Okay, so I was having a mostly friendly conversation with a friend about Obama when it went to Global Warming…go figure lol. I for one don’t believe in it. He came back with questions I think is supposed to prove his point? There below as follows:
I am glad you are concerned about the environment.
I have six questions I’d love to get your thoughts on:
1.) Do you think that second-hand smoke can cause lung cancer or other health problems for non-smokers who inhale the fumes? Do you believe the research from the Tobacco Institute is unbiased, and therefore reliable regarding second-hand smoke?… See More
2.) Do you think that the Clean Air Act, which has helped reduce air pollution significantly in major cities, was a good thing? Or do you think that air pollution is not really a health problem, but rather, an aesthetic/appearance problem primarily?
3.) Do you think that the banned pesticide DDT was unfairly banned, and should be used to improve the health of people worldwide?
4.) Do you think that if asbestos was not banned in the construction of the World Trade Center…many lives would’ve been saved because it would have improved the structural integrity of the twin towers?
5.) Would you celebrate the death of a well-known and highly regarded scientist?
6.) Would you be critical of companies/corporations that have adopted environmentally-friendly practices? For example, Microsoft has abandoned the use of PVC in its packing materials. Good or bad?
BONUS QUESTION: Should we believe everything that lobbyists who are bankrolled by corporate America tell us?
Just curious what you think of the above.
Is this trying to prove his point????
Answer by Dawei
Well, those are all points that many deniers of global warming also tend to agree with. That second hand smoke and DDT are *completely* harmless, that environmental legislation is usually wrong, etc. Obviously these questions don’t have anything to do with global warming, but the correlations that your friend is implying are not entirely baseless. Number 4 seems a bit odd though.
If you’d like to discuss the science of global warming and your reasons for being skeptical, feel free to post another question about that. You’ll get plenty of insightful responses.
Answer by spk
1) Yes. I get a headache smelling second hand smoke (Well, I get a headache smelling almost everything!)
2)The clean air act was a good thing… do you notice how much easier it is to breath when you’re out of the city?
3)The pesticide DDT was not unfairly banned. It was killing the Bald Eagle. And… well… the bald eagle couldn’t be our national bird if it was dead.
4)idk
5)Well, the birthday of one. We already get Darwin’s birthday off! He was born the same day (same year, too) as Abraham Lincon
6)Good…PVC kills more PEOPLE than sharks kill people.
BONUS QUESTION: no
I think he’s just trying to get you to change sides, without being too obvious.
Answer by Jeff M
His questions seem to take the alarmists side in that everything listed was either questioned or lobbied against with the reality of the situation being on the alarmists side. Except the one concerning the celebration of a well known and highly regarded scientist. I’m not exactly sure if a denier has ‘celebrated’ though I’m sure this is an incorrect use of the word, this but in the climategate emails it is thought that the alarmists ‘celebrated’ the death of one of their proponents.
Answer by GibsonEssGee
1. Vehicle exhaust fumes are probably more dangerous than 2nd hand cig smoke although if it’s dense I can understand the potential dangers of 2nd hand smoke. I’ve been at parties and pubs where you could breathe in and get a “hit”.
2. The Clean Air Act has proven itself to be justified. London for example no longer gets the killer smogs it used to get in the 50′s/60′s.
3. Annoyed about the banning of DDT. It was the active ingredient of the best cat flea spray (Nuvan Top).
4. Lack of asbestos would not have affected the structural integrity of the twin towers. They weren’t designed to withstand an impact from several hundred tons of aircraft.
5. No, why would you?
6. If a company changes it’s packaging it’s done on cost savings which may be cynically marketed as environmentally friendly.
Bonus : No.
Answer by linlyons
Dawei has it right.
Those questions do not relate to global warming.
However, as you can see from a couple of the vigorous complaints, they do bother some folks who deny global warming.
If i had to guess, his intent was to see whether your opinion of global warming was just about that, or whether you followed the thinking on a number of issues that are commonly seen in those that deny global warming.
since you posted the question in the global warming section, one might presume that’s where your interests lie.
As you might suspect, i disagree with you.
Here’s a couple links that contain reasons that some folks who think global warming is not real often agree with, and why those reasons are incorrect.
As dawei said, feel free to post again to have more of a conversation on the subject.
http://scholarsandrogues.wordpress.com/2007/07/23/anti-global-heating-claims-a-reasonably-thorough-debunking/
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn11462
http://www.skepticalscience.com/
http://www.ecohuddle.com/wiki/global-warming-myths <== Dana's explanation is probably the best.
(of course, there is the question of views on Obama, but maybe one item at a time is enough.)
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