Topic: Its Hotting Up.

[Steve Wakefield]

Copenhagen Climate Summit, is hotting up (no pun intended)

It's going to be an interesting time politically for some, what with climate gate and all the world leaders being there. 

[Geoff Reid]

I'm interested to see whether the ripples from 'Climate Gate' will reduce the number times dissenting debate surrounding other social and political topics are 'shut down' with the phrases:  "The science shows" & "The evidence shows"

Government is rarely interested in the scientific facts unless they happen to, or can be made to align with the policy of the day. When the facts don't support the policy, (See Professor David Nutt's 'Estimating Drug Harms' report for a stunning example of this), the politicians at first sack, and then try to discredit whoever disagrees with them.

But are the policy makers concerned when the policy-supportive scientists discredit themselves by massaging, destroying and altering data, whilst simultaneously trying to suppress the views of other scientists who disagree with them?

They don't seem to be.....


   

[komadori]

Would you expect them to be? What some of the scientists have done is normal behaviour for many politicians.

[Mart]

I agree with this:

But even if we accept that the climate is warming, nobody has yet convinced us it's mainly down to our activities. The official line is that the link has been proved, but the people who say that have never presented the evidence in an open and transparent form that we can examine for ourselves. They simply assert it, present a load of hyped up exaggerated garbage like Gore's lamentable film, and rant hysterically at anyone who dares to question their authority.

But that's simply not good enough. It's not good enough for Brown and Miliband to close down debate by telling me and 60% of the UK population that we're flat-earthers. It's not good enough for them to tell us we have to go on with the green taxes and all the rest just because the world is warming. If the world is warming for natural rather than manmade reasons, making ourselves poorer by stifling our economy is not going to help - on the contrary, it will render us much less able to afford the costs of adaptation.

It's the hysterical ranting that gets on my bleedin nerves as well.

I also wonder about the correctness of shifting every bugger off to Copenhagen (Didn't Danny Kaye write a book about the Mermaid there?) Ever here of video conferencing you pompous posturing buffoons?

[komadori]

But even if we accept that the climate is warming, nobody has yet convinced us it's mainly down to our activities. The official line is that the link has been proved, but the people who say that have never presented the evidence in an open and transparent form that we can examine for ourselves. They simply assert it, present a load of hyped up exaggerated garbage like Gore's lamentable film, and rant hysterically at anyone who dares to question their authority.

But this is now an argument that's so heated that however rationally and transparently the evidence of the other side (whichever side that so happens to be) is presented, their opponents just label it 'exaggerated garbage'. Plenty of evidence has been presented, but the politically motivated on both sides are not listening to what the others have to say.

It's the hysterical ranting that gets on my bleedin nerves as well.

It is unfortunate that the evidence has been thoroughly drowned by the hysteria emanating from both sides. There's far too much hysterical ranting about… alleged hysterical ranting.