PRI: Public Radio International

New PBS documentary 'Climate of Doubt' looks at organizations fueling doubt in climate change

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 09:00:00 -0500

Four years ago, there was political consensus that climate change was one of the most pressing issues facing the world and the U.S. But now, after a great deal of spending and lobbying, politicians are refusing to do anything about it. A new documentary looks at why.

R Sharpe

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 09:23:57 -0500

And maybe it's because the public has found that 'Climate Science' is a myth. The earth IS warming, but due to macro natural and cyclical factors beyond our control. The idea of 'man-made' gw has been found to be nothing but a sham for research cash and unequivocally bad science (models that have crap put in get crap out...surprise, surprise!).

R Sharpe

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 09:25:07 -0500

And maybe because 'Climate science' has been shown to be a sham for second and third tier researchers scrounging for cash.

jim

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 10:02:56 -0500

Though 98 percent of climate scientists agree that climate change is real, and mostly human-caused

Not true. There are many scientists, their numbers augmented with each passing day, who are willing to speak-out that carbon, anthropogenic or other, is not the culprit. Unfortunately, it's a classic catch-22 situation, since your funding will disappear.

JJ

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 10:17:06 -0500

Actually what's lacking are accurate computer models with open access to data, non-cherry-picked polling of "experts", and a reasoned explanation of what the ideal global temperature is and why.

cmon

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:16:06 -0500

I'm sure you're well aware of this before you wrote the article; you sound like a smart guy
but I'm going to have to put it to you again:

If Obama talks about Climate Change in these debates, then the people will elect Romney.
At some point you have to acknowledge the state of affairs in this country. The people don't care.

If YOU care, then you'd do well to mention Obama's vast accomplishments re climate change despite total opposition in the House on every single step.
By ignoring this truth, you do nothing to further the venue of people like Obama who are the only ones doing anything about this problem.

It's your choice.

mk

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:35:15 -0500

In the minority in these comments, I trust the science behind concern about climate change.
As for the $, there's millions to be had from the Koch brothers, oil companies and the right wing for climate change denying scientists. Polar bears, coral reefs and drought stricken farmers don't have big backers.
The scale and scope of human activity is immense, sustained and altering. How can that be denied?
Galileo was held under house arrest til he died for the heresy of his finding that the earth was not the center of the universe. Denying climate change is akin to what passed for conventional wisdom way back then. Perhaps, after all, Galileo was wrong... and we are the center of the universe.

jim

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:30:08 -0500

To mk...you have it backwards with your Galileo analogy. The "conventional wisdom" of today is that global warming is anthropogenic.

The brave voices that are speaking out against this (warped) conventional wisdom are akin to Galileo!

rw

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:36:11 -0500

If this PBS report is serious, it will note that Met Office data indicates no warming of the earth over the past 16 years. And it will note that NOAA tide station data shows that sea level rise is slowing down, and in places like the California coast has actually dropped below the levels of the 1990s. And that serious minds interprete this data points in differing ways, which is reasonable to expect among thinking adults. But is PBS for thinking adults?

carl

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:41:42 -0500

and there you have it. a prime example of the political genus 'headin the sandus' every scientific association in the world disagrees with you except the petroleum institutes of canada and america. your insistence the climate changes aren't man induced flies in the face of insurmountable data.

A. Payne

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:26:22 -0500

Quick poll: Among those commenting, who is a scientist currently researching, or at least academically familiar with, climate science?

Another quick poll: Who gets their information from quacks on the web? or worse, from politicians or political talk shows?

DF

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 19:00:45 -0500

Not so rw. The Daily Mail is hardly a sound source. "If you were engaging in social media this past weekend, you might have found an October 13, 2012 article suggesting that global warming stopped 16 years ago. The article is here. David Rose of the Daily Mail wrote it. The article says the UK Met Office sent out a news release release saying its data showed that global warming has stopped and that there is no “discernible rise in aggregate global temperatures.” It now comes to light that this information is not true. The UK Met Office did not release a statement suggesting that “global warming stopped 16 years ago.” The UK Met Office, in fact, disavows any association with Mr. Rose and his article and says it was never asked any questions regarding the actual science of climate change and global warming by Mr. Rose. On October 14, 2012 – one day after Mr. Rose’s article appeared in the Daily Mail – the UK Met Office released its own blog post discussing the issues with the Daily Mail article. It’s very interesting reading." From Earthsky.org

D

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 22:29:52 -0500

R. Sharpe and folks who think like you are like child molesters - raping kids with innocent minds who are hungry for guidance(i.e., weak and uneducated folks in the heartland of the US and elsewhere) - you should be ashamed of yourself...

mememine69

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 08:32:55 -0500

Science has betrayed its own warnings of crisis:
The millions of people in the global scientific community that are not reacting to the world walking away from their crisis "warnings", proves climate change was just an exaggeration.
*In all of the debates so far, Obama hasn’t planned to mention climate change once.
*Obama has not mentioned the crisis in the last two State of the Unions addresses.
*Occupywallstreet does not even mention CO2 in its list of demands because of the bank-funded carbon trading stock markets run by corporations.
*Julian Assange is of course a climate change denier.
*Canada killed Y2Kyoto with a freely elected climate change denying prime minister and nobody cared, especially the millions of scientists warning us of unstoppable warming (a comet hit).
Science needs to step up to the plate and be honest with us.

Jeremy

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:35:20 -0500

And yet thousands of articles reporting on scientific findings which support the stance on climate science among the majority of scientists goes ignored by the right-wing media. They pick and choose what they want to hear.

Jeremy

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:43:22 -0500

Science doesn't work the same as politics. There is no debate based on opinion, everything is grounded on scientific research based on the best evidence out there. When 97-98% of climate scientists active in their research say global warming is real and humans play a role, there is a consensus among the scientific community...meaning, there is no debate, other than the severity and implications as a result of climate change and it's impact on this planet.

Kristine

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 13:56:41 -0600

Whether you believe in climate change, whether you believe it's human-caused, you must see that the steps being suggested for how to deal with it are practical, realistic, and should be followed anyway.

Jim Young

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:50:07 -0600

Look at who spends millions upon millions to distort the views the public sees. The legislators did see the major opinions of competent scientists and were ready to act, until, that is, they found the grassroots snake oil salesmen had stirred up were a force the "Primarying" of any legislator who acted from conscience rather than caving to the Dark Funding power brokers. Repair the damage to free, comprehensive, speech done by failure to enforce even the existing disclosure rules, much less completely destroying the corruption Citizens United enables.