My Manifesto: The Incoherent Ramblings of a Madman

I am reading a book at the moment that may well change my views on the state of the environment forever, if nothing else, it has reinforced my view that you can never trust what you read no matter what the source. The book is called “The Skeptical Environmentalist”, the author is a Statistician by day, and a former Greenpeace activist by night; however, he decided to look into many of the outlandish claims made by other environmentalists, some merely right-wing activists, some notable scientists, others merely media speculations that then become reported as fact. It is interesting to see how all of the sources identified within the book have used statistics to prove their points, it is exactly what the author has done to prove his, but in contrast to those whom he is debunking, he takes his statistics over a longer period of time drawing conclusions that are in stark contrast to what many of us are told daily to be “fact”.

While he has made a very good point that most of what we read is wrong, especially when based on statistics over such a short time frame, it is problematic in that even when the results are extended to prove his points, he is merely perpetuating their errors only on a larger scale. It reminds me of a photograph. A photograph can be framed to show whatever point of view that the photographer wants to show. You can show as much or as little of something as you care to. A photograph can be used to show something or debunk something – it all depends on the point of view that the photographer uses to skew the results. A photograph is not proof. A photograph is merely an interpretation.

The difference between the author and those who he is refuting is that the author is willing to acknowledge the limitations in his trends, conclusions, and “fact” – the others are not that forthright.