Hot or Not? Global Warming Confusion
Dave Greenfield | Date: 03-10-10 | Comments: 25
- Is global warming an inconvenient truth or a stunning example of how the populace has been "brainwashed"?
There is a heated debate, pun intended, centered on global
warming. Some vehemently argue that human interaction with the planet is the
cause of rising temperatures and shrinking ice caps. Others liken Al Gore’s
claim of impending global catastrophe due to human behavior to his claim that
he invented the Internet: simply not the case. Is global warming an
inconvenient truth or a stunning example of how the populace has been “brainwashed”?
Brainwashing is exactly what Bill Gray, the world’s leading
expert on hurricanes, believes is happening concerning climate change. “They’ve
been brainwashing us for 20 years,” says Gray. “Starting with the nuclear
winter and now with the global warming. This scare will also run its course. In
15 to 20 years, we’ll look back and see what a hoax this was.” Many others
agree, saying that global warming has been “politicized.”
The scientific community has actually bolstered the global
warming “deniers” case: In November 2009, e-mail accounts of renowned
climatologists at the
U.K.’s
East Anglia
University
were hacked. Incredibly, the purloined e-mails showed that the scientists had
covered up or doctored data that was contrary to their beliefs. One of the
climatologists admitted that there was not “statistical warming” in the last 15
years.
Even the U.S. Senate is weighing in heavily here. James M.
Inhofe, R-Okla., suggested that these mistakes mean scientists are ensuring
their political beliefs are tainting their scientific research.
Adding to the confusion for the layperson trying to sort
this all out is “Himalaya-gate.” This centered around the prediction that the
Himalayan glaciers would melt completely by 2035. It was later found that a
researcher took this tidbit from a 10-year-old science magazine piece and did
no fact checking. Another twist in the debate is the fact that there were more
than 6,000 weather stations used to collect climate data in the 1960s. Today,
there are 1,500. Guess where those stations are located? In warmer climates, of
course.
Al Gore wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed piece, “It would be an enormous relief if the
recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do
not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to
protect human civilization as we know it.” Brainwashing? Hysteria? Truth?
