Global insanity

For the IDS to print a column claiming that global warming is a hoax is quirky. To print two such columns in the space of three days is irresponsible. Chase Cooper and Justin Hill would have us believe that their maverick views are suppressed by the media. In fact, studies have shown that precisely the opposite is the case: As the IDS columns themselves attest, the opinions of the scientists who question the basic realities of global warming are publicized vastly out of proportion to their minuscule numbers.\nThat Hill raises the Oregon Petition from the dead to support his argument only demonstrates the intellectual poverty of his position. This petition has been repeatedly exposed as a sham. The original petition, which came out a decade ago, was accompanied by an article misleadingly formatted to resemble a publication of the National Academy of Sciences. The “19,000 American scientists” who signed it included duplicate names, people who could not be tracked down, people who denied having signed it, people who signed a statement different from the one publicized later, people with ties to the energy industry, at least one of the Spice Girls and only a small handful of climate researchers.\nMoreover, that was years ago. Since then, the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change has only solidified. The real National Academy of Sciences issued a joint statement with corresponding bodies in 10 other nations pronouncing the scientific evidence incontrovertible. Many people who once legitimately questioned the idea of global warming have come to acknowledge its reality in the last few years including many in the energy industry and many Republican politicians. Today, there is less genuine scientific controversy about global warming than there is about gravity.\nTo say that there are a hundred climate scientists convinced of the reality of anthropogenic global warming for every one who doubts it would be an understatement. By my calculation, based on that conservative estimate and the two columns that the IDS has recently published, the IDS now owes its readers some 200 columns devoted to the very real dangers of global warming.