By BJ Bjornson
As if any more evidence was required to show that the so-called climate change �skeptics� have absolutely no interest in actual science, there comes the entirely unsurprising news that the deniers are working to distance themselves from a former poster-boy for the movement who took the unfortunate (from their POV) tack of actually doing the scientific work and publishing results that support the growing mountain of research that already shows beyond any reasonable doubt that climate change is real and being caused by us.
Climate change deniers thought they had an ally in Richard Muller, a popular physics professor at UC Berkeley.
Muller didn�t reject climate science per se, but he was a skeptic, and a convenient one for big polluters and conservative anti-environmentalists � until Muller put their money where his mouth was, and launched the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project, in part with a grant from the Charles G. Koch foundation.
After extensive study, he�s concluded that the existing science was right all along � that the earth�s surface is warming, at an accelerating rate. But instead of second-guessing themselves, his erstwhile allies of convenience are now abandoning him.
There�s a fair bit of ducking and weaving invoked in the deniers� distancing efforts, so soon after the fact. The end result, I�m sure, will be the turning off of the money spigot that funded his �skeptical� work and relegation to the memory-hole of Muller�s turn away from their position.
The biggest problem for the deniers is that Muller was an honest skeptic, as in one who was serious about looking for the evidence behind the climate change claims, and who, once he verified said claims, was willing to accept the evidence.
That, in a nutshell, is the epitome of a good scientist and good science, which is absolutely the last thing the deniers want to see.
Rhode Island's Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is to climate change what Bernie Sanders is to economics. This twenty-three minute speech, delivered in an absolutely confident quiet tone, will make your heart glad.
ReplyDelete� There is a wave of very justifiable economic frustration that has swept through our Capitol. The problem is that some of the special interests � the polluters � have insinuated themselves into that wave, sort of like parasites that creep into the body of a host animal, and from there they are working terrible mischief. They are propagating two big lies. One is that environmental regulations are a burden to the economy and we need to lift those burdens to spur our economic recovery. The second is the jury is still out on climate changes caused by carbon pollution, so we don�t need to worry about it or even take precautions. Both are, frankly, outright false.
Environmental regulation is well established to be good for the economy. It may add costs to you if you are a polluter, but polluters usually exaggerate about that.
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Imagine if your child were sick and the doctor said she needed treatment, and out of prudence you went and got a second opinion. Then you went around and you actually got 99 second opinions. When you were done, you found that 97 out of 100 expert doctors agreed your child was sick and needed treatment. Imagine further that of the three who disagreed, some took money from the insurance company that would have to pay for your child�s treatment. Imagine further that none of those three could say they were sure your child was OK, just that they weren�t sure what her illness was or that she needed treatment, that there was some doubt.
On those facts, name one decent father or mother who wouldn�t start treatment for their child. No decent parent would turn away from the considered judgment of 97 percent of 100 doctors just because they weren�t all absolutely certain.
Much more at the link.
And here can be found a transcript.