Silence of Dissent

Quote:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../ngreen211.xml
Scientists who questioned mankind's impact on climate change have received death threats and claim to have been shunned by the scientific community.

They say the debate on global warming has been "hijacked" by a powerful alliance of politicians, scientists and environmentalists who have stifled all questioning about the true environmental impact of carbon dioxide emissions.

Timothy Ball, a former climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg in Canada, has received five deaths threats by email since raising concerns about the degree to which man was affecting climate change.

One of the emails warned that, if he continued to speak out, he would not live to see further global warming.

"Western governments have pumped billions of dollars into careers and institutes and they feel threatened," said the professor.

"I can tolerate being called a sceptic because all scientists should be sceptics, but then they started calling us deniers, with all the connotations of the Holocaust. That is an obscenity. It has got really nasty and personal."

Last week, Professor Ball appeared in The Great Global Warming Swindle, a Channel 4 documentary in which several scientists claimed the theory of man-made global warming had become a "religion", forcing alternative explanations to be ignored.

Richard Lindzen, the professor of Atmospheric Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology - who also appeared on the documentary - recently claimed: "Scientists who dissent from the alarmism have seen their funds disappear, their work derided, and themselves labelled as industry stooges.

"Consequently, lies about climate change gain credence even when they fly in the face of the science."

Dr Myles Allen, from Oxford University, agreed. He said: "The Green movement has hijacked the issue of climate change. It is ludicrous to suggest the only way to deal with the problem is to start micro managing everyone, which is what environmentalists seem to want to do."

Nigel Calder, a former editor of New Scientist, said: "Governments are trying to achieve unanimity by stifling any scientist who disagrees. Einstein could not have got funding under the present system."

Death threats don't seem very scientific.

Attempts to discredit skepticism concerning man-made global warming are rampant even in our own forum. It wasn't long ago that Arainach even posted a comic that likened denial of man-made global warming to Flat Earth Theory. The extreme politicization of this issue and the demonisation of its dissenters is positively revolting.

There's been a lot of talk about why Man-Made Global Warming may be bunk, and they're perhaps no better represented than in the recent British documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle, which I would encourage everyone reading this thread to take the 80 minutes necessary to watch.

In light of these reports, is it ok to politically demonize Global Warming dissenters?

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Of course it is, which is why the terminology is so confusing. There's no denying that global warming exists since we're still coming out of an ice age. When referring to Global Warming, in caps, what we're really referring to is the politicized anti-Global Warming movement, namely that global warming is mostly man-made and will kill us.

The documentary doesn't seek to disprove that global warming exists, but that Global Warming lobbies and green movements are spreading lies and half-truths to further political agendas that have no real basis in hard science.

There's a recent interview with Patrick Moore on Penn & Teller's radio show. Patrick Moore was one of the co-founders of Greenpeace, and you should really hear it. It's long as Hell, but none of it is filler, and it's at least something you can play in the background.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

It rarely talks about dirty politics so much as it spends a lot of time debunking the "evidence" in favor of man-made global warming. About 1/4th of it concerns the actual politicizing, and the last 1/8th has some very poignant commentary on Africa and how we're screwing them.

(also there's that Patrick Moore interview I'm sure you'll enjoy)

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

The reality of the situation is that you can't do anything. The environment is going to change whether we like it or not, and unless we suddenly invent a Weather Machine, nothing will stop this.

It's only a matter of time before all that Methane in Siberia is unleashed. Then hoo-boy, get out them breezy shorts.

How ya doing, buddy?