Michael Crichton picks a fight with environmentalists

[DanS]

That said, I'm not one of those people who believes the sky is falling, but neither am I dense enough to think we're *not* altering the environment, and not always for the better. One doesn't have to go too far from home to realize the impact we, as a species, have on our surroundings. Combine that with the findings that scientists are making, and it raises legitimate concerns, IMO.

In another speech, Crichton opines that many westerners have an unrealistic view of nature because of our urbanization. I have seen this myself. I grew up in an area where my closest neighbor was a mile away. In such an area, human beings don't have control over nature -- nature does its thing and doesn't care a whit about what human beings do. However, you can see some areas where human beings do impact nature more than others. As jon miller alludes to, the streams aren't nearly as clean as they were 50 years ago. This is due to industrialization and the tendency of cities and towns to run untreated waste directly into the streams.

On the other hand, you will know that things are getting somewhat better in this regard because the government is cracking down on some plants and is spending extravagant amounts of money to build waste water treatment plants for even the smallest villages (the town of 1,400 people near which I grew up got one of these about 10 years ago).

But then I moved to the city and man, what a difference! My apartment is in a building that shields me equally from weather that is 120 degrees and sunny or -30 degrees and a blizzard. If I don't go outside, I will in no way be impacted by almost hurricane force winds. I may not even know that such a storm is happening unless I turn on the TV or read the paper. In short, my world is now man-made. Nature intrudes rarely.

I think that city folk look at how they can impact their environment (i.e., almost totally) and freak out when they apply those experiences to the broader world. They believe that Nature is fragile, because it is so in their environment. But for 95% of the land area of the US, for instance, their urban existence has no meaning. For the oceans, which cover 2/3rd or 3/4 of the Earth or whatever, and are often many miles deep, human beings rarely intrude. Human beings only intrude mostly to 20 or 30 feet out of 50 miles of atmosphere.

You have to correct for proportion in many of these perceptions.

[Berzerker]

I did a little googling for ice cores and found something of interest. CO2 levels today are at their highest in 440,000 years. Climatologists are focusing on 450,000 because the Earth's orbit was similar to today and could tell us if the present interglacial will end "soon" or if it will ~match the interglacial from that time, i.e., lasting about 28,000 years long as opposed to the more typical 10,000 year long integlacial. Anyway, if CO2 levels were higher 440.000 years ago during a 28,000 year long interglacial that bears resemblance to today in other ways (orbit), then how can we claim we are a threat?

One fairly well known factor is the Earth's tilt which fluctuates between 21.5-24.5 degrees. When we approach the lower angle the higher latitudes where ice sheets form and spread recieve less sun during the summer and climatologists believe ice sheets spread because of cooler summers, not colder winters. We are at ~23.45 degrees now after hitting the 24.5 max several thousand years ago and heading to 21.5. We should get there in about 8,000 years. Of course thats just one orbital factor. The last ice age ended when the planet had a ~22-22.5 degree tilt.

[DinoDoc]

Is the book any good? I'm thinking of getting it.

[GePap]

Awww, its so cute seeing Crichton trying to become relevant again. Doesn't he know he is so 1990's? Sad really.

Hey Mike, live of your glory days- don't go out with a sad whimper.

[Ramo]

Timeline was total ****.

Pop-authors, in general, are crap.

[Dis]

Michael Crichton

'nuff said

[Dis]

controversial statement ahead:

I really don't care if the human race wipes itself out by global warming. We deserve to be wiped out by planet. This is why I don't care about global warming. Once the pests (humans) are gone, planet will correct itself.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Ramo
Timeline was total ****.

Jurassic Park, Lost World, and Prey were cool.

[The Mad Monk]

I studied anthropology in college, and one of the things I learned was that certain human social structures always reappear. They can't be eliminated from society. One of those structures is religion. Today it is said we live in a secular society in which many people---the best people, the most enlightened people---do not believe in any religion. But I think that you cannot eliminate religion from the psyche of mankind. If you suppress it in one form, it merely re-emerges in another form. You can not believe in God, but you still have to believe in something that gives meaning to your life, and shapes your sense of the world. Such a belief is religious.

Today, one of the most powerful religions in the Western World is environmentalism. Environmentalism seems to be the religion of choice for urban atheists. Why do I say it's a religion? Well, just look at the beliefs. If you look carefully, you see that environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths.

There's an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there's a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment. Just as organic food is its communion, that pesticide-free wafer that the right people with the right beliefs, imbibe.

Eden, the fall of man, the loss of grace, the coming doomsday---these are deeply held mythic structures. They are profoundly conservative beliefs. They may even be hard-wired in the brain, for all I know. I certainly don't want to talk anybody out of them, as I don't want to talk anybody out of a belief that Jesus Christ is the son of God who rose from the dead. But the reason I don't want to talk anybody out of these beliefs is that I know that I can't talk anybody out of them. These are not facts that can be argued. These are issues of faith.

And so it is, sadly, with environmentalism. Increasingly it seems facts aren't necessary, because the tenets of environmentalism are all about belief. It's about whether you are going to be a sinner, or saved. Whether you are going to be one of the people on the side of salvation, or on the side of doom. Whether you are going to be one of us, or one of them.

More of that here.

[Sprayber]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper


Using that analogy, I guess that means the pro-choice neighbor of mine had better fear for his own home, living as s/he does in an anti-abortion neighborhood.

Generalizations. Stereotypes. Assumptions. Gotta love 'em all for the chaos they cause. I jest, of course.

Gatekeeper

Given that reaction I guess your sense of humor is non existent or you look for every excuse to try and correct someone.

Which is it?

[St Leo]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
Reminds me of Tom Clancy's "Rainbow Six"

I read twenty Tom Clancy books before Rainbow Six. I read zero afterwards. **** Clancy.

[JohnT]

Really? He only has 9 published novels prior to R6. Nice trick that, reading 10 unpublished works.

[St Leo]

Originally posted by JohnT
Really? He only has 9 published novels prior to R6. Nice trick that, reading 10 unpublished works.

I was checking them out of the library, but it is entirely plausible that I exaggerated. Let's call it twelve, as I almost did while writing the post.

Let's see:
- Patriot Games
- Red Something
- Crimson Something
- Cardinal of the Kremlin
- Iran adding stars to its flag
- Japan & China VS everyone
- Executive Orders
- Politika
- Rainbow Six

Uhm, whatever.

[JohnT]

[Dis]

Red Storm Rising is the only one worth reading