As you may know, for the past week, I have been posting The Deniers series by Lawrence Solomon of the National Post. Well, I happened to drop by "Planet Gore" over at National Review Online today. Its their blog on all things related to climate change. I highly recommend periodic visits to this blog for anyone concerned about climate change. Anyway, low and behold, I discovered that yesterday the 27th, Sterling Burnett mentions the The Deniers series (is it that Burnett follows the happenings here on Free Republic?) and says the Lawrence Solomon has written a book based on The Deniers series. I am grateful to Mr. Solomon for the series and am happily plugging his book by posting Mr. Burnett's blog post (contains a link to the book on Amazon) in the rest of my posts on the series:
Must-Read Global-Warming Book [Sterling Burnett]
About a year ago, Canadian environmentalist and journalist Lawrence Solomon began a series of articles in the National Post examining the credentials of and arguments made by scientists and economists labeled “deniers” by various environmentalists, a number of mainstream environmental reporters, and some politicians. Solomon, true to the finest tenets of his profession, sought the truth concerning whether there was in fact a consensus on the headline-grabbing issue of global warming, or whether in fact any “real” scientists actually dissented from the Al Gore/UN line that global warming is happening, is largely caused by humans, and threatens all manner of catastrophies.
As many people — policy wonks and fellow travelers — on this blog are well aware, dissenting scientists are not in fact rare: There are serious scholars whose views should, but too often do not, inform the debate. Solomon’s columns were important because they brought this message to a wider audience. As Solomon’s knowledge grew, he found that the genre limits of newspaper writing precluded an adequately in-depth exploration of these skeptical scientists’ important observations. Accordingly, selecting some of the scientists discussed in his columns, Solomon has written a book: The Deniers: The World-Renowned Scientists Who Stood Up Against Global Warming Hysteria, Political Persecution, and Fraud**and those who are too fearful to do so. As a jacket blurb puts it, “What he found shocked him. Solomon discovered that on every “headline” global warming issue, not only were there serious scientists who dissented, consistently the dissenters were by far the more accomplished and eminent scientists.”
This book does not attempt to settle the science, or show that humans are or are not responsible for the present warming trend, or settle what we can expect the future harms/benefits of continued warming (or cooling) might be. Rather, the genius of the book is that it shows in a manner accessible to a lay audience that uncertainties concerning each important facet of the “consensus” view on warming abound, and that the dissenting views are at least as plausible (and often more compelling) than the IPCC/Gore camps.
The Deniers, examines what should be the active debates concerning the plausibility of the argument that human CO2 emissions (or CO2 per se) is a driver for climate change, what role the sun may play in warming, what role the present warming trend (and human activities) play in hurricane and tropical/parasitic disease patterns, and the reliability of the climate models, among other issues. In addition, Solomon notes the harsh treatment that many scientists have endured simply because they followed the scientific method, the evidence from their research, and their own consciences, all of which led them to the conclusion that this or that facet of the global-warming consensus view was woefully incomplete or flat-out wrong. This treatment has had the effect intended by global warming scaremongers — to shut down promising areas of research and to silence credible critics. As I put it in an earlier column:
The term skeptic has historically been a badge of honor proudly worn by scientists as indicating their commitment to the idea that in the pursuit of truth, nothing is beyond question, every bit of knowledge is open to improvement and/or refutation as new evidence or better theories emerge. However, in the topsy-turvy field of climate science, “skeptic” is a term of opprobrium and to be labeled a skeptic is to be dismissed as a hack. Being a skeptic concerning global warming today is akin to being a heretic in the Middle Ages — you may not be literally burned at the stake, but your reputation will be put to flames.
In response, many scientists whose research calls into question one or more of the fundamental tenets of global warming orthodoxy, have learned to couch their conclusions carefully. They argue, for instance, that while their research does not match up with this or that point in global warming theory, or would seem to undermine this or that conclusion, they are not denying that humans are causing global warming and they cannot account for the discrepancy between their work and the theory’s predictions. These scientists have learned the hard lesson that when reality and the theory conflict, for professional reasons, they’d better cling to the theory: shades of Galileo recanting his theory that the earth revolves around the sun under pressure from the Inquisition.
Though there are many good books on global warming, The Deniers is among the most effective in showing how science is being fundamentally undermined in the current politicized atmosphere of climate research. In addition, like no other book or paper I know, it provides a concise but thorough overview of the myriad weaknesses of the consensus view, the quality and substance of the criticisms of that view, and the stellar qualifications of those scientists labeled derisively as “deniers.”
This book should be read by anyone who seriously wants to understand where and why substantive debate remains concerning climate change and why there is so much vitriol surrounding what until recently was a relatively quiet, unheralded, or unnoticed (except by its practitioners) field of science. If a person could read only one book this year on climate change, this is the one I’d pick.
03/27 03:30 PM
Climate change: The Deniers
National Post Published: Friday, February 09, 2007
1 posted on
03/30/2008 2:08:56 PM PDT by
Delacon
To: Genesis defender; proud_yank; FrPR; enough_idiocy; rdl6989; TenthAmendmentChampion; Horusra; ...
Ping and this is the final article in the series.
2 posted on
03/30/2008 2:10:36 PM PDT by
Delacon
(“The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.” H. L. Mencken)
To: Delacon
Proving one again, if you want to know the correct side of any issue or subject, just look at what the left wingers are doing and do the exact opposite.
Global cooling, now that's an environmental catastrophe I can support.
Who wants to go skiing?
3 posted on
03/30/2008 2:12:33 PM PDT by
Dr.Zoidberg
(Mohammedanism - Bringing you only the best of the 6th century for fourteen hundred years.)
To: Delacon
I’ve lived in the Arctic. I fear an ice age far more than I do global warming.
To: Delacon
We better get our Global Warming solutions in place quickly, because it looks like another disaster is right on the horizon.
5 posted on
03/30/2008 2:17:00 PM PDT by
Mad_Tom_Rackham
("The land of the Free...Because of the Brave")
To: Delacon
This is why the environmentalist whackos on the left have stopped using the term "Global Warming" and are using the term "Global Climate Change" instead. Global Climate Change is much more flexible than Global Warming or Global Cooling.
Is it warmer today than average? It is because of Global Climate Change.
Is it cooler today than average? It is because of Global Climate Change.
Wetter? Dryer? Cloudier? Less cloudy? Windier? Less windy? It doesn't matter.
Whenever there is bad weather anywhere in the world it is because of Global Climate Change - caused by Bush and those damned SUVs.
The only solution is to turn over more and more control of the world's economy to the left.
9 posted on
03/30/2008 2:24:44 PM PDT by
Bubba_Leroy
("I believe in Santa Claus. I believe in the tooth fairy." - John Edwards)
To: Delacon
11 posted on
03/30/2008 2:31:41 PM PDT by
MattinNJ
("Conservatives" will stay home in November and hand the socialists the election. Unbelievable.)
To: Delacon
I’m offering 10 to one odds that carbon credits are the solution to global cooling. Any takers?
To: Delacon; OKSooner; honolulugal; Killing Time; Beowulf; Mr. Peabody; RW_Whacko; gruffwolf; ...
14 posted on
03/30/2008 2:41:22 PM PDT by
xcamel
(Forget the past and you're doomed to repeat it.)
To: Delacon
In a cyclical energy system don’t the laws of thermodynamics dictate that the long term trend will always be the lower energy state?
17 posted on
03/30/2008 2:44:02 PM PDT by
naturalized
("The time has come," He said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!")
To: Delacon
Hot, cold, hot, cold ...no wonder it’s called Mother Earth ....
21 posted on
03/30/2008 3:14:32 PM PDT by
SkyDancer
("I Believe In Law Until It Interferes With Justice")
To: Delacon
When I was in Elementary School in the 70’s I remember my teacher talking about the possibility of another Ice Age in our lifetime. No wonder I always got in trouble for not paying attention in class.
23 posted on
03/30/2008 4:34:39 PM PDT by
444Flyer
(Fight to Win.)
To: Delacon
To: Delacon; 11B40; A Balrog of Morgoth; A message; ACelt; Aeronaut; AFPhys; AlexW; America_Right; ...
To: Delacon
The ice-core man -- The Deniers XXI Good post. For a long time, I questioned the reliability of ice core data. Finally, I see someone else has and, more significantly, found it to be flawed.
Not surprisingly, it is considered blasphemy to say so.
It's a tragedy whenever publicly funded scientists are coerced to promote an agenda, or anything other than pursuing truth.
28 posted on
03/30/2008 7:37:31 PM PDT by
Barnacle
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