Global Fooling. I mean Cooling

Climate Change, What?! - By Gaathier Mahed

Ever since a former American president released a movie on inconvenient truths (Watch here) and another film maker created a piece of art related to perceptions related to shale gas (Watch here) it seems as if everybody is now aware of the problems we face in terms of preserving the environment. On a local scale we see great concern stemming from the environmentalists in the Karoo. A professor of mine said that we should separate environmentalists from environmental scientists and let the data speak and not some naked person running around with a placard saying “stop fracking with the Karoo”.

Melting of the Polar Ice Caps?! (http://media.nj.com/hudson_voices_impact/photo/polejpg-b59b830bd901735d.jpg)

Recent work suggests that climate change is cyclical and has occurred over the past few millions of years at various points in time. Furthermore the research does point to exacerbation of global warming due to the excessive amounts of greenhouse gases emitted by anthropogenic activities. There are multiple arguments floating around in the scientific arena related to the subject matter. Some even argue that there is no such thing as global warming and that it is merely a figment of our imagination. I agree, because it is not just necessarily warmer, but also cooler in certain places at specific times. I landed in Germany in 2010 and they had the worst winter in 50 years with temperatures averaging at minus 30.

The fact remains that the facts should do the talking and not emotional talk related to the number of people who have fire in their water. Science is concerned with the data and interpreting that data, not how some politician or movie maker feels it should be. Furthermore the scientists should be allowed to do the work and not be swayed by political or financial interests. It is Jarod Kintz who said “Abstain from reading comedy or government economic statistics”. I think this could be linked to the point made by Nassim Nicholas Taleb “Economics make homeopath and alternative healers look empirical and scientific.” I am not bad mouthing economics or statisticians, it is just to emphasize a point.

Science is the only thing left that is honest and open, excluding statistics of course. This is due to the fact that Benjamin Disraeli said “There are three types of lies – lies, damn lies and statistics”. Yet one finds it amusing to see that this very tool aided in the removal of outliers over the years from climate data, and thereafter the addition of these outliers lead climate scientists to better understand Elnino and changes in the climate.

The point is that those who work in their field should be the ones who are consulted for a professional opinion, not a politician who shouts for the nationalisation of everything and could not even pass woodwork in matric. The times are changing, and so is the climate…

Feedback Session - Hello, Goodbye

Finally, we may officially close the Field School of 2014. This was done in dramatic fashion as our brave souls received feedback regarding their incredible maps, reports and mini-research reports. There were scenes of tears and screams as the most of the group was reunited among familiar faces and giant muffins. The muffins were much needed as we began a long process of listening attentively to each giving their report back on their individual research topics. Once more we were taken down memory lane thinking about the Barberton Greenstone Belt, The Karoo and all those lovely things seen during our trip. There were nerves of steel, and nerves of jelly, but all succeeded incredulously. Of course, a moment of silence was needed to remember those who did not survive the grueling field school and the lack of their lovely faces was clearly missed among the group, pity.

"Who's your lambs to the slaughter?!" All our wonderful field school participants, all grown (geologically), and teaching us something about something!

There was also time to look back at the marvelous geological maps created by our group. One sees colourful maps, but if one were to look really carefully, you may be lucky enough to make out the geo-poetry in them. What a wonderful sight to see! Our group left as lambs to the slaughter and they returned champions of the Gariep Belt, a treasure to behold for the rest of their lives. And now, hopefully, South African geology is all the better for it.

Are these really their maps?? Somewhere, somehow here are the million dollar products! Fanciful things, really. Great job all around - take a moment of silence for those we lost in geological cyberspace, their gaps will be remembered...

Previous field school participants were also seen this day, hiding in the crowd, no doubt remembering their wonderful times. Zwanga was asked about here experience back in her day, and she responded: "Mara, no shame, I must support them, I know the pain they suffered..."