Having met and interviewed Dr. Katharine Hayhoe a number of times, I gotta say, if you don’t like Katharine Hayhoe, you don’t like people. She handles herself flawlessly here, at a special convening of the Austin, Texas, City Council, devoted to Resilience and Disaster planning.
Dr. Hayhoe gave a nice short synopsis of what we know about weather extreme trends, and possible impacts on the Texas area – and a science denying Council member took strong exception.
I may post Dr. Hayhoe’s presentation later in the week, – it is short and worthwhile. For today, I’ve posted her “Climate Change Elevator Pitch” below the fold.
Our climate is changing because of human activity. Most scientists, including Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist who studies climate change, agree with that statement, although some do not. Hayhoe, a professor and director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, was one of several speakers at Monday’s City Council briefing on resilience.
After Hayhoe’s presentation on global warming as it affects Austin, District 6 Council Member Don Zimmerman took out his anger on the scientist over government involvement in trying to control climate change.
“The worst thing that can be done to humanity is to put government bureaucrats in charge of carbon dioxide emissions or whatever it would be,” Zimmerman said. “I’m really, really upset about this political move of saying climate change — now we have to have government in charge of climate. It angers me and I think it should.”
After the briefing was over, observers reported that Zimmerman berated Hayhoe about her views as she was leaving the Council chambers.
While acknowledging that Time magazine recognized Hayhoe as one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2014, Zimmerman let Hayhoe know that he strongly disagrees with the idea that humans are causing global warming.
Zimmerman said the sun is the greatest source of heat and that carbon dioxide does not cause global warming. “You don’t have to be as smart as a fifth-grader to know that the sun causes climate change — the sun,” he said. “People tell me carbon dioxide warms the earth. No, it doesn’t. The sun warms the earth.”
Hayhoe referred him to a website called skepticalscience.com, saying that it has answered every major question about climate science. She said one of the main reasons some object to the solutions is because they are big government solutions.
“So that’s one of the reasons that I think it is so important to give free market solutions (a chance),” Hayhoe said. “Because, as my husband says, a thermometer is not Democrat or Republican. It’s about looking at 26 1/2 thousand indicators of a warming planet, many of which you can see in your own backyard.”
After the meeting was over, two observers noted that Zimmerman continued his argument with Hayhoe, loudly criticizing her views on climate change until some staff members took her out of the chamber.
“Free market” will never solve the problem as long as there is big money in fossil fuels. Kudos to Katharine. She was did sound very diplomatic and got the main message across. I wonder what Zimmerman will make out of SkS…
A free market idea that has a good chance is a revenue-neutral carbon fee and dividend.
Actually, that pretty much is the opposite of a free market idea. That is called government intervention – a concept I happen to agree with.
“I have a really visceral reaction against the climate change argument” There you go thinking with your gut again.
This jerk is a perfect example of the Dunning-Kruger effect. He is too stupid to know he is stupid.
The problem is that these stupid people will kill us all.
There’s nothing like a loud-mouthed ignorant, truculent bully to mess things up. Rush Limbaugh is another example. And don’t forget Bill O’Reilly.
Hayhoe is way, way too generous.
Most of the solutions put forward haven’t been big government, they’ve been market friendly – put a price on carbon (that reflects the cost) and let markets do their thing. The reason our City Councillor friend still hasn’t embraced them is because he’s a passive aggressive jerk, period. Skepticalscience.com won’t cure that.
If we were on a boat out on the ocean, and the boat sprung a leak we would all die.
If we gave District 6 Council Member Don Zimmerman a bucket and said, “Start bailing before we all die!” he would throw the bucket over the rail and snarl, “I didn’t make the leak.”
I say we should throw him over the rail, lighten the boat, and get to work saving the rest of the crew.
An apt analogy. In an emergency you have to do the right thing quickly and decisively if you want to save lives. What people think about that is largely irrelevant: avoiding disaster has to be the top priority. There may not be time to wait until everyone is convinced or, if there is a little breathing space, we still do not have the luxury of allowing people to make the wrong choice. There is such a thing as objective truth and therefore not all ideas are equal.
I found this “Climate Denier Crock of the Week” particularly interesting, Thanks Bob Asperger Sr
It is a sad day when someone thinks they can argue with scientific fact.
Zimmerman is another engineer who thinks he is somehow qualified to comment on climate science. He is also under criminal investigation for violating campaign finance laws and lost a libel suit against a local government watchdog website in Austin (and has been ordered to pay court fees and the lawyers for the winner). He also loves Ron Paul. Need I say more?
“Plug and Chug” engineers who fancy themselves as climate experts are a dime a dozen.
Many engineers became experts in their respective fields by doing the same thing over and over, for years. Their expertise is extremely narrow (and is acquired largely through brute-force rote memorization).
If you toss them a curve, i.e. push them outside of their narrow comfort-zones, you will find that they will often be as lost-at-sea as any of the non-technical types whom they disparage.
Having someone regurgitate knowledge acquired via years to decades of doing the same things over and over should impress nobody. What should impress is the demonstrated ability to step outside one’s area of expertise and quickly “climb the learning curve” to master new concepts. Many engineers fall flat in that regard.
Hand a vocal denier engineer like Zimmerman a CD of climate data, and about the only thing he’ll be able to do with it is use it as a drink coaster.
…or a substitute for a frisbee
…or a substitute for a clay pigeon
PS Don’t forget that over 14,000 of the 31.000 anal orifices who signed the Oregon Petition were “engineers”. Dunning-Kruger apparently runs rampant among the breed.
A little googling will reveal much about Don Zimmerman, including the fact that he is under investigation for a criminal violation of campaign finance laws and was ordered to pay lawyers fees and court costs in a libel case he LOST against an Austin government watchdog website. See also:
http://www.austinites-for-zimmerman.com/pages/about-don-zimmerman-for-austin-city-council-district-6.html
A look at that link will show that he is yet another engineer who thinks he is qualified to make judgments about climate science, a Ron Paul lover, and an anti-tax ideologue. The voters of district 6 should be proud.
IMO, A real anal orifice and scumbag, and NOT a proper Texan (who tend to be more polite to women than he was to Hayhoe). Some real man in the audience should have slapped him silly.
Interesting about “big gobermint solutions” not being good. The US won WWII, and that was a big government solution. We didn’t win it with small private armies. The space program, transcontinental railroad, and yes, the development of computer chips required “big government”.
For some major companies, the free market solution to Nazi Germany was to do business with it. What can you say about so-called pro free market, anti-government meddling politicians who take donations from business and industry? Do they really believe those donors don’t want government to have an effect on their industries that favours them?
“The US won WWII, and that was a big government solution.”
22.5 million dead Russians would probably suggest they played no small part in the victory if they could speak. And that is the very point just like the defeat of Fascism in WWII it took a global effort with all of the allies contributing to achieve the final victory and so it will need to be with reducing the threat of human induced global warming.
That’s real self control. What a star.
She’s the real deal. Luminous and warm in person.