Global warming denial site wins Best Science Blog 2008

[Barrett808]

A shame.

http://2008.weblogawards.org/polls/best-science-blog

At least Pharyngula came in a close second: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula .

[Lithos]

1. Science has never been about Vox Populi

n/t

[tabatha]

2. A real shame.

More people need to be involved in the voting process.

[Jim__]

3. By popular vote.

I was wondering if that could have been awarded by any legitimate science organization. Glad to see that it wasn't.

[Barrett808]

6. We may hope that a bunch of votes for the denialist site are rejected as fraudulent...

...before the official announcement on Thursday.

What with freepers hacking their IP addresses and all.

[Deep13]

4. I've come to the conclusion that the average American is a fucking idiot. nt

[Indenturedebtor]

9. Yeah but it's not genetic. Blame our media and education.

What a shame.

[kristopher]

5. Another way to look at it

Wingnuts 38%

Real science 62%

Pretty sad comment on the state of our nation...

[phantom power]

7. I wonder how much this had to do with the cold snowy winter.

If this had been a mild winter, would the voting have been different?

[emilyg]

8. Perhaps not all of us are 100% sure.

[Barrett808]

10. Emily, I ask sincerely, what are your doubts?

I think you'll be pleased to see that climate science can answer them.

[emilyg]

13. I've read up on both sides

of the argument. Just not convinced either way.

[Barrett808]

15. Fair enough. What would it take to nudge you in the direction of climate scientists?

I ask because there are some excellent books out now that describe the science clearly for the lay audience. Fundamentally, the issue comes down to fairly straightforward thermodynamics. Science historian Spencer Weart summarizes succinctly:

Greenhouse gases let sunlight through to the Earth's surface, which gets warm; the surface sends infrared radiation back up, which is absorbed by the gases at various levels and warms up the air; the air radiates some of this energy back to the surface, keeping it warmer than it would be without the gases.

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2008/09/simple-question-simple-answer-no/langswitch_lang/de

Here's a somewhat more technical, but still very brief explanation:

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/08/the-co2-problem-in-6-easy-steps

Even with fairly simple climate models, we can reproduce the surface temperatures of Earth and Mars to within 1K:

http://www.geocities.com/bpl1960/NewPlanetTemps.html

With more sophisticated models, we can reproduce the atmospheric temperature profiles of more exotic worlds, like Venus and Titan.

In short, the theory works. Earth is warming due to human carbon emissions into the atmosphere. This warming is happening at a rate that's unprecedented in Earth's history; it is the most serious problem facing humanity for the next couple of centuries.

[emilyg]

17. Thanks for links. Will enjoy reading.

[Barrett808]

18. Coolio.

:)

[guardian]

14. You mean like all the

massive stronger than normal hurricanes that have hit the US since Katrina, that were based on all the infallible computer models and global warming "science"

[Barrett808]

16. Why the scare quotes? Are you arguing that climate science isn't really a science?

If so, what are your objections?

[The Doctor.]

19. No. It's because Rush, Hannity, Drudge, et al sent their mindless hordes

to pump it up.

They don't know actual science from their own assholes, but it's a game to them. It's not about being right, it's about being the one with the loudest message.

[tom_paine]

11. I wonder if the alternate hypothesis is that Poll Freeping has advanced it's techniques.

:shrug:

[Barrett808]

12. Indeed, this poll really measures how motivated certain people are to hack online polls...

...and freepers are certainly motivated in that direction.

[petronius]

20. Like most online polls, I suspect that ~90% of the votes were in the

"I like to vote" category - basically, people followed a link to a list of a dozen things they'd never heard of, and puched the button they were told to push...

[bluedawg12]

21. On line poll confirms climate change deniers have email and post en mass effect.

:eyes: