ARTICLES 31 MAR 13
Authored: March 31st, 2013 @ 6:34 AM
GENERAL INTEREST
For any regular reader of The Economist, like myself, this article – the long feature – in the most recent issue is stunning, as the magazine has for years had an editorial policy of supporting the most severe predictions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The problem always has been that climate is too complex to model. Even with improved understanding and models using thousands rather than hundreds of data points, they are by definition not robust enough to model a climate with millions of variables and systemic cause and effect loops which are not understood, and some of which may yet to even be identified. As the great philosopher of science, Sir Karl Popper said, ““Our knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite.”
From the “Leader” article in the same issue The Economist probably sums it up best: “Bad climate policies, such as backing renewable energy with no thought for the cost, or insisting on biofuels despite the damage they do, are bad whatever the climate’s sensitivity to greenhouse gases. Good policies—strategies for adapting to higher sea levels and changing weather patterns, investment in agricultural resilience, research into fossil-fuel-free ways of generating and storing energy—are wise precautions even in a world where sensitivity is low.”
Here’s an interesting article from The America Conservative magazine. This seems to be a reasonable way for libertarian leaning Republicans and social conservative Republicans to find common ground moving forward.
A letter to the editor in the Northfield News.
The Gay Marriage Debate:
In another article, The American Conservative magazine asks, “Can it be any surprise, then, that a mass-democratic, individualistic, consumerist society in which men and women are interchangeable in all other public aspects finds them interchangeable in marriage as well?”
Here’s an article from none other than that conservative bell-weather, The National Review, advocating for a decoupling of marriage and the State. ….and from Rush Limbaugh.
….and the editorial page of the Detroit Sun.
….and from syndicated radio personality Edward Morrissey writing in The Week.
…and in that gem of the Right-wing blogosphere, Townhall.com
Enjoy,
Stephen Kallestad
Northfield