Anti-Science Environmentalism

Tara Mathur 0725528

In this article, the author, John Laumer, is basically claiming that people who call themselves “green” meaning the majority of people who are biocentric individualists or ecoholist are hypocrites as they don’t believe in the use of technology as a solution, even if it has a mutual advantage for the people and the environment. Laumer also claims that representatives from both sides of the climate debate behave as though they are waiting for the defeat of science and humanism. (Laumer, J. 2010)
Laumer, uses the eruption of the Aleutian volcano in the North-Pacific Ocean as evidence for these claims. He believes that since the volcano erupted, there has been an abundance of iron-rich ash which has lead to the increase of salmon runs in 2010. Laumer clearly believes that this increase in salmon is a good thing as he uses words like “astoundingly” which show his content and surprise of the augmentation of salmon. His argument is clear when he includes the quote “'iron seeding' being too hazardous to experiment with as a potential geo-engineering method”. By including this quote in his posting Laumer believes that he is proving that the people who identify themselves as “greens” are against the use technological functions, in this case iron seeding. Since, he sees that an increase of iron is good, he believes that iron seeding is good and feels like the people who he is criticizing are hypocrites.
The problem with this is that not all the effects of iron seeding have been identified. Obviously short term effects are beneficial as it increases “the two lowest links of the marine food chain - phytoplankton and the bacteria that feed on them” (Powell, H. 2008) But there isn’t much evidence of long term effects. According to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), “there is still the question of how big an iron addition can be without causing environmental damage.“ (Powell, H. 2008) Apparently no negative impacts have been recorded from 12 small-scale experiments, and the bigger experiments are currently under consideration as “their effects may probably be dissipated in the oceans’ vastness.” (Powell, H. 2008)
Due to the fact, that not all effects are known and have been assessed, I believe that one can not argue that iron seeding is a good or bad. Once must take in to consideration all the possible effects and then must decide if the benefits outweigh the negative effects to see if something is worth going ahead with or not.
Laumer’s other claim is directed more towards political figures, I believe, as he later claims that, “a bunch of national environmental ministers and NGO reps said such research should not be allowed” (Laumer, J. 2010) Referring to the research of the geo-engineering method of iron seeding. As Laumer is for iron seeding, he probably believes that research should be done to see the possible effects of the geo engineering method. But what he probably doesn’t realize is that it is not possible to test the effects of iron seeding as a) the ocean is too big and b) once it has been done the effects, will be extremely hard to reverse. “If iron seeding was implemented for a whole ocean, a major concern is that that that the nutrient-depleted, low-oxygen waters would resurface after years after an experiment. And in the short term, this complication could make iron fertilization seem artificially successful, encouraging more participation by industry and aggravating the longer-term impacts.” Powell, H, 2008)
In conclusion, I believe that Laumer feels strongly about certain topics but does not thoroughly think through what he stands for. I believe that he should consider all effects both short and long term and take in to consideration, that just because something is good now, it might not be as good later, or could even have detrimental effects on an environment or ecosystem.


References:

Laumer, J. (2010, November 5). Volcano-stimulated rebound of 2010 salmon run challenges anti-science environmentalism. Retrieved from http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/11/massively-volcano-stimulated-rebound-of-us-salmon-runs-challenges-anti-science-environmentalism.php?campaign=th_rss_science

Powell, H. (2008, January 8). The uncertainties and unintended consequences of manipulating ecosystems. Retrieved from http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewArticle.do?id=35668