Quote:
Originally Posted by hapax legomenon
So Waba, let me ask you a few things:
did you actually read Gore's book?
You said "section I'm experienced with, wildfire". Define "experienced." Define why your credentials allow you to override the opinions of the experts Al Gore cited.
You did look at the footnotes, didn't you?
I assume you were looking near page 188. I am not a scientist, so I am not really qualified to engage in a fruitful discussion. But your statements do not appear meaningful to me.
RE: the nuclear section, I remember that section well. Al Gore did not make very many controversial statements there. I don't even think he particularly oppose or support nuclear (but he did go on about next-gen plants).
You said that according to your father, it was "was politically motivated, dated nonsense." This is an empty statement. What does it mean? How do you know what Gore's political motivations are? Where did you acquire those superpowers? "Dated nonsense"? I don't expect Al Gore to be an expert on EVERYTHING, but explain which reference he cited was factually incorrect. http://ourchoicethebook.com/chapter8/endnotes/
It is so easy to throw meaningless barbs at the book (especially when your own statements have such little accountability). Al Gore's book is a brief and handy summary of the latest projects and research into global warming. That's all. Nothing you said here has contradicted this statement. In my opinion, you are letting YOUR political biases cloud your judgment. |
I did not read the book, I read the section relevant to my experience and formulated my opinion... My experience is 8 years in forestry + BS. Most of his footnotes are about beetle infestation... Virtually everyone with forestry experience knows that these problems are due to crowding thanks to 100 yrs of fire suppression. NOT TEMPERATURES... There were massive insect infestations in the 70s when the world was freaking out about global cooling.
FYI, fires are needed for NA forests west of the Mississippi. Putting them out for so many decades has led to dense, overpopulated stands much more susceptible to disease and infestation... Fire is required for many species to reproduce. Again, anyone with even a baseline knowledge of forestry knows this. So either he ignored these obvious facts or is ignorant of them.
Look at the footnotes for logic's sake, half the sources quoted are out of the UN the rest seem to be from newspaper articles. This is a book about politics, not science.
... My Dad is well respected in the nuclear field, if he says Gore's book was garbage, I take his word for it. Especially when my own professional opinion backs it up.
However, if more people desire I can ask for a write up from him. It shouldn't be too difficult to shred Gore's nonsense. Then I can put it into an Amazon review warning environmental science students that Gore is a complete hack.