Political Habitat: I've never been so wrong in my life
OK, I admit. Maybe there's no such thing as climate change. Maybe it's all a hoax. Maybe.
Photo: Evirgen/ iStockPhoto 
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Political Habitat: I've never been so wrong in my lifeOK, I admit. Maybe there's no such thing as climate change. Maybe it's all a hoax. Maybe.By Peter DykstraWed, Apr 01 2009 at 5:47 AM EST
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Photo: Evirgen/ iStockPhoto ![]() Dateline: Conyers, GA, April 1, 2009 -- I’m at one of life’s many turning points. This past weekend, I sequestered myself inside my Secret Mountain Laboratory to fully digest the peer-reviewed literature of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and other scholars with strong feelings on climate change.
OMG, they’re right! And I’m wrong!
First of all, I’ve really come to mistrust Big Climate. You know, the cabal of scientists that keep trotting out peer-reviewed research and on-the-ground observations to press their claims that the climate is changing. It’s the oldest trick in the world: Get virtually every relevant scientific body in the world to verify what you’re saying, and people will inevitably start to buy into it. What a scam. These scientists have clearly had their heads turned by the promise of research grants to study climate some more. The oil and coal industries have tried their best to grow their own research, but there’s no way they can keep up with the bottomless resources on the scientists’ side. The fossil fuel guys are just trying to make an honest living; they can’t possibly compete with a global conspiracy of coldblooded scientists who are just in it for the money.
Secondly, there are just some things I don’t want to be associated with. Back in 2003, Senator Jim Inhofe first exposed Big Climate as “the greatest hoax ever played on the American people.” You go, senator.
In this 2006 interview, the senator played the Fuhrer card, revealing that climate change proponents were taking their cues from the “Big Lie” theory espoused by Hitler in Mein Kampf. So if you believe in climate change, you’re for Hitler. Count me out. That guy was a jerk.
So anyway, for the sake of argument, let’s say global warming is real. Here’s the worst that could happen. The Greening Earth Society was a group that played this game: Yep, CO2’s increasing. Absolutely, it’s going to make things hotter. But this is a good thing. Agriculture will boom. People in Winnipeg and Oslo will be able to grow their own citrus fruit. And this is bad? Unfortunately, the Greening Earth Society disappeared in 2005. Its boss, Fred Palmer, had to go back to his day job as a coal lobbyist.
Then I took another look through the “Petition Project,” a gathering of 31,000 postcard signatures of scientists who don’t believe climate change is a problem -- and that, like the Greening Earth Society, altering the chemistry of our atmosphere might actually be a good thing. This is doubly reassuring. 1) It’s not going to happen and 2) when it happens, it will be pretty cool. No pun intended.
The petition doesn’t get hung up on credentials -- science degrees in just about anything are given equal weight. Now that’s diversity. I focused on one of the signers, Chris Bern, a small-animal veterinarian right here in Georgia. He’s a blogger, and it’s clear that he really cares about animals. Seems like a nice guy. And he’s a scientist, so he knows what he’s talking about on climate. Who am I to disagree?
Well, I have to go. We have a fifteen year-old arthritic cat, and I have to bring him to the climate scientist’s office now.
Happy April Fool’s Day.
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Peter Dykstra is the former executive producer of CNN's Science, Tech and Weather Unit. He writes three columns for MNN: Media Mayhem on Mondays, Political Habitat on Wednesdays, and Green States on Fridays. (Yes, he writes a lot.)
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Related Topics: Global Warming, Political Habitat
Comments
Anonymous
04/06/2009 13:03 PM
Looking at the sea ice totals in April of 2009, one finds these facts. The Antarctic is near the all time record for sea ice, well above the 1978/2000 mean. The Arctic sea ice rebounded from the 2007 low. And it seems to hanging onto those gains as the Arctic warms this spring. Any comment, or just a ignorant snide remark?
JeffM
04/01/2009 16:41 PM
Sen. Inhofe presented us with a list of 600 highly regarded scientists who disputed main stream science's claim that manmade CO2 is excessively warming the planet. That was last year. This year, the list has grown to 800. Several years ago, there were 19,000 scientists who signed the so-called Oregon Petition, which stated disagreement with main stream science views on global warming. The number of signers is now in excess of 31,000. This petition project gave us a head count and the.... More
Louis Renault
04/01/2009 11:34 AM
Peter? Are you propagandizing? Surely you realize: "Climate research requires input from a diverse body of knowledge, most of which is not the science of climatology." Many specialists in climatological phrenology and climate astrology feel particularly slighted by the IPCC, Im sure. If only they would take an interdisciplinary approach and share the incredible wealth surrounding all this scientific research...
Anonymous
04/01/2009 08:28 AM
Praise be! SOMEone from the Mainstream Media has Seen the Light. When I think of all those suffering fossil fuel executives, wondering whether their next bonus will be their last while, at the same time, standing guard on a wall of carbon between civilization and catastrophe, well, I just get the shivers. The heroic sacrifice those men make, well, the word nobility just wont stretch over the concept. Without fossil fuels we'd be suffering cave men, wondering when we will gang up on the next.... More Add your commentSign in with one of these accounts or just add your comment below. |
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