The Low-Carb Curmudgeon

Can someone out there please explain to me what the hell it is with low-carb bloggers and global warming? I’ve been seeing this all over the place for the past year or so. Apparently, because The Establishment is wrong about healthy diets, it is also wrong about climate change, and furthermore anyone in government who panics about global warming is a dirty, dirty fascist out to destroy the Western way of life.

I guess, to a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Too bad we’re all getting screwed.

One of the more prominent LC global warming denialists is Dr. Barry Groves, of Second Opinion in the UK. I’m not trying to pick on him, I actually love reading his dietary stuff, but I don’t feel like going round hunting down a bunch of anti-GW (global warming, not George W.–oh, if only! once more a classic case of misplaced ire!) statements from LC bloggers at 3 in the morning when I’m already in sleep deficit. I’ve been carbin’ again and OMFG does my body hate me. So, easy it is.

I don’t have a lot of time to get into his stuff right now and I probably shouldn’t get too far into it in the first place because it’s off-topic here. I just wanted to touch on a few things briefly. The section on his site about “the man-made global warming scam” is here if you want to read it.

Before I begin let me state that I am not a climate scientist. The extent of my knowledge comes from random reading over the years and an earth science class when I was thirteen or fourteen years old. It was then that I learned about the carbon cycle, something I don’t often hear mentioned by climate change denialists. And that’s being kind. I actually don’t think I’ve heard anything about it at all from them, but it’s possible I did and have forgotten.

Ignore the carbon cycle and as far as I’m concerned, you don’t have much else to tell me because you’re full of shit.

Be that as it may.

First off, Groves trumpets this part of his site as though it proves without a doubt that the idea of human-caused global warming is a scam. Then you get into the introductory paragraphs and find this gem:

I say ’scam’ because that is exactly what it appears to be to me.

Dude, if you’re going to call something a scam, you better have something more substantial to go on than what you think you’re seeing.

He links to a video of a documentary about scientists–I guess, anyway, as unlike with U.S. television documentaries they don’t apply an introductory caption with the person’s name and title–who do not agree that the science on climate change is settled. I didn’t have three-quarters of an hour to get into the video. I might later, I might not. I hate watching videos on my laptop because then my daughter whines to watch cartoons on YouTube. And, as previously stated, I’ve stayed up three hours too late.

Be that as it may, I got enough of the video to catch some “expert”(?) stating that the science on climate change is, in his words, “not complete.”

That pretty much did it for me right there. I admit I am not a scientist by trade, but anyone who tells you that ANY scientific discipline has “complete” data and has completely figured out everything that that discipline is supposed to study, should go into a one-person home-based business as a manure dispenser. They’re so full of it I fear they will burst at any second. At least this way they can do an end run around the bad economy, what with so many taking up gardening now…

Then you had the random arguments about how all this shit that the IPCC wants us to do is going to be “expensive” and might not even do any good. Oh my GOD, we might have to do something that costs MONEY if this global warming thing is real, y’all! Then again, these people tend to be upheld as heroes by folks who expect us all to take a similar position with health care. If it’s too expensive then you don’t get any, and if you die, too fucking bad. Just so long as you don’t dip into their bank account.

Then they’ll tell you, all outraged-like, that life sucks today because people have gotten too selfish and only care about their own desires, not about the good of society. (For instance, this mentality is frequently on display when conservatives speak out against gay marriage.) Laws-a-mussy. Fo’ shame.

That’s the best they can do?

They don’t have every single little bit of data yet?

Somebody got a (relative) few bits of information wrong?

It might (gasp!) cost money to fix the problem?

Oh, and we don’t know this is all a scam, we’re just guessing?

Wow.

Tell me something, Groves… and all the rest of you, too. How the fuck is anyone supposed to trust us about what constitutes a proper human diet (adjusted for regional and cultural differences, of course) if it comes out you guys are wrong about this one?

I mean, if you don’t care and this is your idea of how to solve the overpopulation problem… well, knock yourselves out, I guess.

But if you actually do care about people, and are horrified at my suggestion… well? What the hell am I supposed to think?

At minimum I don’t understand why the implication always is that we don’t have global warming so we can do whatever we want. That’s not working. Time to get back to the drawing board. At MINIMUM it makes no damn sense to burn up all our resources so there aren’t any for future generations. Surely you understand this concept; I hear people like you bitch all. the. time. about how Obama is Satan because he’s running up the deficit. You grasp the concept with money. It’s time to expand your intellectual reach to encompass other resources too.

Whether or not there’s global warming, we’re in a hell of a pickle. The sooner people like you get your heads out of your asses and start engaging in political discourse like you have a goddamn brain cell or two to rub together, the better off we all might be.

Just saying. Enjoy your steak. Which, by the way, I don’t believe it causes global warming either. But never mind.