environment Politics: Al Gore denialists false equivalency media irresponsibility
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Year 2, Month 9, Day 22: He Told You So
The Whittier Daily News reports approvingly on Al Gore’s 24-hour climate reality marathon:
NO one packs more information into a slide show than Al Gore, who won an Oscar for his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” in 2006.
Gore, the leading voice on global climate change, was back at it last week with his 24-hour streaming video show “Climate Reality Project” (www.climaterealityproject.org) broadcast from 24 different locations in 13 languages Sept. 14 to Sept. 15.
While one right-wing blogger called it “death by PowerPoint,” I found it informative and worth a watch. If you missed it, you can catch re-runs on his website and on his Current TV channel. Not one fact will move you to act, but perhaps the avalanche of facts, quotes and paraphrases from just the “24th hour” presentation given by Gore himself from New York, will.
The link has an excellent set of bullet points that you would do well to copy and use over and over.
Sent September 18:
The corporate forces aligned to muffle Al Gore’s message are enormous. Through the misleading practice of false equivalency, in which two opposing sides are equated under the guise of journalism, many in our news and opinion media have abdicated their responsibility to the truth.
When the American public sees a one-to-one ratio of worried climate scientists and petro-funded denialists, it’s no wonder that there’s still “debate” on the veracity of climate change. But the correct proportion isn’t one-to-one; it’s more like ninety-seven to one. If ninety-seven heart specialists told you to quit smoking, and three said they wanted more tests…what would you do?
While some candidates explicitly reject science (or pretend to in order to curry the favor of primary voters), climate change’s terrifying consequences should remove this issue from the political arena. The vast majority of climatologists are telling us something important. Will we wake up and pay attention?
Warren Senders
environment: Al Gore corporate irresponsibility denialists media
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Year 2, Month 9, Day 19: The Words Are There. Will We Use Them?
The New Brunswick Telegraph Journal brings up the necessity of actually, you know, talking about climate change:
In the meantime, the reality of climate change marches on. Globally, 2010 was tied with 2005 as the hottest year on record. In Canada, 2010 was the hottest year on record. Extreme weather events across the globe – from Pakistan to Russia to Brazil to the U.S. – have led to misery, destruction, food shortages and loss of life.
And, for the record, global temperature data is indeed accurate: Distinct meteorological organizations around the world have independently noted identical global-warming trends. The climate impacts of sun spots and volcanoes are slight compared to the impacts of CO2 from human combustion of fossil fuel. Ninety-seven per cent of the world’s leading climate scientists do agree that human activity is a major contributor to global warming.
The reality of greenhouse gas emissions marches on too. Global emissions in 2010 were at their highest level ever.
It’s time to talk
In a recent interview, Al Gore reflected that the U.S. civil rights movement. It was finally won when everyday people dared to stand up against racism in everyday conversations. Gore suggests the same strategy is needed to overcome the proliferation of misinformation on climate change. Everyday people would pave the way for real action.
In other words, we need to talk.
Sent September 14:
The corporate climate-change denialist machinery has been going full tilt for well over a decade by now, casting doubt on the integrity of scientific experts with one manufactured non-scandal after another. Unfortunately, many people have fallen for their spurious claims, swallowing the petroleum industry’s position hook, line and sinker. Those so-called “skeptics” who are found everywhere from talk radio to online comment threads are as far from actual skepticism as it’s possible to get. They know the “truth”; factuality and evidence be damned.
Meanwhile, of course, the atmospheric CO2 count continues to climb, exacerbating the greenhouse effect that is making our planet heat up, which in turn is making the weather, um, livelier: heavier rains, deeper snows, drier droughts, more devastating storms. It’s true: if we fail to address climate change, we are ever likelier to fail as a species. Everybody’s doing something about the weather — but nobody’s talking about it.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: Arctic ice melt denialists idiots Republican obstructionism
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Year 2, Month 9, Day 16: There Is No Gravity — The Earth Sucks
The September 10 Christian Science Monitor notes the unsurprising but extremely scary decline in the Arctic ice cap:
While tropical cyclones, as well as record droughts, floods, and wildfires have kept several of the lower 48 states occupied this year, the Arctic appears to be elbowing its way on to 2011’s list of extremes.
On Thursday, the extent of summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean fell to its lowest level for any Sept. 8 since satellites first began to monitor conditions there in 1979, according to researchers at the University of Bremen’s Institute of Environmental Physics.
Coming so close to the end of the melt season, the observation holds out the prospect that 2011 could replace 2007 as the toughest year for sea-ice survival at the top of the world.
I used it as a hook on which to hang a bashing of Republican idiocy. Sent September 12:
As Arctic ice dwindles ever more rapidly, the prospect of a climate-change denialist occupying the White House is unsettling at best and terrifying at worst. One wonders: what would convince Republicans that global warming is real, human-caused, and dangerous?
Apparently nothing will do the trick — not even unequivocal statements from Army intelligence or the CIA that climate change will be an exceptional security threat in the coming decades. Apparently, any expert opinions running counter to GOP shibboleths are immediately and contemptuously dismissed, no matter how authoritative their sources.
The ice cap’s precipitous decline is a grim omen for our planet’s future — and pretending it’s not happening is fatal foolishness. If our democracy is to successfully address the most severe threat our species has ever faced, Republicans must come to their senses and recognize the grim and frightening reality that climatologists in the Arctic measure, each and every day.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: Al Gore denialists idiots scientific consensus
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Year 2, Month 9, Day 15: I’m Talking About YOU, Rush.
The September 11 issue of The Tennesseean runs a plug for Al Gore’s Climate Reality project:
Former Vice President Al Gore of Nashville leads a worldwide, live-streamed, climate change-focused event called “24 Hours of Reality” that begins Wednesday at 7 p.m., Central time, and ends with the last hour presentation at 7 p.m. Thursday, Eastern time. The first will be from Mexico City and in Spanish, followed by hour-long presentations — one after another — in different areas of the globe, moving west. Several are in English, as will be the final one in New York City. Broadcast by Ustream, it can be viewed at climaterealityproject.org.
It’s good to write something in support, rather than in opposition. Sent Sept. 11:
Al Gore’s clarity of purpose is one of America’s most important assets. The former VP’s upcoming “Climate Reality” campaign deserves our respect and attention. Unfortunately, the denialist contingent has chosen to reject sound scientific conclusions for a variety of specious reasons, most of which boil down to, “because we don’t want to believe it.”
Well, the evidence has been in for a long time. Despite a series of contrived and debunked non-scandals, the scientific consensus on global climate change is overwhelming: humans cause it, it’s happening right now, it will affect our lives very significantly, and we — all of us — need to take action rapidly if we are to avoid catastrophe. Mr. Gore’s prescience is all the more important for this reason — he’s been warning us about this for well over a decade, despite the mockery of the uninformed, the professionally ignorant, and the selfishly greedy.
Warren Senders
environment: climatology denialists false equivalency media irresponsibility scientific consensus scientific method
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Year 2, Month 9, Day 11: I Didn’t Feel Like Writing Today, But I Did Anyway. So?
The Evansville IN Courier-Press runs a carefully neutral assessment of the state of scientific opinion on climate change and extreme weather:
The destruction wrought by Hurricane Irene has sparked another round of debate over global climate change, with believers advocating urgent action to address what they fear is a looming environmental catastrophe and doubters characterizing the issue as a hoax created to promote a political agenda.
And it is emerging as a major political issue, with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, leading in the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, counting himself among those who doubt that burning fossil fuels has an impact on the earth’s climate.
“I don’t think from my perspective that I want to be engaged in spending that much money on still a scientific theory that has not been proven and from my perspective is more and more being put into question,” Perry said during a stop in New Hampshire, home to the first-in-the-nation primary.
While a vast majority of climate scientists readily acknowledge that man is contributing to what they perceive as a problem by producing greenhouse gases, few at this stage are willing to declare that global climate change is leading to an increased frequency in hurricanes like Irene, although they don’t dismiss the possibility.
The comments include a great deal of idiocy. Sigh. This letter was written with multiple delays and a great drooping lack of motivation. But By Grabthar’s Hammer, I wrote it and sent it on September 8, whether I’m proud of it or not. Here you go:
America has a science problem. The overall level of scientific literacy in our country is shockingly low, a state of affairs that bodes ill not only for our country’s future, but that of the world as a whole. Nowhere is this more problematic than in reporting on climate change, a profoundly important issue for our species’ future. When scientists discuss the relationship between large-scale phenomena (like the greenhouse effect) and local events (a particular storm or some other form of extreme weather), they’ll use careful language that describes the relationship precisely, minimizing its emotional impact. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of climatologists are absolutely convinced that anthropogenic climate change will bring a drastic worldwide increase in extreme weather events — and that only rapid action can avert catastrophe. When news media give equal weight to the opinions of a few contrarians, it is both scientifically ignorant and deeply irresponsible.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: assholes denialists idiots Republicans scientific method
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Year 2, Month 9, Day 10: How’s That Pray-For-Rain Thing Working Out?
Anne MacQuarie has an excellent op-ed in the September 7 issue of the Carson City-based Nevada Appeal. It’s great:
…it’s been interesting to watch the Republican presidential candidates refine — if I can use that word for so blundering a process — their views on climate change.
Current wisdom — backed by some polls — is that the Republican base thinks human-caused climate change is a bunch of hooey and that we can’t do anything about it anyway. Candidates are falling all over themselves to, instead of lead, agree. Here’s a rundown of some of the candidates’ views, including current frontrunners Perry and Bachman.
Rick Perry believes “the issue of global warming has been politicized” and “scientists have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling in to their projects.”
Regarding doing anything at all to alleviate or halt climate change, Perry says he doesn’t want America “to be engaged in spending that much money on still a scientific theory that has not been proven and from my perspective is more and more being put into question.”
It’s a fine thing to be able to slap Rick Perry around a bit. He must never be allowed anywhere near national governance. Think Bush was a disaster? Perry will make us nostalgic for Dubya. Sent Sept. 7:
When Republican politicians discuss climate change, the projection is thick on the ground. Rick Perry’s assertion that scientists have manipulated data for financial gain offers a window into the mindset of people who’ve specialized in greed-driven data-manipulation for years. These are the same folks who cherry-picked intelligence to sell the American public an unnecessary (albeit profitable) war, remember? That they ascribe the same motives to others should be no surprise.
Scientific method is the best tool we have yet found for arriving at verifiable truth in reporting and analysis. While there are unethical scientists who are driven by pecuniary motives, they are a decided minority; most researchers are propelled by intellectual curiosity — a state of mind completely foreign to the GOP mindset.
Let’s agree, however, that there are some climate scientists who are decidedly guilty of data manipulation for personal gain. They’re on big oil’s payroll.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: denialists idiots Republicans
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Year 2, Month 9, Day 3: If wishes were horses, there would be lots of wish-poop on the street.
The August 30 Kansas City Star reprints a column from the LA Times by Eugene Linden, called “Betting The Farm Against Climate Change.” Good stuff:
Leon Trotsky is reputed to have quipped, “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” Substitute the words “climate change” for “war” and the quote is perfectly suited for the governors of Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, all of whom have ridiculed or dismissed the threat of climate change even as their states suffer record-breaking heat and drought.
In his book, “Fed Up!” Texas governor and presidential aspirant Rick Perry derided global warming as a “phony mess,” a sentiment he has expanded on in recent campaign appearances. Susana Martinez, the governor of New Mexico, has gone on record as doubting that humans influence climate, and Mary Fallin of Oklahoma dismissed research on climate change as a waste of time. Her solution to the extraordinary drought: pray for rain (an approach also endorsed by Perry).
Heh heh heh. Sent August 30:
The exigencies of Republican electoral politics have been biased toward the surreal for decades, but the current season is by far the most bizarre. Even at their most anti-intellectual moments, GOP aspirants have always offered some form of glib lip-service to American scientific achievement and technological progress. No more; the new standard is a vehement rejection of anything that requires logic, analysis or the interpretation of facts. The irrelevance of actual data to conservative philosophies of governance is unsettling; traditionally, politics is called “the art of the possible” — surely a reality-based way of putting it.
While these politicians don’t believe humans are influencing the earth’s climate, they’re absolutely certain that the inconvenient reality of catastrophic global warming will vanish if we deny it strongly enough. If refusing to accept facts actually makes them go away, perhaps we should all deny the existence of Republican politicians.
Yeah. That oughta work.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: assholes denialists idiots Republicans
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Year 2, Month 9, Day 2: Mirror, Mirror On The Wall
The August 29 Houston Chronicle reprints Paul Krugman’s shrill analysis of Republican epistemic closure:
Jon Huntsman Jr., a former Utah governor and ambassador to China, isn’t a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination. And that’s too bad, because Hunstman has been willing to say the unsayable about the GOP – namely, that it is becoming the “anti-science party.” This is an enormously important development. And it should terrify us.
To see what Huntsman means, consider recent statements by the two men who actually are serious contenders for the GOP nomination: Rick Perry and Mitt Romney.
Perry, the governor of Texas, recently made headlines by dismissing evolution as “just a theory,” one that has “got some gaps in it” – an observation that will come as news to the vast majority of biologists. But what really got peoples’ attention was what he said about climate change: “I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects. And I think we are seeing almost weekly, or even daily, scientists are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change.”
Unbelievable (facepalm). Sent August 29:
Rick Perry evokes a terrifying form of nostalgia for those of us who remember another science-hostile Texan politician who occupied the White House not too long ago. His assertion that climate scientists “manipulate data” to keep “dollars rolling into their projects” may be a grotesque misinterpretation of how science works and how scientific consensus is established, but it is a perfect example of what psychologists call “projection.” Since manipulating data is how conservative politicians maintain a steady flow of cash for their own interests, he assumes that scientists are equally venal and mendacious. While there are unscrupulous climate scientists, they turn out to be the ones on the fossil fuel industry’s payroll.
In attributing his own motives to members of the scientific community, the Governor insults countless dedicated researchers who are still trying to warn an increasingly oblivious citizenry of grave and imminent dangers. Shame, shame, shame.
Warren Senders
environment: denialists hurricane idiots media irresponsibility
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Year 2, Month 8, Day 30: Pay No Attention To The Cyclone Behind The Curtain
The August 26 New Jersey Star-Ledger opines about the advent of Hurricane Irene:
We can now add Hurricane Irene among the symptoms that scientists warned we’d experience as global warming occurs.
Wind of up to 100 mph, predicted to lash the East Coast. Ocean waves as high as 12 feet. That’s in line with what scientists have said, that hurricanes would become more severe as ocean temperatures rise.
The comments section is a wellspring of stupid.
Sent on August 28, just before going out to check the windows and yard for wind-susceptible debris. The storm will hit later today.
If America responded to Irene in the same way it has dealt with climate change over the past decades, our television, newspapers and talk radio would be filled with voices asserting that hurricanes are a liberal plot, dueling pundits agreeing that the “science isn’t settled” on the existence of tropical storms, and blithe platitudes about how 100 mph winds and massive tidal surges are actually good for us.
Now imagine that we responded to climate change the way we’re dealing with Irene. We’d hear about current threat levels regularly in the media. Advice on preparation would be widely disseminated; strategies for mitigating the storms of the coming centuries would be part of our national conversation.
And that’s the difference: weather can’t be ignored, while climate moves on too grand a scale for us to notice. But climate change will bring weather the likes of which we cannot imagine. Let’s get ready.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: assholes computer models denialists idiots Republican obstructionism scientific method
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Year 2, Month 8, Day 26: King Canute Redux
The August 7 Sacramento Bee (CA) describes the importance of computer modeling in the future of climate science, and notes that a certain group of political types don’t like the idea:
Better computers should help with the difficult climate problem of clouds, which interfere with energy flow between the Earth and the sun in two ways, Kinter said. They reflect some of the sun’s energy back to space, a cooling effect, but also absorb and send back some energy the Earth emits, a warming effect.
Computers also are used to simulate how particles known as aerosols scatter or absorb heat in different ways, and how they interact with clouds.
Thousands of scientists around the world are working on better climate models. Kinter and his group focus on how predictable extreme events such as floods, droughts and heat waves will be as the climate changes.
(snip)
“Almost overnight, the question changed to ‘What is the impact of this climate change on our human and natural systems?’ ” said Lawrence Buja, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. “We need to (present) as convincing a case as we can.”
But in the latest sign of distrust for computer models, House Republicans put a provision in a foreign aid bill to eliminate U.S. funding for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Naturally. Psychopaths, all of ’em. Sent August 8:
Has there ever been a major political party in America that has been so loud and proud about not being based in reality? It’s not just computer models that Republicans distrust, it’s any and all forms of verifiable information and research, as witness the anti-factual bias of Fox News, the GOP’s house media organ.
The climate crisis is real, growing and extremely urgent. The long-term consequences of a runaway greenhouse effect are far more significant globally than any other so-called “security” issue (an assessment with which Army and CIA analysts concur). Yet conservatives continue claiming the problem doesn’t exist. Of course, once the evidence finally overwhelms them, they’ll start yelling that “free-market solutions” (along with tax breaks for the very wealthy) are the only way out. My question: why would anyone want advice from people so hubristic they claim to be exempt from the laws of physics and chemistry?
Warren Senders