Inconvenient Truths and the Inconvenient Honest People Who Tell Them

Some people aren't too happy about Al Gore's new movie An Inconvenient Truth. Guess who? Think Progress has the story: Big Oil Launches Attack On Al Gore:

Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) will unveil two 60-second TV ads focusing on what it calls "global warming alarmism and the call by some environmental groups and politicians to reduce fossil fuel and carbon dioxide emissions."

As usual, all you have to do is follow the money to find out who's more credible. According to Mother Jones, ExxonMobil alone had given almost $1.4 million to CEI as of this time last year.

The root problem here is a textbook-worthy example of what's wrong with our media's constant and inappropriate insistence on "balance," which is achieved by finding some dingbat or dipshit (any ol' dingbat or dipshit will do!) who counters whatever the facts are. Couple that with a big, fat industry that's got plenty of money to provide very believable-sounding dingbats and dipshits, and this is what you get: continued confusion on something that's not confusing.

Say it with me now, and continue to say it as loudly and vociferously as you can whenever and wherever the subject comes up: human-caused global climate change is happening. It is a fact, not a theory, and it is not contested by any impartial scientists.

See this Science Magazine article, The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change:

Some corporations whose revenues might be adversely affected by controls on carbon dioxide emissions have also alleged major uncertainties in the science. Such statements suggest that there might be substantive disagreement in the scientific community about the reality of anthropogenic climate change. This is not the case.

...This analysis [of 928 scientific studies, of which zero disagreed with the concensus position] shows that scientists publishing in the peer-reviewed literature agree with IPCC, the National Academy of Sciences, and the public statements of their professional societies. Politicians, economists, journalists, and others may have the impression of confusion, disagreement, or discord among climate scientists, but that impression is incorrect.

...there is a scientific consensus on the reality of anthropogenic climate change. Climate scientists have repeatedly tried to make this clear. It is time for the rest of us to listen.