Geologist Chides Revkin of New York Times for 'Strange, Silly' Climate Article

Thursday, April 23, 2009By Marc Morano – Climate Depot

Revkin 'is starting to really feel the weight of the evidence showing that dangerous AGW is a myth'

Update: More Reaction: NYT's Revkin: 'lowers himself to the level of debate we're used to seeing from the likes of George Monbiot'

Washington, DC -- Australian Paleoclimate researcher Dr. Robert M. “Bob” Carter dismissed New York Times reporter Andrew Revkin's April 23, 2009 article “Industry Ignored Its Scientists on Climate” as “strange, silly even.” Revkin wrote about the now defunct Global Climate Coalition and documents that suggest the group had scientists on board in the 1990's who claimed “the science backing the role of greenhouse gases in global warming could not be refuted.”

Paleoclimate scientist Dr. Bob Carter of Australia's James Cook University and former chairman of the earth science panel of the Australian Research Council told Climate Depot his thoughts on Revkin's article on Friday April 24, 2009. Dr. Carter also testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works on December 6, 2006.

Dr. Carter's Comments on Revkin's NYT Article: Andrew Revkin's latest article in the New York Times makes for strange reading; silly, even. For though the technical experts may have been advising (for some strange, doubtless self-interested reason) this: “even as the coalition worked to sway opinion, its own scientific and technical experts were advising that the science backing the role of greenhouse gases in global warming could not be refuted”, I'll eat my hat if anyone could show that was actually the case at any time since 1990.

My guess is that Revkin -- like all other promulgators of AGW (anthropogenic global warming) hysteria throughout the media and scientific communities -- is starting to really feel the weight of the evidence that shows all too clearly that dangerous AGW is a myth, and is simply thrashing around in any and every direction to try to find a way of continuing to obfuscate the issue until December.

The bottom line is that - with President Obama elected and Copenhagen COP (Conference of Parties) coming up as long-planned - the carbonistas can sense that they are oh-so-nearly over the line.

In my view they will do absolutely anything to ensure that the dam holds until December, and then in Copenhagen aim to achieve “another Kyoto”, i.e. organize a lowest-common-denominator agreement that is so inoffensive that countries will sign it with relief (anything to get this bloody issue of off our backs for a while). And this will be making exactly the same mistake again, for a signed piece of paper, however ineffectual the actions, if any, that are required to stem from it, will serve to keep the matter on the political agenda – just as Kyoto has.

God protect us from those who want to save the world.

On a more positive note, there has been a MAJOR change in the way that the Australian media are reporting the AGW issue, led nobly by newspaper The Australian. The change has been stimulated by a Canberra Senate select committee that is discussing the tabled ETS legislation, and also by the release of Geologist Ian Plimer's new book. “Heaven and Earth. Global Warming: The Missing Science”

You can find an account of what the committee is on about here, and at the end of the article is a list of URLs that link to much more balanced media comment than has formerly ever been the case, at least in Australia:

That's last week. The trend of balanced media comment has continued this week, culminating with a splendid article, and an even more splendid headline, by Jan Veizer in today's Australian.

[ Editor's Note: The following are a sampling of skeptical articles that appeared within the last week in newspaper The Australian: 'Global warming is a statement of faith' – Geologist: 'A high CO2 content brings prosperity and lengthens your life' - Warming theories not carved in stone - Global warming called 'a mass delusion' - Antarctic sea ice continues to expand at a rate of 100,000sq km a decade since the 1970s - Revealed: Antarctic ice growing, not shrinking - People aren't to blame for climate change, says to Professor Ian Plimer - Geologist: 'IPCC process is dominated by a small clique of climate scientists who review their own work' ]