The Wall Street Journal is trolling, and it is shameful. Almost everything they say in their piece is an out and out lie, easily falsified with even a cursory examination of the evidence. In fact, their piece is so bad that this is what we can say about the "16 scientists" who signed this letter: They are idiots.
The gist of the letter that the WSJ would not publish:
The Wall Street Journal published a letter expressing skepticism about anthropogenic climate change signed by a group of engineers, retired weathermen, and scientists from fields other than climate science.
In response, a much larger group of actual climate scientists signed onto a letter rebutting the first letter. The WSJ rejected it. Instead, the pre-eminent science journal Science, which is know for its rigor in treatments of science, published it, as "Climate change and the Integrity of Science" on January 27th, 2012.
(i) The planet is warming due to increased concentrations of heat-trapping gases in our atmosphere. A snowy winter in Washington does not alter this fact.
(ii) Most of the increase in the concentration of these gases over the last century is due to human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.
(iii) Natural causes always play a role in changing Earth's climate, but are now being overwhelmed by human-induced changes.
(iv) Warming the planet will cause many other climatic patterns to change at speeds unprecedented in modern times, including increasing rates of sea-level rise and alterations in the hydrologic cycle. Rising concentrations of carbon dioxide are making the oceans more acidic.
(v) The combination of these complex climate changes threatens coastal communities and cities, our food and water supplies, marine and freshwater ecosystems, forests, high mountain environments, and far more.
(iii) Natural causes always play a role in changing Earth's climate, but are now being overwhelmed by human-induced changes.
I like this one. I always forget humans do not count as 'nature'.
'The planet isn't going anywhere, folks... we are.'
'Plastic came out of the Earth! Could be the only reason the Earth allowed us to be born in the first place: it wanted plastic for itself. Didn't know how to make it... needed us.'
Yeah, I read this yesterday. It's an ongoing annoyance to me because my mother reads that shit and believes it. She really thinks that's the scientific consensus. She spends hours pouring over that fucking rag every day. Then again, she has made a killing on stocks, so I can't argue with that part.
There are some people who just don't give a fuck. They will manipulate and lie so that they can gain resources in the short term, because that's what their little weasel minds compel them to do. Anything that gets in the way of that short-sited mindset will be attacked.
Santorum: Global Warming 'Not Scientifically Proven'
By Alexandra Jaffe
Updated: February 19, 2012 | 1:52 p.m.
February 19, 2012 | 11:46 a.m.
Following his comments on Saturday that President Obama’s policies are based on a “phony theology,” Rick Santorum said on Sunday that he was referencing Obama's capitulation to environmentalists on issues like global warning, which he said were “not scientifically proven.”
Speaking on CBS' Face the Nation, Santorum expressed his view that man should be "good stewards" of the Earth—but not necessarily serve the Earth.
"Man is here to use the resources and use them wisely, to care for the Earth, to be a steward of the Earth," he said. "We're not here to serve the Earth. The Earth is not the objective. Man is the objective."
Santorum added that the debate over global warming is problematic because it is "not scientifically proven," and "when you have a world view that elevates the Earth above man," you allow for government overreach. "This is all an attempt to, you know, to centralize power and give more power to the government," he said.
Santorum blasted Gingrich for cutting an anti-global warming ad with Nancy Pelosi and accused Romney of having warned about the environmental threat posed by elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
“Tell that to a plant – how dangerous carbon dioxide is!” Santorum said.
“I stood up and said the science is bogus,” he said. “I said this isn’t climate science. This is political science.”
