Saturday, April 12, 2008

Skeptics speak out about Global Warming. But...

Heartland Institute, Joseph Bast, has a 20 minute interview explaining how the science of climate change is shifting, and how a little global warming would be a good thing, and the reason not to vote. (download the original). This was published in Scientific America. Interesting interview. He makes it sound like there are skeptical scientists that are offering another view about the 'global warming' debate. He says that 3/4 of the world's scientists don't believe that it is caused by climate change.

He sounds very scholarly. However, a closer look at their organization, Heartland Institute, you will see that Heartland Institute features an Internet application called PolicyBot which serves as a clearinghouse for research from other think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation, American Legislative Exchange Council, and Cato Institute. Joseph claims in his interview that "he hates politics and politicians" but he spends ten minutes parroting the message in his video is definitely a neoconservative message that brought us George Bush, Dick Cheney, the Sub prime lending mess etc. His employer is the clearing house for their policies statements that go out to the politician who then decide what rules that we should live by.

Sorry if I'm a skeptic about his "independent" analysis of the global climate change debate. There were no corporate sponsors for this event, however, the organizations they represent are heavily subsidized. This is so disingenuous.

This video is evidence of the economic warfare that we are about to engage in over the idea of Global Warming and CO2 reduction. The Skeptics vs. The Alarmists. There are serious economic interests at risk. Many of the skeptics represent the current status quo, the economically entrenched powers that command the economy at the highest levels. They are about to come out swingint and they are going to warp themselves in a cloak of credible science while expounding their economic dogma that spreads doubt into the debate. This in tern will cause more confusion and ultimately reinforce the status quo. Behind the scenes, there will be big money at stake and we will see the clash of the titans as this plays out.


Don't get me wrong. I welcome a true scientific debate about Global Warming. But I don't want people to be fooled either. Right now, I'm not optimistic. People are too busy at work, at home, and with the kids to pay attention to the details. Unfortunately, the devil will be in the details and our media will be chasing ratings and profits instead of real news. Stories will trickle out while the bulk of the content will not address the these issues. And so much is at stake...

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