"News that's not known, or not known enough." Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion.
A few words about global climate change
From time to time we receive notes from readers, telling us that we're wrong to fall for the hoax of global warming. After responding a few times, we now just sigh quietly and direct these readers to this page, because life is too short. We're not going to put our brains in reverse and debate the facts again and again every time another fool or liar wanders into our in-box.
Helen & Harry, publishers of the Unknown News weblog
For several years, I worked as a science abstracter, reading peer-reviewed scientific journals and translating ("abstracting", it's called) academic studies and jargon-laced articles into ordinary English for Biology Digest and Physical Sciences Digest. In that job I read and abstracted thousands of studies, and of these, several hundred were related to various aspects of global climate change — everything from the ability of freshwater fish to survive as more topsoil is washed into streams and rivers, to the dwindling natural habitat that supports polar bears.
It will be a few more years before the problems are obvious to the un-informed, and addressing the issues behind global climate change will cost money, so it is in the short-term self-interest of unprincipled wealthy and powerful parties to pretend that the facts are in dispute.
They air lying commercials, publish 'greenwashing' ads, send spokespeople to spew manure on talk shows, lying to an audience that doesn't know better.
I'm not in that audience. Are you?
The articles' conclusions varied, of course. Some studies considered what humans could do to lessen our impact, and some studies estimated that a certain species of plant or animal would last a few more decades. Some of these studies disputed other studies, reaching differing conclusions on the severity of the problem or the timeline of accumulating effects, but all the these studies agreed on the basics, and the facts were always ugly: Human activity is adversely affecting the weather, and hampering the planet's ability to sustain life.
So shall we believe these hundreds of studies (that I've read, and thousands more that I haven't) in peer-reviewed journals written by men and women with scientific credentials, virtually none of which dispute the central facts of global climate change? Or shall we believe articles by local weathermen, bloggers, conspiracy theorists, and the very rare credentialed scientist who thinks global climate change isn't real (but whose articles can't meet the minimum requirements to be published in a genuine scientific journal)?
You can probably guess our answer: We side with the scientists, not the doubters, corporate-sponsored naysayers, conspiracy theorists, and Bible-thumpers. The facts are in, the evidence is overwhelming, and there's little that's unclear or ambiguous or in dispute about it.
I'm not going to address detailed or myriad aspects of global climate change point by point. I'm not a scientist, and the scientists have explained it far better than I could, and it's just a
I'm not going to address detailed or myriad aspects of global climate change point by point.
I'm not a scientist, and the scientists have explained it far better than I could, and it's just a waste of time to go over it all again when addressing someone who's decided that science is wrong and he or she knows better.
The gist of it is, human technology — smokestacks, automobiles, and other machinery — has altered the earth's climate and atmosphere bit by bit over the past century or so.
These changes are accumulating toward a point of no return, a point where, even if humans took drastic action, it would be too late to reverse much of the damage already done.
Our civilization hangs in the balance.
waste of time to go over it all again when addressing someone who's decided that science is wrong and he or she knows better.
The gist of it is, human technology — smokestacks, automobiles, and other machinery — has altered the earth's climate and atmosphere bit by bit over the past century or so. These changes are accumulating toward a point of no return, a point where, even if humans took drastic action, it would be too late to reverse much of the damage already done. Our civilization hangs in the balance.
Very nearly every reputable scientist working in these fields understands this, and by "very nearly" I mean it's virtually unanimous — at least among experts who aren't on the payroll of an oil company or an arch-rightwing think tank underwritten by ExxonMobil. But it will be a few more years before the problems are obvious to the un-informed, and addressing the issues behind global climate change will cost money, so it is in the short-term self-interest of unprincipled wealthy and powerful parties to pretend that the facts are in dispute. They air lying commercials, publish 'greenwashing' ads, send spokespeople to spew manure on talk shows, lying to an audience that doesn't know better. I'm not in that audience. Are you?
Sorry, there's no kind way to say what must be said: Only liars and dupes claim that the issue is undecided or the science is junk or we're all being tricked. I won't make any further effort to get through to people who claim there's some doubt about whether global climate change is happening, or whether mankind is responsible, for the same reason I won't argue at length if you tell me that Santa's reindeer can fly.
My time is limited, and in publishing this website we're seeking to address an audience of people who are concerned about — not hiding from — the major issues of our time.
Like the URL says, this website is about unknown news.
We present a concise once-weekly wrap-up of news that was underplayed, ignored, or simply lost in the non-stop news cycle. Our news comes only from mainstream, professional journalists or (rarely) other sources we trust entirely, with no nuttiness and no interest in the same news you see everywhere else.
What we believe
We believe in liberty and justice for all, so of course, we oppose many US government policies. This doesn't mean we're anti-American, redneck scum, pinko commies, militia members, or terrorist-sympathizers. It means we believe in freedom, as more than merely a cliché.
We believe you have the right to live your own life as you choose, and others have the equal right to live their lives as they choose. It's not complicated.
We believe freedom leads to peace, progress, and prosperity, while its opposite -- oppression -- leads to war, terrorism, poverty, and misery.
We believe it's preposterously stupid to hate people because of their appearance, their race or nationality, their religion or lack of religion, how they have sex with other consenting adults, etc. There are far more apropos reasons to hate most people.
We believe in questioning ourselves, our assumptions, each other -- and we especially believe in questioning authority (the more authority, the more questions). We believe obedience is a fine quality in dogs and young children, but not in adults.
Like America's right-wingers, we believe in
individual responsibility,
hard work to get ahead,
and stern punishment for serious crimes.
We believe big government should not be blindly trusted.
But unlike most right-wing leaders, we mean it.
Like America's left-wingers, we believe in
equal treatment under law,
war as a last (not first) resort,
and sensible stewardship of natural resources.
We believe big business should not be blindly trusted.
But unlike most left-wing leaders, we mean it.
Like libertarians, we believe it's wrong and reprehensible to arrest people for what they think, believe, look like, wear, eat, smoke, drink, inhale, inject, or otherwise do to themselves.
But unlike many libertarians, we're not obsessed with the gold standard, we don't believe incorporation is humanity's highest achievement, and we don't believe everything in life comes down to dollars and cents. We've read and enjoyed Ayn Rand's novels, but we understand that they're works of fiction.
We're skeptical, and we're sick of so-called 'journalists' who aren't skeptical at all.
A reader asks, what are our solutions? We propose no solutions except common sense, which is never common. We like the principles of democracy, and the ideals broadly described as 'American'. The US Constitution is a fine and workable framework for solutions, when it's actually read and thoughtfully understood by intelligent statesmen and women. So, no manifestos from us. We don't dream that big, and if there's one thing the world doesn't need it's yet another manifesto.
Our suggestion is: think. A fact-based instead of faith-based approach leads to solutions for most of the recurring issues of our time, from abortion to global climate change, pollution to universal health care, careful but real regulation of industry and economy, hunger, war, terror, human rights for humans not for corporations, science not religious doctrine in public schools, equal protection and prosecution under law, etc. Approach problems without glorifying stupidity, without demonizing intelligence, and answers usually come into focus.
These pages are published by Harry and Helen Highwater, happily married low-income nom de plumes and rabble-rousers from Madison, Wisconsin (with a few friends scattered around the world helping out).
We try to spotlight news that hasn't gotten enough (or appropriate) attention in American media, along with our opinions and yours.
We bang our keyboards against the wall, because it doesn't hurt as much as banging our heads.
