Al Gore, former vice president and current Jedi master of climate change, took his new book to CBS studios last month, where Katie Couric rolled out an old and rusty argument of the climate skeptics. Isn't it the case, she wanted to know, that scientific consensus on climate change is falling apart? Citing a Wall Street Journal article, she said 'someone named Joanne Simpson, the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, doubts humans cause climate change.'
One may be tempted to think, hearing this interview, that my gosh, if the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology has doubts, we must all have doubts, ergo, surely we needn’t do anything. Yet Couric’s question demonstrates how arguments such as this, which distort what little factual basis may exist, get swept up blindly in the media’s echo chamber and begin to acquire a life of their own.
I don’t know what Couric’s own thoughts are about such climate change arguments but in this instance she didn’t demonstrate any inclination to evaluate the merits of the arguments. I do know that, as CBS News’ $15 million headliner, she is responsible for delivering viewers and dollars in the super-competitive media industry. The Force was not with Jedi Gore at that moment, and he responded to Couric’s question about climate skeptics with the sigh made (in)famous during his debates with George Bush in the 2000 presidential campaign. Seizing on the opportunity, Couric zinged Gore for his reaction. Score one for Couric and CBS News, score zero for Gore and the public’s climate literacy.
As background, I had the honor of introducing someone named Joanne and Robert Simpson at the Library of Congress in May, 1992, at which they made a presentation entitled “The Scientific Progeny of Chicago’s Carl-Gustov Rossby: From Weather Prediction to Global Warming.” I have great respect for both Simpsons, their accomplishments, and believe their arguments should be given full consideration.
Let me be clear that I’m not opposed to skepticism about climate change or anything else. In fact, one should as a matter of course be skeptical and never accept unquestioningly what one is told, regardless of the source (this article included). We have numerous examples of the disastrous effects of an unquestioning acceptance of media distortions, including recently the reporting by the New York Times during the run up to the Iraq war. We should learn from that and other experiences, and not make the same mistake about climate change. Let’s look more closely first at what the Wall Street Journal reported and then at what Joanne Simpson has actually written.
Kimberly Strassel provided the fodder in June to the climate skeptics, claiming in the Wall Street Journal that the number of skeptics is swelling everywhere. "Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe now counts more than 700 scientists who disagree with the U.N. -- 13 times the number who authored the U.N.'s 2007 climate summary for policymakers. Joanne Simpson, the world's first woman to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, expressed relief upon her retirement last year that she was finally free to speak 'frankly' of her nonbelief."
One gets the impression from Strassel that Simpson had held her tongue under threat from a green mob, but that is hardly the case. What Simpson actually wrote in Climate Science in February 2008 was that "since I am no longer affiliated with any organization nor receive any funding, I can speak quite frankly" and that "I decided to keep quiet in this controversy until I had a positive contribution to make." Simpson further decried the fact that both sides of the climate debate are now hurling “personal epithets” at each other. Simpson’s reputation for scientific integrity seems well deserved.
Yet as to her belief about climate change, Simpson wrote “there is no doubt that atmospheric greenhouse gases are rising rapidly and little doubt that some warming and bad ecological events are occurring.” What does she have to say about Gore and climate policy? “Decisions have to be made on incomplete information. In this case, we must act on the recommendations of Gore and the IPCC because if we do not reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and the climate models are right, the planet as we know it will in this century become unsustainable. But as a scientist I remain skeptical . . . “
The lead witness for the climate skeptics turns out to be one of the best witnesses for those who call for immediate action. Failure to act is to risk finding that life as we know it on this planet will become unsustainable. After the recent crash on Wall Street, who wants to bear that risk?
@katiecouric: Al Gore http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5500244n&tag=api&tag=nl.e889
The Climate Change Climate Change, by Kimberly Strassel http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124597505076157449.html
TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) Data Set Potential in Climate Controversy, by Joanne Simpson, private citizen http://climatesci.org/2008/02/27/trmm-tropical-rainfall-measuring-mission-data-set-potential-in-climate-controversy-by-joanne-simpson-private-citizen/
Stuart M. Whitaker is a finance, technology, and policy consultant, with an MBA from the University of Chicago.
(wa091111)
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