Crap Debate

A few notes about the whole A.G.W. debate.

People skip back and forth lightly between the following relatively indiscriminately, I've found:

- the earth is getting warmer/is not getting warmer
- the earth is getting warmer, and it's our fault/not our fault
- the earth is getting warmer, it's our fault, and it's a catastrophe/it's not a catastrophe
- the earth is getting warmer, it's our fault, it's a catastrophe, and we must change the whole of our civilisation to fix it/we don't need to change anything

For instance, if you are having trouble persuading people in the middle of a recession to spend trillions on your plans for tackling 'global warming', don't bother with the last proposition- focus on how sceptics won't accept the first proposition. Make a big hoo-ha about corrupt big-businesses interfering with the science. It's just easier!

One thing which has taken a beating in this whole 'debate' is the idea that our 'advanced' societies can actually engage in a decent debate...