On Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 05:05:55 PM EDT, Carl Steckler
<[email protected]> wrote:
Well, let me state right out front that I am about to ignite a fire storm.
Are we conservationists or are we ecologists? Hope to instruct things like
green energy and the impact on wildlife.This is a false dichotomy based on an
incorrect definition. I taught ecology. I have had over 70 peer-reviewed
publications in professional journals. I have had major NSF research grants. I
am an ecologist. I know what ecology is. This is not a correct definition of
ecology. Ecology is a science. Ecology tries to describe things. Ecology tries
to develop testable predictions: if A occurs then B will follow. Ecology is an
objective scientific study. Ecologists often have strong, personal
feelings/beliefs about conservation. I have had conservation grants, too. They
are quite different. If you do not know the difference between them you do not
have the knowledge background to criticize them.
For the ecologists among you, you place a high value on green, renewable
energy, But at the same time you are ignoring the fact that green energy is
detrimental to wildlife and plant life No. I am also a conservationist. I am
concerned about balancing competing needs for the natural habitat that supports
wildlife.
Wind, turbines, kill hundreds of birds and bats every year. Both of these
activities are illegal but the fact that it is green energy seems to overlook
the fact that we’re destroying what we seek to keep. No. Things are illegal
when they violate a relevant law. The permitting process for almost everyting,
but certainly for installation of solar panel farms goes through a permitting
proceess and is approved by law. It is not illegal.
More and more grassland is disappearing under the covering of silicon, solar
panels not only are the wildlife dispossessed, but so too is the flora.
Wildlife can relocate, although it may not be to a suitable habitat, but the
plants cannot relocate and often end up dying, because the sun that gives them
nourishment is now blocked by solar panels The question isn't if solar farms
reduce wildlife. The question is what source of energy is less deterimental.
Unfortunately, the argument about green energy global warming has become more
political than environmental The science of green energy global warming climate
change whatever you want to call it is flawed Some like to say that global
warming climate change is caused by humans. Well, I’ve seen many studies that
support that and many studies that disprove that. what I haven’t seen yet is a
good scientific reason why the earth goes into an Ice Age and why the earth
comes out of an Ice AgeAnd yet again, there are many theories, but they are
just that theories Theories are the highest level of certainty that science
provides. But, I grant that you are intending to use "theory" with a meaning
that is not the use employed in a science discussion. The lack of understanding
about this distinction weighs on the merit of your arguements.
Without knowing the causes of an ice age or the causes of an ice age ending, we
are missing a big chunk of cause-and-effect The ice-age lasted over millions of
years for reasons that are irrelevant to our current. The causes for
cooling/warming associated with the major advances and retreats of glacies over
a totally different geological time scale are virtually irrelevant to the
causes for our present rate of warming, which has largely occurred in around
100 years. The physical process for our current warming is similar to the
familiar event of a car warming in the sun. Visible radiation comes in, strikes
a surface and warms it up. The heat is emitted but most of it cannot get
through the glass. We accept this because as infants or children we know about
this. The physics of global climate change is virtually the same. For our
earth, the visible radiation passes through the atmosphere. It strikes the
earth's surface, and is reemitted as heat. The heat is absorbed or retained in
the atmosphere by CO2 or methane, The ability of gasses to retain heat is
easily and accurately measured. We know why the earth is warming now. The
causes of ice age cooling and warming over hundreds of thousands of years is
almost totally irrelevant to the causes of our current warming within a
century. Anthropogenic global climate change was predicted by physicists a
century ago due to well-measured physical properties of gasses and due to the
emission of greenhouse gasses by industrilization. The physics of current
warming is known and it is caused by the so-called greenhouse gasses.
Does anyone disagree that when an ice age ends it gets warmer? Conversely, when
an ice age starts, it gets colder and it has been doing that for a lot longer
time than humans have been on this earth.
So think about it do we want to be climate activist or do we want to be
conservationist preserving what we have on this planet preserving the ecosystem
that the animals and plants of this planet so desperately need
I am not arguing, one way or another I have my beliefs, and you probably have
yours. My purpose is to take a good look at the differences between
conservation and ecology.
As an ecologist and as a conservationist, both as a paid, funded professional,
and as a personal dedication, it is upsetting to read a false dichotomy that
sets the two against each other, and which is based on an uninformed
description of global climate change. Obtaining the level of public support for
measures that may reduce or restreain the rate of global climate change due to
greenhouse gasses require a public concensus that is thwarted by the discussion
presented by Carl, and that deeply bothers me.
John Confer
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