Heartland Institute documents reveal strategy of attacks against climate science
Documents illegally leaked from the Heartland Institute, one of the most active groups engaged in attacking the science of climate change, provide an unprecedented look into how these groups operate. The story was broken Tuesday by DeSmogBlog, a website dedicated to exposing false claims about climate change science. The documents reveal that donors to Heartland included oil billionaire Charles Koch, and Heartland has spent several million dollars over the past five years to undermine climate science. Tens of thousands of dollars are slated to go this year to well-known climate contrarians S.Fred Singer, Craig Idso, and Anthony Watts of the Watts Up With That? website. Naturally, the leaked documents have lit up the blogosphere, but none of the revelations are particularly surprising. The U.S. has a very successful and well-funded climate change denial industry, primarily funded by fossil fuel companies, that has spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the past few decades on a PR campaign against climate change science. I made a lengthy post on the subject in 2009 called, The Manufactured Doubt industry and the hacked email controversy. I won't say more here, but getenergysmartnow.com has compiled a long list of blogs that have interesting posts on the Heartland Institute affair for those interested in following this story.
Eight books challenging the Manufactured Doubt industry
Important scientific findings should always be challenged with the goal of finding flaws and improving our scientific understanding. But there's nothing a scientist hates more than to see good science attacked and the reputations of good scientists smeared in name of protecting corporate profits or ideology. A number of scientists have fought back against the recent unfounded assaults on climate change science by publishing books calling attention to the Manufactured Doubt industry's tactics and goals. Anyone priding themselves on being a open-minded skeptic of human-caused global warming should challenge their skepticism by reading one of these works. I thought so highly of Unscientific America, Merchants of Doubt, and Climate Coverup, that I donated 50 copies of these books to undergraduates at the University of Michigan last year. Here's a short synopsis of eight books published in the past three years defending climate change science against the attacks of the Manufactured Doubt industry:
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway. If you're going to read one book on the attacks on climate science, this should probably be the one--Dr. Oreskes, a history professor at UC San Diego, was voted climate change communicator of the year in 2011. A review of Merchants of Doubt and a video of her defending her book against skeptics is at climateprogress.org, my favorite website for staying current on the politics of climate change. From the review: "Make the journey with them, and you’ll see renowned scientists abandon science, you’ll see environmentalism equated with communism, and you’ll discover the connection between the Cold War and climate denial. And for the most part, you’ll be entertained along the way."
Climate Cover-up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming, by desmogblog.com co-founders James Hoggan and Richard Littlemore. The main author, James Hoggan, owns a Canadian public relations firm, and is intimately familiar with how public relations campaigns work. It's another fascinating and very readable book.
Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future, by science writer Chris Mooney. He writes a blog focusing on science communication called the intersection. This is a fantastic book, and should be required reading for all college science majors.
Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand, by Haydn Washington and John Cook. John Cook writes for one of my favorite climate science blogs, skepticalscience.com, which focuses on debunking false skeptic claims about climate science. The book does a great job debunking all the classic climate change denial arguments.
Doubt is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health, by George Washington University epidemiologist David Michaels, who now heads the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). This meticulously-researched book has just one chapter on climate change, and focuses more on tobacco and hazardous chemicals. About the the tobacco industry's Manufactured Doubt campaigns, Michaels wrote: "the industry understood that the public is in no position to distinguish good science from bad. Create doubt, uncertainty, and confusion. Throw mud at the anti-smoking research under the assumption that some of it is bound to stick. And buy time, lots of it, in the bargain". The title of Michaels' book comes from a 1969 memo from a tobacco company executive: "Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the 'body of fact' that exists in the minds of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy".
The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines, by climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann. Dr. Mann is the originator of the much-debated "hockey stick" graph of global temperatures over the past 1,000 years, which looks like a hockey stick due to the sharp increase in temperatures in recent decades. This book just came out last week, and I hope to write a review on it this spring. Dr. Mann is one of the main contributors to my favorite web site for staying current on climate change research, realclimate.org. John Cook of skepticalscience.com wrote a review, calling it "an eye-opening account of the lengths the opponents of climate science will go to in their campaign to slander climate scientists and distract the public from the realities of human caused global warming."
Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America by Shawn Lawrence Otto. I haven't had a chance to read this one yet, but it looks interesting. A review by Katherine O’Konski of Climate Science Watch called the book "a fascinating look at the status of science in American society."
The Inquisition of Climate Science, by Dr. James Lawrence Powell, a geochemist with a distinguished career as a college teacher, college president, museum director, and author of books on earth science for general audiences. I haven't read it, but John Cook of skepticalscience.com wrote a review, calling it "a must-read for anyone who wishes to understand the full scope of the denial industry and their modern day persecution of climate science."
Have a great weekend, everyone! I'll be taking a few vacation days next week, and wunderground meteorologist Angela Fritz will probably be doing most of the blogging for me during the coming week.
Jeff Masters
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I'm sorry, but it really didn't.
To each their own I guess...
a 1:5 ratio makes the snow total from 00z at 2.15 inches. lol TA still wrong xD
are you just sad u wont get any??
SNOW LINE DOWN TO CHATAM COUNTY NC.
gettin closer!!
SEATTLE (AP) -- Authorities say two people are reported dead and as many as eight more are missing after an avalanche near a Washington state ski resort.
King County sheriff's Sgt. Cindi West says her office began receiving word about the avalanche near Stevens Pass, in the Cascade Mountains northeast of Seattle, just after noon Sunday.
West says rescue crews are in route.
She also says that a snowboarder has been killed in a separate incident at the Alpental ski area east of Seattle. The snowboarder went over a cliff.
No. I'm just trying to get through your head that the 00Z GFS gave Sanford North Carolina less than or near an inch of snow.
Yeah, the CMC brings some cold air down into the northern portion of the USA in that general timeframe...So does the GFS.
Got to be careful buddy, the GFS can be run slightly different in different places. Different ensembles might be used. Different snow estimation schemes. Even that one page I shared with you has many options for changing the algorithm used and also the compaction effects.
Snow is one of the most difficult things to forecast and models can give you very different answers with only a few tweaks. Thus, for all these reasons, playing the "you're wrong I'm right" game with snow totals from a weather forecast model probably isn't very productive.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-170 88154
Here's a couple of lines from it:-
"This CO2 is a stressor. Some organisms can adapt but there are only a few species that can handle it. If I extend the gradient up to the year 2100 - that represents a 30% loss in biodiversity."
AND:-
"Shells, like this Hexaplex trunculus, dissolve at CO2 levels predicted for later this century."
Not really in my field but I'm sure somebody will understand it in the scientific world.
ah heck wit accumulation forecasts then if its got to be so complicated lol.
its either going to snow or not.
MUCH COOLER AND DRIER AIR SWEEPS OVER THE REGION BEHIND THE FRONT
LATE TONIGHT, WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES TOMORROW (DESPITE BEING ONLY
A COUPLE OF DEGREES BELOW NORMAL) A GOOD 7-12 DEGREES LOWER THAN
TODAY. ALTHOUGH WINDS SHIFT TO THE NE BY LATE MONDAY AFTERNOON,
SOME RESIDUAL COLD AIR ADVECTION WILL LEAD TO THE COOLEST PERIOD
BEING MONDAY NIGHT/TUESDAY MORNING OVER ALL BUT THE COASTAL
SECTIONS OF SOUTHEAST FLORIDA. LOWS WILL BE IN THE 50S MOST
LOCATIONS, EXCEPT LOWER 60S NEAR THE EAST COAST AS ONSHORE WINDS
MODERATE TEMPERATURES. A SLOW WARMING TREND IS FORECAST TO TAKE
PLACE FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK AS DEEP-LAYERED HIGH PRESSURE
OVER THE BAHAMAS AND NW CARIBBEAN REESTABLISHES ITSELF. MAX
TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO BOUNCE BACK TO AROUND 80 ON WEDNESDAY
AND IN THE LOWER TO MID 80S ONCE AGAIN FOR THE LATTER PART OF THE
WEEK. NEXT COLD FRONT INDICATED BY GFS AND ECMWF MAY AFFECT THE
REGION ON SATURDAY. UNTIL THEN, LITTLE IF ANY PRECIPITATION
EXPECTED.
Yes, it's been known and I've seen a few versions of this.
Apparently, certain types of sea life could be significantly stressed or threatened as early as 2030, by some calculations.
We are also over fishing the oceans significantly. Populations of sharks, tuna, and even predatory game fish have declined by 90% in the past several decades. Tuna have a fairly long life cycle, so it's not easy for them to recover if they get dangerously low. This means we'll eventually need to convert even more lands to farms to replace the lost food supplies from fishing.
World population is going to grow by about 30% over the next 20 years, and virtually all of the food for these people will be coming from forests converted to farm lands.
I talked about this a few days ago but got long range climate outlooks (about how warm with no cold fronts it would be) thrown in my face:)
Now this front better go according to my plans so i can laugh at some people(not calling any names);)
why?
West Africa has moved into harsh drought. That should keep storms too choked to form til they are farther west like 2005.
Death toll of the kids in Afghanistan dead from the cold has gone from 10 to 40.
Low SSTs and developping El Nino...
If the drought extends thru the Summer,then a below average CV Season may be in the cards.
It doesn't matter how many systems form in any given season,as the important thing is it only takes one system to do all the harm to a place.
Hey TA, want to argue this one? lol..the last one kinda died..
U any good?
Low SSTs can change by summer and the el nino may not last
Around an inch.
Can I borrow your crystal ball?
you are in sanford you will hardly get a 1/2 inch. boone, you for sure will not get anything close to 4
That can't be right. O_o There's not 12 inches of snow here, more like 7-10.
Though it's amazing to see how far north the snowline is this year though. It's not even 6 hours south of me that there is green ground.
i would say im pretty good. i remember when i thought my friends played good. recently we had a match, and they didnt take hardly any peices before i had em in checkmate lol. currently teaching my grandmother:D
awesome your still here to argue lol. AT THE LEAST, it would be 2.50 inches if it pans out from 18Z
The maximum would probably be 1.5"..
no no, this is the current one. the last time i will refer to models on this system.
yeah i in sanford but more then 0.50 inch is more then possible...its like, uh....half likely xD
you spelled minimum wrong, its M-i-n-i-m-u-m
Half an inch of snow would melt on the ground upon impact. Not even worth noting. Depending on the ground temperature vs. air temp ratio, it could be 1-3 inches before you notice accumulation.
thearea of snow when it gets to sanford will ony be about 60 miles wide by the time its starts to accum. due to the warm ground temps it will have already stopped, then it will melt before sunrise anyway..its N.C. thats how it happens
That's a nasty cell in the bottom right corner
thank you my thoughts exactly
RIP SE ridge!!!!!
aww dont discourage me....:D
Also near raleigh they're probaly getting some thundersnow with that cell and the heavy snow line next to it
Do you play online?
I can tell you, skill gaps are huge.
I used to spot people pieces back in high school and win anyway. Then one day this guy at college tore me up badly.
I've never really played online. Only against the computer. Haven't played vs humans in years.
yeah i play online, right now im tearing through level 4.
won 23 and drawn 13. not really hard.
i usually wait till i win 50 to move up a level:D
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