It’s the latest meme among commentators who want to downplay or dismiss concerns about climate change: those doomsayers are just like the Rapture wackos! Three examples:
- Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby: “The May 21 apocalypse foretold by the fundamentalist minister Harold Camping never materialized, but end-of-the-world doomsaying goes on as usual among the global warmists.”
- Syndicated columnist Jay Ambrose: “You can, on the one hand, listen to Bill McKibben, who says the raging Midwest and Southern tornadoes are still another sign of global warming doom. Or you can listen to Harold Camping, who recently announced the world would go kaput not too long after Christians were sent heavenward on May 21 by none other than God himself.”
- Detroit News editorial-page editor Nolan Finley: “The rapture predicters are no more looney than those who want to connect the serial natural disasters to global warming.”
As with Al Gore, Camping and company are a lot easier to dismiss than atmospheric scientists.
Here is a splendid account of how D.R. Tucker, a Massachusetts conservative, moved from denial to acceptance as he immersed himself in the facts. Well worth reading.
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Matt Kelly
Increases in temperature accelerate the water cycle. More water in the air means more energy in the air, means changes in weather patterns AT THE MARGINS– big tornadoes get a bit worse, cold snaps get a bit colder, large hurricanes drift a bit further north, etc.
I just get exasperated by the climate-change deniers, who think that because Boston isn’t becoming the new Orlando, global warming must be a myth. It’s the change at the margins that happens, and often with serious consequences.
Bill Duncliffe
Timing is everything…
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/04/07/climate-models-go-cold/
Dan Kennedy
@Bill: Yes, by the notorious David Evans. Very impressive.
Mike Benedict
So Jeff Jacoby is, in no particular order, an expert on climate, religion, international politics, economics AND finance.
Wow. He’s God, isn’t “He?”
Mike Stucka
Always worth posting in such threads (links to small JPG, safe for work)
Al Quint
Nothing new from Jacoby. In a 2007 column, Jacoby quoted the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who advocate for the anti-climate change crowd.
Jeff’s article: http://www.jeffjacoby.com/334/hot-words-on-global-warming
Source watch: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Competitive_Enterprise_Institute
ben starr
This piece does a nice job on the topic.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2011/05/31/136817357/science-deniers-hand-over-your-cellphones?sc=fb&cc=fp