Why have scientists succumbed to political correctness?
Written by Albert Bartlett
Editor's note: Albert A. Bartlett, Physics professor emeritus at
University of Colorado at Boulder, has long been a tireless educator
of the public on the subjects of energy and the fallacy of sustainable
economic growth. Below he first exposes the scientific establishment
on the subject of U.S. overpopulation, and following that his
critique of Scientific American. His bio and work history follow.
Written by Albert Bartlett
Editor's note: Albert A. Bartlett, Physics professor emeritus at
University of Colorado at Boulder, has long been a tireless educator
of the public on the subjects of energy and the fallacy of sustainable
economic growth. Below he first exposes the scientific establishment
on the subject of U.S. overpopulation, and following that his
critique of Scientific American. His bio and work history follow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY ... Albert's lecture
http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=210&Itemid=1
Throughout the world, scientists are prominently involved in seeking
solutions to the major global problems such as global climate change
and the growing inadequacy of energy supplies. They present their
writings in publications ranging from newspapers to refereed
scientific journals, but with a few rare exceptions, on one point they
all replace objectivity with "political correctness." In their
writings the scientists identify the cause of the problems as being
growing populations. But their recommendations for solving the
problems caused by population growth almost never include the
recommendation that we advocate stopping population growth. Political
Correctness dictates that we do not address the current problem of
overpopulation in the U.S. and the world.
We can demonstrate that the Earth is overpopulated by noting the
following:
A SELF-EVIDENT TRUTH
If any fraction of the observed global warming
can be attributed to the actions of humans,
then this, by itself, constitutes
clear and compelling evidence
that the human population, living as we do,
has exceeded the Carrying Capacity of the Earth,
a situation that is clearly not sustainable.
As a consequence it is AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
that all proposals or efforts
at the local, national or global levels
to solve the problems of global warming
are serious intellectual frauds
if they fail to advocate that we address
the fundamental cause of global warming
namely overpopulation.
We can demonstrate that the U.S. is overpopulated by noting that we
now (2008) import something like 60% of the petroleum that we consume,
around 15% of the natural gas that we consume and about 20% of the
food we eat. Because the U.S. population increases by something over 3
million per year, all of these fractions are increasing. Natural gas
production in North America has peaked in spite of the drilling of
hundreds of new gas wells annually. In a nutshell, the U.S. in 2008 is
unsustainable.
Let's look at two prominent examples of this political correctness.
The book, "An Inconvenient Truth" (1) was published to accompany Al
Gore's wonderful film by the same name. On page 216 Gore writes; "The
fundamental relationship between our civilization and the ecological
system of the Earth has been utterly and radically transformed by the
powerful convergence of three factors. The first is the population
explosion…"
It's clear that Gore understands the role of overpopulation in the
genesis of global climate change. The last chapter in the book has the
title, "So here's what you personally can do to help solve the climate
crisis." The list of 36 things starts with "Choose energy-efficient
lighting" and runs through an inventory of all of the usual suspects
without ever calling for us to address overpopulation!
As a second example, in the Clearinghouse Newsletter (2) we read the
statement, "Human Impacts on Climate" from the Council of the American
Geophysical Union, The title recognizes the human component of climate
change which we note is roughly proportional to the product of the
number of people and their average per capita annual resource
consumption. The last paragraph of the A.G.U. statement starts with
the sentence, "With climate change, as with ozone depletion, the human
footprint on Earth is apparent." The rest of the paragraph suggests
what must be done, and it's all the standard boilerplate. "Solutions
will necessarily involve all aspects of society. Mitigation strategies
and adaptation responses will call for collaborations across science,
technology, industry, and government." Etc., Etc., Etc… There is no
mention of addressing the overpopulation which the statement
recognizes is the cause of the problems.
A few years ago I wrote an article calling the attention of the
physics community to this shortcoming.(3) To my amazement, most of the
letters to the editor responding to my article supported the
politically correct unscientific point of view. (4), (5)
Many journalists look to the scientists for advice. The scientists
won't talk about overpopulation, so the journalists and the reading
public can easily conclude that overpopulation is not a problem. As a
result, we have things such as the cover story in TIME Magazine, April
9, 2007, "The Global Warming Survival Guide: 51 Things You Can Do to
Make a Difference." The list contained such useful recommendations as
"Build a Skyscraper," (No. 9, Pg. 74) but not one of the 51
recommendations deals with the need to address overpopulation!
What's one to do when scientists and political leaders demonstrate
their understanding of the fact that overpopulation is the main cause
of these gigantic global problems, yet the scientists' recommendations
for dealing with the problems never call for addressing overpopulation?
--------------------------------------
(1) Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, The Planetary Emergency of Global
Warming and What We Can Do About It. Rodale Press, Emmaus, PA, 2006
(2) Teachers Clearinghouse for Science and Society Education
Newsletter, Winter 2008, Pg. 19
(3) A.A. Bartlett, "Thoughts on Long-Term Energy Supplies: Scientists
and the Silent Lie," Physics Today, July 2004, Pgs. 53-55
(4) Letters: Physics Today, November 2004, Pgs. 12-18
(5) Letters: Physics Today, April 2006, Pgs. 12-15
The author can be reached at Albert.Bartlett "at" colorado "dot" edu
Or send mail to Albert A. Bartlett, University of Colorado at Boulder,
80309-0390
The above article first appeared in the Teachers Clearinghouse for
Science and Society Education Newsletter, Vol. 27, No. 2, Spring 2008,
Pg. 21
* * * * *
Scientific American and the Silent Lie
by Albert Bartlett
Editor's note: As long as the forces of industrial expansion are able
to spew pro-growth propaganda that denies the laws of physics and the
reality of overpopulation, the sustainability movement is at a
disadvantage in reaching the public. Professor Bartlett has long been
a tireless communicator for common sense in the area of energy and
environment. - JL
The September 2006 issue of Scientific American(SA) is a "Special
Issue" devoted to "Energy's Future Beyond Carbon" with the subtitle
"How to Power the Economy and Still Fight Global Warming." As I read
the issue I thought of Captain Renault, the Chief of Police in the
movie "Casablanca" who says to an assistant, "Major Strasser has been
shot. Round up the usual suspects." The implication of the Chief's
order is clear. Never mind finding the culprit, just "round up the
usual suspects."
The main body of this special issue consists of nine articles relating
to global warming, each dealing with one or more of the usual
suspects. These are summarized in the first article, "A Climate Repair
Manual." There we read that global warming is a major problem:
"Preventing the transformation of the earth's atmosphere from
greenhouse to unconstrained hothouse represents arguably the most
imposing scientific and technical challenge that humanity has ever
faced. Climate change compels a massive restructuring of the world's
energy economy. The slim hope for keeping atmospheric carbon below 500
ppm hinges on aggressive programs of energy efficiency instituted by
national governments." The culprit is world population growth, but SA
is just rounding up the usual suspects.
The complete article on this website is at
culturechange.org
Read about Prof. Bartlett's work, courtesy oilcrisis.com:
Biographical Sketch
Professor Albert Allen Bartlett
Al Bartlett is a retired Professor of Physics who joined the faculty
of the University of Colorado in Boulder in September 1950. His B.A.
degree in physics is from Colgate University (1944) and his M.A. and
Ph.D. degrees in physics are from Harvard University (1948), (1951).
In 1978 he was national president of the American Association of
Physics Teachers. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1969
and 1970 he served two terms as the elected Chair of the four-campus
Faculty Council of the University of Colorado.
In the late 1950s Al was an initiator of the citizens' effort to
preserve open space in Boulder, and this ultimately led to the
establishment of the City of Boulder's Open Space Program which (1998)
has purchased over 26,000 acres of land to be preserved as public open
space. He is a founding member of PLAN-Boulder County, an
environmental group for the City and County.
Since the late 1960s he has concentrated on public education on the
problems relating to and originating from population growth. Since
1969 he has given his lecture, "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy"
over 1300 times to audiences of all levels from coast to coast. More
recently he has written on sustainability, examining the widespread
misuse of the term, and examining the conditions that are necessary
and sufficient for sustainability in any society.
ARITHMETIC, POPULATION, AND ENERGY (A popular lecture)
Professor Bartlett lectures regularly to a wide variety of audiences
from coast to coast on the topic "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy."
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to
understand the exponential function."
With these words, Prof. Bartlett starts his one-hour talk.* First he
gives a very elementary introduction to the arithmetic of steady
growth, showing what steady growth of population means in Boulder, in
Colorado, and in the world. Then the talk examines the situation where
one has steady growth in a finite environment and the results of this
are applied to fossil fuels, particularly to petroleum and coal. Data
from the U.S. Department of Energy are used to show that the realistic
lifetimes of U.S. coal, U.S. petroleum and world petroleum are much
shorter than the optimistic figures that are so often quoted. Next the
talk then examines reassuring statements from experts, the press,
scientists, political leaders, and others, that are wildly at odds
with the facts. The talk then examines the widespread worship of
economic growth and population growth throughout the western world.
These facts give the listener a better understanding of the real
meaning of "sustainability," which Prof. Bartlett explains in terms of
the First Law of Sustainability:
"You cannot sustain population growth and / or growth in the rates of
consumption of resources."
This allows the listener to appreciate fully the implications of the
growth path of western society and in particular, of the United
States. The talk closes with a plea for the widespread education of
people on the arithmetic and consequences of growth.
September 19, 1999 is the 30th anniversary of the first time Professor
Bartlett delivered the talk. In the 30 years since then he has given
the talk 1325 times in 48 states, Canada, and overseas, to audiences
including high school students, graduate students, community groups,
scientific colloquia, scientific and non-scientific local and national
conventions, and to Congressional staff people in Washington. Well
over a thousand video tapes of the lecture have been sold by the
University of Colorado.**
*The talk is easily divided into two parts for groups where talks are
limited to a half hour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY Albert's lecture
** A one-hour videotape of this lecture is available from the Ms.
Kathleen Albers Department of Information Technology Services
University of Colorado at Boulder (80309 - 0379); (303) 492 - 1857
Kathleen.Albers@Colorado.EDU
ALBERT ALLEN BARTLETT
2935 19th Street, Boulder, Colorado, 80304-2719 Phone, (303) 443-0595:
FAX (303) 492-3352 E-Mail: albert.bartlett "at" colorado "dot" edu
Albert A. Bartlett; Professor Emeritus of Physics University of
Colorado, Boulder, 80309-0390; (303) 492 7016 Department Office: (303)
492 6952: FAX (303) 492 3352
--
Cheers,
Frish
http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=210&Itemid=1
Throughout the world, scientists are prominently involved in seeking
solutions to the major global problems such as global climate change
and the growing inadequacy of energy supplies. They present their
writings in publications ranging from newspapers to refereed
scientific journals, but with a few rare exceptions, on one point they
all replace objectivity with "political correctness." In their
writings the scientists identify the cause of the problems as being
growing populations. But their recommendations for solving the
problems caused by population growth almost never include the
recommendation that we advocate stopping population growth. Political
Correctness dictates that we do not address the current problem of
overpopulation in the U.S. and the world.
We can demonstrate that the Earth is overpopulated by noting the
following:
A SELF-EVIDENT TRUTH
If any fraction of the observed global warming
can be attributed to the actions of humans,
then this, by itself, constitutes
clear and compelling evidence
that the human population, living as we do,
has exceeded the Carrying Capacity of the Earth,
a situation that is clearly not sustainable.
As a consequence it is AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
that all proposals or efforts
at the local, national or global levels
to solve the problems of global warming
are serious intellectual frauds
if they fail to advocate that we address
the fundamental cause of global warming
namely overpopulation.
We can demonstrate that the U.S. is overpopulated by noting that we
now (2008) import something like 60% of the petroleum that we consume,
around 15% of the natural gas that we consume and about 20% of the
food we eat. Because the U.S. population increases by something over 3
million per year, all of these fractions are increasing. Natural gas
production in North America has peaked in spite of the drilling of
hundreds of new gas wells annually. In a nutshell, the U.S. in 2008 is
unsustainable.
Let's look at two prominent examples of this political correctness.
The book, "An Inconvenient Truth" (1) was published to accompany Al
Gore's wonderful film by the same name. On page 216 Gore writes; "The
fundamental relationship between our civilization and the ecological
system of the Earth has been utterly and radically transformed by the
powerful convergence of three factors. The first is the population
explosion…"
It's clear that Gore understands the role of overpopulation in the
genesis of global climate change. The last chapter in the book has the
title, "So here's what you personally can do to help solve the climate
crisis." The list of 36 things starts with "Choose energy-efficient
lighting" and runs through an inventory of all of the usual suspects
without ever calling for us to address overpopulation!
As a second example, in the Clearinghouse Newsletter (2) we read the
statement, "Human Impacts on Climate" from the Council of the American
Geophysical Union, The title recognizes the human component of climate
change which we note is roughly proportional to the product of the
number of people and their average per capita annual resource
consumption. The last paragraph of the A.G.U. statement starts with
the sentence, "With climate change, as with ozone depletion, the human
footprint on Earth is apparent." The rest of the paragraph suggests
what must be done, and it's all the standard boilerplate. "Solutions
will necessarily involve all aspects of society. Mitigation strategies
and adaptation responses will call for collaborations across science,
technology, industry, and government." Etc., Etc., Etc… There is no
mention of addressing the overpopulation which the statement
recognizes is the cause of the problems.
A few years ago I wrote an article calling the attention of the
physics community to this shortcoming.(3) To my amazement, most of the
letters to the editor responding to my article supported the
politically correct unscientific point of view. (4), (5)
Many journalists look to the scientists for advice. The scientists
won't talk about overpopulation, so the journalists and the reading
public can easily conclude that overpopulation is not a problem. As a
result, we have things such as the cover story in TIME Magazine, April
9, 2007, "The Global Warming Survival Guide: 51 Things You Can Do to
Make a Difference." The list contained such useful recommendations as
"Build a Skyscraper," (No. 9, Pg. 74) but not one of the 51
recommendations deals with the need to address overpopulation!
What's one to do when scientists and political leaders demonstrate
their understanding of the fact that overpopulation is the main cause
of these gigantic global problems, yet the scientists' recommendations
for dealing with the problems never call for addressing overpopulation?
--------------------------------------
(1) Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, The Planetary Emergency of Global
Warming and What We Can Do About It. Rodale Press, Emmaus, PA, 2006
(2) Teachers Clearinghouse for Science and Society Education
Newsletter, Winter 2008, Pg. 19
(3) A.A. Bartlett, "Thoughts on Long-Term Energy Supplies: Scientists
and the Silent Lie," Physics Today, July 2004, Pgs. 53-55
(4) Letters: Physics Today, November 2004, Pgs. 12-18
(5) Letters: Physics Today, April 2006, Pgs. 12-15
The author can be reached at Albert.Bartlett "at" colorado "dot" edu
Or send mail to Albert A. Bartlett, University of Colorado at Boulder,
80309-0390
The above article first appeared in the Teachers Clearinghouse for
Science and Society Education Newsletter, Vol. 27, No. 2, Spring 2008,
Pg. 21
* * * * *
Scientific American and the Silent Lie
by Albert Bartlett
Editor's note: As long as the forces of industrial expansion are able
to spew pro-growth propaganda that denies the laws of physics and the
reality of overpopulation, the sustainability movement is at a
disadvantage in reaching the public. Professor Bartlett has long been
a tireless communicator for common sense in the area of energy and
environment. - JL
The September 2006 issue of Scientific American(SA) is a "Special
Issue" devoted to "Energy's Future Beyond Carbon" with the subtitle
"How to Power the Economy and Still Fight Global Warming." As I read
the issue I thought of Captain Renault, the Chief of Police in the
movie "Casablanca" who says to an assistant, "Major Strasser has been
shot. Round up the usual suspects." The implication of the Chief's
order is clear. Never mind finding the culprit, just "round up the
usual suspects."
The main body of this special issue consists of nine articles relating
to global warming, each dealing with one or more of the usual
suspects. These are summarized in the first article, "A Climate Repair
Manual." There we read that global warming is a major problem:
"Preventing the transformation of the earth's atmosphere from
greenhouse to unconstrained hothouse represents arguably the most
imposing scientific and technical challenge that humanity has ever
faced. Climate change compels a massive restructuring of the world's
energy economy. The slim hope for keeping atmospheric carbon below 500
ppm hinges on aggressive programs of energy efficiency instituted by
national governments." The culprit is world population growth, but SA
is just rounding up the usual suspects.
The complete article on this website is at
culturechange.org
Read about Prof. Bartlett's work, courtesy oilcrisis.com:
Biographical Sketch
Professor Albert Allen Bartlett
Al Bartlett is a retired Professor of Physics who joined the faculty
of the University of Colorado in Boulder in September 1950. His B.A.
degree in physics is from Colgate University (1944) and his M.A. and
Ph.D. degrees in physics are from Harvard University (1948), (1951).
In 1978 he was national president of the American Association of
Physics Teachers. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1969
and 1970 he served two terms as the elected Chair of the four-campus
Faculty Council of the University of Colorado.
In the late 1950s Al was an initiator of the citizens' effort to
preserve open space in Boulder, and this ultimately led to the
establishment of the City of Boulder's Open Space Program which (1998)
has purchased over 26,000 acres of land to be preserved as public open
space. He is a founding member of PLAN-Boulder County, an
environmental group for the City and County.
Since the late 1960s he has concentrated on public education on the
problems relating to and originating from population growth. Since
1969 he has given his lecture, "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy"
over 1300 times to audiences of all levels from coast to coast. More
recently he has written on sustainability, examining the widespread
misuse of the term, and examining the conditions that are necessary
and sufficient for sustainability in any society.
ARITHMETIC, POPULATION, AND ENERGY (A popular lecture)
Professor Bartlett lectures regularly to a wide variety of audiences
from coast to coast on the topic "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy."
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to
understand the exponential function."
With these words, Prof. Bartlett starts his one-hour talk.* First he
gives a very elementary introduction to the arithmetic of steady
growth, showing what steady growth of population means in Boulder, in
Colorado, and in the world. Then the talk examines the situation where
one has steady growth in a finite environment and the results of this
are applied to fossil fuels, particularly to petroleum and coal. Data
from the U.S. Department of Energy are used to show that the realistic
lifetimes of U.S. coal, U.S. petroleum and world petroleum are much
shorter than the optimistic figures that are so often quoted. Next the
talk then examines reassuring statements from experts, the press,
scientists, political leaders, and others, that are wildly at odds
with the facts. The talk then examines the widespread worship of
economic growth and population growth throughout the western world.
These facts give the listener a better understanding of the real
meaning of "sustainability," which Prof. Bartlett explains in terms of
the First Law of Sustainability:
"You cannot sustain population growth and / or growth in the rates of
consumption of resources."
This allows the listener to appreciate fully the implications of the
growth path of western society and in particular, of the United
States. The talk closes with a plea for the widespread education of
people on the arithmetic and consequences of growth.
September 19, 1999 is the 30th anniversary of the first time Professor
Bartlett delivered the talk. In the 30 years since then he has given
the talk 1325 times in 48 states, Canada, and overseas, to audiences
including high school students, graduate students, community groups,
scientific colloquia, scientific and non-scientific local and national
conventions, and to Congressional staff people in Washington. Well
over a thousand video tapes of the lecture have been sold by the
University of Colorado.**
*The talk is easily divided into two parts for groups where talks are
limited to a half hour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY Albert's lecture
** A one-hour videotape of this lecture is available from the Ms.
Kathleen Albers Department of Information Technology Services
University of Colorado at Boulder (80309 - 0379); (303) 492 - 1857
Kathleen.Albers@Colorado.EDU
ALBERT ALLEN BARTLETT
2935 19th Street, Boulder, Colorado, 80304-2719 Phone, (303) 443-0595:
FAX (303) 492-3352 E-Mail: albert.bartlett "at" colorado "dot" edu
Albert A. Bartlett; Professor Emeritus of Physics University of
Colorado, Boulder, 80309-0390; (303) 492 7016 Department Office: (303)
492 6952: FAX (303) 492 3352
--
Cheers,
Frish
My husband and I were watching her on abc last night and I realized that her legs look exactly like Barbie's! Then I realized that her entire look is Barbie's. "Governor Barbie" - LOL!