Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Believers, Deniers, and Skeptics

Ellen Goodman is sure about human activity causing warming of the global climate, and what she thinks of those who don't necessarily agree with her.
I would like to say we're at a point where global warming is impossible to deny. Let's just say that global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers, though one denies the past and the other denies the present and future.

But Mark Steyn, in his witty way, describes some of the various scientific studies being published that draw a range of conclusions regarding the climate question, going beyond the over-simplification of the Media echo-chamber.
Are you thinking maybe it's time to turn over the page to the Anna Nicole Smith "A life in pictures" double spread? Well, that's my point. Most of us aren't reading the science, or even a precis of the science. We're just reading a constant din from the press that "the science is settled," and therefore we no longer need to think about it: The thinking has been done for us. Last week's U.N. IPCC "report," for example, is not the report, but a political summary thereof.

As I've said in an earlier post, scientific climate study must be vigorously pursued and developing alternative sources and more efficient use of energy makes sense on a number of grounds. However, when we're told that a question involving major economic and social policy implications is 'settled' and that no doubts are allowed, maybe that's a sign that some healthy skepticism is due.

BTW, Wednesday's House subcommittee hearing on "Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?" has been postponed due to the snow & ice storm hitting this part of the country.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

When the National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science speaks, the science is settled (at least at the 90+% level). The time for the silly arguments from right wing "think" tanks is over.

You should certainly know better than to cloud the issue of long term global warming with the current cold weather. I am disappointed that you would even mention something as irrelevant as that.