The Daily Background

Warnings of what, Matt? A few minutes ago it said warnings of climate change, but I guess something happened to screw it up. That part doesn’t matter though, I’ve got no interest in making fun of him for that (I do stuff like it all the time). Point is, the actual article (or should I say, “article”). It links to this, which is a 1,336 word “article” (in a conservative Canadian publication) about how Al Gore is totally wrong on climate change, and how scientists disagree with him, and how he’s just trying to scare people, and blah blah blah.

Well, Matt probably doesn’t know this, but the person who wrote the “article” (somebody named Tom Harris) is not in fact a scientist himself. Nor is he actually a reporter. He is, in fact, the director of some obscure Canadian organization that doesn’t have a website.

Professor Bob Carter of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University, in Australia gives what, for many Canadians, is a surprising assessment: “Gore’s circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic. It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public attention.”

But surely Carter is merely part of what most people regard as a tiny cadre of “climate change skeptics” who disagree with the “vast majority of scientists” Gore cites?

No; Carter is one of hundreds of highly qualified non-governmental, non-industry, non-lobby group climate experts who contest the hypothesis that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are causing significant global climate change. “Climate experts” is the operative term here. Why? Because what Gore’s “majority of scientists” think is immaterial when only a very small fraction of them actually work in the climate field.

No. No, you’re very fucking wrong, sir. Your number one source for your little “article” about how Al Gore is totally wrong, Mr Bob Carter is actually paid by ExxonMobil. Mr Carter is not a climate expert. He has said such blatantly misleading and outright lies as “the first thing to be clear about is that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant,” and “contrary to strong public belief, the effects of increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are generally beneficial.” He is even the former Director of the Australian Secretariat for the Ocean Drilling Program.

How’s that for an inconvenient truth, asshole?

And for the past week has been writing articles left and right about how Al Gore is horribly wrong about climate change, how scientists disagree with him, and how he’s just trying to scare people, and blah blah blah blah. It turns out that on June 7 of last week, he even wrote a piece for Canada’s conservative newspaper the National Journal Post.

National Journal Post, that sounds familiar, you say. Well it turns out that this conservative publication is actually the very same one that published the 100% phony Iran Jewish Badges story that several right-wing publications around the world picked up instantly (only later it was found to be a complete fraud). Matt Drudge picked that story up as well, and I called him on the bullshit the moment he linked to it.

There you go. Real scientists agree on global warming. Those who don’t are either not serious scientists, paid by ExxonMobil or somebody else with something to gain from spreading uncertainty about the reality of global warming, or probably both. As is the case in this latest smear attempt.

By the way, you can watch a clip from a recent BBC documentary which chronicles the Republican tactic of spreading uncertainty about climate change for political reasons here.

Filed under: War on Science, Environment Related, Z-TDB Blog