NYT - tepid rebuke of Gore and "Truth"

[greenman3610]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/science/13gore.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5087%0A&em&en=7b7338256ee3de7a&ex=1173931200

Criticisms of Mr. Gore have come not only from conservative groups and prominent skeptics of catastrophic warming, but also from rank-and-file scientists like Dr. Easterbook, who told his peers that he had no political ax to grind. A few see natural variation as more central to global warming than heat-trapping gases. Many appear to occupy a middle ground in the climate debate, seeing human activity as a serious threat but challenging what they call the extremism of both skeptics and zealots.

Kevin Vranes, a climatologist at the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado, said he sensed a growing backlash against exaggeration. While praising Mr. Gore for “getting the message out,” Dr. Vranes questioned whether his presentations were “overselling our certainty about knowing the future.”

Typically, the concern is not over the existence of climate change, or the idea that the human production of heat-trapping gases is partly or largely to blame for the globe’s recent warming. The question is whether Mr. Gore has gone beyond the scientific evidence.

“He’s a very polarizing figure in the science community,” said Roger A. Pielke Jr., an environmental scientist who is a colleague of Dr. Vranes at the University of Colorado center. “Very quickly, these discussions turn from the issue to the person, and become a referendum on Mr. Gore.”


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a lot of nit picky stuff, some in regard to Hurricanes,
yes, Gore knows that the number of hurricanes is
not expected to increase, just the intensity. Says so
in his book.
You can question whether tropical diseases are being
spread by global warming, or more by world transportation
systems, but its chicken and egg stuff.

They trot out Richard Lindzen, noted Global Warming skeptic.
A few naysayers on the "Medieval Warming" - now understood to
have been a regional, not global phenomenon.
IPCC says the recent warming is "highly likely" to be the
warmest in at least 1300 years -
there have been some warm spells in the last 10,000 years
mediated by orbital factors.

bottom line:

Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton who advised Mr. Gore on the book and movie, said that reasonable scientists disagreed on the malaria issue and other points that the critics had raised. In general, he said, Mr. Gore had distinguished himself for integrity.

“On balance, he did quite well — a credible and entertaining job on a difficult subject,” Dr. Oppenheimer said. “For that, he deserves a lot of credit. If you rake him over the coals, you’re going to find people who disagree. But in terms of the big picture, he got it right.”

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I'm sure you'll hear some of this parroted on talk shows,
but not much "there" there.

[pbca]

1. I don't even care if he is "overselling" it

It's been undersold for so many years now that it's probably already too late to save a large number of coastal cities.

[KoKo]

2. And, mildly trashing Gore beginning the buildup ....just in case he runs for '08.

Thanks for posting this.

[AlGore-08.com]

3. It's not just that, it's because he's going to testify to Congress on 3/21

On the climate crisis. The folks who oppose a sane response to the crisis (and/or Al Gore are an 08 candidate) are definitely going to be working the phones this week, trying to get the storyline changed to "Nobody who really understands the climate crisis listens to alarmists like Al Gore".

[glitch]

4. That's the new meme in a nutshell. Shame the NYT has to feature it.

Bit late in the game to offer new memes, I wonder if it will work. Guess they had to, the "Don't listen to Gore, he is a hypocrite because he lives in a big house and flies on airplanes" didn't work out too well for them.

[blm]

5. Corpmedia is going to keep doing this to both Gore and Kerry till Democrats GROW UP

and stop buying into the constant media manipulation of their most powerful advocates and their characters.

[zbdent]

6. "no political ax to grind" ... except maybe

a few thou in checks in a numbered account in the Caymans ...