Last month a coalition of 18 Scientific organizations (and these are big ones...some of the biggest in the world) issued this statement (PDF) to the Senate:
Dear Senator:
As you consider climate change legislation, we, as leaders of scientific organizations, write to state the consensus scientific view.
Observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change is occurring, and rigorous scientific research demonstrates that the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver.
These conclusions are based on multiple independent lines of evidence, and contrary assertions are inconsistent with an objective assessment of the vast body of peer-reviewed science. Moreover, there is strong evidence that ongoing climate change will have broad impacts on society, including the global economy and on the environment. For the United States, climate change impacts include sea level rise for coastal states, greater threats of extreme weather events, and increased risk of regional water scarcity, urban heat waves, western wildfires, and the disturbance of biological systems throughout the country. The severity of climate change impacts is expected to increase substantially in the coming decades. [See Footnote #1 below] more this way»
Submitted by mole333 on 11 November 2009 - 5:55pm.
I got notice of this from an email from Congressman Tom Perriello's office, though his response was rather restrained. Daily Kos has a diary from Senator John Kerry that goes to the heart of the matter: lobbyists are stooping to forgeries and deception to further the Global Warming Denial cause. Since science has disproven pretty much every Denial Lobby tactic, they are resorting to outright and blatent lies. From the Charlottesville Daily Progress:
As U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello was considering how to vote on an important piece of climate change legislation in June, the freshman congressman’s office received at least six letters from two Charlottesville-based minority organizations voicing opposition to the measure.
The letters, as it turns out, were forgeries. more this way»
Every now and then Culture Kitchen gets targeted by global warming deniers. Honestly, we are way past the time for denial on this issue, but deniers are still out there and this is one of the sites they target. And having to counter the same denial yammering over and over again gets a bit frustrating for me.
But sometimes we get responses from another corner: actual scientists. And I find those reponses far more gratifying. In my diary addressing the latest denial drivel is an excellent response from the American Physical Society (APS) that is worth highlighting in a diary (thanks to Tawanda Johnson for posting the APS statement in my diary:
APS Reaffirms Position on Climate Change
July 22, 2008
American Physical Society Reaffirms Its Position that Human-Caused Greenhouse Gas Emissions Contribute to Climate Change
WASHINGTON, DC — American Physical Society (APS) today reaffirmed its position on climate change issued last November, releasing the following statement:
"Emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are changing the atmosphere in ways that affect the Earth's climate. The evidence is incontrovertible: Global warming is occurring. more this way»
Sometimes I look with considerable interest at the global warming deniers because I think, for a brief moment, they may have found something of importance to say. So far, though, I always find that they are as dazed and confused as ever. This is the case with the recent salvo from self-proclaimed "rocket scientist" David Evans. David Evans claims expertise on global warming because of two things: his being a "rocket scientist" and his having previously done "carbon accounting" for the Australian government. Now ANYTIME someone tells you they are a "rocket scientist" it should be a red flag to you. I have never met anyone, including people who work for NASA, to identify themselves professionally as a "rocket scientist." Turns out Evans has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and has not published a single peer-reviewed research paper on the subject of climate change. In fact he has published only a singlepaper in his entire career, and that was back in 1987 and had nothing to do with global warming. THis puts him on par with me vis a vis global warming: educated, smart and probably informed. I don't claim to be an expert in the field. Instead I cite experts in the field to support my claims. more this way»
Ah, the global warming Denial Lobby. They are tenacious, if nothing else. Despite the fact that every single global warming scientist, every single peer reviewed article on the subject and every single respectable conference on climate pretty much agree that the evidence is rock solid that human-caused global warming is happening, is affecting us, and, at best, we have a 10 year window of opportunity to do something about it, I still get whining emails from Denial Lobby hacks that question my ability to understand science, but cite no scientific evidence of their own.
I recently highlighted the debunking of one global warming Denial Lobby effort, the British docudrama, one might call it (propaganda piece would be an accurate term) called “The Global Warming Swindle†which was soundly repudiated by the very scientist they were trying to use to support their claims that global warming is a myth.
Well, one response I got via email in regards to this was from someone who refused to even discuss the actual scientific literature, and who immediately called into question my understanding of science (then objected when I questioned the scientific basis of his statements). His fairly long series of insulting and insulted emails boiled down to two questions, poorly presented, which probably represent the latest in right wing talking points on the global warming issue. Here are his two questions (gleaned from a great deal of creationist style posturing): more this way»
I have discussed the craziness and duplicity of the denial lobby before (e.g. here). And I have been just beginning to discuss the need to move on, to evolve the discussion, from a supposed "debate" over whether global warming is happening (it is!) to a discussion of solutions. Personally, I do hope to help evolve the discussion. But sadly, the denial lobby continues its supid, suicidal crusade against science.
The latest salvo of the denial lobby was in England, though I am starting to hear eager references to it here in the US from our own denial lobbyists. On Thursday the 8th, the London TV Channel 4 aired a program titled "The Great Global Warming Swindle". This program turns out to be largely devoid of integrity and intelligence and, to quote two climatologists commenting on Real Climate, "it just repeated the usual specious claims we hear all the time." This program is just one more pack of denial lobby lies.
Real Climate has a detailed refutation and discussion of the Great Channel 4 Swindle. But what is even more interesting, is that one of the scientists used by Channel 4 in their program to supposedly counter global warming claims, Carl Wunsch, has written into Real Climate expressing his feeling of being swindled by Channel 4. He feels completely misrepresented by Channel 4. Here are excerpts from his response: more this way»
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While a considerable number of Muslims in the U.S. are African American, and most of the African Americans are engaged in limited income jobs, Muslim immigrants in the US have relatively higher household incomes -- partly, a consequence of liberalization of U.S. immigrant policies in the 60s that opened the doors to skilled and educated immigrants. Consequently, many in the immigrant Muslim population did not face the same level of economic, political, and institutional discrimination termed "structural racism", as faced by many in the African American and now predominantly in the Mexican immigrant communities in the U.S.
Here, then, lies a promise in the recent spate of racist attacks against Muslims in the US. There is a parallel in racism meted out to Muslims, African Americans, and Latino immigrants. It is hoped that many in the American Muslim immigrant community will use the present climate of Muslim xenophobia to challenge the trap inherent in their own class privilege and the status as a high achieving "model minority" that often creates a distance from those less privileged in the community.
