tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post8988059521891813734..comments2023-10-23T12:48:34.165-07:00Comments on Ethics Bob: Santa Claus, Build-a-Bear, and global warmingBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-53628422698925873762009-12-26T14:33:21.798-08:002009-12-26T14:33:21.798-08:00Ah, I thought about you when I wrote the piece: I ...Ah, I thought about you when I wrote the piece: I figured that you wouldn’t approve, and that mattered, but I thought I needed to say (write) my piece anyway. Here’s the thing: we know the earth is warming due to the large amounts of carbon dioxide that human activity produces. Some people take issue with that. I think Gore is right when he compares that to taking issue with gravity.<br /><br />I think it’s a public service—not politics—to tell kids that the earth is warming and that the warming is dangerous—but I criticized Build-a-Bear about the exaggeration.<br /><br />Regarding the use of “deniers,” you make a fair point. I should have been more careful about using the term. And I’ll not use it in the future to describe those--like you-- who agree that warming is happening but disagree about how to deal with it.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-11901320081642049912009-12-26T11:38:24.815-08:002009-12-26T11:38:24.815-08:00Bob: I'm with the critics on this: it's ch...Bob: I'm with the critics on this: it's child indoctrination. Climate change is science,: climate change promotion is politics, and toy companies shouldn't be pushing political views on kids using videos or anything else. <br /><br />I also think everyone, especially ethics blogs, should ditch "deniers"--it's unfair to legitimate critics of the expanded claims of climate change advocates. I personally find it offensive, as someone who has read more technical stuff about this issue than 98% of the non-scientific public. I just watched as the entire meteorological establishment in D.C. predicted an ice storm THE NEXT DAY and were dead wrong, and yet am supposed to believe that scientists can predict with exquisite accuracy what is going to happen with earth temperatures in a hundred years. I believe the earth is warming, yes; I also know for a fact that it does so in cycles, that predictions are based on models, estimates, and assumptions, that these are fallible in the extreme, that the causes of climate change are complex and involve more than just the man-caused factors; that nobody is sure about whether the current warming trend can be stopped or changed, or whether it will stop on its own, and that the science on the topic has been grossly politicized. Equating those kinds of issues with Holocaust denial, with its elements of bigotry and anti-Semitism as well a flat earth ignorance of unquestionable documentation is intellectual bullying.<br /><br />When a toy company starts fear-mongering---and implying that ice cap melting is imminent IS fear-mongering (or ignorant, as when Al G. did it in Copenhagen)--it should be taken to task.Jack Marshallhttp://www.ethicsalarms.comnoreply@blogger.com