Global Warming Denial is Alive and Kicking
Every year I look for new books that have been recently published in order to keep www.greenhomebuilding.com as up-to-date as possible. I had been under the impression that the controversy over whether global warming is really happening as a result of human activity was finally dying down, and that even the nay-sayers were beginning to accept the overwhelming science that proves this is the case. I was shocked to see how prevalent and vociferous the global warming deniers still are.
Out of 24 books I reviewed that were published in 2009 and relate to climate change and global warming, 9 of them (more than one third) were clearly denying the consensus of scientific opinion. With titles like "Global Warming False Alarm," "Global Warming Science They Don't Want You to Know," "Red Hot Lies: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud, and Deception to Keep You Misinformed," "Global Warming: Manmade or Man Made-Up?" it is clear that there is a significant emotional charge behind this writing.
So who is publishing this denial literature? Two of the publishers appear to general trade publishers, two are highly conservative publishers, two are religiously oriented, two were self-published, and one was came out of the Cato Institute, self-proclaimed as "libertarian."
Fortunately, there are also many well-researched and thoughtful books that are intended to be more constructive, evaluating the options available for mitigating global warming. I counted 7 in this category, along with 3 more that delve deeply into the science confirming global warming as human-caused. One book, "When the Planet Rages: Natural Disasters, Global Warming and the Future of the Earth," takes a long-range historical perspective.
Another hot topic seems to be the controversy itself, with books like "Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming" and "Lies, Damned Lies, and Science: How to Sort through the Noise around Global Warming..."
And then there are some books that point out how businesses are taking advantage of the frenzy over global warming for economic gain. These include "Global Warming Is Good for Business: How Savvy Entrepreneurs, Large Corporations, and Others are Making Money While Saving the Planet" and "The Plot to Save the Planet: How Visionary Entrepreneurs and Corporate Titans Are Creating Real Solutions to Global Warming."
Climate change and how we should, or should not, deal with it is clearly one of the major issues of the day, and probably of this century. I encourage everyone to become fully informed and make choices from a position of sober analysis rather than from emotional reaction.
Out of 24 books I reviewed that were published in 2009 and relate to climate change and global warming, 9 of them (more than one third) were clearly denying the consensus of scientific opinion. With titles like "Global Warming False Alarm," "Global Warming Science They Don't Want You to Know," "Red Hot Lies: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud, and Deception to Keep You Misinformed," "Global Warming: Manmade or Man Made-Up?" it is clear that there is a significant emotional charge behind this writing.
So who is publishing this denial literature? Two of the publishers appear to general trade publishers, two are highly conservative publishers, two are religiously oriented, two were self-published, and one was came out of the Cato Institute, self-proclaimed as "libertarian."
Fortunately, there are also many well-researched and thoughtful books that are intended to be more constructive, evaluating the options available for mitigating global warming. I counted 7 in this category, along with 3 more that delve deeply into the science confirming global warming as human-caused. One book, "When the Planet Rages: Natural Disasters, Global Warming and the Future of the Earth," takes a long-range historical perspective.
Another hot topic seems to be the controversy itself, with books like "Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming" and "Lies, Damned Lies, and Science: How to Sort through the Noise around Global Warming..."
And then there are some books that point out how businesses are taking advantage of the frenzy over global warming for economic gain. These include "Global Warming Is Good for Business: How Savvy Entrepreneurs, Large Corporations, and Others are Making Money While Saving the Planet" and "The Plot to Save the Planet: How Visionary Entrepreneurs and Corporate Titans Are Creating Real Solutions to Global Warming."
Climate change and how we should, or should not, deal with it is clearly one of the major issues of the day, and probably of this century. I encourage everyone to become fully informed and make choices from a position of sober analysis rather than from emotional reaction.
posted by Kelly Hart | 12:10 PM
7 Comments:
I wish everyone had seen the fabulous documentary about global warming I saw last night on the French-language TV5 channel. If anyone could remain skeptical about it after seeing that film, they're just not human.
The best way to stop global warming is to stop having children. At last count the world population is just shy of 7 billion. I'm sure the poor and stupid will keep our numbers up though. As much as I would like to think that we as humans can reverse this problem, It will never happen as long as our numbers continue to climb.
It will be the main contributing factor to the downfall of civilization.
Although it's easy to blame poor people having lots of children for various problems, a clear look at the facts shows that they're not the source of the global warming crisis. The single biggest emitter of greenhouse gases since the Industrial Age began is the United States, and the current number 1 emitter, China, has had in place a "one family, one child" policy for decades. Overpopulation may well contribute to the problem, but in the grand scheme of things, one American or Chinese who lives in a McMansion and drives a gas-guzzling vehicle is responsible for far more greenhouse gas production than a whole village of poor people in a developing country.
One great way to get informed about the science is to read the blog Watts Up With That.
I suppose the right direction is often arrived at in a zig-zag path. A little Denial isn't a bad thing as it keeps scientists honest and not too emotionally involved. Hopefully we end up in the right direction as the evidence keeps mounting.
Rob,Spanish Slate Information
Blame the Coors Brewing Company and their cohorts! kidding....well, somewhat, as I have seen them listed as one of THE single largest polluters in the US. What I can't understand is, aside from a neverending back and forth argument as to the existence of global warming, and industrial pollution, just exactly, in what way (unless you're the CEO of a large stockholder) is mass pollution and unchecked-industry benign? I mean the air-quality problems and aquatic pollution alone, nevermind the larger beast of global warming...
-Deek
www.relaxshacks.com
I have yet to see anyone explain the reason why greenland is called greenland but is today a big ice chunk. It was a bread basket for my ancestors of lush farmland. I have yet to see anyone explain the melting of the glaciers from the previous ice ages. If we assume you are correct global warming to the tune of 5-10 degrees would increase the farm yields for Greenland and Canada. Most of the legislation regarding warming has been nothing more than a power grab.
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