The panicky Professor Ian Plimer appears to have run from the field of intelligent debate in his latest duck-and-dodge fest with UK Guardian Columnist GeorgeĀ Monbiot.
Plimer is the author of Heaven and Earth, a terrible hash of logical misdirection, plagiarism and mistakes which was shredded into fine bits by people like our favourite Australian, Tim Lambert at DeltoidĀ blog.
After Monbiot joined the public lashing, Plimer protested and demanded that Monbiot engage with him in debate. Monbiot agreed, but only on condition that Plimer first respond in writing to a handful of questions about the accuracy and source of material in hisĀ book.
Plimer has been hiding out ever since. First he lobbed back a laughable collection of counter questions which he has since suggested were intended to test whether Monbiot had read Heaven and Earth. There is no evidence these queries were designed to solicit answers – the prime purpose seemed to have been distraction – but Gavin Schmidt at RealClimate.org nevertheless answered them all, grading them for relevance and scientific content. Fail.Ā Fail.
Plimer has since been incensed (and insensible) in his correspondence (which Monbiot has provided here in full). For example, in trying to weasel out of answering the queries that Monbiot had posed, PlimerĀ says:
ā⦠your questions appear to derive from a person with an unhealthy incandescent anger hence the lack of structure, coherence, internal consistency and hints ofĀ irrationality.ā
Well, letās take an example. Here is Monbiotās question #10, directed politely to the good Dr.Ā Plimer:
āYou state that āVolcanoes produce more CO2 than the worldās cars and industries combined.āĀ (p413)
This is similar to the claim in The Great Global Warming Swindle, whose narrator maintained that āVolcanoes produce more CO2 each year than all the factories and cars and planes and other sources of man-made carbon dioxide putĀ together.ā
But you do not provide a source forĀ it.
This is what the US Geological Survey says: āHuman activities release more than 130 times the amount of CO2 emitted by volcanoesā.
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hazards/gas/index.php
a. Please provide a reference for yourĀ claim.
b. How do you explain the discrepancy between this claim and the publishedĀ data?
Far from Plimerās peavish characterization, this questions (like all the others) seems well-structured, coherent, internally consistent and entirely rational.Ā Although, you could argue that it is overlong. A shorter version might haveĀ been:
āDear Dr. Plimer, Are you a liar or an incompetent doofus? Please provide sources to support yourĀ response.ā
Apparently, Plimer is stumped by the annoying rationality of this inquiry – or he simply has no sources toĀ quote.
We are left to wonder – as Monbiot is left alone on theĀ stage.
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