Thursday
Sep292011
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill Ain't no science at the RSE
Sep 29, 2011 Royal Society I'm grateful to Messenger for pointing me to this excerpt from the Royal Society of Edinburgh's Facing up to Climate Change report. This is the winning entry for the schools' climate change poster competition, held as part of the project. Why such a competition would be felt necessary by a learned society is beyond me, but here, such as it is, is what the combined eminences of the society felt we need to be doing to face up to climate change...
Reader Comments (59)
Has Josh been at the Toilet Duck?
Jesus wept...
I wonder if it was the kid who came up with the slogan, if so, pretty funny ;)
A perfect representation of the intellectual depth exhibited by some of our our current learned societies IMHO.
Can some kind soul, who just happens to have referenced facts to hand, tell us what's the best estimate for the lower limit for atmospheric carbon dioxide such that plant life in the main, can still photosynthesize? Is it not somewhere around 140ppm?
It is really sad that a scientific society has sunken so low.
STAMP OUT CO2 AND WATCH ALL CROPS DIE!
The Royal Society of Scotland can be justly proud of their achievement in demonising CO2 in the minds of young people. This in my opinion is about the same level as the 10:10 videos. In fact I think that it is much much worse.
Krebs cycle not on the curriculum presumably.
Boulton's last student's PhD thesis?
Is it too late to emigrate?
I did like the idea that Boulton was one of the judges.
I'll have to send Andrew my daughters eco-team co2 drawings, the ones with polar bears in..
I am all in favor of rewarding students for their work. I hope there was some prize money. As for the young person being brainwashed: don't bet on it. It's not that easy to do. Most kids have a very good idea when they are being "communicated to." Perhaps they recognize when things are being put on their level (a sure tell). As students, they complete their assignments with an eye toward their grades and perhaps toward pleasing their teacher while all the time they labor, they are thinking their own private thoughts.
Once upon a time I was told to respect my teachers.
I actually find this reassuring. If this is the most polished and persuasive poster that was entered in their competition then clearly there are a lot of smart and talented children who already regard the whole thing as an evil scam and below their notice.
Perhaps of interest to note that Al Gore's recent Science 101 video also used CO superscript 2 rather than CO subscript 2.
RoyFOMR
Post-normal science, Roy, 'tis post-normal science notation .......
There's an interesting comment at Harmless Sky (in their fabulously long thread about David Whitehouse and Mark Lynas) from an unreconstructed Texan who sometimes makes telling points. It involves a confusion between CO and CO2, which is not something I had previously thought to be a problem, but then I always liked science...
Anecdotally, I happened to spend the afternoon with my brother in law (not the commie) and his family.
We discussed his desire to purchase a hybrid vehicle as an economical solution to his lengthy commute.
My advice (as an engineer and auto enthusiast) was that he should if he felt compelled to do so.
He went out of his way to inform me that he was no “greenie”…….that his motive was purely economical. I explained that even a plug in car was not “green” as the power used to propel the vehicle was produced by "evil" CO2 emitting coal fired power plants.
He interrupted me…………explaining that I should have referred to the evil, global warming causing gas better known as CO………..Carbon Monoxide.
CO he explained, is what Al Gore and company are referring to………which is causing the ice caps to melt, kill polar bears, causes mass exodus from low lying tidal areas………..Carbon Monoxide he explained, is what all the greenhouse gas, global warming fuss is about
.
Now, my brother in law is not a stupid man. He is not some leftist, eco-nut, radical. He is non-political, conservative financially, a family man, college educated, steady job, tea totaler………..(you get the picture).
I led him to a close by computer and showed him links to climate progress and other alarmist sites to provide background and to show him that yes indeed, Alarmists were claiming that CO2 is a pollutant and harmful to the planet and must be eradicated at any cost.
He exclaimed……….”but Carbon Dioxide is plant food”! “We all exhale Carbon Dioxide!“ “Carbon Dioxide is soda pop gas”! “Life would not exist on the planet without Carbon Dioxide”!
The propaganda that has poisoned this society will also take some time to correct also.
In his defense, he has a family to raise and protect and not much time to keep up with the issues.
There are hundreds of thousands just like him……
If you want to read it in context (and you have plenty of time!) it's comment 4342 here:
Link
Given how awful that poster is, I'm assuming that they had about three entrants. And they had to pick something.
"CO superscript 2"
Now that CO-squared really is evil! Is there no end to Al Gore's inventiveness..?
James E
It looks cut and pasted to me...
Modern art at its worst.
Will probably win a Turner prize.
Art for art's sake
Money for God's sake
Art for Art's sake
Money for God's sake
Money talks so listen to it
Money talks to me
Anyone can understand it
Money can't be beat Oh no
Eric Stewart
Graham Gouldman
Stamp out C O <squared>? Done!
Can we move on with life, now?
Can I see a lightly disguised hockey stick shape in the profile of the ends of the toes and outstep of the foot print?
Its been Photoshopped! ;-)
What no drowning Polar Bear !
With this level of indoctrination of children, the CAGW religion will be with us for generations to come.
With respect to yesterdays thread and some nerves still tingling, are those greenish roundy thingies meant as a reference to watermelons?
I think which ever kid drew the burning packet of fags at bottom centre has never seen someone smoking a fag, so one good thing comes out of this
"Stamp out green doughnuts" good call mate
David Hume's statue sank beneath street level.
Primary school or secondary? I had classes in both that required making a poster for the topic of the day like brushing your teeth or littering. We used the slogan "Keep Scotland Tidy - Throw your litter in England".
I'm still somewhat surprised that this was the winner, time was probably short and I hope that the pupils gave the "work" the contempt it deserves. I expect that they are off to draw pictures of Vishnu and call it a religious education next.
If you look carefully, you can see the artists did sign their names, and by googling, we can tell they were all third years at UEA studying climaxology or sumert. Its the science with the ooohs and errors in it, innit?
.
Al Gore gave a speech in Scotland just a few days ago.
I've only just made the connection.
Great poster Al!
Anthropogenic flatulence gets the green tick by the look of it.
Try again
Climaxology, not so much the science of ooh err missus, but the science of huge errors, and misses.
Is that the Snoopy Mobile? Jennifer Marohasy probably loves that slogan.
Could someone link to her chart of stamp prices vs temperature?
I think I recall this poster being presented a post doc symposium on communicating climate reality.....
;^)
These children (and their adult supervisors) should study up on the Bohr effect. Then they would learn that contrary to the silly populist propaganda demonizing C02, this gas is necessary to our biochemical life; the presence of C02 in our body makes it possible to get O2 to our cells. In solution, C02 weakens the affinity of 02 to hemoglobin; it can then move into the cells. Calling C02 a mere waste product of cellular metabolism is silly. It is part of the respiratory mechanism that keeps us alive.
STAMP OUT CO2 (PLANT FOOD) AND ALL LIVING THINGS (Plants, Animals and Humans) WILL DIE.
Thankfully that is impossible given that most CO2 (Plant Food) is produced naturally, the Human contribution is trivial, but it is the same molecule, one atom carbon, two atoms oxygen, PLANT FOOD.
I can now add the RSE to my growing list of CLIMATE CLOWNS.
Can someone please tell the RSE that all living things (Plants, Animals and Humans) are Carbon based life forms, and every Human being is approximately 18% Carbon, maybe the RSE members have all their 18% in their heads, like our Climate Change Minister down here in New Zealand, CARBON for BRAINS, NICK the CLIMATE CLOWN SMITH.
We truly live in the AGE of STUPID.
Where's the picture of the exploding kid who told her teacher it was a load of cobblers?
"Perhaps of interest to note that Al Gore's recent Science 101 video also used CO superscript 2 rather than CO subscript 2." ---RoyFOMR
Roy, tell me what series of keystrokes will give you a subscript 2 on a PC? Quick, now! If it's a big frogging deal, you should know this, so you can look smarter than Gore. You don't know? Oh, too bad!
As Burt Rutan points out, we are perilously close to the 150 ppm CO2 concentration that will threaten the survival of plants that contribute to our food supply:
http://rps3.com/Files/AGW/Rutan.AGWdataAnalysis%20v11.pdf
mbabbbit's complaint about the confusion over carbon dioxide and life is widespread, sadly.
Here, a thirteen year-old asks for a simple explanation and the "best" answer misses, while the next best half-misses, managing to complete the demonization of CO2.
Very sad.
My 13 year old son's modern Hungarian textbook has more pages on Greenhouse Gas theory than it does on "old school" teaching of CO2.
I checked ;-)
@'jorgekafkazar'
Dunno but it's not that tricky to do with a felt-tip:)
Schoolkids say what their teachers want to hear to get good grades to get into University where they say what their tutors want to hear to get a good undergrad degree to become a postgraduate researcher where they say what their professors want to hear to get a good PhD to become a full time academic where they say what the research grant administrators want to hear in order to buy that bigger house.... and so it continues...
Until academia is freed from results-driven funding this is how it will go.
Nice non political report that then goes on to spout nothing but political solutions ?
'Low public awareness, and/or negative cultural attitudes towards low-carbon transitions,
continuing scepticism about the science and derogatory media coverage all contributed to
lack of popular demand for action at local level, and reluctance of local politicians to engage
with their communities in relation to low-carbon transition.'
low public awareness,
They now take it that the near wall to wall coverage and total control of the academic political/public, corporate/economic world just isn't enough !
cultural attitudes,
Erm what so it's a racial thing then? sorry which culture is damning us to the fires of disruption ?
scepticism about the science,
Dam those questioning and enquiring minds don't we know the whole of the world and their wage packets are on the line here !!
derogatory media coverage,
Yes the unfair and terrible media coverage of the few tiny er mistakes that has totally buggered up their cause has been take out of all context and they feel we need a more compliant media to win !. Remember it's all for our own good !
Oh and I liked the quote from the happy sun worshipper
“It is a great feeling to come home on a sunny day and see how much electricity you have
generated!”
So on a bad day what? they feel awful ? do they do penance by switching off the TV and lights ?
And this I find particularly troubling statement
The reasons for such changes need to be explained
through multiple channels and in multiple forms to suit the audience. Public broadcasters,
popular press, social media, educational institutions, business and employers’ associations,
community planning partnerships and forums and civil society organisations all need to be
drawn in to explaining the reasons for cutting carbon emissions, publicising Scotland’s priorities,
enhancing understanding of the social benefits and highlighting the leadership example being
set by government.
so total control no exceptions Orwell would be sickened !!