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Thursday, December 20, 2007
More on “List of Over 400 Prominent Scientists Question Significance of Man-made Global Warming”

This week a special report “Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed Man-Made Global Warming Claims in 2007” was issued as reported in our Political Climate section. This list is the tip of the iceberg in what may be a silent majority of scientists who don’t accept greenhouse gases as the sole or most important climate driver. There are many meteorologists, climatologists and other scientists who under normal circumstances would jump at the opportunity to appear on this list. However, they can not because they fear for their jobs. Many have told me so privately face-to-face or on the phone or in emails.

In the case of the TV meteorologists they have been told by station or group management they are to avoid taking sides or saying anything controversial on this hot button issue. It is a no-win situation for them if they do, since the audience is divided on the issue and many viewers are strongly opinionated. In the ratings game, you don’t dare turn a segment of the audience against you. There are forecasters and meteorologists at The Weather Channel who do not endorse their network’s position but can’t speak out given their station’s decision to take a stand with Forecast Earth (formerly Climate Code), and stick with it despite dismal ratings.

I have been told by scholars and non-tenured professors at the big universities, they have to keep their opinion to themselves in what has been described as a ‘witch hunt’ as the schools hire alarmist professors to reorganize their departments with the goal of increasing the flow of grant money.

Many government employees (forecasters) are in the sensible middle on this issue but recall they have been told by NOAA to be silent on this issue in any public forum or with the media. I have been told by many of them they believe we can’t discount either data issues nor natural variability. Pat Michaels, George Taylor and David Legates are not the only non-alarmist state climatologists, but based on what happened to them when they were more outspoken, many other state climatologists have been mum on this issue.

Many young scientists are especially nervous about speaking out because their careers are ahead of them. As MIT’s Dr. Lindzen noted in a telling 2006 Wall Street Journal Op Ed Climate of Fear “...there is a more sinister side to this feeding frenzy. Scientists who dissent from the alarmism have seen their grant funds disappear, their work derided, and themselves libeled as industry stooges, scientific hacks or worse.”

The older senior meteorologists and or retirees have less or nothing to lose and they dominate this list. Hopefully this effort will give more the courage to step up and help put an end to what has been a very sad saga in the history of this noble science. Write me at jsdaleo@icecap.us if you would like to add your name to the list and I will pass it on. Scientists from all allied disciplines are welcome.

UPDATE: See new list of recent peer review studies in recent months casting doubt on man-made climate fears updated 12/24/07.

Posted on 12/20 at 08:56 PM
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