A flat earth for every age

climate change and flat earth

The name Bill Nye might be unfamiliar, but in America he is well known as ‘The Science Guy’; a television presenter, writer and scientist with a reputation for taking a combative stance against those who doubt reasoned science.

A fellow of the Committee for Sceptical Inquiry, an American organisation that aims to promote the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims, Nye has stated that the public doesn’t have enough rudimentary knowledge of the universe to properly evaluate such matters. The trouble, of course, is that he’s right. And it all started way back when.

Science reveals truths that can seem counter intuitive and far flung. As Joel Achenbach explains so succinctly writing in the National Geographic, in the early 17th century, when Galileo claimed that the Earth spins on its axis and orbits the sun, he wasn’t just rejecting church doctrine. He was asking people to believe something that defied common sense — it sure looks like the sun’s going around the Earth, and you can’t feel the Earth spinning. Galileo was put on trial and forced to recant. Two centuries later Charles Darwin escaped that fate. But his idea that all life on Earth evolved from a primordial ancestor and that we humans are distant cousins of apes, whales, and even deep-sea molluscs is still a big ask for a lot of people.

Despite the fact it’s possible to attach a cheap camera to a weather balloon and film the evidence for yourself, many thousands still cling to the notion the earth is flat. If you find this hard to believe, search Google.

Which brings us to climate change. How can it be that the invisible gas we breathe out and which makes up less than one tenth of one per cent of the atmosphere, is affecting the global climate? And how can this be explained to those who refuse to acknowledge evolution or the fact we inhabit a spherical planet?

A good first step towards raising awareness of the threat of climate change is for the facts to be articulated in simple terms by a trusted voice. It’s the reason that Nye has used YouTube to address his country folk.

America and China have this week formally committed to the Paris Climate Accord, but significant questions remain over whether President Obama can implement meaningful steps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions without Congress’s help. Perhaps they need a visit from Mr Nye, The Science Guy.

Britain’s most ethical insurance

The ETA has been voted the most ethical insurance company in Britain for the second year running by the Good Shopping Guide.

Beating household-name insurance companies such as John Lewis and the Co-op, the ETA earned an ethical company index score of 89.

The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Twenty six years on, it continues to offer cycle insurance, travel insurance and breakdown cover while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all it does.

Comments

  1. Jim Clark

    Reply

    The next US president could be one. As for the right wing bible fanatics!

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