"Global Warming Stopped in 1998"

Greensmile shared with me the significant update posted to the excellent climate-change blog RealClimate yesterday:

"We would like to apologize to our loyal readers who have provided us so much support since we first went online in December 2004. However, after listening to the compelling arguments of the distinguished speakers who participated in the Heartland Institute's recent global warming contrarian conference, we have decided that the science is settled — in favor of the contrarians. Indeed, even IPCC chair Rajendra Pachauri has now admitted that anthropogenic climate change was a massive hoax after all. Accordingly, RealClimate no longer has a reason for existence. The contrarians have made a convincing case that (a) global warming isn't happening, (b) even if it is, its entirely natural and within the bounds of natural variability, (c) well, even if its not natural, it is modest in nature and not a threat, (d) even if anthropogenic warming should turn out to be pronounced as projected, it will sure be good for us, leading to abundant crops and a healthy environment, and (e) well, it might actually be really bad, but hey, its unstoppable anyway. (Can we get our check now?)"

Need I point out that yesterday was April Fool's Day?

According to an April 26, 1998 article in the NY times, "Industry opponents of a treaty to fight global warming have drafted an ambitious proposal to spend millions of dollars to convince the public that the environmental accord is based on shaky science. Among their ideas is a campaign to recruit a cadre of scientists who share the industry's views of climate science and to train them in public relations so they can help convince journalists, politicians and the public that the risk of global warming is too uncertain to justify controls on greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide that trap the sun's heat near Earth." The document listed representatives of Exxon Corporation, Chevron, and the Southern Company as being involved. Since finding legitimate scientists who share their views would be admittedly difficult, the plan called for recruiting ''individuals who do not have a long history of visibility and/or participation in the climate change debate.''

Eleven years later, Big Oil is still getting much mileage out of their ruse, as evidenced by the notoriously unethical Heartland Institute's so-called Second Annual International Conference on Climate Change. A recent Gallup poll showed a record-high 41% of Americans now say the seriousness of global warming is exaggerated, although a majority of Americans still believe it is either correctly portrayed in the news or underestimated. However, the 41% figure represents the highest level of public skepticism about mainstream reporting on global warming seen in more than a decade of Gallup polling on the subject.

As a result, we now get scholarly opinions like this:

(For the last 30 seconds of that clip, I was seriously concerned about he was going to have an on-screen coronary.)

There are at least three reasons that I care about this issue and have returned to it so often in this blog. First, of course, is the grave concern I have for our planet and the world that we will leave for future generations. Second, since I have at least some training in the earth sciences, I feel a moral obligation to speak the truth and call out the lies and hypocrisies of the special interest groups as I see them.

And finally, just like the prior posts on the subject of evolution, I am profoundly interested in the underlying issue of perception, as it applies here to our human tendency to ignore scientific evidence when it conflicts with issues of faith, politics, or convenience. The same Gallup poll mentioned above reported that since 1997, Republicans were more likely than Democrats to believe that media coverage of global warming is exaggerated. Since political affiliation theoretically should not affect interpretation of scientific data, the only conclusion is that political affiliation can allow one to ignore "inconvenient truths," as the vilified Al Gore called them. This, of course, makes me want to examine myself more closely to see what incontrovertible evidence I may be ignoring, be it for reasons of faith, politics, or convenience.

By the way, for those who care, I back in Atlanta from my visit to Cenla. After getting re-routed through Memphis, Delta finally got me back home, where I discovered a leaking kitchen sink. Nothing $650 and a new garbage disposal couldn't fix, though.