The Might's, May's and Could's Of Global Warming

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is proposing to declare the ice floe populations of the polar bear to be threatened with extinction -- a bureaucratic process that is supposed to be based on the best available science. Since the proposed action is predicated on global warming's threat to the species, the best available science should be abundant and above reproach, right?

After all, the global warming debate is over, isn't it?

Well, it appears the Fish & Wildlife Service is having trouble finding that definitive, clear science. My friend Jim forwarded to me an official comment letter submitted to the Service by a certain Julie Smithson. I don't know who Smithson is, but her email address is "propertyrights@___.com," so she sounds like my kind of gal.

Here's a splended excerpt from her letter:

The use of nebulous, unprovable words [in the proposed listing], including, but not limited to:

"might" (Pages 8, 49, 85, 86, 140, 147, 155, 243, 252, and 259 -- Page 243 is of special concern),

"may" [not to be confused with references to the month of May] (Pages 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34, 38, 39, 40, 42, 44, 53, 54, 57, 58, 59, 64, 67, 68, 71, 74, 77, 80, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90 ["...

may be difficult to measure ..." and "... may initially obscure trends ..."], 91, 94, 95, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 107, 112, 114, 115, 116, 120, 121, 122, 123, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 135, 139, 140, 142, 145, 149, 153, 155, 158, 160, 161, 162, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 173, 174, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187 [many times on this page], 188, 189, 243, 244, 246, 247, 248, 250, 251, 254, 257, and 259),

"possibly" (Pages 13, 16, 27, 33, 41, 54, 72, 80, 100, 101, 104, 105, 184, 185, 187, 246, 248, 249, and 251),

"potential" (Pages 21, 32, 34, 37, 58, 60, 68, 75, 82, 95, 97, 110, 126, 128, 129, 130, 138, 140, 141, 145, 152, 153, 156 [three times], 166 [three times], 169, 170 [three times], 175, 176, 178, 179, 183, 187, 191, 210, 236, 239, 249, 254, 257, and 259)

"potentially" (Pages 20, 24, 42, 99, 113, and 169), and "could" (Pages 13, 15, 18, 20, 27, 28, 37, 42, 52, 54, 72 [many times], 74, 76, 77, 83, 85, 86, 87 [many times], 89, 90, 91, 95, 97, 98, 99, 101, 103, 107, 110, 115, 126, 137, 138, 142, 143, 144, 147, 153, 155, 165, 168, 169 [several times], 170, 180, 181, 184, 186, 187, 189, and 251),

clearly illustrate failure to prove any need for polar bear listing.

Smithson concludes,

Unless and until such specious language is no longer used in "proposed rules," I recommend that not only the polar bear, but also all proposals for listing, be rescinded: immediately.

She's entirely right about other proposed endangered species listings, which are full not just of specious language, but of flawed studies posing under the guise of science as well.

But there's a more important point to be made here: If the Fish & Wildlife Service can't make a case for the polar bear, which supposedly has been placed at risk by one of the less controversial claims of the Warmies, what of all the other claims?

They are might's, may's and could's as well. Oceans rising to flood seaside populations? "Potentially." Drought destroying global agriculture? "Possibly."

Benefits from spending hundreds of billions of dollars on attempts to stop climate change? "May be difficult to Measure."