New Book Says Man Can't Stop Global Warming

By Gary Palmer
for eco-logic/Powerhouse

October 01, 2007

Proponents of man-made global warming and the liberal mainstream media want us to believe that there is “total agreement among all reputable members of the scientific community” that mankind is the real cause of global warming. In other words, a consensus that humans — especially those of us who drive SUVs — are responsible.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the definition of consensus is “an opinion or position reached by a group as a whole.” Webster’s New World Dictionary defines consensus as “agreement, especially in opinion.”

In a recently published book, Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years, authors Dennis Avery and Fred Singer take an honest look at the debate over the cause of global warming and the results are far from a consensus. As it turns out, there are 500 scientists who have published peer-reviewed research refuting some part of the man-made global warming theory. In addition, more than 300 of these scientists have found evidence that global temperature change is part of a natural cycle that occurs about every 1,500 years.

Those who might like to think that these scientists lack credibility should note that many of their conclusions have been widely published in scientific journals such as Nature, Geophysical Review Letters and Science. And it’s especially interesting that even though this research information is available, very little attention has been given to it by the liberal mainstream media.

Instead, what we get from the liberal mainstream media is a constant barrage of one-sided reports about melting ice caps, record temperatures and sweltering polar bears. And even that information can’t withstand scrutiny.

For instance, the liberal mainstream media has constantly promoted the claim that temperature data from NASA shows that 1998 was the hottest year on record. The liberal mainstream media took the NASA report as rock-solid evidence that mankind is responsible for global warming and in order to avert a global catastrophe, draconian measures must be taken to save the planet.

As it turns out, the NASA temperature record data was inaccurate and 1998 was not the warmest year on record. That distinction belongs to 1934, with 1998 in second place and 1921 being the third warmest year. In fact, four of the ten warmest years since 1880 were in the 1930s, and only three have occurred in the last decade.

Moreover, the corrected temperature data shows that 85 percent of the warming over the last 100 years occurred before the 1940s. That would be before the nation was dotted with coal-fueled electric generation plants and before gas-guzzling SUVs filled the nation’s streets. In other words, before there was a proliferation of the things that the man-made global warming cult says are filling the atmosphere with greenhouse gases.

With NASA’s reputation at stake and with so much emphasis being given to their erroneous data as justification for changes in public policy, you would expect that once NASA realized their data was faulty that they would have gone public with a correction. But they chose instead to try to keep it quiet. It was only after the error was exposed that NASA acknowledged the mistake.

Predictably, the liberal mainstream media has largely downplayed or totally ignored all of the above. There have been few, if any, lead stories about the 500 scientists whose published research refutes at least part of the man-made global warming hysteria. And there has been little coverage given to the 300 scientists who have done credible and noteworthy research indicating that global climate change is a natural cycle. Equally troubling is the failure of the media to report NASA’s problems with their record temperature data and their failure to investigate why NASA switched computer programs after the data error was disclosed.

So why should Alabamians care about this? If the man-made global warming proponents have their way, federal, state and local legislation will soon implement harsh measures to reduce the human impact on global warming that will have major negative economic consequences.

For instance, there are efforts already under way in several states to push legislation to reduce carbon emissions by seven percent below 1990 levels. According to a report by the Heartland Institute, if such legislation were to pass in Alabama it is estimated that it would cost each Alabama household an average of $13,200 per year and would reduce state revenues by 33 percent per year.

The followers of man-made global warming like to brand anyone who disagrees with them as “anti-science.” Thankfully, there are scientists studying global climate change who are willing to take heat by being honest scientists, not agenda propagandists. The challenge to rational people is to expose the propaganda and refuse to be fooled by what the global warming cult tells us is a consensus.

Gary Palmer is president of the Alabama Policy Institute, a non-partisan, non-profit research and education organization dedicated to the preservation of free markets, limited government and strong families, which are indispensable to a prosperous society.