Global Warming Again

You may or may not be tired of hearing about global warming, but this is an important issue because many politicians and other leaders are trying to use the hysteria they have created to grab power and money.

At Jewish World Review Dr. Walter Williams writes a column called "Global Warming Hysteria". As usual, Dr. Williams cuts to the chase and also tells you where you can find some good information:

There's an excellent booklet available from the National Center for Policy Analysis (ncpa.org) titled "A Global Warming Primer." Some of its highlights are:

"Over long periods of time, there is no close relationship between CO2 levels and temperature."

"Humans contribute approximately 3.4 percent of annual CO2 levels" compared to 96.6 percent by nature.

"There was an explosion of life forms 550 million years ago (Cambrian Period) when CO2 levels were 18 times higher than today. During the Jurassic Period, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, CO2 levels were as much as nine times higher than today."

What about public school teachers frightening little children with tales of cute polar bears dying because of global warming? The primer says, "Polar bear numbers increased dramatically from around 5,000 in 1950 to as many as 25,000 today, higher than any time in the 20th century." The primer gives detailed sources for all of its findings, and it supplies us with information we can use to stop politicians and their environmental extremists from doing a rope-a-dope on us.

Here's a link to the National Center for Policy Analysis. And here is a link to "A Global Warming Primer". Enjoy.

Environmental Hysteria

I've found an interesting article at FrontPage Magazine called "Hysteria's History: Environmental Alarmism in Context" by Amy Kaleita, Ph.D., with Gregory R. Forbes. It's a 30-page pdf file, but well worth your time to read. In it, Dr. Kaleita reviews the various alarmist predictions about the environment and how they have proven to be inaccurate. She also writes about some of the bad policies that have been enacted due to alarmism and the damage those policies have done.

Here is a sample quote from page 11:

Alarmists consistently ignore or deny the ability of humans to learn, grow, and advance socially and technologically. Swiss biochemist Ehrenfried Pfeiffer clearly states this alarmist view: “Production, rationalization and technicalization have reached a ‘saturation.’ They can not be increased.”21

Yet time and time again we see agricultural production records being broken. Human ingenuity and scientific advances help us better manage our acres and plant higher-yielding varieties that are drought, pest, and disease resistant. Every continent has seen an increase in yield in the last 40 years—with, of course, localized differences. Crop yield worldwide has increased for every commodity type, including fruit by 31 percent, rice by 63 percent, vegetables by 37 percent, and wheat by 148 percent.22

This is an interesting article with some good information. We definitely need to consider more than just the writings of the mainstream media when figuring out what policies to enact and what to avoid.

Oil is also a topic covered in this article. Here is a sample quote from page 12:

In 1971, proven oil reserves were at 521 billion gallons; in 2006, they were at 1,290 billion gallons.37 The Cambridge Energy Research Association (CERA) has predicted that petroleum supplies will actually grow faster than demand until 2010.38 Oil production and reserve levels have not yet dropped and are not likely to drop; supply constraints, where they exist, are issues of investment, geopolitics, and infrastructure.

Concern about energy supplies is widespread and certainly needs to be considered. It just needs to be considered with facts and not with alarmist predictions.

All in all, this is a good article for those concerned about the various aspects of the environment.

What to do About Indoctrination at Schools and Universities

Last week's post was about indoctrination in the educational system in the USA. Today I will link to a place where you can find out what you or your students can do to stop it. First up is a website called Students for Academic Freedom. This organization works to stop the one-sided "education" our kids get. On that site, or at FrontPage Magazine, you can read a letter about what the organization does and what you can do. They have made a little progress, but there is a lot more to do.

There are a couple more articles you should read. They are "I'm OK, You're Not OK" by Mark Bauerlein and "The Peace (Studies) Racket" by Bruce Bawer. These articles discuss the leftist approach to education.

We really need to be concerned about the inadequate education our young people are receiving these days.

The State of Academia

I love education--reading, studying, thinking, writing. It is all so wonderful. Because of my love of learning, it makes me incredibly sad to view the state of our educational systems here in the United States, from kindergarten right on through to the universities. They have been drifting away from teaching and getting into indoctrinating, the very antithesis of what they should be doing to prepare young people for life and for the future.

At FrontPage Magazine there is an article about the University of California at Santa Cruz titled "The Worst School in America" by David Horowitz and Jacob Laksin. While the article could have used some serious proofreading, the content is important information for all of us to know about, whether we are taxpayers or sending children to school or citizens concerned about the direction our country is headed in. The article is long, but well worth the time to read.

UCSC is a public university funded by taxpayers. Yet they are violating academic standards right and left and openly training radical activists of all stripes. Many other schools teach some of these same types of courses. Education is supposed to be about teaching students to read, write, and think with clarity, and to study multiple viewpoints, objective facts, scientific studies, and the like. It is not supposed to be about the egregious violation of these academic principles.

I hope people will wake up and investigate what is being taught at schools they send their children and/or their donations to. This is serious, folks.

Space

I've been battling the flu or something this past week, and I just don't feel up to a full-fledged post. However, here is a link to Space.com where you can enjoy news, science, technology, and pictures about the skies above our heads. Enjoy.