400 years ago, and the setting is the city of Florence in
northern Italy. My character is called Cattivo Uomo, and you will be Spossate
Infermiera.”
“Which are, of course, Nasty Man and
Jaded Nurse in Italian (actually, the adjective should follow the noun, i.e.,
uomo cattivo).”
“The curtain has gone up, and you
and I are up early watching the sun rise.”
“What a beautiful sunrise, Cattivo.”
“It happens every morning, Spossate,
just like clockwork.”
“We would be in big trouble if the
sun didn’t go around the earth so regularly. It must come closer in the summer
when it gets so warm here. Then the glaciers in the Alps melt back. Thankfully,
it gets cooler at night when the sun is around on the other side.”
“Can you think of any other
explanation for our days and nights, Spossate?”
“It seems pretty obvious to me that
the sun goes around the earth. Everyone sees it rise and set, and that’s what
they believe.”
“I’ve heard about another explanation…that
the sun stands at the center of our universe, and that the earth rotates once
every 24 hours.”
“Outrageous! Who said that,
Cattivo?”
“It was our neighbor, Mr. Galilei.
His ideas are going to get him into a lot of trouble.”
“Our play’s over, Julie. Curtain
down. Did it teach you a lesson?”
“I’m shocked that 400 years ago
virtually everyone thought that the sun moved around the earth every day, but
that was the easiest explanation.”
“We know now that the accepted
explanation was false. So what is the lesson that our story teaches?”
“I’ve got it, Curmudge. No matter
how evident the effect, it does not prove the cause.”
“By the way, Julie, in the play Cattivo
Uomo, and Spossate Infermiera were up early watching the sun rise. My daughter wondered what an old man
and a young woman were doing together at that hour of the morning.”
“And I’ll bet, Curmudge, that you
evaded the question.”
Kaizen Curmudgeon
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