I have no doubt that many eco-religionists actually have the welfare on the planet and their fellow human beings in mind when they attempt to cram legislation (draconian measures), and buttinsky ideas into the laws of America. I’m always trying to offer the benefit of the doubt as well, but some of these efforts strain credulity. Here is a list of the top ten enviro-catastrophe items that could not pass muster:
10. California’s Not-so-deadly Air. Bill Clinton and Julia Roberts stumped for California’s Proposition 87 which would tax oil to fund alternative energy research. Mr. Clinton and Ms. Roberts claimed that California’s air is the “worst in the nation” and that it was linked with more asthma, bronchitis, lung cancer, heart disease, lung disease and premature death. But data (as opposed to political rhetoric) indicate that California’s public health is generally better than that of states which fully meet federal air quality standards. Maybe that’s one reason why voters rejected Proposition 87.
9. Food police indict SpongeBob Squarepants.Several anti-fun food activist groups sued Nickelodeon and Kellogg for using cartoon characters to advertise food products to children. “Nickelodeon and Kellogg engage in business practices that literally sicken our children,” the groups claimed. Though the activists attempted to exploit a widely publicized report from the Institute of Medicine concluding that advertising to kids is effective, the IOM report did not examine and, therefore, did not link advertising to kids’ health problems.
8. Woodpecker Racket. The 2005 reported sighting of the thought-to-be-extinct Ivory-billed Woodpecker in eastern Arkansas raised hopes of bird-watchers everywhere. But a prominent bird expert cast serious doubt on the report in 2006, characterizing it as “faith-based” ornithology and “a disservice to science.” But the debunking may not matter. Environmental groups used the dubious sighting to convince a federal judge in July 2006 to stop a nearby $320 million Army Corps of Engineers irrigation project. Given that the anti-development Nature Conservancy funded the “search” for the woodpecker in the first place, the supposed “sighting” turned out to be quite convenient.
7. Low-fat diet myth busted. The widely-held 30-year old notion that low-fat diets are good for your health went “poof” this year. They didn’t reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease or cancer, according to three large studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Sadly, the lesson of low-fat diet myth seems lost on the media which looked the other way as public health nannies fomented the scientifically dubious trans fat scare.
6. Stem cell fraud and futility.Incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi plans to introduce legislation lifting the limits on federal funding of embryonic stem cell (ESC) research. But she ought to pay attention to what did, and what did not happen, in ESC research during 2006. What did happen was the indictment of prominent South Korean ESC researcher Hwang Woo-suk for faking his research. What didn’t happen was any meaningful advance in ESC research. One alleged ESC research advance hyped in the journal Nature (harvesting of ESCs without destroying the embryos) had to be corrected to note that none of the embryos in question actually survived the procedure — oops.
5. Cosmic ray study fails to penetrate lead-lined media.Swedish researchers provided experimental evidence that cosmic rays may be a major factor in climate change. They calculated that just 5 years of cosmic ray activity can have 85 percent of the effect on the Earth’s climate as 200 years of manmade carbon dioxide emissions. Though the study was published in the prestigious Proceedings of the Royal Society A, the findings went largely unreported by the Al Gore-smitten media.
4. Day of Reckoning for DDT Foes? It only took 30 years, tens of millions of lives lost, billions sickened and trillions of dollars of economic growth foregone, but the World Health Organization finally ended its ban on use of the insecticide DDT to kill malaria-bearing mosquitoes. It’s great news for developing nations that want to employ the most affordable and effective anti-malarial tool. So what should happen to those environmental activists and government regulators who used junk science to have DDT banned in the first place?
3. What Hurricane Season?The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s prediction for the 2006 hurricane season was about as wrong as wrong can be. NOAA predicted only a 5 percent chance of a below-normal hurricane season — but a below-normal season is precisely what happened. If NOAA’s experts can be so wrong about an imminent hurricane season, why have any confidence in far more complex predictions of climate change 100 years into the future?
2. Board of Health or Bored of Science? New York City’s Board of Health banned restaurants from serving foods cooked with vegetable oils containing trans fats. It apparently mattered little to the Board that the Food and Drug Administration classifies trans fats as “generally recognized as safe” and that the sort of “science” the Board relied on could also be used to ban potatoes, peas, meat, dairy products and many other food items from restaurants.
1. Some Real Inconvenient Truth.Al Gore whipped the world into a global warming frenzy with his doomsday documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.” Milloy personally asked Mr. Gore to help arrange a debate between scientists about the purported climate catastrophe. He declined (twice) without explanation — leaving me to wonder why global warming alarmists are unwilling to explain why they believe in non-validated and always-wrong computer guess-timations of future climate change rather than actual temperature measurements and greenhouse-effect physics that indicate manmade emissions of greenhouse gases are not a problem.
View the complete “Top Ten Junk Science Moments for 2006” report here.
February 13, 2007 at 12:13 am
Wow! These are numerous sacred cows being trampled on. Good Job!
February 13, 2007 at 12:21 am
I would like to see science and engineering (full disclosure, I am an Engineer) be returned to the realm of scientists and engineers. Science and engineering should be released from the ignorant analyses of the media, our politicians and screen guild artists.
February 13, 2007 at 1:19 am
Thanks, what a great summary! It is sad that things like this make us less and less trusting of the media.
February 13, 2007 at 1:26 am
Most of these are full of fallacies.
10. You’re confusing correlation with causation. There are many other factors other then polution that affect health. Also, California’s air has gotten a whole lot better because of their world-leading pollution standards. If you don’t believe that pollution affects health, there is something deeply wrong with you.
6. Yes there was a fraud, but the scientific community ferreted it out by themselves, that’s how science works. The main error here was that the paper was published by the mass media not by peer reviewed science journals, so blame them, not the scientific community. Also, the media has hyped the short term potential of stem cell research, not the scientists. Stem cell research is the most promising area of medicine, but it will likely take decades before we see real breakthroughs, longer if it’s not funded properly, and no scientist worht the title will pretend otherwise. They’ve been studying cancer for 50 years, should they stop because we didn’t see the expected results?
5. Several other scientific studies have demonstrated that this one study was incorrect. Again, that’s how science works. Somebody comes up with a hypothesis, and everyone else tries to disprove it. If it passes the test, then it is accepted as representative of reality. This one wasn’t. Funny how people accept ONE study as gospel, but refute the 100s that disagree with it.
4. It wasn’t junk science, and banning DDT was the right thing to do. DDT is nasty stuff that stays in nature for a long time and brought many species to the brink of extinction (actually some did go extinct). The WHO now wants to allow it in Africa because nothing else has been able to curb malaria so DDT is now considered the lesser evil, but they still consider it very NASTY stuff that shouldn’t be used anywhere else.
3. You’re confusing climate and weather, two very different things. Weather is very hard to predict beyond 48 hours. But climate only speaks of general tendencies, not individual events. Also, on a global basis 2006 was actually a very bad hurricane season. it just so happened that it wasn’t the case in the Atlantic, likely because an El Nino changed the circulation patterns.
2. This one is related to 7. The problem with low-fat diets is that not all fats are equal. Trans-fat have been very conclusively shown to be by far the worst fat, while other fats are actually good for you (like Omega 3). Nutrition Science is very difficult but like all areas of science, it is getting better all the time. When they find new information, they bring it out, but governments often do not adopt it, usually because of industry lobby. The FDA simply hasn’t updated their recommendations, probably because of those industry lobby groups. Same reason they back-tracked on recommending reducing potato, beef, and sugar consumption.
1. Why would it be Gore’s responsiblity to setup such a debate? Also, many scientist have stopped getting into such debates because it legitimizes the deniers and leads nowhere. Still, there has been plenty of such debates, and the deniers have virtually no peer reviewed research or papers to back their claims. They keep repeating the same old tired arguments that have been debunked many times over (like the argument that a mojority of glaciers are actually growing, which you can debunk yourself by going to http://www.geo.unizh.ch/wgms/). So what’s the point? The deniers who pass themselves for scientist are largely people who haven’t done any research in 15-20 years (if ever) and are on the payroll of lobby groups and PR agencies. They keep repeating falsehoods because the mass media is scientifically illiterate and just repeats the same fallacies and lots of people (like you, apparently), latch on to those fallacies because it makes them feel better.
You should use a little critical thinking and verify the facts before making such false claims.
February 13, 2007 at 1:42 am
I forgot to mention… That is a pretty funny cartoon at the top. Unfortunately it perpetuates the misconception that global warming means hotter weather everywhere, all the time. Global warming predictions include shifting weather patterns, and more extreme weather events, including more blizzards and cold snaps.
February 13, 2007 at 2:11 am
Hi Tammi,
Gee, I would never do a post that would hurt anyones feelings. Surely you know that.
;-)~
February 13, 2007 at 2:17 am
Hi Civis,
I agree.
There’s talk of a new Hollywood based civil liberties organization with an environmental twist. The tentative name is ” I Act, Therefore I’m Brilliant” and promises to provide meaningful, and humorous, commentary on all manner of government, science, history, military tactics and architectural design. Guest actors will occasionally speak to basic engineering, raising children and how to persuade people using their own emotions against them.
I can’t wait.
February 13, 2007 at 2:22 am
Hi neil,
I’m with you. General distrust of media, among other things, has led to a cynicism about American society in general.
Granted, the young have little to compare biased media reports to and this is the greatest shame because soon, the young will be us and they’ll have lot’s of hard decisions to make.
Let’s hope the ability to seperate hype and agenda driven media from reality has been learned by then.
Hank
February 13, 2007 at 2:35 am
Hi tga,
I’m not going to take the time to bicker with you about minor details and your very large presumptions about subjects I’m certain you know about in a cursory way only.
Also, when your wordy explanations boil down to fraud, flawed data, semantics,confusion and bribery, well, what can I say?
It’s clear your sold on everything that promotes a radical green agenda, and that’s ok.
Thanks for commenting.
We don’t get too many PHd’s in a half dozen subjects.
Further information on all 10 items is available here:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,236598,00.html
February 13, 2007 at 2:39 am
Oh, and I think the new term is climate change. I’m sure a new, more vague name will be dreamed up soon.
This means cool, cold, warm, hot..the climate is changing and global warming is the cause.
Hurricanes,snowstorms,Tsunami,drought,deep freezes…all caused by global warming.
You don’t need any science at all to make claims like this, now do you?
February 13, 2007 at 2:40 am
Ah yes, that very reliable source of information, Fox News.
February 13, 2007 at 2:43 am
I can’t help it if your a cynic and assume everyone falsifies information to further their agenda, like your pals in the 10 scams above.
February 13, 2007 at 2:46 am
Funny, you’re extremely cynical towards me, and accuse me of being cynical. You say I assume everyone (meaning a few deniers and Fox News) falsifies information for their own agenda, while you accuse thousands of scientists of doing just that.
February 13, 2007 at 4:36 am
Poor Spongebob. First he’s accused of being gay. Now he’s encouraging obesity of fat children. Why can’t he just live peacefully in his ocean under the sea? :P
February 13, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Wow, well done icaptainlysee:
1. Spread fallacies from dubious sources ( Fox News and a Conservative PR organization called junkscience.com)
2. When confronted by someone who questions the veracity of those claims, attack the person instead of the arguments (understandable, since you obviously know nothing of what you are talking about).
3. Accuse the other side of doing exactly what you are doing yourself
4. Hold the other side to a different standard: TGA would need to have 6 PHDs to counter those fallacies, but you, or Fox News, don’t need the same level of education to support them!
You have no credibility whatsoever, neither does Fox News. And if you dig a little bit you will see that junkscience.com has noe credibility either. Purely a PR organization created specifically to slow-down any legislation that might negatively impact industry by casting doubt in people’s mind as to the validity of the science. The same tactics were used by tobacco companies, and now by Exxon-Mobil. Although Exxon has now changed their tune and are even pretending that they never denied the validity of Anthropogenic (I know, big word, you might want to look it up) Climate Change.
February 13, 2007 at 2:01 pm
tga,
Let’s not waste each others time. I’m aware that your deeply emotionally involved in your pseudo religion of earth worship coupled with your assumptions everyone else is just too stupid to see all the facts like you do.
This coupling of egotism, narcissism, and cultish zeal cannot be overcome by reason.
I have no axe to grind in presenting factual scientific information. Some of your holiest oxen have been gored, so I understand your arrogant dismissal.
I see you’ve picked up the latest PC lingo: denier. Yes, just like holocaust deniers, these buffoons who ignore global eco-doom are evil naysayers obviously profiting from the satanic gasoline combustion engine. No sense hiding your desire to use “science” to further your far left wing agenda.
I’m certain you would have the tongues cut out of dissenters like your weather superheroine, Heidi Cullen, and I’m equally certain you would deny that. You are, after all, just a sweet person who loves this planet and wants everyone to respect Mother Earth.
READ THIS NEXT PART CAREFULLY: Don’t bother responding with high school debating techniques. It’s boring and frankly, I have no interest in working to persude you.
I’m not cynical. I’m tired of condescending know it alls. Go find fellow doom and gloom Rhodes Scholars to share your thoughts with.
Al Gores’ flood will never happen.
Trust me.
February 13, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Sduford,
I don’t think tga needs your defense, so save it.
Anthropogenic? A new big word is added to establish legitimacy. Nice tactic.
Fine, I’m a fraud and you defend the weak with truth and righteousness, so clearly your morally superior and I’m evil.
Try and enjoy the rest of your life.
Just, go do it somewhere else.
February 13, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Hi Joshua,
Spongebob is a public menace, like Foxnews and Walmart.
I know your inclination is to be kind and forgiving, but someone has got to stop this madness before it’s too late.
Collecting cans from the side of the road and lowering the temp to 60 during the winter should provide enough cash to make a hefty donation to a green cause near you.
Please be encouraged to save the planet and let me know how it goes.
Hank =;-)~
February 13, 2007 at 2:51 pm
You’re right, this discussion is leading nowhere. You haven’t advanced a shred of evidence, just personal attacks.
Shows you’re true nature.
February 13, 2007 at 2:53 pm
“Global warming predictions include shifting weather patterns, and more extreme weather events, including more blizzards and cold snaps.”
Global warming is such a handy tautology. Hotter weather? Global warming. Colder weather? Global warming. Lots of hurricanes? Global warming. No hurricanes? Global warming.
The good news is that I’m employed by a major manufacturer of air conditioners and heaters, so the extremes are beneficial to us.
I’m all for higher mileage vehicles and reducing / re-using / recycling, but these shrill environmentalists often have a bizarre worldview and their ideas, if implemented, would have a lot of unintended consequences.
February 13, 2007 at 3:29 pm
I also believe all people have a god of some kind, There is no such thing as an atheist in reality. Maybe food, money, shopping, sex..you name it. There may be the absence of a personal relationship with God, but something is worshipped in every life, everyone is spiritual.
The Green Atheist has chosen earth worship, not uncommon or even new. Most ancient pagans worshipped the earth or things of the earth. So it is today, the prime difference being communicating your ideas about such things with rapidity and the spread of everything from solstice festivals to Wicca to New Age, and, of course, Mother Earth, AKA, Mother Nature.
A fundamental in pagan ritual is to dismiss the Christian God, and to work to force others to do so as well. No God, no absolute higher moral authority, no absolute right and wrong, no need to sweat whatever behavior in which you choose to participate.
Ultimately, free will to do what you’d like is exercised in many poorly chosen ways.
February 13, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Too funny! In other words … global warming is your friend Neil.
Just curious — does anybody think that global warming might be the reason that pesky woodpecker hasn’t been seen again? Because my daughter goes to Cornell, I can tell you that this elitist university did score a brand new ornithology lab from this scam. Pretty smart, huh? :)
February 13, 2007 at 4:00 pm
The climate, it is said is warming up.
Debates on whether its man-made or natural
is getting even hotter.
There are some who says it is real.
There are some who will say it is not.
The cartoonist obviously does not believe,
as seen above.
(Or may be he is just doing a job, regardless of what he honestly believes
or disbelieves).
Does it really matter if it is us or
is the inevitable result of nature’s law?
Have we not always said
let nature run her own course
or nature will always have her a way?
If there is no real warming, then hey, why waste our time worrying unnecessarily.
If it is for real,
and we are due for being roasted alive
in years to come,
why worry about that either?
We won’t be here.
Its no burnt skin of my nose.
Its our grandchildren
and their children and grandchildren
who will be crackling and sizzling,
choking and wheezing in a lovely warm haze,
who will be chronically suffering thirst
and drowning in salty sea water,
or have cancerous sores on their skin…
why should we worry about them?
We don’t even know
or will ever come to know
who they are.
Why should we worry about strangers?
I prefer to live an easy
and comfortable life.
If it warms up the earth a bit, so be it.
After all in my generation
I will be contributing to a meager rise of
1°C.
Sorry, for me it is even easier.
I don’t have children,
so it won’t be my descendants
who will be burning.
It will yours, yours and yours…and yours.
So why should I care.
If we are gifting them with hell on earth
they should jolly well be grateful
that we are leaving something at all.
The killing climate?
blame it on Mother Nature.
February 13, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Right on Little Indian :)
February 13, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Yeah Little Indian — but do you have any insight on that evasive woodpecker?
February 13, 2007 at 4:57 pm
icanplainlysee said – “Spongebob is a public menace, like Foxnews and Walmart.”
The laziness of the general public is the real problem.
Spongebob would not be making children fat if their parents didn’t buy the crap without even reading the label.
Foxnews wouldn’t have any viewers if people were actually interested in the news.
Wallmart wouldn’t have the whole pie if it wasn’t just easier to go to their store over going to three different ones.
February 13, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Hi Tammi,
Apparently, underlying all the “greater good” and liberal socialist drivel, there’s a strong strain of capitalism.
=;-)~
February 13, 2007 at 6:58 pm
Hi Kita,
People should treat their kids to a happy meal now and again, but not gorge them daily out of laziness. Then again, cheap fast food is a good thing if your poor, and feeds a lot of people.
I watch Foxnews, not for the flip side to the biased, lefty sales pitch of the MSM, but because they have the hottest news gals. Harris Faulkner, I think that’s her name..I see the way she looks at me. Uh huh.
Walmart also provides low priced, high (relatively speaking) quality items stacked high and deep and they’re everywhere. I love Walmart.
=;-)~
February 13, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Hi Indian,
I like your sense of humor.
I would only caution that just because you don’t resign from reality and pledge undying love for earth worship and join the faith-based enviro-zealots doesnt mean your selfish or too lazy to pay attention.
Thanks for coming by!
February 13, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Scientists, journalists, bloggers…all suffer from the same fatal disease – humanity.
Anyone who believes a lab coat or a press pass relieves someone of having opinions and biases has never talked earnestly with someone in one of those professions with whom they personally disagree.
tga – Get over yourself. There are plenty of rational, serious scientists and journalists who don’t buy into the current thinking on global climate change. That doesn’t mean they are kooks or right-wing nutjobs…it means that the biases they have lead them to interpret the same data to have a different meaning. That happens to sane, rational people in the business world all the time; science is not exempt nor to be held in any higher regard than those who wear less spiffy outfits in their day-to-day life.
By the way, your argument regarding point #10 above – never addressed what ican was saying. That makes it fairly easy to dismiss some of your other arguments.
Not hatin’; jus’ sayin’…
February 14, 2007 at 3:47 am
Hi Scrap,
“science is not exempt nor to be held in any higher regard than those who wear less spiffy outfits in their day-to-day life.”
Lmao
I gotta remember that.
Hank
February 14, 2007 at 5:20 am
so many great blogs on wordpress. Nice job here, icanplainlysee. adding to my blogroll.
regards,
nuke
February 14, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Gotta love it: HOUSE HEARING ON ‘WARMING OF THE PLANET’ CANCELED AFTER ICE STORM
February 14, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Neil, interview with Ellen Goodman in an attempt to ease her fear and panic. lol
Thanks Nuke, I liked your stuff too and I’m reciprocating.
February 14, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Scrapwood said: “tga – Get over yourself. There are plenty of rational, serious scientists and journalists who don’t buy into the current thinking on global climate change.”
OK, then show me one. Show me one active scientist who works in the climatology field and has published climate research in a major peer-reviewed sciece journal in the last 10 years and who denies anthropogenic cliamte change. Name him, and provide a link to his research, and I will “get over myself”. I’m not asking for much, just one. Should be easy since you know “plenty of them”.
February 14, 2007 at 9:21 pm
I should add that there are actually a few people who match the above criteria, 3 or 4. But all of their research has been demonstrated to be false by further research.
But let’s see what you can come up with.
February 14, 2007 at 10:02 pm
tga,
Just in case your carried away with the cause of the moment: http://iconoclast.wordpress.com/2007/02/08/the-man-who-changed-my-mind-about-global-warming/#comment-3422
February 14, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Tga,
The good old “consensus argment” is fraying about the edges. Prehaps the best response The Beast has come across is this: where are we hearing that “The vast majority of climate scientists agree there is climate change and humanity is at fault” from? Have you spoken to all those scientists recently?
No, we are hearing this from the climate change advocacy itself; hardly dispassionate, neutral observers.
Furthermore, they go to enormous efforts to smear anybody who has another theory – even using Holocaust-style metaphors, hence your oddly specific requirements of:
“one active scientist who works in the climatology field and has published climate research in a major peer-reviewed sciece journal in the last 10 years and who denies anthropogenic cliamte change”.
This plays to an ideological strong point – Academia, where the message can be controlled via grant awards, tenure &c. Of course, “science” is not “women’s studies”: science will eventually discover the truth, no matter how angry it makes the other departments.
People who have the facts on their side do not work so assiduously to squelch debate – they welcome it. The message is quite clear: do not disagree publicly or you will be destroyed. Shut up and take the grant money. The Enviroes are playing a stalling game right now, perhaps hoping that the warming of the 90’s (which has stopped since 2001) will crank up again.
Anybody who stakes his future fortunes on predicting the weather is asking for disappointment and disaster – ask any TV Meteorologist (but ask soon because most of them don’t buy climate change either and are coping with calls to remove their certification as a result, so they will probably shut up quickly to keep their jobs).
The Climate Change ship has sprung a leak and The Beast does not envy you the task of keeping everybody on board as it goes down.
February 18, 2007 at 1:15 am
Thanks, Hank, for the good reading. :)
The DDT ban is especially insane. I can understand (somewhat) banning it in countries without malaria (like the US), but the worldwide ban – and a million kids who die every year – is insane.
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April 16, 2007 at 4:38 pm
[…] let us gift them with hell on earth I found this comment of mine I had made on another site. […]