Melanie Phillips, global warming, and a strange inconsistency

-----Original Message-----
From: RuthWeiner@AOL.COM [mailto:RuthWeiner@AOL.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2001 7:37 AM
To: maury@WEBTEXAS.COM; frantaj@AECL.CA
Cc: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu; Robert.Addis@SRS.GOV
Subject: Re: Chernobyl " population will continue to slide toward extinction "

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

Melanie Phillips is an employee of Rupert Murdoch's London Sunday Times and a regular contributor to its editorial pages. She can reasonably be described as a conservative social critic, although she has written an interesting piece, Why I Am Really a Progressive, www.freerepublic.com/forum/a38aba7186d48.htm, in which she describes herself as a liberal and progressive in the classical Enlightenment sense. A quick Internet review of her voluminous writing confirms the social critic aspect of it and gives no indication that she has any background or expertise in hard science.

Some of what she wrote in her 15 April 2001 global warming piece is reasonable, but most of it is just silly -- to use the technical term. Those interested can find the piece and some letters responding to it by going to <www.sunday-times.co.uk> and searching on "Melanie Phillips global warming".

The strange inconsistency is that RADSAFE contributors who bemoan the emotionalism, ideological influence, and commercial self-interest that influence most of the public discourse on radiation and nuclear issues are so quick to adopt the same attitudes in areas where they are not familiar with the science involved. This is particularly peculiar given that the potential risks associated with global warming have brought some environmentalists around to the view that nuclear power deserves a second look.