The Science of Intimidation

DAVOS/SWITZERLAND, 30JAN05 – Al Gore, Chairman, Generation Investment Management LLP, USA, makes a statement during the Closing Plenary: Photo by Severin Nowacki

In 2006, Al Gore announced that unless “drastic measures” were taken to reduce greenhouse gasses, the earth in 10 years would reach “a point of no return,” in which notably the Arctic Ocean would be largely free of sea ice. Guess what? The ice is still there, writes Richard W. Rahn in The Washington Times. This is the same Al Gore who joined New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and a dozen state attorneys general in investigating donations made by fossil fuel companies. The state attorneys are miffed at the questions the fossil fuel companies are raising about some of the “science” used by the global warming crowd.

Richard Rahn now has the dubious distinction of having his name added to a “Global Warming Disinformation Database,” which he maintains is nothing more than modern-day Lysenkoism.

Forbes magazine explains that Lysenkoism was “ … ’politically correct’ (a term invented by Lenin) because it was consistent with certain broader Marxist doctrines. … Scientists who promoted Lysenkoism with faked data and destroyed counterevidence were favored with government funding and official recognition and award. Lysenko and his followers and media acolytes responded to critics by impugning their motives, and denouncing them as bourgeois fascists resisting the advance of the new modern Marxism.”

As Mr. Rahn explains:

My heresy and that of the researchers at CEI and many other institutions that have been critical of the so-called global warming consensus is not that we do not believe climate change is occurring — it always has and always will — but that the science of climate change is still too primitive to make definitive predictions about causes and effects. Yes, pumping carbon dioxide into a greenhouse in the sunlight will cause it to warm, but the earth is far more complex than a greenhouse. Remember how the global warming crowd told us we were going to have more tornadoes and Atlantic hurricanes? We have actually had fewer tornadoes and a record low level of Atlantic hurricanes over the last decade.

The reason the climate Lysenkoists are so vitriolic in their denunciation of those of us who question is that most of them depend in one way or another on government grants or employment that would disappear if it was determined there was no crisis at hand. The political classes thrive on never-ending crises, because those give them reasons to spend, tax and regulate more. Better to try to shut us up, even if it requires imposing fines and jail time, rather than cut off the climate-crisis gravy train.

Debbie Young

Debbie, editor-in-chief of Richardcyoung.com, has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over three decades. When not in Key West, Debbie spends her free time researching and writing in and about Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, and practicing yoga.