The Heated Dog-Ears

I don't want to say that it was a waste of my time reading the appendix of critiques in The Heat Is On, it really isn't that I wasted my time... it is more that the entire context of the last 40 pages were WAY above my head. I do not suggest reading this particular appendix for others like myself who are no where near fluent in scientific methodology.

Over all, I am glad that I read/finished The Heat Is On. It was outdated but still important- just as a pro-civil rights pamphlet from the 1950s might be. It is always good to rediscover arguments/debates that are now in hind sight. At least for me, it is.

So time for the dog ears! I had quite a few in this book and am actually going to write a little synopsis of why I tagged each one and what I found out from further research.

pg. 34-Toxic Sludge is Good For You  by John Stauber. I want to add this to my list of books to read. It is a hit on the public relations industry (PRI).

pg. 36- The Greening of Planet Earth is a video (the link takes you to YouTube) narrated by the skeptic Sherwood Idso. At the time of publishing, Gelbspan names Idso as a main skeptic of global warming. In my recent research, I have found that not only is he still a proud supporter of CO2 (sorry don't know how to make that look right) but he now has his sons, Keith and Craig on board. Here is a more current example of their work with the Marshall Institute.

pg. 45- The Heated Debate by Robert Balling. The link actually takes you to an article written for an Arizona Publication, but I found what I was looking for, which is where he stands in more modern times on the issue.

pg. 49- Richard Linzden is an interesting character who I am going to look more into. Yes, this is a link to wikipedia. No, I don't believe using this site is always inappropriate, but rather a good starting point for further research in many instances.

pg. 90- ICCP (International Climate Change Partnership). Good thing this acronym was not used frequently, as it would have confused me continuously with the IPCC (International Panel of Climate Control). These groups are not the same! Although Gelbspan does not seem too fond of the former, it did and still does believe industry is the answer to promoting greener energy. I can't see this as a bad thing...

pg. 109- AOSIS (Alliance of Smalle Island States). I wanted to see how much this group has grown, and it sppears that it is a force growing stronger and stronger.

pg. 153- Dr. Henry Kendall. I have mentioned this man in the previous post, he is the 1990 Nobel Prize winner for physics who marks the death of democracy as eminent. Unfortunately, I have learned that he passed away in 1999 (while scuba diving- if you're gonna go, might as well do it right). RIP Dr. Kendall. I am still enamored with learning more about him, and thus I will!

pg. 165- Norman Myers. I have to include a nice little prediction by this man, coninciding with some of Kendalls' predictions of democratic collapse. "The United States, like any open society, is vulnerable to terrorism. A significant surge in terrorism is the likeliest result of the desperation that is overtaking many people in evironmentally disrupted coutries. ' The World Trade Center was easy,' Norman Myers says. 'The next time a nuclear device is set off, it most likely will not be by a government. It will probably be set off by some group of people who are so frustrated at being consigned to desperation that they will be driven to potentially outrageous acts of terrorism.'" Well, well, well... this has been the newest trend in terrorism since the 1990s, hasn't it?

pg. 175- The Beak of the Finch by Johnathon Weiner. REALLY want to read this book, which talks about Darwin's theory of evolution by referring to the change of finch populations on the Galapagos Island Daphne Major due to a catastrophic El Nino season (1982-83).

pg. 198- Dr. Patrick Michaels is a constant punching bag for Gelbspan. He is still a well-known skeptic and I do plan on reading his books.

These were not the only dog-ears of the book, but they were the most significant. I know this was a long post. Hopefully it wasn't boring...

On another note, I have already begun my next book. The Prison Letters of Fidel Castro will bring me into Cuban revolution, a topic I am not familiar with at all. I am already enjoying it.