Maybe imperfect, but still progress
Except for changing the first few sentences, the 12/31/09 letter to the editor "Reject Flawed Copenhagen Treaty" contains the same talking points that have appeared in other letters to the editor by the rotating cast of misinformed characters that has taken over Fencepost. It points out some serious problems in our culture.
In the 1960s, we made science a priority and within a decade had placed a man on the moon. Members of the media read the news to us. They didn't create the news.
In the past decade, we have decided that talk show hosts and TV commentators, who are basically just entertainers, can accurately inform us about subjects which they have no expertise on. Like science. Certain members of the media have assumed the esteemed authority figure role that scientists should still rightly have and they are miseducating a large segment of our population.
That so many scientific inaccuracies can be repeated in numerous letters reflects badly on our scientific literacy as a community and on our inability to teach (and learn) basic scientific concepts.
For example:
CO2 as a pollutant: I taught in a Chicago high school that had windows that couldn't be opened and had major air quality problems. The state of Illinois, which inspected our facility, stated that CO2 concentrations in excess of 1,000 parts per million can cause headaches, eye, nose and throat irritations and fatigue. The level in my classroom was 2,206 ppm.
In August of 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon, Africa emitted a cloud of CO2 gas that suffocated 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock. In high concentrations, CO2 IS a pollutant.
CO2 and it's negative long-term impact on living things: The Field Museum of Natural History is in the midst of a multiyear study of fossil plants in Greenland, which date back 200 million years to the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, at which time there was a mass extinction event. The current hypothesis is that high concentrations of CO2, either from massive volcanic eruptions related to the breakup of Pangaea or an asteroid impact, are directly related to the mass extinction. Ninety-five percent of land plants, 80 percent of marine invertebrates and 50 percent of vertebrates died in this event. The idea behind the study is that the past can help us to predict the future. At a certain tipping point, high CO2 concentrations cause plants with large leaves to die off. Will we pay attention to the facts, or will we wait until we pass the tipping point?
While the Copenhagen Treaty has left people on both sides of the issue wanting something better, it is important to remember that our earliest treaties to cut the use of ozone-depleting chemicals also left a lot to be desired, but in both cases, we took a crucial first step.
Lee Mishkin
Buffalo Grove