Repost from The Martinez Gazette
[Editor: Friend of Benicia and Martinez Gazette columnist Guy Cooper has written a 2-part series on global warming and the deniers.  Well done!  – RS]

Martinez Environmental Group: Denying for dollars (part 1)

Just finished reading “Merchants of Doubt” by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. An exhaustively researched and compelling read. I’m trying to get my head around the whole global warming and greenhouse gas (GHG) production issue as prompted by, amongst other things, consideration of Shell’s proposed “greenhouse gas reduction project” here in Martinez. (…continued)

Martinez Environmental Group: Denying for dollars (part 2)

I left off last time (Oct. 21) illuminating a pattern of deliberate denial that has pervaded public discourse on a number of health and environmental issues over the years.

The authors of “Merchants of Doubt” identify Ben Santer, a renowned atmospheric scientist working at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory investigating and modeling global warming, as first recognizing the pattern of denial that victimized himself and others.

The cause of global warming has been the subject of much scientific debate. Fossil fuel contributions to global warming have been suggested since the ‘60s, and understanding refined by the mid-‘90s as computer atmospheric modeling prowess evolved. What about “natural variability”? Volcanic activity? Scientists peer reviewed, debated, vetted each others hypothesis’, as scientists are wont to do, and clarified the science corroborating the human activity cause. But non-scientists or politically and ideologically motivated scientists without climate expertise deliberately barraged the public with deflections, denials and personal attacks aimed at undermining the credibility of the climate scientists and their science.(…continued)