Sunday, July 02, 2006
GLOBAL SMARMING
Here's a very good piece by a professor of atmospheric scince at MIT:
[N]onscientists generally do not want to bother with understanding the science. Claims of consensus relieve policy types, environmental advocates and politicians of any need to do so. Such claims also serve to intimidate the public and even scientists--especially those outside the area of climate dynamics. Secondly, given that the question of human attribution largely cannot be resolved, its use in promoting visions of disaster constitutes nothing so much as a bait-and-switch scam. That is an inauspicious beginning to what Mr. Gore claims is not a political issue but a "moral" crusade. The author points out that, while there is consensus that there is some general warming, Al Gore has far overstated the case that there is a "scientific consensus" regarding the cause of that warming, how permanent it is and what lasting effect it may have.
I'm all for reduction of CO2 emmissions. I'm especially in favor of drastically reducing our dependence on imported oil. But Gore's "inconvenient truth" is an abuse of the public's attention.
GB, THHotA
posted by Greg 7:12 PM
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