Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “The First Church of Fundamentalist Climate Change”

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February 2, 2007

The First Church of Fundamentalist Climate Change

Hatched by Dafydd

Just before last Christmas, Dr. Heidi Cullen, "Climate Expert and host Of The Climate Code" on the Weather Channel, threw down the gauntlet on her blog at Weather.com. She attacked "global warming contrarianism," by which she appears to mean any scientist who is skeptical of the climate-change models enunciated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)... the political scientists who brought us the Kyoto Protocol.

Dr. Cullen made it quite clear that there is to be no deviation from the law as laid down by the IPCC, and as preached through its acolytes at the American Meteorological Society:

In an interesting follow-up blog on the reason for this all too common global warming contrarianism within the broadcast meteorology community, journalist Andrew Freedman suggests local TV meteorologist may want to look to the American Meteorological Society for guidance. Freedman goes on to point out that the AMS has in fact, issued a statement on climate change that reads:

"There is convincing evidence that since the industrial revolution, human activities, resulting in increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases and other trace constituents in the atmosphere, have become a major agent of climate change."

Well! "Convincing evidence." Who could argue with that?

Certainly not Dr. Cullen; in fact, she does not even argue for that. By her own words, she goes even farther along those lines...

I'd like to take that suggestion a step further. If a meteorologist has an AMS Seal of Approval, which is used to confer legitimacy to TV meteorologists, then meteorologists have a responsibility to truly educate themselves on the science of global warming....

If a meteorologist can't speak to the fundamental science of climate change, then maybe the AMS shouldn't give them a Seal of Approval. Clearly, the AMS doesn't agree that global warming can be blamed on cyclical weather patterns. It's like allowing a meteorologist to go on-air and say that hurricanes rotate clockwise and tsunamis are caused by the weather. It's not a political statement...it's just an incorrect statement.

In other words, "shut up," she explained.

It evidently matters little how well qualified a meteorologist or climatologist is, or what relevant academic position he holds, or how much original scientific research he has done, or how many papers he has published, or how many other climatologists, meteorologists, and atmospheric scientists cite those papers: If he comes to a conclusion different from that dictated by the IPCC via the AMS -- then he should be disbarred, or whatever the heck the world society of climate luminaries, sages, and soothsayers call it when they summon a climatologist into a circle to publicly rip off his epaulets.

Along comes Professor David R. Legates, Delaware's "state climatologist." Dr. Legates stands steadfast for free scientific inquiry... which would put him on a collision course with the doyenne of the Weather Channel, if ever they were to meet:

Enter Legates, a Ph.D. climatologist who received the title of state climatologist in 2005 from Daniel Leathers, now the head of the University of Delaware's geography department.

Legates joined a group of scientists late last year in urging the court to reject the state claims, in a brief filed by the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute. [Delaware had joined a suit demanding the federal government regulate carbon dioxide from cars because of "global warming."]

"It is simply impossible to conclude that the net effect of greenhouse gases endangers human health and welfare," the brief said.

What is instructive is how the high priests of Globaloney have chosen to "engage" Dr. Legates. Just like Dr. Cullen on her blog, rather than arguing their case for anthropogenic (human caused) global climate change... they simply attack Dr. Legates, call him names, and try to make him shut up.

Recently branded "a favorite scientist of the global warming denial machine" by one national environmental group, Legates said he was following scientific evidence in arguing the institute's position in the court case....

"I don't think the doctor [Legates] speaks for the state's position," said Philip Cherry, a DNREC administrator who recently invited Legates to address agency employees. "I think the governor speaks for the state's position."

Delaware has accepted the view human activities contribute to global warming, and changes are needed to curb risks of sea level rise and climate change. The state adopted a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 2000.

Boiled down, a state regulator says that he is uninterested in input from scientists, no matter how well regarded or credentialed (Legates was "director of the University of Delaware's Climatic Research Center"), if it contradicts what has already been concluded about this scientific question by Democratic Gov. Ruth Ann Minner... who, after all, attended Delaware Technical and Community College. (We have no idea if she graduated.)

Well who could argue with that, either?

So far as I can tell, Minner has no scientific training whatsoever; and she has never held any job other than working in state government. Yet because she has decreed that globaloney is the Delaware state position, an eminent scientist like Dr. Legates should just maintain radio silence.

So now you know how to prove a scientific theory these days: The IPCC dictates; the state-regulatory bishops interpret; the lower churches preach; and the laity -- anyone not plugged into the enviro-political machine -- is expected simply to kneel in the nave with ears flapping, waiting for more pearls to be cast before him.

And if someone like Dr. Legates dissents from Global Warming orthodoxy, then no matter how much more qualified as a scientist he might be, if it were up to the Heidi Cullens of the world, he would have his scientist license taken away.

"Shut up!" she explained.

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, February 2, 2007, at the time of 5:38 AM

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» Global Warming Scaremongering Is Back from Flopping Aces
The Global Warming crew is back and getting front page news: A panel of international scientists predicted Friday that global warming will continue for centuries no matter how much people control pollution, in a bleak report that blamed humans for... [Read More]

Tracked on February 2, 2007 10:21 AM

» Climate Change: the Dash for Cash from Big Lizards
A new charge is roiling the scientific community; it was leveled today by the ultra-leftist Guardian, formerly the Manchester Guardian, out of the U.K.: Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of... [Read More]

Tracked on February 2, 2007 5:56 PM

» And the Heat Goes On from Big Lizards
We noted Delaware's State Climatologist and University of Delaware Professor David R. Legates in an earlier post: The First Church of Fundamentalist Climate Change. In our last chapter, Dr. Legates had espoused heresy, and the Grand Inquisitor had fing... [Read More]

Tracked on February 23, 2007 6:05 AM

Comments

The following hissed in response by: snochasr

You do recognize the desperation of liberals, do you not? No whiff of real science may be permitted, lest the entire deceitful house of cards and shabby science be crushed by the weight of scientific uncertainty that can be marshalled by any minimally-informed casual observer.

One of the "simple questions" is what percentage of the CO2 in the atmosphere is generated by human activity. According to this item:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/01/resisting_global_warming_panic.html

The range of "answers" is over 3000:1 !!

To conclude that the sea will rise 19.2 inches in Delaware Bay (but not necessarily elsewhere!) because of human influence on CO2 and that this CO2 is the sole cause of global warming, if it exists at all, isn't just a leap of faith. It is like trying to land on the flight deck of the USS Ronald Reagan by jumping off the moon in a parachute.

The above hissed in response by: snochasr at February 2, 2007 8:40 AM

The following hissed in response by: nk

IPCC? Heh! Where are you, Jack Vance readers? A very good job of "de-weaseling", Dafydd.

The above hissed in response by: nk at February 2, 2007 8:50 AM

The following hissed in response by: nk

Coals to Newcastle. (I cannot do trackback.)

The above hissed in response by: nk at February 2, 2007 9:47 AM

The following hissed in response by: danjewell

Great post. As for the religious nature of enviro moonbats quest which you comment on, I'm sure you guys know about Al Gore's Climate Project (or is it a ministry?) in Nashville and Sydney, Australia. He's recruiting missionaries (messengers he calls them) to spread the new gospel. A thousand have already signed on. And it appears more are coming. What gets me about the website http://www.theclimateproject.org/
is that the first button says, "answer the call."

The above hissed in response by: danjewell at February 2, 2007 10:08 AM

The following hissed in response by: Big D

It seems to me that some scientists have decided that the risks of being wrong on global warming are so great that we must act now whether all the data supports their supposition or not. Perhaps. But what strikes me is that they think the public is too stupid to understand actual scientific arguments for and against a position.

They feel they must come together to oppose free scientific inquiry and dissent, lest the ignorant villagers become confused and disoriented.

Pheeeh.

The above hissed in response by: Big D at February 2, 2007 11:37 AM

The following hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh

Nk:

IPCC? Heh! Where are you, Jack Vance readers?

I had to look this up. I've read a few books by Vance -- maybe, I don't know, 12 or 15 -- but I never read the Demon Princes pentalogy. I don't recall coming across the term in any of the stuff I read.

I know I haven't seen it in any Vance book I read post-Rio, because I would have chortled at the IPCC reference (Interworld Police Coordinating Company vs. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), thus remembering it.

It's possible I ran across it before there was any other IPCC besides Vance's, in which case it would have meant nothing to me and I would have forgotten. Is it in his Planet of Adventure series? Did he mention it in stories such as, e.g., "the Moon Moth"?

Dafydd

The above hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh at February 2, 2007 2:07 PM

The following hissed in response by: MegaTroopX

That, my friends, is how you tell a secular religion when you see one. Irrationality is irrationality, no matter the subject.

Not to mention, those "climate models" that are the scriptures of the FCFCC include artificially inflated anthropogenic contribution factors. That is the cardinal sin of science. You never ever jack the data to fit your theory. That is a no-go.

The above hissed in response by: MegaTroopX at February 2, 2007 4:31 PM

The following hissed in response by: nk

Dafydd,

The Demon Princes books are the ones that stand out in my mind, especially the sobriquet "weasel", for an IPCC operative, and the corresponding "de-weaseling committees" in the "Outremer". We meet the hero, Kirth Gersen, as an "Ipsy" in the first book, "The Star King", and he continues his association with IPCC through the series. Fan sites on the internet mention it as an institution of the "Gaean Reach" Vancian universe. I do not remember it in "The Moon Moth" or in the "Planet of Adventure" series, which conceivably take place in the Gaean Reach, but that could be the fault of my memory. The Cadwal books, Ports of Call and Lurulu also take place in the Gaean Reach. In Night Lamp, I remember that he brought back Galactic Effectuators.

The above hissed in response by: nk at February 2, 2007 4:45 PM

The following hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh

Nk:

Gaah! This is intolerable. I bought a bunch of Jack Vance novels and collections recently... but I can't remember whether I picked up the Star King.

You're saying, "why doesn't the fool just go and look to see whether he bought it?"

Here's the problem: we have a bunch of bookcases, and all fiction on these bookcases is carefully filed alphabetically by author. Thus, all of my Nivens are in the Ns, my Heinleins are in the Hs, and my Sabatinis are in the Ss.

Except for all books purchased since we did this massive organization -- which was about five years ago. The new books are double- and betimes even triple-stacked on the shelves in front of the carefully alphabetized books.

And they're stashed higgledy-piggledy; for a while, I tried to put the Vs more or less near the alphabetized Vs; but when we ran out of room, they went on whatever shelf -- in whichever room -- had a space. What we really need to do is alphabetize once more... alas, before we can do that, we need another two or three bookshelves.

Which means we'll need another two or three walls.

That will have to wait until we move out of the condo and into a single-family dwelling, a.k.a. a "house."

So in the meanwhile, I have no idea whether I already have a copy of the Star King; and if I do, where it might lurk.

I'll probably go down to the Mysterious bookstore (alias Bookfellows) and buy a used copy anyway, just so I can read it. If I eventually find I already have another copy elsewhere, I can always sell it back at half the price and lose only a small amount of money.

I'm not quite in as bad a shape as 4SJ was, when he had his library (world's largest collection of SF -- more than 100,000 books -- until he got too old and had to sell it off); but it's bad enough.

To quote Asimov, "sometimes the valuable thing found on a bookshelf -- is an empty space."

Dafydd

The above hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh at February 3, 2007 12:17 AM

The following hissed in response by: nk

Dafydd,

Me too. I just checked our bookcase. I have "The Killing Machine", Berkeley Medallion, 1964, $.50; and "The Book of Dreams", DAW, 1981, $2.25. I am pretty sure that my other Demon Princes survived marriage and four changes of home but they are still nestled comfortably in cardboard boxes in the basement.

The above hissed in response by: nk at February 3, 2007 3:35 AM

The following hissed in response by: hunter

The IPCC scam is classic.
http://www.junkscience.com/
The people promoting this bs are the ones who need their credentials pulled.

The above hissed in response by: hunter at February 4, 2007 8:17 PM