Re: Chernobyl " population will continue to slide toward extinction "

[RuthWeiner@AOL.COM]

In this morning's paper, Richard Reeves quotes Melanie Phillips of the 

[London] Sunday Times on global warming: "The science of global warming has 

been suborned by politics and ideology.  It was hijacked by those who wanted 

a new stick with which to beat western capitalism, America, and 

globalization.  It is the green version of the big lie."


Says it very well, I think (and I thought it was only me).  I would only add 

that we should recognize that while CO2 putatively TRAPS heat, CO2 doesn't 

MAKE the heat -- that's a consequence of energy conversion and the Second 

Law.  Thermal electricity production (including nukes, folks) is at best 

about 45% efficient.  The internal combustion engine is a bit less so in 

converting heat to mechanical power.  So if we REALLY want to reduce global 

warming, we should make absorb the dumped heat in other ways and should try 

to produce less of it.  But that takes planning and up-front effort, and 

isn't easily sloganized.


"Of course I have a closed mind, but at least it has something in it worth 

closing on." -- Marcia Davenport


Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.

ruthweiner@aol.com