February 2, 2007

$10,000 Awards Offered for Scientists to Undermine Climate-Change Report

The American Enterprise Institute has offered scientists and economists $10,000 each to write critical reviews of a report issued today by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, according to an article in The Guardian, a British newspaper. The institute, a right-leaning think tank that has received more than $1.6-million from Exxon Mobil, wrote letters to scientists asking for essays that “thoughtfully explore the limitations of climate model outputs,” The Guardian reported. The climate-change panel, which represents more than 1,000 scientists, issued this morning its strongest indictment yet of humanity’s role in global warming, calling the evidence “unequivocal.”

Comments

1. What, exactly, would essays that “thoughtfully explore the limitations of climate model outputs” contribute to the discussion? I thought the point was that there is actual science pointing to human agency in climate change. Or does rationalization trump science at the AEI? PJT

   — Philip J Tramdack    Feb 5, 08:12 AM    #

2. Apparently, $$s will trump science.

   — ~darrell in dallas    Feb 5, 10:25 AM    #

3. Obviously, the AEI wants “truthiness” instead of “truth.”

   — Someone    Feb 5, 10:29 AM    #

4. What does the AEI hope to accomplish? That’s simple – a chipping away of public confidence in the report. I suspect that very few people outside the scientific community, and probably even within the general scientific community, have actually read the report. Expanding on a few controversial aspects of the report will we used to erode public confidence in the findings in genaral. Look at “State of Fear” by Michael Crichton. What are people going to remember, an in-depth scientific report or a conspiracy theory? At $10,000 a pop this may be a good investment in disinformation.

   — Henry Brezenoff    Feb 5, 10:30 AM    #

5. I sit at my desk with my head shaking in disbelief. How long will it take before those with “politically right mindsets” will realize that their tunnel vision regarding climate change is not “right” after all? A $10,000 AWARD! Awards should be given only to those who are truly interested in the welfare of our Earth and all of its inhabitants instead of those who work for political lobbiests. We’re running out of time.

   — Janet Giesen    Feb 5, 11:12 AM    #

6. How about awards for essays that thoughtfully explore the American Enterprise Institute’s conflicts of interest and competence?

   — Peter Kaufmann    Feb 5, 11:29 AM    #

7. The scary part is all those folks who will believe the scientists who have been bribed.

   — nancy    Feb 5, 12:40 PM    #

8. This is exactly the same thing that big tobacco and their think-tanks did. Try to use (supposed) science in the attempt simply to raise doubts, whether they are legitmate or not. Just try to keep the door open that all this on global warming jsut might not be right. At the very least, it is despicable as science, which it is not. It is deplorable as a self-centered approach to human health and the future of the planet.

   — David D-VA    Feb 5, 02:10 PM    #

9. This is not surprising at all.
   See the Union of Concerned Scientists section on Global Warming:
   http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/

   In particular:
   “Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air – How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco’s Tactics
   to Manufacture Uncertainty on Climate Science”
   http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/global_warming/exxon_report.pdf

   See for example pages 9-10 of the report:
   “In 1998, ExxonMobil helped create a small
   task force calling itself the “Global Climate Science
   Team” (GCST).”
   ...and later…
   “A 1998 GCST task force memo outlined an
   explicit strategy to invest millions of dollars to
   manufacture uncertainty on the issue of global
   warming—a strategy that directly emulated
   Big Tobacco’s disinformation campaign. Despite
   mounting scientific evidence of the changing climate,
   the goal the team outlined was simple and
   familiar. As the memo put it, “Victory will be
   achieved when average citizens understand (recognize)
   uncertainties in climate science” and when
   public “recognition of uncertainty becomes part
   of the ‘conventional wisdom.’””

   — Someone Else    Feb 5, 02:22 PM    #

10. I’ll take 10K to write a specious refutation. Can I get it in advance?

    — CarlS    Feb 5, 03:10 PM    #

11. All anyone who doubts the vaildity of climate change needs to do is talk to someone who has been involved in farming or gardening for an extended period. There can be no doubt that the earth’s climate is changing, and increasingly rapidly. Rather than waste money attempting to cast doubt on the fact of climate change Exxon Mobile would be serving its shareholders, and the rest of the world, better by investing the same money into an exploration of ways to ameliorate the impact of climate change.

    — Susan    Feb 5, 06:56 PM    #

12. When will the oil companies learn it is best for their company & stockholders to re-engineer themselves & call themselves “Energy Companies”. Then take their big profits & spend some money on research & development of alternative energy.

    — Jane A.    Feb 6, 07:39 AM    #

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