While I don’t buy into global warming for a second, I have ben thinking about this story. We might think 31k is significant, but how does 31k compare to the hundreds of thusands (if not millions) of scientists who support man-made gloabal warming lockstep? This is a drop in the pan, realistically. I’m surprised it’s even been covered by newsmax.
How do you know this? From a poll? Or are you just speculating based on what you feel to be true? The point of the anti gw petition is to show that the debate is FAR from over and there is absolutely NO consensus. It succeeded in doing that many times over.
Show me a SINGLE source to justify your claim of “hundreds of thousands, if not millions” of scientists who support global warming.
I'll take the word of 30,000 Engineers over 3,000,000 politicians, every day of the week.
Not too long ago, there was a thread on FR that discussed the qualifications of a group "Concerned Environmental Scientists" (or something like that) who was called to testify in front of the House of Reps.
The FReeper researched the qualifications of these "Scientists". Out of the entire group, only one person had a degree in something that remotely connected to Global Warming (they had a BS in Biology). The rest were - not kidding - mostly accountants, social workers, and lawyers.
Now, Social Workers certainly are allowed to have an opinion. But, I would argue that their opinion is no more or less valuable than those espoused here on FR (or to be balanced, DU). And, certainly, they should not be tapped as "experts" called to testify in front of a Congressional Committee.
This is why I value the "Global Warming Petition". There's a huge difference between true believers, and dispassionate scientists + engineers.