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David L says:
Excellent post! This pretty much sums it up. I too recognized back in graduate school that academic research is focused on single factors or effects. They probe the basic fundamentals such as the core building blocks of molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles. But once you get a job in industry working with engineers, you quickly learn that the fundamentals are obscured by the complex interactions in a system. Engineers have tools such as DOE that help probe these systems, but the academic is completely unfamiliar with these tools and concepts because interactions are typically not a concern in academic research. The climate is a complex system to the nth degree. Boiling it down to a single factor is beyond wrong and naive.
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Frank K. says:
Mr. Onion says:
“So whether you consider the science very certain or very uncertain, there’s no basis to argue that the ongoing CO2 rise is safe.”
There are a lot of uncertainties in the universe. The earth could collide with an asteroid. We could be invaded by an advanced race of hostile space aliens. Both are more likely to occur than the supposed “harmful effects” of atmospheric CO2.
Where did people like Mr. Onion get the idea that CO2 is “unsafe”? Oh, that’s right – from the same people who stand to profit both politically and financially from promulgating this myth. Please Mr. Onion – follow the money. And for 2011, resolve to put YOUR time, money, and attention towards things that will really make a difference in this world, like helping your neighbor, fighting hunger, and promoting peace.
Same thing can be said about the economy. And the progressive statist in the US have now created the largest debt in planetary history with their naive single factor policies.