Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study

w1z4rd

w1z4rd

Valued Senior Member
Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study


Ian Sample, science correspondent
Friday February 2, 2007
The Guardian

Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world's largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today.

Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

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Travel expenses and additional payments were also offered.

The UN report was written by international experts and is widely regarded as the most comprehensive review yet of climate change science. It will underpin international negotiations on new emissions targets to succeed the Kyoto agreement, the first phase of which expires in 2012. World governments were given a draft last year and invited to comment.

The AEI has received more than $1.6m from ExxonMobil and more than 20 of its staff have worked as consultants to the Bush administration. Lee Raymond, a former head of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman of AEI's board of trustees.

The letters, sent to scientists in Britain, the US and elsewhere, attack the UN's panel as "resistant to reasonable criticism and dissent and prone to summary conclusions that are poorly supported by the analytical work" and ask for essays that "thoughtfully explore the limitations of climate model outputs".

Climate scientists described the move yesterday as an attempt to cast doubt over the "overwhelming scientific evidence" on global warming. "It's a desperate attempt by an organisation who wants to distort science for their own political aims," said David Viner of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia.
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Read more http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2004399,00.html
 
there is good and bad in everything.
the trick is to publicize and reward good and punish bad.

. . . i can't wait for this onslaught.
 
I'm sure that liberal lobying groups are completely above this influence. I'm sure that GreenPeace has never offered grants to climate scientits.

It's like writing a check to a politician---you do so in the hopes that they will win and further some specific agenda. Exxon has a vested interest in the climate change science being shown wrong, so...
 
For all the evidence that scientists claim they have on global warming, and that it's "likely" that humans have caused it ...........what do they say caused the last global warming trends that are evident in the polar ice studies? There have been other global trends before humans were even a factor. So..... what caused it back then?

Baron Max
 
The philosopher Foucault has done some interesting analyses on the relationship between power and truth. Also Max Weber's 'Science as a Vocation', Bruno Latour, Donna Harraway, lots more too.

My reading sees truth as constructed and relative to power; the more power, the more truth to support the position.
 
MetaKron said:
Which makes the global warming thing that much more believable, doesn't it?
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True. The fact the government & oil barons are fudging real science presented to them and manufacturing oil industry science is appalling. What are they so afraid of and where is the outrage?
 
Baron Max said:
For all the evidence that scientists claim they have on global warming, and that it's "likely" that humans have caused it ...........what do they say caused the last global warming trends that are evident in the polar ice studies? There have been other global trends before humans were even a factor. So..... what caused it back then?

Baron Max
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16922234/ We'll have to wait and see what Exxon Climate Scientists say.......
 
This is hilarious. Those oil companies just won't stop.

It takes decisive, hard-line action to stop them.

Arrest the oil executives. Impose the largest corporate taxes in history on oil companies. Break them up again. Ban Hummers, SUVs, and the like, or restrict licenses further for gas-guzzlers. Impose carbon tax. Impose weight tax. Outlaw lobbyist science. Outlaw PR slap-suits.

These are all actions we must take in America, or else the world will pay.
 
Facial said:
These are all actions we must take in America, or else the world will pay.
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If we take all of those actions that you propose, how long will it take to produce results? ...a reversal of the global warming trend?

Baron Max
 
BenTheMan said:
It's like writing a check to a politician---you do so in the hopes that they will win and further some specific agenda. Exxon has a vested interest in the climate change science being shown wrong, so...
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True, but then Philip Morris had a vested interest in killing many poeple with cigarettes and did so by buying favorable "research" also.

It is no news that there are whores among climate scientist too.
 
spuriousmonkey said:
how long will it take to produce results if you don't take action?
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Just read an interesting report on my IP homepage ....scientists agreed that even with all of the controls in place, it will take centuries to stop the global warming trends. And that's if the put every method to work to try to stop the pollution, etc.

So ...even if we went back to living in caves, never burned any fires, ate the meat raw and bloody, the global warming would continue. So ...what'd'ya say we just sit back and watch the show in the comfort of our heated/air conditioned homes on big-screen tv? Can't do nothin' about it, may as well enjoy it.

Baron Max
 
There is jack shit we can do, so why bother?

Global warming and ice ages are earth cycles that aren't going to change just because we want to them to. We might be able to slow it down very slightly, although it seems very unlikely and pointless because of the changes we'd have to make to everyday life. Oil will run out fairly soon, so I think upping prices and imposing green taxes is getting us used to high oil prices, low availability and ultimately no oil at all. Softening the blow if you will.

Why not let us enjoy it 'til it's gone?

As for places going underwater - that just isn't my fucking problem. If you live on an island that's a couple of feet above sea level, it seems likely you'll get your feet wet now and again. People and governments need to take measures and move these people out of high risk areas, but not to try and reverse the effects of global warming and rising sea levels. They won't do shit, but when these places go underwater we'll be guilt-tripped into believing it's our fault.
 
I'm so angry at the "why bother" attitude displayed by some people here. It is absolutely disgusting and shameful. Its the EXACT same argument that got us into this mess. ""Why bother" watching how much we waste... we are not going to be alive and on the receiving end"

:( Grr
 
IceAgeCivilizations said:
It's just the UN's way of admitting it's cyclical, without saying so.
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I don't understand how the UN is connected to this study's conclusions or how they are saying it is cyclical (considering the report concluded that it was not a natural cycle. Could you explain what you're talking about, please?
 
Baron Max said:
Just read an interesting report on my IP homepage ....scientists agreed that even with all of the controls in place, it will take centuries to stop the global warming trends. And that's if the put every method to work to try to stop the pollution, etc.

So ...even if we went back to living in caves, never burned any fires, ate the meat raw and bloody, the global warming would continue. So ...what'd'ya say we just sit back and watch the show in the comfort of our heated/air conditioned homes on big-screen tv? Can't do nothin' about it, may as well enjoy it.

Baron Max
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What about the people after we exist, centuries later? Are they worth as much as watching tv on big screen?

No, of course not...

...unless TV starts getting a lot better. Reality TV isn't cutting it ;)
 
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