The Today programme have given another climate change denier airtime - unchallenged. ‘Scientist’ Ian Plimer sees no link between carbon dioxide and temperature.
For the second time in a matter of weeks, the Today Programme this morning offered a platform to a climate change denier. Once again, the person invited on was somebody without any credentials to talk about climate science since they are not a climate scientist and have never published a peer reviewed paper on the subject.
Australian contrarian author Ian Plimer was left unchallenged to spout nonsense on the primetime BBC slot despite his argument having been systematically pulled apart by real climate scientists over at realclimate.org – a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists.
He said:
“The fundamental point is that over the history of time, climates have always changed, we’ve had rapid changes, they’ve been large, they’ve been driven by extra-terrestrial forces, they’ve been driven by many other forces in the past, but not one great climate change in the past has actually been driven by carbon dioxide, and carbon dioxide is plant food, we cannot stop carbon emissions because most of them come from volcanoes, it is a normal element cycled around in the earth, and, my science, which is looking back in time, is saying we have had a planet that’s been a warm, wet greenhouse planet for more than 80 per cent of the time, we’ve had huge climate changes in the past, and to think that the very slight variations we measure today are a result of our life, we really have to put ice blocks in our drink.
“If you put 2 and 2 together, then you have to explain the three periods of cooling since the little ice age finished and during those three periods of cooling we’ve actually had carbon dioxide increase, so there is a disconnect between carbon dioxide emissions and temperatures because since 1850, we’ve had a warming period from 1860 to 1880, then we’ve had a cooling until 1910, then we had a warming until 1940 – in fact the North-West passage was open – then we had a cooling until the 1970s, and the people who are trying to frighten us witless now about runaway global warming were in fact those who were frightening us witless about an oncoming glaciation in the 1970s, then we’ve had a warming, up until the late 90s, now we’re in a cooling phase, so if we’d only had warming, then there would be a connect between carbon dioxide and temperature. There is not.”
Plimer added:
“When you look at my critics, they are people who are rent seekers, they have everything to gain by continuing the process of frightening people witless by following the party line … I’m saying that they are taking advantage of the current situation … Now we have a war against climate change and there’s a huge number of people out there that have their careers staked on it and are the beneficiaries from this process … The word belief is a word of politics and religion, it’s not a word of science; my scientific opinion is married to evidence…”
Leading NASA climate scientist, Gavin Schmidt, who has dissected Plimer’s argument in detail, found it to be based amongst other things on a “basic logical fallacy”. Needless to say nobody from NASA, the IPCC, the Royal Society or the Met Office was invited on to explain why Plimer was talking rubbish. Neither did Justin Webb, interviewing, explain Plimer’s lack of authority on the subject.
Listen to the interview in full below and download it here:
76 Responses to “Today give carte blanche to ‘scientist’ who denies link between CO2 and temperature”
Rupert Read
http://bit.ly/4okm50 Monbiot’s latest GUARDIAN piece (and my response), prompted by my challenge to the TODAY programme on their free-airing of climate-denial, as discussed here.
Steve G.
Well it seems that this guy in the Guardian agrees with Billy on this blog and not you about shutting down debate.
Your remarks of: “By doing interviews like that, that you chose to air this morning, you are materially damaging the chances of an agreement at Copenhagen, an agreement that might just save our civilisation and species from self-destruction.”
What kind of childish rubbish is that? This isn’t an episode of Transformers Rupert. Do you really think this helps the case? It’s no wonder the Greens are where they are in the polls. I thought this blog was supposed to be evidence based.
Billy the Kid
Hey Rupert – this is a blog about important issues you know.
This is not supposed to be a platform for your self promotion.
If you have nothing positive to contribute to this discussion, then go somewhere else and foist your “Survival of our species depends on it” nonsense on them. These stupid remarks do nothing to further your cause and serve only to alienate sensible people.
This is an adult blog and I’m going to report your actions to the webmaster.
Rupert Read
Steve G.: so are you saying that evidence is needed to support the claim that without a deal at Copenhagen the future of human civilisation is at risk? The evidence is contained in every climate scientist’s study for the last 30 years.
Rupert Read
Billy the Kid, who is of course a climate-change-denier, is wonderfully mature in his comment here:
“This is an adult blog and I’m going to report your actions to the webmaster.”
Basically the same as saying: “I’m going to go _tell_ on you, and _then_ you’ll be sorry!!!!!”