Re: [asa] String theory and what that means

One last comment -- from a review of Muller's new book PHYSICS FOR
FUTURE PRESIDENTS --

"Muller's "refuge in the facts" runs counter to the attitude of some
scientists today, he said. For example, while the Nobel Prize-winning
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) wrote an objective
report on the perils of global warming, "many who describe the report,
even members of the panel, when speaking as individuals, put spin on
their description that is not in the report."

This includes co-prizewinner Al Gore, who exaggerates many of the
panel's findings and implies in his book and movie that his opinions
are actually the IPCC consensus, said Muller, who has credentials of
his own as author of a respected technical book on climate change in
Earth's history. Many climate scientists have remained silent about
these misleading statements, hoping that the exaggerations stimulate
public interest. Muller acknowledges this benefit, but feels that
there is a core of intelligent readers that deserve to know the whole
truth. That includes anyone running for office.

Widespread acceptance of the exaggerations has led, for example, to
the belief that the United States is the main culprit in global
warming. In fact, said Muller, the IPCC climate models attribute only
one-fifth of a degree Fahrenheit of global warming to the United
States - a quarter of the total 0.8°F warming estimated to have
occurred over the past 50 years. While the U.S. contribution is far
more than that of any other country and disproportionate with the rest
of the world, if the nation continues at its current rate of
emissions, it will be responsible for another 0.2 degrees of warming
in the next few decades, whereas the emerging economies of China,
India and Russia combined could contribute 4 to 5 degrees of warming,
he said. Thus, whatever the United States does to limit carbon
emissions could quickly be negated by actions in the developing world.
China, in particular, might choose not to slow economic growth - and
carbon emissions - until its people reach the same level of wealth as
people in the United States."

Burgy

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Received on Mon Aug 18 16:41:40 2008