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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once again, i was 2nd to it. it aint accumulating on grass cuz its so dang soggy from earlier rain. but nice snow falling now, maybe somethin in mroning I HOPE
would be nice...i got a quarter inch o snow and counting(slowly)
Popularity has very little to do with quality.
What?! That repulsive thing is the most watched song on YouTube?!
i like snow too, but for some reason havnt been routin for it this year. but i have the last few days, and my prayin has paid off.
Actually, Justin Bieber has two of the top 5 most watched on Youtube..
NOOO!!
124 SPLbeater "I said THE REST, not all...All I would like is maybe....hmm...maybe 500k that should fulfill everything i would like to have :) "
Like Bill Gates said, "Once you get beyond a million dollars, it's still the same hamburger."
its pronounced like so:
Dustbin beaver!
I have never understood why anyone of the middle class and especially the lower class would be conservative. Social programs and liberalism act to benefit people of lower to middle income and redistribute the wealth. Obviously some spending needs to be cut, I agree, but I just can't understand why anyone of the lower class or middle class would ever be conservative.
its comin down nicely now...street lights are so useful!
temps on the rebound to spring starts in two weeks our area in southern ontario predicts no snow for the next two weeks
after that its only another week of winter anyway
we have got no major snow storm this winter
normally gets 160 to 175 cm's of snow for a season this season i dont think we have got 20 cm for my area
spring comes fast summer comes even faster
....
You don't need to be a weatherman to know...The climes, they are a changin'
Abita man shields four children as tree crashes on house during storm
Posted: Sunday, February 19, 2012, 7:36 PM
By Scott Threlkeld, The Times-Picayune
Eric Revere talks about how he and his children narrowly escaped injury Sunday, February 19, 2012, when strong winds during a thunderstorm Saturday toppled a tree onto his home near Abita Springs. High winds ripped through Hillcrest subdivision during a thunderstorm Saturday, snapping or uprooting dozens of trees, knocking down power lines, and damaging at least three homes. Revere and his four children were at home when the bad weather hit.
I see that, and raise you....
Awww hell no!
I bust my ass to make 40k a year. I'm hardly in the upper class. What you don't understand, in my opinon, is that when you make otherwise able-bodied people dependent on the government, you sap their will-power to better themselves and they will never be upwardly mobile. Making people too comfortable in their poverty assures that they will stay there for rest of their lives. In a trickle-down economy, what trickles down isn't always money. It's opportunity. The opportunity to better ones position. That is what the "American Dream" is, the chance, thru hard work to better oneselves lot in life. Free markets offer the best chance for the the most people to lift themselves up. I've never taken a food-stap in my life. I've worked as a self-employeed musician all of my adult life playing keys in reggae bands, rock bands and funk bands.
Worst post of the year. Delusional even.
where are the pics....you did not get .25 of snow...raleigh didnt even get that...its going to be okay..i promise
0050 58 HATTERAS VILLAGE DARE NC 3522 7569 SKYWARN SPOTTER REPORT. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR (MHX)
0055 58 FRISCO DARE NC 3523 7561 SPOTTER ALSO REPORTED 1/8-1/4 INCH HAIL. TIME RADAR ESTIMATED. (MHX)
0100 58 AVON DARE NC 3534 7550 SPOTTER ALSO REPORTED 1/8 INCH TO 1/4 INCH HAIL (MHX)
I GOT 0.25 INCHES OF SNOW, I DONT CARE WHAT THE COMPUTER SAYS!
i havnt uploaded the photo that shows the snow on deck yet. but i will soon.
:)
DENVER (AP) - Authorities say two people are dead and four others injured after a private airplane from Texas crashed just short of an airport runway during a heavy snowstorm in Colorado.
2012
2011
Walter "Wolfman" Washington at Cotton Fest Uptown NOLA today,cross street from my Shack.
you might have gotten .25 inches of liquid...but not snow..just saying
Today was the 8th anniversary of White Juan. It was a record-breaking blizzard through most of Nova Scotia, including here in Yarmouth. Shut down everything for several days. Reminded me of my childhood.
In the 8 years since we haven't seen anything remotely close. Today there's hardly a speck of snow anywhere, and that's been the story of our "winter". It's positively eerie.
you arent here, how can you argue? it was snowing when the radar said rain. and we have a quarter inch accumulation of SNOW, not rain.
get it straight!
Take pictures and post them here.
Show pictures..
Total snow accumulation in San Juan, PR: 0.00 inches
The models nailed it, yet again! How do they do it?
no i have an uncle that lives northwest off hwy 42 and he there is nothing on the ground..it just stuck on the hood of the cars...sooooo....
Magic......
Pics or it didn't happen.
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