An overblown response

Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 10:23:27 -0400 (AST)
From: Owen Hertzman <hertzman@atm.dal.ca>
To: Helga Hoffmann <greenweb@fox.nstn.ca>
cc: sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca
Precedence: bulk
Return-Path: <sust-mar-mml-owner@chebucto.ns.ca>

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This is a message to Helga, David and anyone else who's following this
exchange about hurricanes and global warming.

1)   Helga, I consider your comments about my "conflict of interest" on
this issue to be "a low blow".  As a part-time academic I have to make up
some of my salary selling my expert opinion.  I do things pro-bono (such
as my work with Friends of the Island) and I do some work for pay.  I do
not change my opinion to suit my employers.  In the Tatham work, I raised
the issue of Global Warming and natural gas with my employers, the
consultants at S.E.A.  I even wrote sections of an EIA on the subject
which raised questions about the effects of natural gas, if it were being
used to increase overall fossil fuel consumption.  Some of those sections
made it into the final draft and some didn't.  The point is that I'm paid
for my honest opinion and I give it, here or there.

2)  About global warmin, La Nina and increased incidences of hurricanes.
I do not dispute the connection between the last two, only the connection
between the first and the other two.  There is active research ongoing
looking at the connection between global warming and El nino/la Nina.  It
isn't even clear whether global warming will increase or decrease the
number of el nino or la nina years, or tilt the system more towards one
or the other.  If the effect is towards more la nina's then we can look at
effects on hurricanes, though, with more el ninos it would decrease
hurricane frequency, at least in the Atlantic.

3)  In the quote you included, the author seems to be inferring a link
betwen global warming and increased La Ninas and hurricanes, though they
don't say anything about how this is supposed to occur.  If you read the
UNEP quote, it asserts that global warming is the problem at the start,
but then speaks only of La Nina farther down.  And the floods in China and
Bangladesh have been attributed as much to excess logging in the upper
reaches of the rivers in western China more than any other source.

I want to make it clear that I support efforts to decrease fossil fuel
consumption in the developed world (and in the developing world where
possible without causing hardship). The reason for my comments is to make
it clear that connecting up a bunch of problems willy nilly does nobody
any good.  In fact, it harms our ability to raise money to send to rebuild
Central America and to educate people here to be far more environmentally
responsible.

I want to make one last comment about how I make my living.  Helga
questioned my integrity because I do consulting work for people she
considers questionable.  I work part-time here in Halifax.  My wife is
unable to work.  When I decide that I need a few extra bucks so our life
can be comfortable (she recently had a knee replacement and has a hard
time getting around) I don't expect sneering from those that I consider
allies in the struggle.  I am groosly underpaid here at Dalhousie, as are
all the other part-timers.  When I can sell my professional opinion
without compromising what I'm saying, sometimes I do it, sometimes I
don't.  But the idea that I change my opinion to suit the whims of those
who hire me is profoundly offensive.  Anyone who ever takes a class from
me, or hires me, knows that I will give them a frank and honest opinion.

I realize this message may be long, so I will cut all of Helga's message
which is already on sust-mar.  OH


 ________________________________________________________________
Owen Hertzman                     E-mail: Owen.Hertzman@Dal.Ca
Dept. of Oceanography             Phone: (902) 494-3683
Dalhousie University              FAX:  (902) 494-2885
Halifax, NS CANADA, B3H 4J1

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