Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Philosophy

On the Anniversary of Charles Darwin: Some Consequences to Ponder

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THIS year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of of his major work “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection”. 

Mr Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection is generally acknowledged in the western English-speaking world as superior to any other explanation for the diversity of life on earth.

Over the last 150 years there have, however, emerged many rival doctrines that are fundamentally incompatible, most recently environmentalism. 

In the following essay written to acknowledge this anniversary year, scientist Vincent Gray, outlines how the work of various influential scholars including Julian Huxley, Ernest Mayr and Richard Dawkins would have benefited from a better understanding of Darwin’s theory of evolution.   Dr Gray concludes with an explanation of why the continued survival of the human race is by no means certain and what the international community needs to learn from the work of Charles Darwin.

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No Reporting of Slowing Greenland Glaciers: Shame on the MSM

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SUCH has been the fear of Greenland’s melting glaciers that well known Australian science journalist Robyn Williams has claimed sea levels could rise by 100 metres within the next 100 years. [1]   Mr Williams, and other journalists, have been quick to report on what has become known as the “Greenland Ice Armageddon”. 

Last Friday there was an article in one of the most read science journals, Science, entitled “Galloping Glaciers of Greenland have Reined Themselves In” by Richard A. Kerr.  

Yes, as the title suggests, the article explains that a wide-ranging survey of glacier conditions across south eastern Greenland, indicates that glacier melt has slowed significantly and that it would be wrong to attribute the higher rates of melt prior to 2005 to global warming or to extrapolate the higher melt rates of a few years ago into the future.  [2]

Mr Kerr was reporting on a presentation by glaciologist Tavi Murray at the American Geophysical Union Conference in San Francisco last December. [3]   The paper by Dr Murray was co-authored by many other members of the group at Swansea University in the UK, a team often quoted by Al Gore and others.

When I read the article last Friday I wondered how Robyn “100 metres” Williams and other journalists in the mainstream media (MSM) might report the story.    To my amazement they have simply ignored it.  [4]

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Barack Obama’s Inaugural Speech

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“To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.”   Read more here.

To Dump Iron Sulphate in the Southern Ocean, or Not

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YOUR concept of nature is almost certainly going to influence whether you support the idea of a German ship dumping 20 tons of iron sulphate over 300 square kilometres of Southern Ocean to provoke a massive algal bloom for carbon sequestration.

Those who subscribe to the idea that earth systems are delicately balanced are likely to be horrified and may want to send off a letter to the German government as suggested by Climate Ark to stop the experiment.   The ship is already in the Southern Ocean and ready to dump.   

Those, who, like Paleontologist Peter Ward, reject the notion of ‘Gaia’, and subscribe to the ‘The Medea Hypothesis’ that there is no balance of nature are likely to favor geo-engineering solutions including to climate change.   [Gaia versus Medea discussed here.]

I tend to fall into a third category, recognising that natural systems are dynamic and also generally fairly resilient.  I would not advocate large scale geo-engineering unless the problem was well defined and the benefits clearly articulated.   

As regards dumping tons of iron sulphate in the Southern Ocean – if an excess of carbon in the atmosphere really is a problem then it is perhaps justified as part of a mix of potential solutions.  But I am not convinced that the elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide are causing a problem.