Dr. Tim Ball
Some of us view climate as something we influence (the anthropogenic global warming or AGW theory); others of us see climate change as a natural cycle. Although they are connected, climate and weather are very different, and have created ripe conditions for many battles, wars, and commercial inventions that otherwise might have never been realized – irrigation, clothing, and many facets of agriculture are just a few. Climate change has driven so many mass migrations in human history, but we rarely consider the implications of this in today’s fast-paced world. Our ability to prepare for and survive sudden environmental changes could never be more important than it is today. Dr. Tim Ball joins us to share about the role of climate and weather in shaping human history.
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Thanks, Kim, for your more hard-hitting questions in this interview concerning the impacts of oil on the environment. I was deeply involved in the environmental justice movement when it took up the cause of global warming (or is it global climate change?) in the late 1990’s/early 1990’s. For the same reasons that I had been (and continue to be!) deeply skeptical of financial, economic and pharmaceutical statistical models–i.e. bad assumption/limited information in, bad conclusions, information out–I developed, straight away, a healthy skepticism of the “climate change” models. So, as you might imagine, I’ve been sympathetic to critics of the human-caused global warming model for many years. Nevertheless, I’ve often found these critics utterly irresponsible in the way they often downplay the radically destructive impacts of petroleum-based products on the environment and human health. A few of these these critics, it turns out, do shill for the petroleum industry; I think, however, that the vast majority of them simply have great difficulty imagining a healthy, functioning economy without petroleum, natural gas, coal or even nuclear. Indeed, their scientific and cultural training often preclude them from considering post-materialist, post-explosive energetic models such as those put forth by Mehran Keshe, who, of course, you interviewed several months ago. Obviously, as the anti-anthropocentric global warming argument implies, petroleum is not demonic in and of itself; and clearly so-called “developing” countries can benefit in many wonderful ways from a responsible exploitation/use of oil (whatever that might mean). At the same time, however, it would seem that the relatively affluent, largely Western critics of human-caused global warming are strangers to the destruction, degradation, violence and misery that petroleum dependency begets in many parts of the world.
Thanks for your show and keep up the good work!
Chris