THERE was a most extraordinary feature story and then interview last night on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s popular late news program with well known reporter and television presenter Leigh Sales giving American journalist Chris Mooney publicity for his new book and a generous amount of air time to explain that anyone who doesn’t believe in anthropogenic global warming is scientifically illiterate and ignorant. A friend and colleague Andrew McIntyre send Ms Sales the following email in response: [Read more…] about More Smearing of Scientific Scepticism (Part 2)
Archives for September 2009
More Smearing of Scientific Scepticism
IT was once the case that if you didn’t believe in anthropogenic global warming (AGW) and the climate crisis you were a scientist in the pay of big oil. That was also an accusation in Chris Mooney’s first book ‘The Republican War on Science’.
Mr Mooney now has a second book out entitled ‘Unscientific America’. I haven’t read the new book yet, but according to an interview Mr Mooney gave last night on Australian television if you don’t believe in AGW you aren’t even a scientist. Indeed he told well-known ABC journalist and television presenter Leigh Sales that while society hasn’t agreed on the facts, the scientists have.
Ms Sales initially queried Mr Mooney, suggesting that many claim there is no scientific consensus on AGW. But she didn’t then pursue the point when Mr Mooney reframed, side-stepped the question and then contradicted himself. [Read more…] about More Smearing of Scientific Scepticism
US Senate Delays on Carbon
Democratic leaders in the US Senate said last night they may wait until next year to take up climate change legislation, jeopardising the prospect of reaching a deal to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of global warming. The delay would prevent Barack Obama from delivering on his promise of demonstrating firm US commitment on climate change action in advance of negotiations at Copenhagen next December. –Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, 16 September 2009 [via Benny Peiser]
Energy Targets and Australian Politics: A Note from Cohenite
CLEAN coal increasingly appears to be neither scientifically feasible nor economically viable. The only real alternative for Australia is nuclear yet those most concerned about anthropogenic global warming (AGW) oppose it.
Clean coal is the process of trapping carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of coal to prevent those emissions from entering the atmosphere. Local expert John Harborne, in a recent article, notes that the energy cost of trapping the emissions is almost equal to the energy produced from burning the coal and the area required to store the trapped emissions exceeds the area of the mined coal.
For its part the Federal government has introduced the Renewable Energy Target [RET] to combat the alleged problem of AGW. The RET mandates that twenty per cent of base-load energy must come from renewable energy [RE] by 2020. The Greens support this and with the fallacy of clean coal now revealed are demanding that all base-load energy come from RE. [Read more…] about Energy Targets and Australian Politics: A Note from Cohenite
Israel, Denmark and Renault Commit to Electric Cars
CAR manufacturer Renault has announced a commitment to the production of at least 100,000 electric cars by 2016.
The announcement was made at the Frankfurt Motor Show with the cars to be built for drivers in Israel and Denmark.
The success of electric vehicles will depend on the development of a network of charging points and swapping stations. The Danish and Israeli governments have apparently committed to this infrastructure working with electric-vehicle recharging specialists, Better Place.
Presumably Renault also believes that the price of oil will rise. [Read more…] about Israel, Denmark and Renault Commit to Electric Cars
US Rejects Kyoto Ahead of Copenhagen
Europe has clashed with the US Obama administration over climate change in a potentially damaging split that comes ahead of crucial political negotiations on a new global deal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. US negotiators have told European counterparts that the Obama administration intends to sweep away almost all of the Kyoto architecture and replace it with a system of its own design. Read more here (The Guardian) and here (German Press). via Benny Peiser.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.