Lovelock's Inconveniently Truthful Confession

As we hear of citizens struggling through the dozens of maps in the Shoreline I&C Report, the SMP update seems to be enjoying the same level of early community acceptance as the CAO (see email below). Collectively, the community seems to be saying, "Huh?"

Unfortunately, the SMP discussion is likely to be infused, at some point, by influence from the globally dysfunctional debates about global warming, climate change, sea level rise, and ocean acidification. In future posts here, I'll discuss some of the science and data related to those issues.

From my perspective, there are a lot of misconceptions (dare I say misinformation) about the data related to those topics, and I want to highlight some of it. Ever heard of principal component analysis or hockey sticks? Well, if you haven't, then you're missing out on one of the biggest science controversies surrounding global warming, and you should stay tuned. Also, I want to say that I am generally not a global warming denier. I certainly am not a climate change denier. For me, it is well established that the climate varies over time, and on balance, I think the world probably has been in a warming phase. I'm just not convinced it's a disaster or that we have that much control over it. In that respect, I appear to be in the same company as James Lovelock.

While not a climate change denier, I most certainly do deny that the Friends of the San Juans or their cohorts at Coastal Geologic Services can predict sea level rise around here with any reasonable degree of accuracy.

There is no end of people, it seems, who are willing to exploit the prospect of a good disaster for their own purposes, especially if there may be a grant involved.

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From: Leith Templin <leithtemplin@hotmail.com>

Subject: Requesting Shoreline Extention

Date: April 27, 2012 9:34:21 PM PDT

To: Richard Fralick <isledream@hotmail.com>, <richardf@sanjuanco.com>, <pattm@sanjuanco.com>, <richp@sanjuanco.com>, <howier@sanjuanco.com>, <jamies@sanjuanco.com>

Dear Council Members,
I became aware last week that the deadline for submitting a review of the Shoreline Characterization Report was due on Monday 30th, 2012.  As I waded through the documents at the library and then had a disk sent to me from the community development and planning department and reviewed all 39 maps I wondered if anybody else was having as much trouble as I was. It was very frustrating to discover that the county employee in charge of this was on vacation, so there was no one to help me.  I met with around fifty people at the Orcas Fire Department last Wednesday night only to discover that none of them had any idea about this review let alone that a report was due on Monday. I shared with them on how to find their management areas and their Reach area and the importance of checking out the maps to see if they were an accurate reflection of their property.  The next day I received numerous emails and phone calls asking for help.  I have not talked to one shoreline property owner that new anything about this. Something is wrong with the communication from the county to it's property owner's on this important issue.  I am requesting that the deadline be extended to a later and more appropriate date this summer so property owners can participate in this important issue.
Sincerely,
Leith Templin
leithtemplin@hotmail.com
Orcas Island