Not a "Global Warming" rant

       

Further reading

• The Great Global Warming Swindle: full lenght video (91)
• Channel 4: The Global Warming Swindle (102)
• Don't let truth stand in the way of a red-hot debunking of climate change (133)
• What's up with the Weather - the debate (124)
• Kenneth Deffeyes: Beyond Oil (111)

This is not going to be rant on the global warming movement, nor a rant on its believers and non-believers. But by now, you probably have heard about Channel 4's 'The Global Warming Swindle':

According to a group of scientists brought together by documentary-maker Martin Durkin, if the planet is heating up, it isn't your fault and there's nothing you can do about it. We've almost begun to take it for granted that climate change is a man-made phenomenon. But just as the environmental lobby think they've got our attention, a group of naysayers have emerged to slay the whole premise of global warming.

Watching it reminded me of a passage in Kenneth Deffeyes book 'Beyond Oil' where he talks the hard complexity of environmental science, and how it attracts only a few students at Princeton:

Understanding environmental interactions involves some of the most difficult issues in engineering, chemistry, physics and computer science. Regrettably, many environmental students aren't interested in the hard stuff; they want to influence policy. This emphasis occurs in a wide range of colleges. As an example, at Princeton we have an endowment to support 'a Freshman Seminar in environmental studies, exploring environmental issues primarily through literary, philosophical, ethical, spiritual, or other humanistic perspectives.' We have elevated scientific ignorance to an art form.