Got a helpful e-mail from Fiona Harvey, regarding my comments on her post. Apparently, I missed the “insider”, the more detailed article inside the front cover of the print edition of the newspaper :-
“Research says climate change undeniable” : By Fiona Harvey, Environment Correspondent, Published: July 28 2010
https://www.joabbess.com/2010/07/30/fiona-harvey-whoops-cat/
Fiona wrote :-
“…it is not always immediately apparent online, where stories get separated, but in yesterday’s paper this was essentially part one of a two part story, the second part of which was published inside, there being top little room for all the detail on the front page. The two stories should really be read together…”
I think that second part of the story must be this article :-
https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/77bc6952-9a7b-11df-87fd-00144feab49a.html
“New climate data reignite debate” : By Fiona Harvey : Published: July 28 2010
This piece is written almost entirely from the point of view of Climate Change Science, and would have received a gold star from me, had it not been for the last paragraph :-
“Sceptics remain unconvinced. Myron Ebell, of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said: “I think climategate is nowhere near done and people will become more sceptical as they find out more and more about how these conclusions were not based on science but were in fact based on political calculation.” ”
Which Myron Ebell is that, then ? The Myron Ebell of that Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) that promotes the idea that “light” use of DDT can solve malaria (despite the evidence for DDT resistance in insects, that DDT kills birds (natural predators for mosquitos), and the toxic effects on humans from DDT) :-
That Competitive Enterprise Institute that ran a smear campaign on Rachel Carson :-
That Competitive Enterprise Institute that has been documented as being involved in a number of anti-science public relations exercises, some of which are detailed in Naomi Oreskes’ new book “The Merchants of Doubt”, co-written with Erik M. Conway.
Which I’d advise everybody, including Fiona Harvey, and her editor, to read.
Scepticism and denial of Climate Change Science are nothing new. And the same anti-science techniques have been used to lobby on other issues, such as the control of acid rain, ozone depletion and tobacco.
I don’t want to read the opinions of unqualified anti-science propagandists, financed by the Oil and Gas companies, quoted in the Financial Times. I want Fiona Harvey’s editor to get an education about how deeply compromised and how wrong anti-science groups and spokespersons are.
Nobody should be told to phone Myron Ebell for an opinion about Climate Change. You might just as well ask Jeremy Clarkson about how to make sponge cake, if you want accuracy in reporting Science.
https://www.desmogblog.com/international-scientists-confirm-climate-change-undeniable
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-hoggan/international-scientists_b_662967.html
https://myron-ebell.blogspot.com/2010/07/why-does-fiona-harvey-care-what-myron.html
A little backgrounder :-
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Myron_Ebell
“…Though he likes to bash scientists for working outside their degreed fields, Ebell, it turns out, isn’t a scientist at all,” a Vanity Fair article on Ebell stated. “He majored in philosophy at the University of California in San Diego, then studied political theory at the London School of Economics and history at Cambridge.”…”
https://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/personfactsheet.php?id=280