2008 Woodie Awards
College Republicans Misconstrue and Mislead
Stephen Po-Chedley
Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: Opinions
The College Republican's table on "The Other Side of Climate Change: Global Cooling - 2 Myths Debunked!" needs to be addressed as it contained some dangerous, factual missteps. The information was based on editorials, out of context data, flawed information from a Republican think tank, and information from Robert Cook, a self-identified conservative with ties to oil, gas, and timber and a professor of ancient marine geology (he is largely discredited by those who study climate change professionally).
The opening assertion of the Republican's "fact sheet" implies that cooling in the upper atmosphere means that the globe, as a whole, is cooling. Warming in the lower atmosphere (information omitted by the Republicans) with cooling in the upper atmosphere fits the greenhouse gas model perfectly. Briefly, as heat is trapped at low altitudes (troposphere), this heat energy cannot reach higher altitudes (stratosphere). When taken out of context, as on the information sheet, upper atmospheric cooling can be misleading to those not familiar with the science.
Much of the information was copied directly from an 11-year old article written by the National Center for Policy Analysis (regarded as a Republican think tank). Within that article, a non-existent 16-year old Gallup Poll is cited, which was invented by George Will on September 3, 1992 in the Washington Post. The poll stated that just 17 percent of scientists believe in global warming - this statistic does not exist, but similar polls at the time show that 66 percent of scientists believed that human induced global warming was already occurring.
The Republicans cited this sentence from the IPCC website, "The IPCC does not conduct any research, nor does it monitor climate or related phenomena." While I could not find this sentence on the IPCC website, similar information, copied contextually and in entirety is the official mandate of the IPCC: "The IPCC was established to provide the decision-makers and others interested in climate change with an objective source of information about climate change. The IPCC does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters. Its role is to assess on a comprehensive, objective, open and transparent basis the latest scientific, technical and socio-economic literature produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change, its observed and projected impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation. IPCC reports should be neutral with respect to policy, although they need to deal objectively with policy relevant scientific, technical and socio economic factors. They should be of high scientific and technical standards, and aim to reflect a range of views, expertise and wide geographical coverage."
The opening assertion of the Republican's "fact sheet" implies that cooling in the upper atmosphere means that the globe, as a whole, is cooling. Warming in the lower atmosphere (information omitted by the Republicans) with cooling in the upper atmosphere fits the greenhouse gas model perfectly. Briefly, as heat is trapped at low altitudes (troposphere), this heat energy cannot reach higher altitudes (stratosphere). When taken out of context, as on the information sheet, upper atmospheric cooling can be misleading to those not familiar with the science.
Much of the information was copied directly from an 11-year old article written by the National Center for Policy Analysis (regarded as a Republican think tank). Within that article, a non-existent 16-year old Gallup Poll is cited, which was invented by George Will on September 3, 1992 in the Washington Post. The poll stated that just 17 percent of scientists believe in global warming - this statistic does not exist, but similar polls at the time show that 66 percent of scientists believed that human induced global warming was already occurring.
The Republicans cited this sentence from the IPCC website, "The IPCC does not conduct any research, nor does it monitor climate or related phenomena." While I could not find this sentence on the IPCC website, similar information, copied contextually and in entirety is the official mandate of the IPCC: "The IPCC was established to provide the decision-makers and others interested in climate change with an objective source of information about climate change. The IPCC does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters. Its role is to assess on a comprehensive, objective, open and transparent basis the latest scientific, technical and socio-economic literature produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change, its observed and projected impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation. IPCC reports should be neutral with respect to policy, although they need to deal objectively with policy relevant scientific, technical and socio economic factors. They should be of high scientific and technical standards, and aim to reflect a range of views, expertise and wide geographical coverage."
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 5
Neal Baumann
posted 3/15/08 @ 5:58 PM EST
Mr. Po-Chedley,
It is truly amazing to me that those who believe in "global warming" continue to respond to those who disagree as being ignorant or politically motivated. (Continued…)
union student
posted 3/16/08 @ 8:50 PM EST
I personally applaud Stephen Po-Chedley's article. Of course there are two sides to every story, and each should have a chance to be presented. I remember having to read an article supporting creationism in a class about scientific evolution (maybe all these "liberal" professors arent so biased after all). (Continued…)
richard gallivan
posted 4/20/08 @ 12:07 PM EST
Po-Chedley's article was well written and contained facts- which fittingly illustrated how perverted the College Republican's point of view on global warming really is. (Continued…)
Philip J. Sherman
posted 9/20/08 @ 2:35 AM EST
Some how, whatever the liberal says is of course fact, while what ever the conservative says, is for one reason or another, wrong. I smell bias.
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