European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 22 February | 71 comments (71 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Living Off the Planet (4.00 / 4)

The inside story on climate scientists under siege | Environment | guardian.co.uk

It is almost possible to dismiss Michael Mann's account of a vast conspiracy by the fossil fuel industry to harrass scientists and befuddle the public. His story of that campaign, and his own journey from naive computer geek to battle-hardened climate ninja, seems overwrought, maybe even paranoid.
But now comes the unauthorised release of documents showing how a libertarian thinktank, the Heartland Institute, which has in the past been supported by Exxon, spent millions on lavish conferences attacking scientists and concocting projects to counter science teaching for kindergarteners.
Mann's story of what he calls the climate wars, the fight by powerful entrenched interests to undermine and twist the science meant to guide government policy, starts to seem pretty much on the money. He's telling it in a book out on 6 March, The hockey stick and the climate wars: Dispatches from the front lines.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Feb 21st, 2012 at 01:58:08 PM EST
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Re: Living Off the Planet (none / 0)

Peter Gleick Confesses to Obtaining Heartland Documents Under False Pretenses - Megan McArdle - Business - The Atlantic

You receive an anonymous memo in the mail purporting to be the secret climate strategy of the Heartland Institute. It is not printed on Heartland Institute letterhead, has no information identifying the supposed author or audience, contains weird locutions more typical of Heartland's opponents than of climate skeptics, and appears to have been written in a somewhat slapdash fashion. Do you:
A. Throw it in the trash
B. Reach out to like-minded friends to see how you might go about confirming its provenance
C. Tell no one, but risk a wire-fraud conviction, the destruction of your career, and a serious PR blow to your movement by impersonating a Heartland board member in order to obtain confidential documents.
As a journalist, I am in fact the semi-frequent recipient of documents promising amazing scoops, and depending on the circumstances, my answer is always "A" or "B", never "C".

Read it all.

I'm officially furious at people like Gleick. Politically engaged climate scientists are a problem, not the solution.

by Nomad on Wed Feb 22nd, 2012 at 03:59:40 AM EST
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Re: Living Off the Planet (none / 0)

Politically engaged climate scientists are a problem, not the solution.

Diary?

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 22nd, 2012 at 04:01:23 AM EST
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Yes (none / 0)

By the end of this Friday.

by Nomad on Wed Feb 22nd, 2012 at 04:11:15 AM EST
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Re: Living Off the Planet (4.00 / 5)

And that's nothing compared to the problem of politically engaged economists.

by Andhakari on Wed Feb 22nd, 2012 at 05:15:53 AM EST
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European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 22 February | 71 comments (71 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)