Sometimes I wonder if there are members of the scientific community who sit back and think everybody will actually believe anything they say simply because they hold the title of scientist. Do such individuals feel the rest of us think they’re of such superior intellect we’ll be in awe of anything the claim as true? It must be frustrating to them when we non-scientific types look at what they claim as scientific theory and say their ideas are nothing but a bunch of crap.
I believe a scientific theory easily categorized as stupid would be the idea that cats are responsible for climate change. I suppose the theory that man is responsible for altering the weather on our planet is losing its traction. Who knows what will be the cause of climate change next. Maybe trees will be the next thing on the global warming blame list. I guess scientists have to get those governmental grants some way.
What a shame gullible people who work for some publications don’t take the time to examine facts. I guess there are writers who find it easier to cause a sensation than actually write something with accurate details.
A recent MotherJones article claims cats are increasing in population because global warming is increasing their breeding seasons. It claims more cats mean the death of at least a hundred million planet saving birds in the US every year. I like this logic. If this is true wouldn’t other species experience an increase in their breeding season? Guess there’s no benefit for scientists to blame global warming on chipmunks.
In the article they site a study by the Smithsonian Institution that claims cats are responsible for 79 percent of deaths of juvenile catbirds in Washington DC. Huh? That’s it? They assume cat’s killing quite a bit of once species of bird in one city is evidence cats are responsible for climate change on the entire planet. To say the least that’s a bit of a stretch. I wonder if all the scientists involved in this study are spokespeople for the benefits of taking idiot pills.
“What’s in our yard that scares you so much?”
“The neighbor’s kitten got lose.”
“Is it attacking a planet saving bird?”
“It did something even worse.”
“What?”
“The kitten got into the bundle of yarn you had on the porch and is now all wrapped up in it.”
“I know it looks cute but unfortunately kittens are the ones destroying our planet.”
“At least they look cute doing it.”
My favorite is the chart contained with the article that contains the figures about bird deaths. It says cats kill 1 billion birds a year but they’re not the only causes of bird demise as it appears 970 million fly into buildings. I think this is part of natural selection. If you’re such a stupid bird that you can’t avoid flying into a huge building maybe the world is better off without you breeding. According to the chart 174 million also fly into power lines, 80 million from vehicle collisions, 72 million from pesticides, 5 million from flying into communication towers and 440,000 flying into wind turbines. (If you believe cats are responsible for global warming the following is called sarcasm. Sorry if you still don’t understand.) Maybe the building industry is the cause of global warming so if we stopped building things we could save the planet.
If I was a cat I’d tell people they need to deal with the things they built that kill birds. Maybe if all the builders were trapped and neutered and released the planet could be saved. I say we start with Al Gore. Not because he builds things but because we need to see if doing that will end global warming in the name of science.
The story fails to mention that according to the US Fish & Wildlife Service the figures provided in the chart, “Represent educated guesses based on modeling and other approaches. (I think this means using their imagination) Estimates have been made for the most visible threats.”
To put this in plain language, they made these numbers up. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the numbers in this chart actually represent the scores from a video game played by an employee who made the chart.
Being literate I actually took the time to read the Smithsonian Institution article that was referenced. One sentence that got my attention was “Rats and Crows were also found to be significant suburban threats to fledgling catbirds.”
Then why aren’t rats and crows being blamed for causing global warming? Who funded this study; The Crazy Cat Haters of America? I think it was probably done by a bunch of cataphobics. It is cataphobics who have refused to accept cats as a legitimate part of our society. The ignorance and intolerance of the cat lifestyle speaks to their lack of understanding of what it’s like to be a cat. I’m sure cats don’t like the way they are but it’s how they were born. They shouldn’t have hide the fact they’re cats no matter who refuses to accept them. Maybe it’s time for politicians to consider a bill concerning cat’s rights.
The idea that the information provided in any way proves cats cause global warming is absolutely ridiculous. You don’t have to be a scientist to debunk that theory. My worry is that stupid people will actually believe what they’re reading and cats will suffer because of it. The only way a sane and rational person could accept as true such nonsense is if they believed that while performing this research the scientists involved were actually “catatonic.” (Forgive me I couldn’t resist)