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)
Oh and the poster, I love the drawing just right for a primary age child ! but the wording ??
Zx - primary school age? Nah, it's the Tracey Emin school for the talented (-less?).
@ Alleagra
The lower limits for photosynthesis in plants depends upon the type of photosynthetic mechanism in the plant/leaf. This mechanism depends upon a combination of biochemistry, leaf structure, and physiology.
In those plants classed as "C3" photosynthesis can occur down to atmospheric levels approaching 30 to 70 ppm carbon dioxide.
In C4 and CAM plants it is possible to get photosynthesis at 1 ppm.
However, the big limitation on photosynthesis, more so than carbon dioxide, is often the amount of water that is released from the plant (transpiration) as it takes up carbon dioxide. Without adequate water supply, the plant needs to close its stomata through which carbon dioxide diffuses into the plant (and water vapour diffuses out) or it will simply dry out and die.
With higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, plants do much better while using much less water. Life becomes easier for everyone.
And BTW. Just so you know. Oxygen is not converted from the carbon dioxide taken up in photosynthesis by plants. Oxygen is created by the splitting of water molecules in the plant leaf when it creates high energy electrons and hydrogen ions used to convert sunlight into the chemical bonds of the sugar molecules built from carbon dioxide. Think about it in terms of what happens during the electrolysis of water. Similar results.
whoops - posted twice. Moderator can delete 2nd post if he should get around to it, please.
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.
Sep 30, 2011 at 9:25 AM | Unregistered CommenterTheBigYinJames
This is an interesting comment. I have just started a post-grad course and the lecturers are, seemingly, all of a left-wing persuasion. I am more right leaning and already finding it a dilemma after the first two days whether to challenge what they are saying - this particular module is about the history of successive government policy - all labour policies, good; all conservative policies bad.
While I don't necessarily hold that all conservative policies were good, I find myself wanting to play devil's advocate just because it is assumed that they were all bad. This is not helped by the fact that I think that the Draft National Planning Policy Framework is not wonderful, although I don't think it is quite as bad as it is being made out to be in the press. The question is, will I be failed on this module if I put forward arguements contra the received wisdom of the lecturers? Actually, just writing this has helped me decide that I will as I'm old enough and near enough to retirement not to care too much and if it helps make some of the younger students (who could be my children) think about it a bit, then that can only be good.
It will become more interesting when we get on to Climate Change and policies for "tackling" that!
The RSE bills itself as Scotland's preeminent scientific body. As a Scot, may I apply for English citizenship, Brazilian citizenship, Botswanan citizenship. Anywhere. I am so ashamed. And it is just the tip of the anti science iceberg in Scotland that includes 100% renewable electricity by 2050.
I think it is really C02, a cleaver maths pun based on the Roman 'C' for hundred or century. The Arabic zero, which is the number the Roman's forgot to invent and modern maths of powers.
What the poster is really saying is:
Stamp out centuries of nothing to the power of two ... or as it is clearly intended "tu" ... (presumably as the student has learnt basic French)
Stamp out centuries of no power to you!
... a perfect commentary of global warming, Scottish "democracy" and the imminent collapse of our power network as a result of the insane wind policy.
I think you're all overlooking the fact that picking the best poster would be discriminatory against less talented children, hence the tendency in these things to deliberately pick a crap one.
I think the RSE is being indirectly clever here with a PR ploy.
The PR ploy is if they can get the mean skeptics to be nasty to a kid, then the RSE can show skeptics to be insensitive and brutish.
sarc on/
Also, there may be a side benefit to the RSE. The RSE is probably getting shredded by the public's opinion of their climate science bias, and they may want someone else, like this kid, to take it instead of them.
sarc off/
John