Great News! Polls Show Climate Change Scare is Over!

authordefault
on

Climate Change itself, however, is as bad asย ever

The National Postโ€™s Denier-in-Chief Lawrence Solomon has weighed in again with an irrelevant and inaccurate celebration that, in the U.S. at least, people are becoming LESS concerned about climateย change.

Of course, Solomon didnโ€™t offer any actual evidence for this contention, other than vague references to unspecified public opinion polls. His strongest source was this: โ€œAndrew Revkin, The New York Times reporter entrusted with the global warming scare beat, has for months lamented โ€œthe publicโ€™s waning interest in globalย warming.โ€

As for actual climate change science – apparently of little interest to Solomon or his readers – he offered no sources whatever. Instead, he repeated the denier talking points (โ€œNot only has the globe not warmed over the last decade but the Arctic ice is returning, the Antarctic isnโ€™t shrinking, polar bear populations arenโ€™t diminishing, hurricanes arenโ€™t becoming more extreme.โ€), ignoring such actual evidence as the new Nature article warning that Antarctic ice is, in fact, declining at historic rates, or the latest warning from the U.S. National Snow and Ice Dataย Center.

This kind of detail doesnโ€™t traditionally appeal to Solomon, who wrote a whole book, called The Deniers, even though he admitted on page 45 of that tract that he had not found a single scientist – anywhere – who actually denied that humans are warming the earth in a dangerousย way.

Now he would like us to cheer that the climate change denial campaign is (apparently – still no actual evidence here) having its desired effect and that people are worryingย less.

Letโ€™s imagine, just this once, that Solomon might actually be correct. People are worrying less. They are less enthusiastic about government taking action on an historic environmental threat. Government, irresponsible governments at least, might therefore be less inclined to take action. Thatโ€™s great, for the oil industry flaks who likely sponsored Solomonโ€™s book. What about the rest ofย us?

Letโ€™s imagine, too, that someone came along and said: Great news! People are no longer afraid of AIDS.

Fabulous! One less thing to get anxious about. Unless, of course, AIDS is still a risk. (And the last time I checkedย โ€ฆ.)

What Solomon is really saying is: Live dangerously. Thatโ€™s stupid advice when it comes from a drunk 17-year-old. Itโ€™s hard to imagine how a grown (and presumably sober) man could find itย otherwise.

ย 

authordefault
Admin's short bio, lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Voluptate maxime officiis sed aliquam! Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit.

Related Posts

on

A list of attendees viewed by DeSmog shows fossil fuel companies represented alongside major religious right groups at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship event.

A list of attendees viewed by DeSmog shows fossil fuel companies represented alongside major religious right groups at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship event.
on

DCI Groupโ€™s 2024 clients include the American Petroleum Institute, which has a history of undermining the scientific consensus on climate change.

DCI Groupโ€™s 2024 clients include the American Petroleum Institute, which has a history of undermining the scientific consensus on climate change.
on

The Reform UK leader baselessly suggested that farms were being cleared to make way for immigrants.

The Reform UK leader baselessly suggested that farms were being cleared to make way for immigrants.
on

The AER significantly underreports the number and scale of spills, says researcher Kevin Timoney.

The AER significantly underreports the number and scale of spills, says researcher Kevin Timoney.