Pajamas Media

76 Comments

1. John D:

The problem with the “Global Warming” crowd is that there is no way to accomplish their goals without creating a government that would be indistinguishable from a police state.

It’s the old “The ends justify the means” approach. First they convince enough people that their goals are absolutely critical. From there it is not a big step to employing police state methods because “It’s an emergency and the planet depends on it.”

The goals, of course, are undefinable and therefore unachievable. All of which means that the “emergency” will continue.

All for our own good, of course.

Sep 9, 2008 - 1:43 am 2. Ed Wallis:

One can sum up Ms. Scalia’s well-stated piece under the phrase “NANNY STATE.”

As in, “Now child, we don’t expect you to understand why we’re making you do (or, stopping you from doing) this, we’re here to help, so just do what we say and we won’t have to punish you and take more serious measures…”.

Sep 9, 2008 - 4:25 am 3. Psycho-Manipulation on Climate, Psychedelic! | The Anchoress:

[...] latest piece for Pajamas Media, entitled, Psychologists Want to Purge Your Brain of Un-Green Thoughts, is up and running; it looks at how the anti-establishment renegades of 1968 now want you, forty [...]

Sep 9, 2008 - 4:43 am 4. Home-For-Sale Dave:

Eco-fascism is certainly the natural progression of the old hippy leftists fighting “The Man.” The so-called environmentalist is a non-thinking totalitarian brute who gives arm-flapping, head-spinning animation to Lenin’s endearing “useful idiot.” What we see with the typical Sierra Club drone is worship of the state for the Marxist common good, as defined by the state.

“The Man” these leftists fought against was our individual freedom, and they want to replace “The Man” with a mindless and obedient soviet man.

I wish these psycho-babblers every failure. May they end their days living under a bridge in a cardboard box with a ragged copy of “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest” and all the acid they can trip.

Sep 9, 2008 - 4:48 am 5. GDT:

My H3 contributes less to global warming that Al Gore’s limo, boat or private jet.

Sep 9, 2008 - 5:12 am 6. pat ess:

Tearing down the Establishment was necessary to replace it with the Leftist social order. It appealed to young people in the 60’s and was very successful in undermining the institutions of family, religion, and social mores over the ensuing decades. Once a sense of disintegration takes root, the population is ripe for a new definition of social organization and meaning.

Sep 9, 2008 - 6:36 am 7. hM:

I’m constantly surprised at just what people will do because it makes them feel better about themselves. My roommate makes me recycle if I take out the trash with her because it makes her feel better to recycle. I think it’s a complete economic waste and not worth the time it takes to sort.

One thing I have to give her is that she knows I refuse to recycle on my own but she doesn’t make a federal case out of it. As a matter of fact, she doesn’t make a case out of it at all. But then, she’s not a tree-hugging hippie so she never developed the desire or the ability to screech incoherently about saving the planet. Thankfully.

Sep 9, 2008 - 6:54 am 8. Dr. Platypus » Blog Archive » Cool!:

[...] long-range with anything resembling total accuracy.” Still, if I were getting ready to get all behavioralist on those who have doubts about global warming, I think I’d get moving on it PDQ—just in [...]

Sep 9, 2008 - 6:59 am 9. Self-hating boomer:

I don’t think the positive reinforcement approach is going to work, either. Cheerleading is too corny. I think this generation is sick of Captain Planet. The green cheerleading message is simply corny, and can’t be made uncorny.

Sep 9, 2008 - 7:20 am 10. Judy, NYC:

home for sale dave: i am a life long democrat who is voting mccain-palin. i certainly hope your ideas about people are not palin’s because it would change my vote to the green party. people who fall from grace into living in a cardboard box are not failures. they are there because of your failure, as a human being and an american. the nanny state also provides unemployment insurance, make sure you never apply.

Sep 9, 2008 - 7:31 am 11. Marc:

I think a pragmatic approach to the issue makes the most sense. We can all agree that energy independence is a good thing. It can be a way to capitalize on our engineering savvy, and market those technologies. T. Boone is leading the way. Why not follow the lead and address the gaping holes in making the technology work. Like McCain stated in his convention address, drill, invest in new technologies, natural gas, etc… Resources support the growth of the nation. The Brits fought over timber to maintain their Navy, we’re staking a claim in the middle east to shore up petro for our military. Start making the switch now, maintain our strength.

Sep 9, 2008 - 7:39 am 12. DADvocate:

The real crisis is the threat to our personal freedoms by the lefties, global warming alarmists, and such.

Sep 9, 2008 - 8:05 am 13. Kevin M:

DADvocate says “the real crisis is…” and I agree with his view. But if I were asked what the real crises in America are, I would say:

1. Jihadist Muslims / Terrorism
2. Illegal Aliens
3. Dependency on foreign (Arab) oil
4. The economy
5. Liberal control of the media

Al Gore and the whole “sky is falling crowd” come in around 93 (although my list isn’t finished yet).

Sep 9, 2008 - 8:11 am 14. bryan:

Judy… What? If someone falls from grace and is living in a cardboard box it is my fault as an Ameican and human? please explain? you sure you’re not voting Obama? thats leftist guilt tripping to a “T”

Sep 9, 2008 - 8:28 am 15. Eric:

Unfortuantley for the Warmies the earth isn’t cooperating with their doom and gllo scenario. Here in Arkansas we’ve had a very mild summer with less than 4 weeks exceeding 90 degrees. It’s hard to convince most people the world is ending when the evidence fails to materialize.
And more people are tuned into the part of the scientific community that is debunking man-made climate change than the Warmies know. And many scientists now support a global cooling model driven by a reduction in sunspot activity.
The goal of the Left is total control over our lives and the environment is just a means to that end.
My vision of their dystopian future resembles Orwell’s 1984 with Lefties behind every bush and around every corner making sure no one violates “Environmental Directive #1234″.
Just wait for the day that Lefties try to repeal the child tax deduction to discourage people from having children.
Of course the Left doesn’t see the contradiction in their support for illegal aliens/amnesty and their demand we as a nation use less of everything.

Sep 9, 2008 - 9:09 am 16. Clioman:

Stop being silly. This has nothing to do with the environment. It’s about power — who has it, who should have it, and what they can do with it. Inside the skin of every green is a raging commissar, clawing to escape.

Sep 9, 2008 - 9:20 am 17. ‘Okie’ on the Lam » Blog Archive » Psychologists For The Promotion Of Anthropogenic Climate Change:

[...] Scalia, aka The Anchoress, has a piece today over at Pajamas Media on the latest tactic of the Global Warming Hysterics to stifle debate and generate the big [...]

Sep 9, 2008 - 9:24 am 18. Pywll:

John D. wrote “The problem with the “Global Warming” crowd is that there is no way to accomplish their goals without creating a government that would be indistinguishable from a police state.”

John, with all due respect, you have it backwards. The goal is to create exactly that government. “Global Warming” is just the current means.

Sep 9, 2008 - 9:32 am 19. thenakedemperor:

Orwell was only off by a few years. Freedom of thought must now by “programmed” by psychologists to be the “right” thoughts. “Fairness” doctrine is censorship. Our republic is now a “democracy” unless Obama wins the electoral college while losing the popular vote. “Liberalism” is now “conservative” but still anti-capitalist. Meanwhile pigs of both colors feed at the earmark and entitlement troughs. Animal rights activists are probably, as you read this, somewhere chanting “two legs bad, four legs good”.

Fortunately, we still, temporarily, have single malt.

Sep 9, 2008 - 9:50 am 20. BackwardsBoy:

Every thinking person sees right through the bunk that the Warmies are promulgating. Psychologists are now jumping in so they can profit by: 1. Manipulating you into feeling anxiety over the false crisis.
and 2. Treating that anxiety for $100 an hour.
It’s a win-win situation for them.

Sep 9, 2008 - 9:58 am 21. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Elizabeth Scalia, et al.
RE: Why….

…am I suddenly reminded of the Ministry of Peace in Bablyon 5?

We are not so much concerned with what people do as with what they actually think. — MinPax Representative

Regards,

Chuck(le)
P.S. Took them 12 years to adopt this sort of think. They must be ’slow’….

Sep 9, 2008 - 10:06 am 22. ZEITGEIST:

[...] PURGING YOUR BRAIN OF impure, un-green thoughts. [...]

Sep 9, 2008 - 10:06 am 23. UnmooredLefty:

I find that if you just shout loudly enough and long enough at the dumb b*stards, they’ll eventually realize you’re right about AGW and recycling and windmills and no-nukes and such.

Well, sometimes. Sometimes they just back away very, very slowly (even if you follow them with your bullhorn), and sometimes, unfortunately, they punch you right in the face.

Sep 9, 2008 - 10:08 am 24. JMH:

Spending time outdoors in nature is indeed good for your mental health.

Unfortunately, the greenies don’t want us doing that. At least not us serfs. Nature is too precious to be enjoyed by the hoi polloi. It has to be protected and made off limits. All over my neighborhood, what used to be called a “vacant lot” where kids could play is now a “native habitat preserve” with entry forbidden (and butt ugly signs posted everywhere proclaiming it). When I wanted to build a small house on my own property, the local Evironmental Services agency insisted I dig up three times as much ground, cut down and bulldoze a stand of tree, and install a butt ugly retention pond (which my insurance company insisted would need a chain link fence for liability purposes), and put the remaining woodland on my property into an offlimits native habitat.

Clioman is right, it’s all about control.

Sep 9, 2008 - 10:08 am 25. clazy:

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2007/03/05/070305taco_talk_remnick

Sep 9, 2008 - 10:18 am 26. ollie:

It is called Fascism or Communism (by dictatorship) take your pick. There is no middle ground since they want full control. It is either their way or not at all, you are not at all important. Power is ulimately corrupting, republic or democracy is only in the way.

The people must be controlled not for their own good but for their rulers good. (See North Korea as a current example.)

“We tell you what will make you happy. That you are happy. That you will live in happiness. That should prove it to you non-beleivers, we will have to dictate your happiness to you. Long live the ruling elite! The new rulers! Just tell yourself you are happy, rat out those who disagree, defame them to the authorities. Make sure they are gotten rid of or re-educated.”

Those who lived behind the Iron Curtain know, those who did not have a lot of trouble imagining what that coule be like. Therefore, they do not know how to stop or when to stop the eco-fascists, who will soon become eco-terrorists, and eco-communists, and possibly the government.

Sep 9, 2008 - 10:22 am 27. Gabe:

good article, however it seems that McCain, David Rockefeller and even Bush are all on board with Obama and Gore that “human caused global warming must be adressed”. So global carbon tax system here we come…ever wonder why the Council on Foreign Relations happens to push these lies as well?

The elite keep using the false left-right paradigm to fool the democrats and republicans into thinking they are fighting each other. The dems foolishly hope Obama will follow a more peaceful foreign policy and the repubs foolishly think that McCain or Bush will decrease the size and intrusiveness of the government. If the masses choose the right wing puppets they will steal our freedoms through the phony war on Osama Bin Laden, if the masses choose the left wing puppets they will steal our freedoms through the phony war on Carbon Dioxide.

Wake up people…either way we have to investigate the common forces supporting both of these corrupt political parties. Real Americans should be pissed about a 35% income tax and a intrusive IRS and being lied into a war.

Sep 9, 2008 - 10:32 am 28. steve m.:

Kevin M.: Agreed

Eric,

Here in the Northeast we’ve had the coldest, rainiest summer since 1967. “I want my Global Warming…wahhh!”

Sep 9, 2008 - 10:52 am 29. Michael Ronayne:

New age religions like old age religions have only guilt to peddle. There is a name for this obscenity, it is call original sin. In an objective philosophy, the only original sin is the acceptance of irrational guilt. Environmentalists demand that we accept that our very existence is a sin and our children are being indoctrinated into this cult of self-loathing at taxpayer expense.

As I observe the brainwashing which now passes for education in America’s schools I wonder how a religious cult took control of the education system. Earth Day, the high holyday for this new religious cult, is celebrated in very school in America. What happened to the establishment clause of the First Amendment which states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” The First Amendment has absolutely nothing to say about the separation of Church and State, that it does prohibit is the establishment of a State Religion, which is exactly what is now occurring.

It would be interesting to initiate a constitutional legal action against the observation of Earth Day, in every public school in America, on the grounds that it is a direct violation of the First Amendment establishment clause. For this litigation to be successful it will be necessary to demonstrate that the environmentalist movement is, at is core belief system, a religion. Realizing that this will be difficult to prove conclusively, I would ask that we think of ways to make the case for such a legal action.

Sep 9, 2008 - 10:52 am 30. Dave:

I try to be respectful but its difficult with an article like this.

Yes, the Earth warms and cools in cycles. But over Millions of years (not just 6,000 years) the trend has been massive warming. Everyone agrees - even the Pentagon says that global warming is a national security issue.

Gabe - I generally agree with your comment though its important to note that by ‘elite’ you (hopefully) also mean guys like Karl Rove not just Elites Liberls. Personally I’d rather be forced to walk to work instead of being told what I can and can’t say on my cell phone.

Sep 9, 2008 - 11:10 am 31. TalkinKamel:

Dave, has somebody been coming up to you lately, and telling you what you can, and can’t, say on your cell phone? Are there lots of people out there (other than the ones you actually talk to) who are really interested in what you say on the phone? Do you suspect somebody’s listening in on your conversations?

Sep 9, 2008 - 11:55 am 32. Eugenia:

Actually Disney found the way to discourage people from throwing candy wrappers on the ground in their theme parks was to keep the park meticulously clean, well-maintained, and provide trash cans.

P.S. How can anyone think people are causing global warming, etc., when they can’t even prevent a hurricane, earthquake, tsunami, volcano eruption, etc.?

Sep 9, 2008 - 11:58 am 33. Jane:

Here is an example. My water bill came last week with a card in it that had four swatches of green color. The lightest green was labeled 2-3 times a week, the next deeper green was labeled overkill green and the last two deeper shades, gluttony green and super waster green. The only color the card was missing was butt head brown - the color of the lawn belonging to my cheap, lazy, environmentally hysterical neighbor whose burned out lot is bringing others property values down. In the 60’s they did sort of leave others alone and their message was at least somewhat upbeat. If I remember right the water conservation folks cards then read “save water - take a shower with a friend”.

Sep 9, 2008 - 12:09 pm 34. mojo:

ACCEPT YOUR PROGRAMMING, robots! It’s for your OWN GOOD!

Sep 9, 2008 - 12:12 pm 35. Chuck Pelto:

TO: All
RE: Gabe [the Anarchist]

Wake up people…either way we have to investigate the common forces supporting both of these corrupt political parties. Real Americans should be pissed about a 35% income tax and a intrusive IRS and being lied into a war. — Gabe

There’s one in every crowd.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Rebel: One who has not established his own form of mis-rule.]

Sep 9, 2008 - 12:17 pm 36. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Jane
RE: The Pleasant Alternative

If I remember right the water conservation folks cards then read “save water - take a shower with a friend”. — Jane

That AND….

…Save the Earth! Drink vodka, not water!

Regards,

Chuck(le)
P.S. Have a ‘good’ time……

Sep 9, 2008 - 12:19 pm 37. Chuck Pelto:

P.P.S. Personally….I prefer hot-tubs. And chilled chardonnay during a Winter snowfall……with a friend……

Sep 9, 2008 - 12:25 pm 38. Joseph Marshall:

Ms. Scalia, I’ll ask your indulgence for quoting some of the material I’ve posted over on your blog in this comment.

Global Warming does not have the same effect in different places. Anyone who lives within fifty miles of so of an ocean, is far less likely to see the changes than someone living in the interior of the United States. People who live in mountainous regions are less likely to see major changes than people on the plains, as are people who live along the bottom land of major rivers such as the Ohio or the Mississippi.

All of these have distinct moderating effects due to the presence of water acting as a heat sink or of differences in land altitude.

Further, its greatest effects are on the average low temperatures, occurring very early in the morning when most people are in bed. The average high temperatures are what we actually experience and judge as a “hot summer”, or a “colder winter”, and these are what almanacs and TV weather persons use to judge this, too.

So far, we have not seen enough change to affect the highs. But that may be coming.

The effects of average low temperatures are direct and unequivocal on plant hardiness and animal behavior, so if you want to see the real changes, as opposed to mere temperature measurements, that is where you have to look.

I live in one of the places, Central Ohio, where the impact of Global Warming has been the greatest. The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map shows 10F interval temperature zone boundaries of the coldest temperature of Winter based on averaged weather station data from 1960-1990.

The Arbor Day Foundation published a new such map a couple of years back based on the temperatures recorded from 1990-2005. This is objective information that nobody is cooking up; people use it to plant trees and ornamentals, and if its wrong, plants die.

In fifteen years, the average annual lowest temperature has risen a full 10F where I live. That is one full hardiness Zone, from Zone 5 to Zone 6. I can personally assure you that no such abrupt changes occurred here between 1960 and 1990.

Not only that, the old boundary between Zone 5 and 6 was about 25 miles to the south of me around Circleville, OH. The new boundary is up in Saginaw, MI. This is a shift of 300 miles! You don’t have to take my word for it. Both maps are readily available online and they are based on real and objective temperature measurements. Look at them and see.

Words cannot express how large and how fast a change has taken place. Short of something like a volcano eruption, nature simply does not change that much, that fast. There are no volcanos in Ohio.

Nature works in centuries and incrementally. Man made changes happen suddenly and in decades or less. Throughout most of human history, real climate changes like this, and their effects on plants and animals, could be directly observed only by the oldest man in the town or village, a man of 80-90 years.

Ducks, Geese, and Robins now routinely winter in Central Ohio when they did not before. The spring flowering tree cycle from forsythia to Dogwoods and Lilacs has now compressed into three weeks where it used to be three months. At the end of this period, they are all blooming at once, which never occurred in my youth here. Not once. And if we get a hot enough week in mid-April, all the trees can be in bloom in a week. None of this was the case before 1990.

There used to be two hard killing freezes in Spring, and maybe a couple of milder frosts. In about 4 years out of 5, one freeze would get the Magnolias, the other the early tulips. My family grew both, so I know. Common folklore stated that three frosts occur after the forsythias bloom. All of this is gone.

I don’t have to be mesmerized by psycholgists to believe the climate is changing. I’m watching it happen before my eyes year by year every time I step out my door. It’s real. And it’s manmade. It’s too much and too fast to be anything else.

Roughly 1/3 to 1/2 of the continental United States has experienced these changes. If anyone reading this knows a long-time nurseryman, hunter, birder, or avid gardener over the age of 50, ask them to tell you what it was like to practice their hobby or business in 1975 and then in 2005, and whether they think Global Warming is real. Odds are 1 in 3 that they’ll confirm what I have said.

I have sometimes been rather tart in comments here about the relation of conservatives to verifiable facts, but can you blame me?

You do not see the effects of Global Warming in a heated and air conditioned office, nor in a parking garage, nor at home [in your pajamas, of course!] staring at your computer screen, nor under your electric blanket at night.

You only see them by getting outside, staying outside, looking at what is happening, and noting the changes over time–and not just where you live, because the effects might not show up where you are. If you live in Boston, for example, you will have to go to Northhampton or Pittsfield to see it.

And, of course, you have to actively and honestly look for it. Honesty is the hardest. For as Sherlock Holmes remarked, “You see, Watson, but you do not observe.”

Sep 9, 2008 - 12:47 pm 39. Cassandra:

Sounds to me closely related to The Nudge: http://newcitizenship.blogspot.com/2008/07/of-cameronism-pragmatism-and-nudge.html

Sep 9, 2008 - 1:15 pm 40. HeatherRadish:

People know outside is going to feel much better for them but underpredict how happy they’re going to feel after being outside in nature even 15 minutes.

Hogwash. I can sunburn to a crispy magenta in 15 minutes; I’m not underpredicting anything.

What I am is sick and tired of morons who don’t know me telling me they know better than I do what’s best for me, and thus they have an obligation to trick me into doing the things they approve.

Sep 9, 2008 - 1:26 pm 41. Silent Running » Blog Archive » Agenda:

[...] Read the whole thing [...]

Sep 9, 2008 - 2:02 pm 42. jeff:

Joseph Marshall:

“I don’t have to be mesmerized by psycholgists to believe the climate is changing. I’m watching it happen before my eyes year by year every time I step out my door. It’s real. And it’s manmade. It’s too much and too fast to be anything else.”

The climate has changed for BILLIONS of years Robert - if it did not, we really would have a problem then.

Secondly, please clarify what the ideal temperature for the Earth must be, how you arrived at that number, and how it is preferable than a warmer/cooler Earth. If the answer boils down to arbitrary observations of sad migrating ducks in Ohio, we’re probably done with this discussion.

Exactly.

Sep 9, 2008 - 2:15 pm 43. willis:

“people who fall from grace into living in a cardboard box are not failures.”

No Judy they are not. By and large they are mentally ill and used to be wards of the state in mental institutions. Such confinement was considered to be a violation of their civil rights so a great number of them were released in the 1970’s and a great number should have been committed since then, but have not been. This is one venture that should be addressed and rectified, but the left would have to admit error on a grand scale and is unwilling to do so.

Sep 9, 2008 - 2:17 pm 44. Means, ends and saving the planet « Organic Horizon:

[...] This really is scary. Psychologists — as a group (The American Psychological Association) — have focused their mad skills on bringing about a greener future… Armed with new research into what makes some people environmentally conscious and others less so, the 148,000-member American Psychological Association is stepping up efforts to foster a broader sense of eco-sensitivity that the group believes will translate into more public action to protect the planet. [...]

Sep 9, 2008 - 2:23 pm 45. Sept. 9th Link Roundup | THE HOT JOINTS:

[...] Purging your brain of un-green thoughts [...]

Sep 9, 2008 - 4:06 pm 46. Roderick Reilly:

I suppose these psychologists will keep a list of those of us who are particularly recalcitrant.

Fine, WE will keep a list of THEIR names, too. Also their home addresses, working hours, favorite restaurants, resorts, etc.

Hey, if “by any means necessary” works for one side, can’t we borrow part of that playbook for ourselves?

Sep 9, 2008 - 4:13 pm 47. Roderick Reilly:

“”"”"”willis:

“people who fall from grace into living in a cardboard box are not failures.”

……This is one venture that should be addressed and rectified, but the left would have to admit error on a grand scale and is unwilling to do so.”"”"”

Thank you, willis. That was Federal Judge Harold Greene who agreed with the well-meaning activists and “liberated” thousands of unfortunates with the bang of his gavel. Leftist activists are never interested in real results, only in self-agrandizement, the accumulation of personal power, and enormous, expensive, taxpayer funded gestures that solve nothing, but lets people know how much these now-affluent activists “care.”

Sep 9, 2008 - 4:17 pm 48. NYGOPer:

I believe the worst environmental damage has been due to deforestation on a global scale. Trees are nature’s best absorbers of carbon (that’s why they burn so easily).

There are two issues here:
1. Damage to the environment caused by man.
2. Liberal/Socialist politics that seek to limit the freedoms of all of mankind especially that of Americans, by elites who think they know better than the rest of us.

They do not, and the harder they try the more they expose themselves as hypocrites, frauds, traitors, and appeasers.

Each is a fact. The first one must be corrected using hard work. The second one must be discredited using good old American common sense.

We have a duty to future generations and we must not fail. If we do so, our Republic will be unrecognizable a century from now.

Sep 9, 2008 - 5:31 pm 49. Anonymous:

Well, Jeff, there’s no ideal temperature for the Earth, but below about 27F deciduous ornamental plants die back to the ground, above 86F those same deciduous plants will go dormant and stop growing, and below 0F plants hardy to Zone 6 will die completely. Fiddle around with those numbers in your neighborhood and you eventually end up with different plant life and different animal behavior.

If the polar and Greenland ice caps melt off, the sea level will rise by a given number of inches. Do you think this will have no impact on life in Miami Beach or Manhattan?

Suppose the major belt for growing corn and soybeans ends up around Moose Jaw and Saskatoon in Canada, and the Winter Wheat belt runs along the boundary of the Northwest Terroritories. Don’t you think that this might influence the economic health of the United States?

No, there is no ideal temperature, but there are profound consequences to the amount and speed of change we are now seeing. We may not know where things will end up, but it’s certain that sooner or later we’re going to find it very troublesome to deal with.

Sep 9, 2008 - 8:05 pm 50. Joseph Marshall:

Well, Jeff, there’s no ideal temperature for the Earth, but below about 27F deciduous ornamental plants die back to the ground, above 86F those same deciduous plants will go dormant and stop growing, and below 0F plants hardy to Zone 6 will die completely. Fiddle around with those numbers in your neighborhood and you eventually end up with different plant life and different animal behavior.

If the polar and Greenland ice caps melt off, the sea level will rise by a given number of inches. Do you think this will have no impact on life in Miami Beach or Manhattan?

Suppose the major belt for growing corn and soybeans ends up around Moose Jaw and Saskatoon in Canada, and the Winter Wheat belt runs along the boundary of the Northwest Terroritories. Don’t you think that this might influence the economic health of the United States?

No, there is no ideal temperature, but there are profound consequences to the amount and speed of change we are now seeing. We may not know where things will end up, but it’s certain that sooner or later we’re going to find it very troublesome to deal with.

Sep 9, 2008 - 8:06 pm 51. Rubicon:

Just as it was discovered the “hockey stick” effect was left out so as to exaggerate the situation, I believe Al & his buddies are exaggerating much of what he is selling so he can get his socialist agenda forced on all. His carbon trading company will make billions once his forced socialist carbon trading scam is legislated by the Democrats in Congress & their Rino supporters.
We face the old “oil industry” in our pockets robbing us, or we face the new “green industry” in our pockets robbing us. At least the oil guys believe in capitalism & not forced socialism.

Sep 9, 2008 - 8:30 pm 52. Sandra M:

Michael Crichton debated the subject of global warming at Cooper Union with several other scientists. Before the debate, the audience was polled and believed in global warming, after the debate not so much.

Here’s Crichton skewering the left and reminding people of arch=hypocrites such as Al Gore, John Edwards, Arianna Huffingon, Nancy Pelosi, Arnold Schwarzennegger and most of Hollywood and DC.
”
“I would like to suggest a few symbolic actions that might—might really mean something. One of them, which is very simple, 99% of the American population doesn’t care, is ban private jets. Nobody needs to fly in them, ban them now. And, and in addition, [APPLAUSE] “Let’s have the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), the Sierra Club and Greenpeace make it a rule that all of their members, cannot fly on private jets. They must get their houses off the [electrical] grid. They must live in the way that they’re telling everyone else to live. And if they won’t do that, why should we? And why should we take them seriously? [APPLAUSE]“

Sep 9, 2008 - 9:11 pm 53. Kasmir:

Mr Marshall:

10 degrees F increase in 15 years??? Are you aware that the uncontested measured increase in global temperatures in the last *100 years* is < 1 degree F? And that half of that occurred before 1950?

You’re either lying, exaggerating, or overheating your thermometer.

Sep 9, 2008 - 10:21 pm 54. Biggy:

Why does climate change (it always has and presumably always will)?

* The amount of energy that the Sun radiates is not always the same
* The orbit of the Earth around the Sun is not always the same
* The composition of the atmosphere is not always the same
* The reflection of sunlight at the Earth’s surface is not always the same
* The amount of cloud cover is not always the same

Solar activity… why does the MSM not pick up on reports and quotes from scientists that mention solar activity (ie solar output and sunspots) and the orbital parameters of Earth (eccentricity, inclination, orbital period) as the highly intuitive and plausible reason for any change in climate? And how can nearly all liberals and a growing amount of conservatives dismiss such logical, rational, and reasonable justifications for variable global climate? This is REAL science.

Sep 10, 2008 - 12:01 am 55. This is Your Brain on Man-Bear-Pig « bipolar chicks blogging:

[...] More rational thoughts on this can be read here. [...]

Sep 10, 2008 - 12:23 am 56. Calix:

I don’t know about any of the rest of the debate in this thread, but I think the environmentalist brainwashing has failed in me–every time I hear the phrase “Global Warming” or similar, I have a strong sudden urge to start a tire fire, solely for the purpose of announcing my disagreement with that whole meme.

Sep 10, 2008 - 1:09 am 57. Kirk:

“”I don’t have to be mesmerized by psycholgists to believe the climate is changing. I’m watching it happen before my eyes year by year every time I step out my door. It’s real. And it’s manmade. It’s too much and too fast to be anything else.”"

Like most global warming alarmism and pseudo science, it boils down to unprovable ‘facts’ that are so ‘real’ they are undeniable. Useless observations by a layman out his backdoor proves the world is flat, we are all descended from space aliens and falling leaves cause a rapid drop in temperature over 3 months. That’s the dire problem : leaves. If we could just stop them from falling, we could prevent the impending cooling they cause.

Sep 10, 2008 - 4:32 am 58. Kevin M:

Eugenia said: “Actually Disney found the way to discourage people from throwing candy wrappers on the ground in their theme parks was to keep the park meticulously clean, well-maintained, and provide trash cans.”

This reminds me of something I was told 30 years ago by a member of the Green Mountain Club (Vermont Long Trail) who helped to keep Mt. Mansfield free of tourist litter. She said that it was “vital” to pick up every last cigarette butt that some slob threw down. Every day, she’d pick up 1 or 2 soda cans and 35 butts. “And if you let so much as one day go by, the next day you’d have to pick up 24 cans and a two-gallon jug of butts.”

People won’t litter in a pristine area (usually), but if they see some litter, they don’t feel like they’re littering. If they see a lot of litter, they figure the place is a landfill and gleefully contribute their garbage.

Sep 10, 2008 - 6:29 am 59. Random Nuclear Strikes » Get ready for it:

[...] Found via PJM [...]

Sep 10, 2008 - 7:25 am 60. Susan Katz Keating:

Hmmmm… kinda reminds me of something Ray Bradbury wrote about… do I see the Mechanical Hound on the horizon?

Sep 10, 2008 - 7:52 am 61. Javelin:

Wow, they are in my head controlling all my thoughts, those evil green shrinks. Better get my IPod with 20 hours of talk show drivel I downloaded and listen to that all day.

Sep 10, 2008 - 8:16 am 62. JimB:

Global Warming is the definition of State sponsored religion that our Constitution tries to prevent. The government schools have been teaching/preaching this religion for about 30 years. No wonder that there are so many irrational environmental folks around. By the way, this institutional Environmentalism is causing taxpayers to suffer as much as the Church of England ever did.

Sep 10, 2008 - 9:26 am 63. Cletus:

My head exploded when I read the term “underpredict”

Sep 10, 2008 - 5:16 pm 64. tanstaafl:

When you are trying to peddle the “crisis” mentality necessary to get Americans to hand over power, there is no room to “rap about” the questions or to introduce reason or balance into the non-discussion.

I think Karl Marx, Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse-sung would approve.

I have often argued (well, once or twice)that much about “the global warming” movement is a replacement for failed Communism.

Same tune, different dance.

Conformity, fear, you know the drill. (oh, and AlGore has grown even wealthier promulgating it, Tennessee mansion, private jet et al and etc. aside)

Sep 10, 2008 - 5:34 pm 65. tanstaafl:

Psychologists ?

I’ve never met one (and I’ve met a few prominent ones) that I would trust farther than I could throw.

Maybe Gabriel Byrne (”In Treatment” HBO).

Oh wait, he’s an actor.

Sep 10, 2008 - 5:38 pm 66. Pat:

Joseph Marshall recites a litany of observations allegedly proving warming, then claims the cause of his alleged warming is “manmade.”

This claim is a baseless, disintegrated, arbitrary assertion - not the result of reason and science.

Tellingly absent among his observations are the facts that 1) the sun bombards the earth with more energy in one day than the sum of what man has produced for the past 2000 years, and 2) solar flares (aka sunspots) are again in the ascending portion of their cycle.

The future of man’s life on this planet requires that we preserve the Enlightenment’s commitment to reason, and we dismiss out-of-hand the arbitrary assertions of primitives like Al Gore. The arbitrary is worse than true or false: like mysticism, it has no cognitive status whatever. It has no place in an enlightened or scientific age.

Sep 10, 2008 - 7:05 pm 67. Pat:

Psychologists who think they can brainwash the mind — deny volition. They think ideas are determined by our genes (e.g. James Watson and the eugenicists), or “behavioral” conditioning (e.g. B.F. Skinner and today’s “economists” who endeavor to study markets by studying rats).

But their view is self-refuting. If ideas were determined, then so would be the idea that ideas are determined — which collapses into a dead-end where no knowledge is possible because no proof is possible: I say ideas are not determined, and you say they are, and both of us are simply mouthing what our genes or conditioning have determined in our brains. There can be no cognitive resolution because there is only mental content that got there “somehow,” and can simply be “purged.”

As Aristotle and his followers have shown, man is born with a blank slate, and he has free will - the choice to focus on what content and connections he will make on that slate. Because he’s capable of error, he needs logic to test his knowledge and make sure it corresponds to reality.

The fantasy of man-made global warming is about as far from reality as you can get…

Sep 10, 2008 - 7:21 pm 68. Election ‘08: Cartoons, Old tunes, “Change” | The Anchoress:

[...] case you didn’t see: My latest piece at PJM, on the psychologists who are going to train us on the [...]

Sep 10, 2008 - 7:28 pm 69. Home-For-Sale Dave:

Judy, NYC:

“i am a life long democrat who is voting mccain-palin.”

Yeh…right.

“i certainly hope your ideas about people are not palin’s because it would change my vote to the green party.”

Sorry, I won’t eat the Goebbel’s propaganda pudding you’ve set on the plate.

You would never vote for Mr. McCain as I would never vote for your leftist buddies Saul Alansky or Heinrich Himmler.

Eco-fascists have murdered more people with the ban on DDT (It’s called democide.) than Hitler killed in the holocaust.

Democrat environmentalists have destroyed millions of lifes in Asia and Africa, mostly black and yellow women, children and babies. But that shouldn’t be surprising. The so-called democrat party defended slavery and started a civil war to continue it, the democrats instituted segregation, passed Jim Crow laws, hanged black citizens in the 1930s - while FDR did nothing - and manned the hoses at Selma. Democrats have no respect for life.

When I wished eco-fascists would live life in cardboard boxes under bridges, I was being kind. I’d much prefer that “environmentalists” be shipped one-way to North Korea to live with their Marxist brothers.

Now go vote for your racist black liberation buddy obama, as you certainly will.

Sep 10, 2008 - 7:31 pm 70. Javelin:

“Global Warming is the definition of State sponsored religion that our Constitution tries to prevent. The government schools have been teaching/preaching this religion for about 30 years. No wonder that there are so many irrational environmental folks around. By the way, this institutional Environmentalism is causing taxpayers to suffer as much as the Church of England ever did.”
Dissociation, paranoia, better see a shrink dude! Global warming has only been a topic for less than a decade.

Sep 10, 2008 - 8:29 pm 71. Jeff:

Recycling?

If my garbage was worth something…they’d pay me to take it away.

Sep 11, 2008 - 6:06 am 72. JimB:

Javelin,
How old are you, dude? If you can refute my argument, give it a try. Math quiz for you: What year would be a decade ago?

Sep 11, 2008 - 8:04 am 73. Joseph Marshall:

No Kasmir, I am not exaggerating or lying. Global average temperatures are based on the entire range of temperatures from high to low every year and also across the entire planet.

As I pointed out, local effects of such global changes vary widely. What happens in Central Ohio will not be the same as what happens on Long Island, in Phoenix, or in Silverton, Colorado.

As I also pointed out, the specific effect here has to with one type of temperature measurement only–the coldest temperature on the coldest day of Winter. Nothing else. That average for that single temperature variable has risen 10F in 15 years in Central Ohio, and the corresponding plant and animal changes have happened.

You can find a direct comparison of the old map to the new map here:

http://www.arborday.org/media/map_change.cfm

The relevant locations are the states of Ohio and Michigan. The relevant boundary on both maps is the one between the dark green band and the light green band. That boundary has shifted 300 miles and completely out of Ohio. Where I live was on one side of it before and on the other side now.

There is also a third map showing where the major Zone shifts have taken place and where the Zones have remained the same.

Why is the maximum Winter low so important? Because it determines whether or not a plant will survive outdoors in the winter [a "perennial"], or must be replaced every year [an "annual"]. This is an unequivocal difference. The plant is either dead or not.

Why does this change animal behavior? Though only one temperature variable is being measured, the other low temperatures throughout the Winter move correspondingly.

This changes the number of days that rivers and streams freeze solid and the amount of both drinking water and forage that is available. This has changed enough for the species I mentioned above to winter over and survive. This is also an unequivocal difference. The birds are either there or not.

And no, Pat, my claim is not a baseless, disintegrated, arbitrary assertion - and not the result of reason and science.

Science is the application of reason to observation. The observation has to come first, or there is nothing to apply the reason to. The maps above are a perfect example of this. The observations are weather station temperature changes, the reasoning is the application of mathematics to generate the data, and the maps are the transformation of that data from a tabular to a graphic form.

The notion that the cause of the data changes is sunspots is the form of reasoning known as an hypothesis. To collect evidence for its soundness we would have to compare the sunspot cycle between 1960 and 2005 with the observed temperature changes, either Kasmir’s global ones, or my local ones.

Since I have given you one half of the data and described the actual method of reasoning used, I’ll let you find the other half of the data, and do a little real scientific reasoning on your own.

Sep 11, 2008 - 9:04 pm 74. M Waters:

Ms. Scalia’s editorial on the probability of the government using psychological persuasion to go “green” theorizing the elimination of personal choice has probably never made a purchase of a car, clothing, music, or other material objects, or voted? Psychology has and is being used all the time – heard of must have HD TV, purchase this and/or blah, blah, blah and loose a personal choice! After all we are the only species with free will. Unfortunately, the “baby boomers” have raised, and continue to, individuals to have the perception of themselves as entitled. Making a conscious choice takes acceptance of responsibility for one’s actions and reactions, and making mature choices not exclusively based on selective interests. As a species of this universe we do have an impact on people, places and things it is not just a theory. Our citizens – government - has massaged the Clean Bill Act for years…one by paying other countries to accept our waste (toxic), a choice made by citizens? The scary thought is more and more of these countries are not renewing their waste contacts with the U.S., and Citizens it is homeward bound. If continued insular thinking abounds, it is not regarding me; it’s not my problem; compounded by blame; the old folks, press, media, liberals, conservatives, religious fanatics, this is only reinforcing the personal delusion of there still are wide open spaces in-this-here ol’good of U.S. of A. When in reality there isn’t. What I’m hearing and witnessing is the refusal to move forward, to “green” because of the erosion of the psychology illusion of personal entitlement. As the disillusion fades: it won’t effect me because I’m an individual of affluence; I’m well educated; I don’t follow dogmas; I have the right to own whatever; choose to live where ever and next to whom ever; and worship where however, who will be held accountable when the “baby boomers” are dead and gone? I have personally experienced and witness the human cause and effect on nature, loosing an ecosystem at a beach. It is so polluted due to untreated waste being dumped into its waters, for years, that it lost all vital sea vegetation and life forms that currently its City has too prohibit swimming throughout the summer season. But kicker to all of this is the next town/city up refuses to treat any waste it dumps into the Long Island Sound. Why, because the pollution does not affect their beaches, and anyway their beaches are only for their city/town folks! In this case, who is telling whom the “…unprovable theory that humankind – not nature, is responsible for change…”? Treat this universe as you would treat your God, yourselves and others…with respect, courtesy and Love especially courtesy since Love does wax and wane.

Sep 16, 2008 - 11:47 am 75. Ecobots Unite! (Saving The Planet, ‘Conform Now’ for the ever present higher cause) « Zipline Conservative:

[...] The Left, The Media. Tags: conformity, Ecobot, group think, psychological conformity trackback http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/psychologists-want-to-purge-your-brain-of-un-green-thoughts/ Green [...]

Sep 18, 2008 - 7:14 pm 76. Ryan:

Environmental rhetoric definitely plays a main part in today’s shared public mindset. The problem lies in separating the politics from the smart green moves that make both economic and health since as we move forward.

Oct 10, 2008 - 11:50 am

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