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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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 Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:12 am Post subject: Global warming's Middle Ground |
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On New Year's Day, The New York Times delivered a surprising message from Earth scientists about global warming: Don't panic. The story by Andrew Revkin describes the increasing prominence of a "third stance" on climate change, held by qualified observers who believe that the world really is heating up but who have grown tired of exaggerated claims of imminent catastrophe made for political purposes. These scientists agree, Mr. Revkin writes, "that accumulating carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping smokestack and tailpipe gases probably pose a momentous environmental challenge, but say the appropriate response is more akin to buying fire insurance and installing sprinklers and new wiring in an old, irreplaceable house (the home planet) than to fighting a fire already raging." One political scientist has given this group a new name: the "nonskeptical heretics."
It turns out that many senior climate experts belong to the heretic party in one respect or another, and Mr. Revkin produces quotes that might surprise those who haven't noticed how often the catastrophist position is advanced by those who have no scientific standing at all. MIT's Carl Wunsch tells him, "Denying the risk [from warming] seems utterly stupid. Claiming we can calculate the probabilities with any degree of skill seems equally stupid." Mike Hulme of Britain's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research complains that he has faced intimidation from the catastrophist side because his carefully modulated utterances on the subject have failed to slake their "thirst for environmental drama." Just one big question goes unanswered: Where exactly have these heretics been for the last 20 years?
The answer, of course, is that they were always there, and it's only now that the Times has gotten around to them. One gets the sense that they are becoming more visible now because Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth has fatally overplayed the environmentalist hand. The scientists in question seem to feel that the movie's lurid portrait of a ravaged near-future has made their work more inconvenient --and not because it is full of truth.
Unfortunately, politicians like Mr. Gore don't adapt well to the complexity that scientists live with as a matter of course. A Thursday morning headline describes Jack Layton, for example, as drawing "a line in the sand" on climate change. As I write this, the outdoor temperature around my house is -30 C, and it would take more ingenuity than Mr. Layton possesses to find any exposed sand. But what I really wonder is why he insists on reducing climate change to a matter for chest-thumping and threats. He should try to understand that there are many possible reasons for "heresy," and admit that his view encompasses more than just a judgment in a scientific controversy. |
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=3a22e765-0cc5-4d68-b5e4-871f412d0e0d&p=1 |
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thebum
Joined: 09 Jan 2005
Location: North Korea
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| Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:43 am Post subject: |
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| global warming is so last millennium. everyone knows it's global climate change. |
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sundubuman
Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Location: seoul
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| Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:36 am Post subject: |
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Weather Channel climate expert
calls for decertifying any broadcast meteorologist
who dares disagree with her
17 Jan 07 - The Weather Channel�s Heidi Cullen is advocating that the American Meteorological Society (AMS) revoke their "Seal of Approval" for any television weatherman who expresses skepticism that human activity is creating a climate catastrophe.
In addition, Cullen�s December 17, 2006 episode of "The Climate Code" TV show, featured a columnist who openly called for Nuremberg-style Trials for climate skeptics �� what amounts to the death penalty for scientists who express skepticism about global warming.
Cullen�s call for decertification by the AMS can only serve to intimidate skeptics and further chill free speech in the scientific community. Stripping the "Seal of Approval" from broadcast meteorologists could affect their livelihoods, impact their salaries and prestige.
Intimidating scientists with calls for death trials, name calling and calls for decertification appears to be the accepted tactics of the climate alarmists.
The alarmists also enjoy a huge financial advantage over the skeptics with numerous foundations funding climate research, University research money and the United Nations endless promotion of the cause.
There was a $3 billion donation to the global warming cause from Virgin Air�s Richard Branson alone. The Sierra Club Foundation 2004 budget was $91 million and the Natural Resources Defense Council had a $57 million budget for the same year. Compare that to the often media derided Competitive Enterprise Institute��s small $3.6 million annual budget.
In addition, if a climate skeptic receives any money from industry, the media immediately labels them and attempts to discredit their work. The same media completely ignore the money flow from the environmental lobby to climate alarmists like James Hansen and Michael Oppenheimer. (ie. Hansen received $250,000 from the Heinz Foundation and Oppenheimer is a paid partisan of Environmental Defense Fund)
That may be the real Inconvenient Truth. After all, even the UN is reportedly downgrading man�s impact on the climate by 25% and now concedes that cow "emissions" are more damaging to the planet than C02 from cars. |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 3:00 am Post subject: |
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| New, updated report due out soon. Early comments are heavily pessimistic. Google it. |
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