The Satanic Gases: Clearing the Air about Global Warming
The Satanic Gases: Clearing the Air about Global Warming – Review
In the last few months it was declared on the news that there was a consensus of scientists about the truth of human effected climate change and because of this consensus there was a rapidly growing imperative for the need to act. Not too long after president Bush officially announced in his state of the union address some measures which he successfully argued would help in the fight against global warming. More recently there has been much publicity to the part of the Arctic Ice cap and speculation about the ability to sail once again through a North West Passage while at the extra pole scientists have newly discovered lakes beneath the artic ice which have a major effect on that ecosystem. This morning on the weather channel it was particularly noted that yesterday the temperature high in West Caldwell, New Jersey, was the highest since 1947. For me this last remark is significant as I have yet to hear of any claims that the earth has been steadily warming since 1947 yet the temperature in that year was over 70 degrees F. What is the relevance of all this to this book you may ask? A moral question. Being of English origin it is repeatedly said that the breaking point is always the weather. Whilst this may not be true, I for one have long commonly found the subject interesting. However, my degrees are in economics, social science and education so I cannot claim any expertise in this area. However, I am somewhat sceptical of many of the claims became about global warming and ecological change mainly due to the consistency of evidence connecting to centuries past. I recall the predictions became in the 1990’s of the terrible winds which would cause havoc at the turn of the century yet never happened as well as the claims became for population growth in the 1960’s which were quickly proved false. I also believe that there is a share of money to be usually made from the scaremongering about global warming by those who argue the most passionately for it. It is also true that even if countries like the US go for smaller more fuel professional cars, then the wealthy and the powerful in our society will still be able to drive their virtual gas guzzlers with impunity. This book is an asset to the layman trying to make sense about the exact type of climatic change. It shows that the consensus is more of a fabrication than reality because of the vested interests of those who formed the consensus to begin with. The Satanic Gases addresses many matters of concern and shows that the evidence upon which many conclusions are based is flawed or the reasoning is rather suspect. The main deficiency in the book remains in the ability or otherwise of the average reader to assess the value of the information included therein. I also consider that a second edition is long overdue which could incorporate further modern information. The book is highly recommended by a figure of famous persons but that should not be a reason for only accepting it’s premises and arguements. For my own part I feel that it is usually required of us as effective citizens to be sceptical of expensive and massive government programmes and to ask questions of our newly elected officials to help us really understand the nature of them. It is my belief that the jury is still out on this issue and while that does not excuse inaction for the future, it is certainly our duty to ask that these programmes are really based on sound science and irrefutable evidence.