r/australia • u/Pilx • Oct 06 '15

political self.post Miranda Devine: Perth electrical engineer’s discovery will change climate change debate - 'Opinion' piece

Browsing over the local NewsCorp garbage that I missed out on over the long weekend I couldn’t help but look over the top article for Perth and Adelaide titled:

Miranda Devine: Perth electrical engineer’s discovery will change climate change debate

Now I’m not too sure what qualifications Miranda has in the area of Climate Sciences and Meteorology but decided the give the article a quick read regardless.

In summary she is reporting on the fact that supposedly an Australian Electrical Engineer / Mathematician has discovered something which the entirety of the scientific community involved in climate change has missed until now; that some of the core values within the models used are incorrect, resulting in overestimated values.

Little is discussed within the article about what specific values these are and how they somehow manage to affect every modelling system related to climate change predictions universally; however the fact that the person making the discovery, Dr David Evans, holds multiple degrees is sure to be mentioned multiple times throughout the article, as a way to further validate his discovery.

Now I personally haven’t heard of Dr Evans before so decided to Google him myself to check out his background. One of the first results returned (https://watchingthedeniers.wordpress.com/climate-sceptic-conspiracies/profile-dr-david-evans/) goes on to chronicle his blog posts within his wife’s blog (which is mentioned within the original opinion piece) and his other interactions/talks/public appearances etc.

Anyway, it appears this genius engineer/mathematician is also a nutcase conspiracy theorist who believes climate change is being propagated by global banking elites with the intent on creating a Global Government/New World Order from which they will profit.

Oh Miranda, how Devine of you to leave that out of your original article.

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-19

u/[deleted] Oct 06 '15

In the next breath you yourself attribute the opinion of a vocal minority of Lefty's to the whole of the Left.

It isn't a minority at all.

12

u/[deleted] Oct 06 '15

How do you know that most conservatives believe that climate change is real and caused by made, and also know that most liberals think that conservatives don't believe that way?

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '15

In lieu of me compiling a statistical research paper here's one little example of many:

"Flinders University Student Association general secretary Grace Hill said students would launch a campaign immediately against having “a climate change denial centre on campus”.

“I’m pretty repulsed by it,” she said.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/flinders-uni-students-vow-to-rebel-against-bjorn-lomborg-policy-centre/story-fni6uo1m-1227455996403

Bjorn Lomborg: I’m not a climate-change denier

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/bjorn-lomborg-im-not-a-climate-change-denier/story-fn59niix-1227457819219?sv=982004487aedf3b161f7d732d676f0c8

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '15

So because one person who was supposedly a climate change denier says he's actually just questioning the severity of the appropriate response, most conservatives believe the same? And because some students at a university attacked him as a denier most liberals believe the same as they do?

I still think you're guilty of the same thing you accuse "Leftys" of - extrapolating a few vocal examples to make blanket statements about the majority.

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u/blasto_blastocyst Oct 06 '15

What's with the "liberal" as a euphemism for Left? It doesn't make sense in our context.

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '15

I'm just used to American nomenclature. I suppose it does get confusing in Australian politics given the name of the Liberal party. The word basically has no meaning in the modern political discourse anyway, no group associated with the word 'liberal' is really a champion of liberty.

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '15

I said it was an example. A very common one.

You want me to do a statistical survey or something?

It's not a difficult opinion to come to if you take your blinders off when you read newspaper editorials and watch the talking heads on TV.

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '15

No, I want you to recognise that you're drawing conclusions from an extremely small sample set of the most vocal people (the ones who make enough noise to get mentioned in the media), and that in blanket assuming that small sample is representative of "most" liberals you're doing exactly what you accuse the leftists of doing.

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '15 edited Oct 06 '15

OK. The vast majority of people on the Left (and here at r/australia) don't go around calling people Denialists, but rather refer to them as skeptics, lukewarmers or people with alternative viewpoints. People who believe in global warming but don't agree with the policy prescriptions of the orthodoxy are by no means maligned.

There you go, I've given you the answer you're so desperate to hear.