The Extinction of Chesapeake Bay Islands - 2

Fig. 1 Chesapeake Bay Tide Gauge Records

I. Believe Measurements

or Believe

Your Lying Eyes ?

In a recent post I discussed, among other things, President Trump phoning a mayor of an island community endangered by sea level rise (Don't Worry, Be Happy - 3).

That island, and several others, are in the Chesapeake Bay area (The Extinction of Chesapeake Bay Islands).

That mayor has become an activist following the phone call from the denier in chief, and is out challenging activists who do have a different understanding (Pro-Trump Mayor vs. Al Gore: "Why Am I Not Seeing Signs Of Sea Level Rise?").

The PSMSL tide gauge station records show that sea level in the Chesapeake Bay area have risen a little over a foot and a half in the years 1900 - 2015 (Fig. 1).

II. The Evidence

In that area records of sea level have been kept at some tide gauge stations for over a hundred years (WOD zone 7307).

Here is a list of HTML links to PSMSL tide gauge station records in that area which I used to construct the graph at Fig. 1:

234, 1721, 1444, 862, 1431, 396, 719, 1636, 945, 399, 462, 1635, 597, 1295, 481, 360, 971, 412, 1203, 311, 148, 1338, 636, 1337, 224, 2292, 135, 786, 1153, 180

(click on a station number to see details at the official PSMSL website). Instruments are the best way to measure reality.

The mayor's dilemma was made worse by the self-esteem generated by the call from the president, the fame, and the group think of the denialist party.

III. The Answer To The Mayor's Question

The mayor asked why he could not see sea level rise even though 66% of the island community he mayors is gone, and many other islands have already gone under around him.

The answer comes from psychology and similar disciplines.

He needs a new brain, which only he can construct:

"Probably 98 percent of your reasoning is unconscious - what your brain is doing behind the scenes. Reason is inherently emotional. You can't even choose a goal, much less form a plan and carry it out, without a sense that it will satisfy you, not dis­gust you. Fear and anxiety will affect your plans and your ac­tions. You act differently, and plan differently, out of hope and joy than out of fear and anxiety.

Thought is physical. Learning requires a physical brain change: Receptors for neurotransmitters change at the synapses, which changes neural circuitry. Since thinking is the activation of such circuitry, somewhat different thinking re­quires a somewhat different brain. Brains change as you use them-even unconsciously. It's as if your car changed as you drove it, say from a stick shift gradually to an automatic."

(What Orwell Didn't Know, by Dr. G. Lakoff). The first step toward a new brain is to lose the blinding trances that make us blind simply because we refuse to see (Choose Your Trances Carefully, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).

IV. Conclusion

The only way out for the mayor is "a physical brain change" so that different thinking can take place.

As a quick study Mr. Mayor, remember the flat earth trance (Once Upon A Time In The West - 2).

The previous post in this series is here.

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