Tracy&James | Thursday, 3 October 2019
Climate change has been in the news a lot again this week, and I suspect the subject is going to be given a top billing for many years or decades to come. The headlines routinely generated produce an outpouring of opinion on social media and other platforms that, at times, lead me to despair.
I’m a scientist, but I’m not a climate scientist. As such, I know scientific methodology and I know all too well the peer review process. This is why I choose to believe the vast majority of highly qualified, internationally-respected, subject matter expert’s opinions on global warming over the ramblings of some uneducated Facebook conspiracy theorist.
The thing with scientists is that they’re an amiable bunch. They are used to being challenged and having to accept that their ideas are wrong or need adjusting. This only happens because other scientists are willing to share contradictory data and views, and because of this co-operative approach, collectively progress is made to understanding the world around us. Given the advances in science and technology that have contributed to pretty much all aspects of life, I fail to understand why so many people distrust an overwhelming message from those who are actually involved in the climate sciences.
Perhaps one of the problems is with scientist’s general amiability. They deal in measured data, hypothesis testing, modelling etc., if this indicates that sea levels will rise, crops will fail and whole eco-systems will collapse then that’s what they’ll report, job done and home to put the kettle on. It’s then up to others what they want to do with the subject matter expert’s assessment. These day’s ‘lampoon it’ seems to be a very common reaction through all sectors of society; annoying when it’s a ‘Facebook conspiracy theorist’, but more worrisome when it’s the ruling classes. With regard to the general public, I suspect the dismal state of scientific journalism has to take some of the blame here, however I suspect some of the reporting is driven by the need to make headlines that sell papers. Cold, hard, grim data doesn’t make great reading compared to ‘Britain set to bask in Mediterranean summers’ accompanied by a stock picture of a pretty girl in a bikini holding an ice cream.
Unfortunately, due to the long term nature of global climate change, none of us are going to live long enough to see the whole outcome. As such, the current crop of conspiracy theorists can’t lose and when the shit hits the fan they’ll be long gone already.
With all this, I’m glad I’m not a climate scientist as pretty much everyone who looks out of the window at the weather thinks they’re a f’in expert. It’s bad enough that I’ve wasted my time with physics, at least you have to go out and purchase a fly rod to instantly bypass the years of study required to be considered competent. I soon expect that, with every new Sage, Hardy, Scott, Loop etc. rod purchased, the pamphlet inside the tube will read “congratulations on your acquisition of this fly rod – to activate your lifetime guarantee and membership of the Institute of Physics, please fill in your details below”.
This weekend sees the BFCC returning to Brentwood, Essex for a day of tuition and competition. There are people travelling from all over the place in order to join in and the competition promises to be one of the best of the year – will Bart break the #5 record for the 3rd time in three attempts? I hope to see you on Saturday, when I’ll be less grumpy.
Have a great weekend, James.