Sunday, October 15, 2023

What if the consensus is merely a habit of lazy thinking

I am looking forward to reading 25 Myths That Are Destroying the Environment by Daniel B. Botkin, an ecologist scientist and critic of lazy thinking in the science of ecology.  His 25 myths are:

Myth 1 We Are the Only Species That Has Ever Had Global Effects on the Environment

Myth 2 Life Is Fragile, Requires Specific Conditions, and Can’t Adjust Easily to Change

Myth 3 Extinction Is Unnatural and Bad, but Easy to Accomplish

Myth 4 The Balance of Nature Exists and Dominates All Life and All Environments

Myth 5 The Balance of Nature Is the Best and Only Condition for All Life

Myth 6 Beauty in Nature Only Happens in Areas Completely Undisturbed by Us

Myth 7 An Ecosystem Is Any Kind of Group, and a Biological Ecosystem Is a Fixed Group of Species

Myth 8 People Are Outside of Nature

Myth 9 The Only Reason to Conserve Nature: Every Species Has a Moral Right to Exist

Myth 10 People Have Changed the Environment Only Since the Industrial/Scientific Age

Myth 11 Without Human Interference, Earth’s Climate Is Stable

Myth 12 People Are the Most Important Factor Determining Earth’s Climate

Myth 13 Climate Change Will Lead to Huge Numbers of Extinctions

Myth 14 Recent Weather Is Proof of Long-Term Climate Change

Myth 15 Consensus Is Science

Myth 16 Computer Models Are True

Myth 17 All Populations Are Always Bound to Grow So Rapidly That They Exceed the Ability of Their Environment to Support Them and Then Go Extinct. This Will Be the Inevitable Fate of the Human Population

Myth 18 Predators Are Absolutely Necessary to Control the Populations of Their Prey

Myth 19 Maximum Sustainable Yields Are Possible for Fish and All Wildlife

Myth 20 We Can’t Do Much about Environmental Risks—From Smaller Ones like a Local River Flooding to Large Ones like Hurricanes

Myth 21 Smokey Bear Is Right: Only You Can Prevent Wildfires

Myth 22 Forests Are an Important Place for Long-Term Carbon Storage

Myth 23 Solar and Wind Energy Require Huge Areas

Myth 24 Large-Scale Solar Energy Projects Work Only in Very Hot Climates

Myth 25 Compared to Climate Change, All Other Environmental Issues Are Minor

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