It’s very likely that the four most telling words in the English language are, “Sen. James Inhofe argued….” At that point, the listener can either comfortably stop listening, knowing that any words that follow are complete nonsense, or should keep listening only to learn what nonsense can be rejected out of hand.
Late last week, for example, the Oklahoma Republican — for my money, the single biggest embarrassment in the Senate chamber — issued what he called a “report” about the hundreds of “scientists” who agree with him about global warming (which is to say, they reject reality, just as Inhofe does).
More than 400 scientists challenge claims by former Vice President Al Gore and the United Nations about the threat of man-made global warming, a new Senate minority report says.
The scientists — many of whom are current or former members of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Mr. Gore for publicizing a climate crisis — cast doubt on the “scientific consensus” that man-made global warming imperils the planet. […]
Sen. James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma, ranking Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said the report debunks Mr. Gore’s claim that the “debate is over.”
“The endless claims of a ‘consensus’ about man-made global warming grow less-and-less credible every day,” he said.
Far-right blogs pounced, heralding Inhofe’s document as a major contribution to the policy “debate.” After all, if a senator can identify more than 400 independent, credible scientific professionals, and they all reject the evidence of climate change, then the right-wing goal — introduce doubt into the minds of the public — is well on its way to succeeding.
There are, however, a few small problems with Inhofe’s report. OK, more than a few. Oh, all right, they’re not small, either.
It’s hard to know exactly where to start with Inhofe’s piece, but it’s worth noting that Inhofe didn’t exactly “find” these 400 “scientists.” He and his staff compiled a list based on skewed readings of news reports. In other words, if an Inhofe staffer saw some quote from a scientists questioning climate change in some way, he or she made the list.
But it doesn’t take long before the list starts to fall apart. Joe Romm noted:
“Padded” would be an extremely generous description of this list of “prominent scientists.” Some would use the word “laughable.” For instance, since when have economists, who are pervasive on this list, become scientists, and why should we care what they think about climate science?
Yes, some of the scientists are economists. Others are scientists and inventors who have “no expertise in climate science whatsoever.” Much of the list is made up of TV weather forecasters, who aren’t scientists. Dozens of those who appear on Inhofe’s 400 are on ExxonMobil’s payroll.
Best of all, in a few instances, Inhofe included scientists who actually disagree with him and accept climate-change reality.
The 400 scientists they characterize as disputing man-made climate change include mostly folks no one has ever heard of, and the quotes they cherry pick aren’t all expressing doubt about whether climate change is real and a problem — many are simply expressing differing opinions about the degree of warming and the consequences of that warming. Others simply cited phenomena that might be causing warming in addition to that caused by greenhouse gases. And a good deal of them aren’t even climatologists — there are and abundance of geographers, physicists, and “philosophers of science” in the mix.
It’s not too hard to dredge up 400 people in all the world who think the lunar landing was a farce or believe that Elvis is living in Albuquerque, much like it isn’t too hard to dig up 400 people with a vague background in the field of science who find something to dispute in climate science. That doesn’t mean their views should be lauded and held up as scientific proof that global warming isn’t so bad. There haven’t been any peer-reviewed scientific studies validating any claims that the planet is either not warming, or not warming because of humans, and the world’s most-respected climatologists are all in agreement. And other than Inhofe, Morano and a few other stragglers, the Republican party has moved from claiming steadfastly that climate change isn’t real, to claiming it’s real but not caused by humans, to now just saying it would cost too much to deal with it. Even Bush has left the denial behind for mere obstruction. Inhofe and his minions are the last holdouts of a dying minority, and they’re getting increasingly desperate in their attempts to dig up validation.
That so many conservatives quickly embraced Inhofe’s “report” as legitimate and reliable doesn’t speak well to the seriousness with which today’s right takes public policy.