Al Gore's 'Climate Reality' Snake Oil Freakshow

At today's New York Times, "Gore Takes Climate Change Slide Show Around the World in 24 Hours."

And from Tom Harris, earlier this week, at Pajamas Media, "Gore’s 24 Hours of Fantasy About to Begin":

Unfortunately for Al Gore, but fortunately for the rest of us, much of what we will hear in his 24 Hours of Reality extravaganza starting Wednesday evening is pure fantasy.

Gore is completely wrong when he tells us that the science of climate change is settled. If his “Climate Reality Project” actually did promote climate realism, he would tell us that the science is in a period of negative discovery — the more we learn, the more we realize we do not understand about this, arguably the most complex science ever tackled. Rather than “remove the doubt,” as Gore says, we need to recognize the doubt.

Many of the ideas expressed by climate campaigners such as Gore and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon are the consequence of a belief in what Canadian professors Chris Essex (University of Western Ontario) and Ross McKitrick (University of Guelph) call the “Doctrine of Certainty,” “a collection of now familiar assertions about climate that are to be accepted without question” (Taken by Storm, 2007).

Essex and McKitrick write,

But the Doctrine is not true. Each assertion is either manifestly false or the claim to know is false. Climate is one of the most challenging open problems in modern science. Some knowledgeable scientists believe that the climate problem can never be solved.

Yet, as long ago as 1989, Gore insisted there was “no dispute worthy of recognition” about the dangers of man-made greenhouse gas-driven climate change. Since then his certainty has solidified into dogma.

Continue reading.

And despite the increasing "negative discovery," some folks are buying Gore's snake oil, like Ronald Brownstein, at National Journal, "Extreme Weather: For Once, Al Gore's Excellent Timing."

IMAGE CREDIT: iMaksim.