Stupidity personified

Charles F. Schafer of Pella, IA isn't content to just not mow his lawn, he wants the rest of us to be a slob like him:

Global warming is a scientific reality. We can stop it by stopping something that we’re doing: mowing grass. The mowers burn fossil fuels, which emit gases, which get into our stratosphere and prevent heat from escaping from our atmosphere.

Short grass is boring to look at anyway.

With all the money and time we would save by not mowing we could plant shrubs and trees. They’re able to assuage our nature deprivation disorder, and they give off oxygen, which is an “anti-greenhouse gas.” Methane is another — and a very important — greenhouse gas. Cows are the main methane makers. It’s in their poop, which should be scooped up and not left out in the open to give off methane.

Better yet would be to stop eating cow meat. If we stop eating cows, farmers will stop raising them. Oh, I almost forgot. You’ve also got to quit consuming dairy products. Becoming a vegan would be very good for your health and the health of your favorite planet.

Charles just violated the old saw about how it's better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

First of all, what is a scientific reality?  Reality is defined as including "everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible."

So is global warming observable?  Well, if it's occurring, it's not directly observable.  That's pretty much the core of the debate between scientists with differing viewpoints (or as lefties call them, "scientists" versus "climate change deniers").

So, since global warming isn't directly observable, Charles' opening statement is an opinion, not fact.  By the way, according to many climate blogs (such as Grist), even if we stopped burning all fossil fuels tomorrow (in other words, took a step back into the Stone Age), the climate change is still going to happen.

Strike two, Charles, and we're still in the first paragraph.

Now, on to his attack on lawn mowers.  Charles doesn't seem to acknowledge that all mowers are not gas-powered.  Or powered at all, for that matter.

I have an electric mower.  If it gets charged by electricity derived from wind or solar, I'm not burning fossil fuels, am I?  I also have a manual reel mower, which is 100% human-powered.  The only fossil fuels burned with regards to that mower were in its manufacture!

Then Charles goes after cows.  Follow his thought processes to their logical conclusion, he wants us to stop raising cattle and dairy cows.  The well-intentioned tyrant deep down in Charles' psyche wants to make us all into vegans.

Scary thought:  Charles will probably vote in November.

Then come the comments:

Global warming is one of Rick's oft-commented topics.  Too bad he lacks perspective.  From No Tricks Zone, we learn that the ice melt Rick's so worried about accounts for 0.0006%!

Incidentally, sea ice coverage (which I'll point out is in two dimensions, because satellites can't determine thickness of the ice) has only been measured since 1970.  To put in relative terms, if Earth was 1 year old, we've been collecting data on sea ice for just about 288 milliseconds!

I especially like Whitten's comment about how Florida is at risk because much of the state is an elevation of 10 feet MSL.  News flash to Rick:  Florida used to be underwater.  From Volusia County Heritage:

Florida, the land, having been mostly under water since the Jurassic period, is relatively young by geological standards, rising out of the ocean within the last 25 million years. 

Additionally, Volusia County Heritage has a graphic showing where Florida's coastlines were in the past compared to now:





Hmm, that's interesting.  Florida has been steadily been reclaimed by the ocean over the past 12,000 years.  I forget, when did we first start driving SUVs?  Maybe 20 years ago?

Perspective is everything.