Too little, too late: Gore blames scientists for climate crisis

[arenean]

From The Independent:

Too little, too late: Gore blames scientists for climate crisis
US could have acted sooner if experts had reached consensus

In an extraordinary outburst aimed at America's failure to tackle global warming, Al Gore says that if scientific agreement on the climate crisis had been reached sooner it would have been easier to "galvanise the public and persuade Congress to act".

Full article here:

Too little, too late: Gore blames scientists for climate crisis

[Caution]

1. and if government hadn't thrown up roadblock after roadblock to research

and if they hadn't trotted out the contrarians at every possible moment and if they had regulated the oil industry properly in the first place over lobbying and industry "sponsored" studies, consensus might have been reached earlier.

But no instead of funding good scientific research, we'll put out money into defense contractors pockets and into bridges to nowhere.

[GliderGuider]

2. There's plenty of blame to go around

I'm not really sure what this kind of finger-pointing will accomplish. The scientists came to a consensus when the data was solid. To have asked them to agree on what is essentially a policy position before the data was fully baked would have promoted intellectual shortcuts - not something I want to encourage in scientists. I really want to see all the opposing evidence published and debated so that we can be assured that the scientific foundations of decision-making are solid.

Frankly, Gore's little lecture makes me wonder about his understanding/acceptance/commitment to the scientific method and scientific process. Of course there were political and communication roadblocks thrown up by the vested interests. It would be surprising if Gore hadn't expected that. To further expect scientists to have countered such maneuvers in an arena they are neither experienced nor qualified to enter seems disingenuous. Either that or he's just really frustrated and lashing out.

Things are the way they are, we need to accept that and go forward.

[GeorgeGist]

3. Assault on Reason

Thanks Al for the heads up ... so I didn't waste my time and money reading it.

"The nature and severity of the climate crisis had seemed painfully obvious to me for quite a long time," but without the scientific expertise to back it up.

[PSPS]

4. I think there's been "consensus" for many years now

It's just that bush and the MSM conspired to create an atmosphere of disagreement when, in fact, there really wasn't one.

They do this all the time. State the opinion of virtually all serious scientists and then throw in the paid-for "opinion" of one of a half-dozen "scientists" on the payroll of big oil, and treat them with the same weight, giving the illusion of "disagreement in the scientific community."

[fazoolius_2006]

5. Half a dozen?

Here is a list with more than that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scientists_opposing_global_warming_consensus

- or -

http://www.businessandmedia.org/specialreports/2007/globalwarming/SkepticalScientists.asp

I think that we need to get away from "consensus" because this is dangerous in science. There was a consensus 30 years ago too...that one was for Global Cooling. Why try to discredit scientists by saying that they are tied to big oil? Isn't this the same as what you are claiming the current administration is doing?

I am not against global warming, I believe it is happening, however, I think that we need more scientific research into this and not "consensus" of scientific and political communities.

[arenean]

9. No consensus on global cooling

fazoolius,

You've fallen into the trap of believing the global cooling myth spun by sceptics.
I work at the Met Office in the UK and no-one here was involved in any of those papers in the 70s.
To read how this myth has developed as an attack against man-made global warming, see here....

The global cooling myth

[kestrel91316]

12. So, you propose to keep the car inside the sealed garage running?

Because that's what we are doing by spewing CO2 out like there's no tomorrow......

[ramapo]

6. Pre-Bush

Gore was on track with Earth in Balance but the Clinton admin didn't do much about global warming. If anything, Clinton fueled the SUV craze. Yes there was the Republican congress, blah blah blah.

It really goes back to Reagan and his anti-environment ideology.

[RestoreGore]

7. So what's stopping them now?

I don't see anything drastic happening in this country regarding Congress or the people yet and there is supposedly consensus now. And where it concerns Congress, they don't care about no stinkin consensus when their special interests are what pay their way. So whether you have consensus or not, how does that translate into action with a bought and sold Congress and an uninformed citizenry?Especially since scientists like James Hanson have been intimidated concerning their findings and these bastards have actually altered their reports? Even Mr. Gore mentioned that in An Inconvenient Truth, so I find it a bit odd he would point the finger at them when they in many instances were reporting the truth, only it wasn't getting through the channels.

[NNadir]

8. I'll bet there's some bad journalism going on here.

The author of the article says his remarks are a "swipe at the scientific community."

Were they?

What he actually says lacks context in the article. Does he mean that the scientific work had been completed earlier, or does he mean that scientists were being deliberately obscure, or does he mean that scientists should check with him before they publish their results?

We simply don't know.

Good science allows for dissent - indeed dissent is essential to good science. I really think the problem has been with the media, which over plays dissent when it suits the media's agenda, and underplays it when it doesn't. Another fault would be for the type of research that is funded.

I actually read this article as a bit of a hit piece on Mr. Gore, one of many we should see once Mr. Gore declares his candidacy.

[Radical Activist]

10. Now if only Gore had been in a position of authority to do something sooner

like say, Vice President of the United States, then maybe he could have helped solve the problem before now. huh.

[razzleberry]

11. this is not important enough

Gore, bitching at, um, ?/not-sure-who,
is not important enuf for E/E.


in unreleated but important news,
Paris is out of jail.