NYT's William Broad on Al Gore
Further to Al Gore and his Oscar, William J. Broad of the New York Times had some interesting lines:
But part of his scientific audience is uneasy. In talks, articles and blog entries that have appeared since his film and accompanying book came out last year, these scientists argue that some of Mr. Gore’s central points are exaggerated and erroneous. They are alarmed, some say, at what they call his alarmism.
Don J. Easterbrook: “But there are a lot of inaccuracies in the statements we are seeing, and we have to temper that with real data.”
Kevin Vranes: While praising Mr. Gore for “getting the message out,” Dr. Vranes questioned whether his presentations were “overselling our certainty about knowing the future.”
Some backers concede minor inaccuracies but see them as reasonable for a politician.
Similar things could be said about Jaffe and Lerner on patent reform, but they aren't politicians, or are they?
But part of his scientific audience is uneasy. In talks, articles and blog entries that have appeared since his film and accompanying book came out last year, these scientists argue that some of Mr. Gore’s central points are exaggerated and erroneous. They are alarmed, some say, at what they call his alarmism.
Don J. Easterbrook: “But there are a lot of inaccuracies in the statements we are seeing, and we have to temper that with real data.”
Kevin Vranes: While praising Mr. Gore for “getting the message out,” Dr. Vranes questioned whether his presentations were “overselling our certainty about knowing the future.”
Some backers concede minor inaccuracies but see them as reasonable for a politician.
Similar things could be said about Jaffe and Lerner on patent reform, but they aren't politicians, or are they?
posted by Lawrence B. Ebert at 4:26 PM
2 Comments:
It's no surprise Easterbrook would criticize Gore. Easterbook thinks the earth is cooling and CO2 doesn't cause global warming. If Gore simply read the IPCC report, Easterbrook would say that it's all hype. This article is a hit job on Gore; Easterbook is the one way out of step with science--he's not even a climate scientist. He's a retired geologist.
Read Easterbrook's "global cooling" theories here: http://www.geosociety.org/meetings/2006/pr/wwu.htm
In a fall presentation, Dr. Easterbrook said that many shifts (~10) in temperature as large or larger than those expected from human-caused global warming occured in the last ~20K years. And therefore we shouldn't worry.
I worry about him. The most recent of those jumps occured 8,000 years ago. Humans certainly survived it, but they lived lives with no dependance on agriculture. Our civilization's options don't include wandering across the Bering Strait to find better hunting grounds.
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