| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2010 4:42 pm |
||||||||||
 |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
Opinion Columnists 
|
|||||||||||||||
Whom can you trust on climate change? When President Obama attends the United Nations meeting on climate in Copenhagen, you can be sure that the deniers of global warming will go on a romp. They’ll dredge up weather forecasters, scientists hungry for attention and various grudge-holders to argue that the Earth’s temperature isn’t rising, or that if it is, humankind plays no part in the process.I’m not a climatologist, and probably you aren’t one, either. Our job is to choose which experts to believe. But how? Even the fancy media love to cite the skeptics without showing much skepticism of their own. For example, the BBC and The New York Times are among the outlets that have respectfully used Don Easterbrook, a geology professor at Western Washington University, as an authority on climate change. Easterbrook holds that the Earth has stopped warming and has begun a cooling trend, with both changes tied to ocean currents in the Pacific. Josh Willis, the NASA scientist who tracks how ocean changes relate to climate, says that Easterbrook doesn’t really understand what he’s talking about. No, the Earth isn’t cooling, according to Wallace Broecker, a professor at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Temperatures have been flat over the last 10 years. Some “bouncing around” is to be expected over longer periods, Broecker explains. But looking from 1975 to 2000, there’s been a steep rise in temperatures. Broecker is undeniably a leading brain on climate. He’s won most every prize in his field, including the Vetlesen, considered the Nobel-equivalent in the Earth sciences. Broecker coined the term “global warming” in 1975. He expressed surprise that journalists from Europe, Asia and Latin America have come around to interview him — but that I was the only American to give him a ring. No journalism major need be afraid of Broecker. He explains what’s happening in plain English. You don’t need more than a “C” in Intro to Science to follow him. “Of the really good scientists,” Broecker said, “only a handful would say it (global warming) is not a problem.” Last March, the libertarian Cato Institute sponsored a full-page ad in several newspapers that questioned the dangers — even the existence — of global warming. It was signed by 98 “scientists.” Broecker and an assistant went over the names. “Only three or four had Ph.D.s in the right area,” he said. “Most of them had strange titles.” Of course, there are debates over the details of the science. Leaders in the field don’t bother with the frauds wanting to get their mugs on Fox. But they do address claims made by any respected colleague who breaks with the consensus on the big picture. A prime example would be Richard Lindzen of MIT. Lindzen says that global warming is real, but that a water vapor feedback system in the atmosphere will undo it. Conclusion: Humans can stop worrying about climate change. Broecker doesn’t entirely dismiss Lindzen’s theory, but he regards its chances of coming to pass as so remote that one wouldn’t want to bank the Earth’s future on it. “Nobody has been able to make this work in a model,” he said. “Just for calibration,” Broecker went on, “Lindzen will just as vigorously argue that there’s no evidence that smoking causes cancer.” Lindzen has testified on behalf of tobacco companies and has taken money from the fossil-fuel industry. That 72 percent of Americans still believe that global warming exists (down from 80 percent last year) seems a miracle, given the quality of much recent reportage. The eve of the Copenhagen talks would be an optimal time for American journalism to start treating science with more care. Froma Harrop is a Providence Journal columnist. Her e-mail address is fharrop@projo.com. |
- A revolutionary 747
- Fire breaks out at Everett car dealer
- Everett rethinks boutique wineries
- A tidy lawn could be law in Lynnwood
- Snohomish County's bargain housing won't last
- Boeing's 747-8 takes off after weather delay
- Plan for I-5 closures this week
- A new bowling alley for Monroe?
- Lake Stevens man homeless after fire
- I-5 bridge joint may give you a jolt, but it isn't damaged
- Vote on school levies by Tuesday
(11) - A tidy lawn could be law in Lynnwood (10)
- Lynnwood sets height limit on grass: 8 inches (5)
- Everett police officers cleared in 2008 shooting death (5)
- 1949 travel aid shows how few places blacks were welcome in Washington (4)
- I-5 bridge joint may give you a jolt, but it isn't damaged (4)
- Everett rethinks boutique wineries (4)
- County archive software paid for but waiting for set-up (3)
- Three politicians who want Gregoire's job in 2012 (3)
- Toyota has powerful D.C. friends (3)
- Edmonds educator, famous announcer dies
- Mill Creek to appeal ruling on annexation
- Through the air, with the greatest of ease
- E-W thriving under new coach
- The path to citizenship
- EUUC puts on ‘Pants & Shoes’
- Wolfpack wins the ‘Battle'
- Lynnwood’s annexation plans OK’d
- Arlington's Cascade Valley Hospital celebrates expansion, national award and 100 years of service
- Business Licences Feb. 2010
- Technology tips for launching your own business
- Business Events Feb. 2010
- Tech Talk: No excuse today for going without a Web site
- State already raising fees and rates that restrict business growth
- Some legislators again targeting people’s initiative petition rights
|
 
|
|
|
|
| TODAY'S TOP JOBS |
| View All Top Jobs |
| Top Cars |
|
| Top Homes |
|
|
ADVERTISEMENT |
|
|
|Contact Us
|Advertiser Services
|Home Delivery
|Newsstand Locations
|Classifieds
|Feedback
|About the Company
|Work@the Herald
|Site Map |
|
COMMENTS
Log in or register to post a new comment.
To read other terms and conditions, click here
The Wall Street Journal (a Robert Murdoch, owner of Fox News, property) says it best. The abuse of anonymous peer reviewers is being addressed by the scientific community but the allegations of Climategate as a proof of a hoax is false. Here is part of the WSJ editorial:
More interesting is what is not contained in the emails. There is no evidence of any worldwide conspiracy, no mention of George Soros nefariously funding climate research, no grand plan to 'get rid of the MWP', no admission that global warming is a hoax, no evidence of the falsifying of data and no 'marching orders' from our socialist/communist/vegetarian overlords. The truly paranoid will put this down to the hackers also being in on the plot though.
Daniel Nasman | Nov 27, 2009 8:29 am | 0 replies | Request removal
Post reply
In the last week, a multitude of e-mails, sent between various "scientists" who are big names in "climate change" research, have been posted on the internet for all to see.
They can be accessed at
(www.eastangliaemails.com/index.ph p)Delete space
These are the real life documents - e-mails sent between various university types... megabytes of information... in their own words.
These "scientists", the likes of Phil Jones in the UK and Michael Mann, right here in the U.S. talk about faking data. They talk about avoiding peer review. They talk about circumventing the UK's version of the Freedom of Infomration Act, if called to account for their data.
SEE THESE BOZO'S ACKNOWLEDGE THAT "CLIMATE CHANGE" IS A LIE
The writer of this opinion piece asks which experts are we going to believe. I BELIEVE THE GLOBAL WARMING EXPERTS... oh not their public bs, but their e-mailed conversations between each other.
Veritas Splendor | Nov 26, 2009 7:02 pm | 0 replies | Request removal
Post reply