The torrent of alarmism about CO2 and climate variation has swept teachers, as well as politicians and many of the general public, into positions of de facto compliance and collaboration with a new dogma. Some (and may their numbers increase faster than the upturned blade of an ice-hockey stick) are of course questioning this force-fed diet and associated actions which they have been assured are urgent and essential to 'save the planet'.
Where might such a teacher go to formulate or deepen their own perspective on climate? Few would care to dive into the world of the complex computer programs at the heart of the alarmism. Few are in a position to dispute with those who assert a scientific consensus, or more specific appeals to authority. Yet they can all study expository, tutorial, and explanatory materials written by experts in relevant fields, and reflect on the credibility, consistency, coherence, verifiability and tone of them.
One such piece has been published today by the Global Warming Policy Foundation:
'The Truth About Greenhouse Gases'
by William Happer, the Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics at Princeton University.
The essay begins with a quote from the Madness of Crowds:
“The object of the Author in the following pages has been to collect the most remarkable instances of those moral epidemics which have been excited, sometimes by one cause and sometimes by another, and to show how easily the masses have been led astray, and how imitative and gregarious men are, even in their infatuations and crimes,” wrote Charles Mackay in the preface to the first edition of his Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. I want to discuss a contemporary moral epidemic: the notion that increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide, will have disastrous consequences for mankind and for the planet. This contemporary “climate crusade” has much in common with the medieval crusades Mackay describes, with true believers, opportunists, cynics, money-hungry governments, manipulators of various types, and even children’s crusades.'
The whole essay can be downloaded as a pdf here: http://www.thegwpf.org/images/stories/gwpf-reports/happer-the_truth_about_greenhouse_gases.pdf
Note added 21 Sep 2011: Lubus Motl has fisked, and exposed as unimpressive, an attempt to discredit Happer's essay. Poor MacCracken - he may be a 'fat cat alarmist', but he is pretty thin when it comes to intellect and integrity.
Informative articles, many thanks for the author. From the relation between geography and history and how the climate affect with making the civilization, I read about the climate in Ancient Egypt in http://gatesofegypt.blogspot.com
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