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Brad Field – The DEC’s Flat Earth Poster Boy

June 30, 2012 By Chip Northrup

Brad Field – the DEC’s Flat Earth Poster Boy

In denying the fait accompli of global warming by greenhouse gasses, there are the deluded and the deluders. The global warming deluders have conveniently made a list of themselves, as if to proclaim their presence among us – without resorting to pointed hats.  

One of the biggest critics of  the Ingraffea/ Howarth paper on methane’s impact as a greenhouse gas  http://www.eeb.cornell.edu/howarth/Marcellus.html  is Prof. Lawrence M. Cathies, of Cornell

 http://www.eas.cornell.edu/cals/eas/people/profile.cfm?netId=lmc19  

Like Brad Field at the DEC, Prof. Cathies is a signer of the Global Warming Petition, the 21st Century equivalent of the Flat Earth Soceity http://www.petitionproject.org/ 

This political manifesto calls for the United States government to reject any proposed limits on greenhouse gases because “there is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate.”

Remarkably and rather hyperbolically the signatories believe that, “We are living in an increasingly lush environment of plants and animals . . . an unexpected and wonderful gift of the Industrial Revolution.” The enduring “gift” of the Industrial Revolution was an unprecedented and accelerating spike in CO2 – which is in fact good for some plants. 

In other words, a Fracking Garden of Eden.  Courtesy of a marked increase in greenhouse gases like methane from leaking gas wells and other industrial age emissions.  Evidently no English professors or lawyers signed on, or they might have caught that little inconsistency, how, on the one hand, there is “no evidence that the release of carbon dioxide and methane” is detrimental, but on the other hand, the release of  Industrial Revolution gases, particularly CO2, is good for the ecosystem, leading to “an increasingly lush environment for plants”.

Meaning there will be winners (some plants and some animals) as well as losers in global warming.  But there will be global warming – caused and/or exacerbated by the release of greenhouse gases. 

Science is not done by referendum or acclamation. 

Signing a petition against global warming does not negate the fact that greenhouse gases alter the earth’s atmosphere into something that might prove less benign than “an increasingly lush environment”.

Unless you’re a plant or want to move to Siberia. 

 

 

 

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Filed Under: global warming Tagged With: brad field, chip northrup, cuomo, dec, fracking, gas migration, greg sovas, James "Chip" Northrup, leaking gas wells, marcellus new york, sgeis, shale

Comments

  1. WCGasette says

    June 30, 2012 at 5:52 pm

    Dr. Cathles (is it with an l or an i?) needs to get some new friends!

    Here’s a fracking Garden of Eden in Arlington, TX for the deniers to enjoy.

    And this one, too, next to the Joe Pool Lake Dam! Flaring in our neighborhoods is industrial activity that is lush and gorgeous!!

  2. Chip Northrup says

    June 30, 2012 at 8:50 pm

    The wording of the petition is classic Twilight Zone : “an unexpected gift of the Industrial Revolution” – if you are in Siberia . . .

  3. tom says

    July 1, 2012 at 5:14 pm

    I would take Prof. Cathles’ assessment over Prof. Howeth’s any day. Howeth is an ecologist and evolutional biologist – thats plants and how life evolved. On the other hand, we have Cathles – who studies geology and engineering. Analyzing methane from hydraulic fracturing is a little more in his wheelhouse if you know what I mean. Taking Howeth’s word for it is like going to the see the electrician when you have an ear infection.

    Simply put, Howeth’s study did not stand up to peer review – his department at Cornell wouldn’t even back his study. The guy slopped together the maximum theoretcial estimates his graduate students could dig up, and then used a “safety” factor for good measure to ensure he would get the results he was looking for. His paper is not science. In fact, more often then anything else, it is used in academic circles as a lesson of what NOT to do.

    I do think there is substantial evidence that anthropogenic carbon in the atmosphere is impacting the climate – which i believe is the thrust of your post. But geez, there are better places to look – i.e. ice core samples, sea level rise, ocean acidification. You don’t have to follow every anti-fracking yahoo like a zombie.

  4. Chip Northrup says

    July 2, 2012 at 4:44 pm

    Was not commenting on the Howarth paper, only to ID one of its critics – Cathie as a a member of the Flat Earth Society, as is DEC’s head “scientist” Brad Field. . .

    Fracking Shills/ Dunces – two sides/ same coin, know what I mean “Tom” ?

Trackbacks

  1. The Head Fracking Shill Inside the NY DEC says:
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