Project Wonderful Banner

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

That damned Sun

What's Mallard raving about today?

The Sun, Global Warming, Hollywood, Rehab.

Unfortunately for Mallard his smear job against Global Warming, linking it with Hollywood celebrities, is not going to work these days, since he is actually in the distinct minority with his Flat Earth beliefs.

According to Fox News (yes, Fox News) :
...77 percent of Americans believe global warming is happening and, of those, more than twice as many think it is caused by human behavior (46 percent) than by normal climate patterns (17 percent). About a third says it is a combination of both (30 percent).
Mallard is going to need new talking points, and might want to look to a source a bit more reliable than Newsmax.com for scientific information.

For example, the Newsmax article is based in part on a report from National Geographic featuring the following which did not appear in the Newsmax article.
"His views are completely at odds with the mainstream scientific opinion," said Colin Wilson, a planetary physicist at England's Oxford University. "And they contradict the extensive evidence presented in the most recent IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report."

Amato Evan, a climate scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, added that "the idea just isn't supported by the theory or by the observations."

Perhaps the biggest stumbling block in Abdussamatov's theory is his dismissal of the greenhouse effect, in which atmospheric gases such as carbon dioxide help keep heat trapped near the planet's surface. He claims that carbon dioxide has only a small influence on Earth's climate and virtually no influence on Mars. But "without the greenhouse effect there would be very little, if any, life on Earth, since our planet would pretty much be a big ball of ice," said Evan, of the University of Wisconsin.

8 comments:

Kaitlyn said...

It's all about context for mallard.

Ignoring context.

I hate people who go, "Look, there's snow here, global warming, what a crock!"

It's more about climate change and the climate is changing by gradually warming up. If those ice caps melt, we're kind of screwed, whether you believe it's natural, man caused it, or cow farts did.

When will he drop this global warming thing?

Here in memphis, we broke a record last week - 86 degrees. Global warming feels quite real to me.

Kaitlyn said...

DaveyK, I have a huge favor to ask - I made a blog about the comic Pluggers (it sucks as much as Mallard, only it's like They'll Do It Every Time - reader submissions about the 80% of the populations that is hartdworking.)

Anayways, could you link to me?

http://pluggersitup.blogspot.com/

Thanks.

DaveyK said...

Consider it done. Just be aware how soul-crushing it can sometimes be realizing you have to read these comics every day...

Anonymous said...

Your comment today is at least as superficial as MF's remarks usually are. Scientific issues can't be settled by public opinion polls; it means precisely nothing that 46% of people polled think global warming is caused by human activity, when most people have no clue about space weather, climate, particulates, etc., etc., etc. If MF had cited a poll showing most Americans want creationism taught in schools, or an impressive number thought we never landed on the moon, you would quite rightly ridicule his premise. What's sauce for the duck...

Andy said...

Mallard is utterly wrong about global warming, yes, but I was entertained by the Tinsley's gigantic evil sun, and if ignoring real evidence while plugging fake evidence is the only way to setup such a drawing, I'll give it a pass for day.

DaveyK said...

I never said the poll was proof that Global Warming is caused by human activity.

I said portrayal of that belief as the fringe idea of Hollywood celebrities (as an ad hominem means of discrediting it) will become harder to sell as more people believe it is caused by human activity.

Anonymous said...

The evil sun is the funniest thing I've ever seen in this strip. So what's Tinsley saying, there's no need to curb pollution because we're all going to die?

Kaitlyn said...

Thanks, daveyk.

And luke, we've been dying since the day we were born, so what's the point of anything?

Best read outside French cafe, smoking French cigs. :P

You know what's scary? There are people who welcome global warming and war in the middle east - it's a sign of the apocalypse - the Christian one - and it's happening in our lifetimes, dammit!

Eek, I may be dying, but I hate tornadoes. Global warming is too blame! We're too close to the river to have basements, so all I can do is panic until my meds kick in, fall asleep, and wake up in Oz.