> From: Malcolm McCallum > If I submitted a paper with legitimate results > showing that climate change was not occuring or that > it was not linked to greenhouse gases, I would > make the front page of science and nature, every > newspaper in the world and be inundated with funds
Malcolm, While I agree with you in general, and certainly don't share the views of our resident contrarian, Paul, it should be noted that there has been pretty recent legitimate research showing that the effect of solar activity on our climate has probably been underestimated. This was reported in science news sources, but certainly hasn't made a splash in mainstream news. In fact, it has seemed odd to me that scientists (me included, albeit as a grad student back then) warned about global warming for many years, to little effect, and then suddenly, and rather recently, it has gone mainstream in a really big way. For all those years any mainstream media (MSM) mention of GW was met with all kinds of "skepticism" and derision (if it was mentioned at all), and then there was an abrupt shift with all major newspapers repeatedly printing GW stories, GW in general being discussed as an accepted phenomenon, and Al Gore trotting out a film that makes somewhat exaggerated claims, largely unchallenged in the MSM. Now a Nobel Peace Prize? Seems a bit over the top. Joe > > Scientists are in the business of doing research, > how the results defend > or rebut a hypothesis are inconsiquential. Even if > those results go > against conventional wisdom, church teachings, > public opinion, or > industrial might. > > Malcolm McCallum > > On Wed, October 10, 2007 1:14 pm, Wil Burns wrote: > > This has to be one of the more inane postings I've > seen in a while here: > > > > 1. If you want to cash in on climate change, you'd > actually be a skeptic. > > There's way too many people competing for > university and foundation grants > > if you support this "radical" thesis. By contrast, > if you want to be a > > skeptic, there's an array of corporate-fronted > foundations that will > > bestow > > cash on you, so your thesis is internally > illogical; > > 2. Oh, so ozone depletion isn't a concern anymore? > Funny, we had a hole > > 1.5 > > times the size of North America last year over the > Antarctic, and the > > Dobson > > unit measurements in some places well below 100. > Well, why should we worry > > about a few million additional cases of > potentially lethal skin cancer? > > You're right, just another fad by those greedy > scientists. wil > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, > news > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > Paul Cherubini > > Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 8:43 AM > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: Re: Scientists versus activists > > > > Maiken Winter wrote: > > > >> How much more evidence do we need? Why is there > such an incredible > >> resistance among scientists to get active? > > > > Because scientists are in business to perform > research > > and publish or they will perish. In decades past, > scientists > > who wrote grant proposals that showed how their > proposed > > research was relevant to the envrionmental crisis > fad of the > > time (e.g. impact of industrial and agricultural > chemical > > pollutants on the environment, impact of GMO > foods, etc) > > were more likely to get funded. > > > > In recent years, scientists who wrote grant > proposals that > > showed how their proposed research was relevant to > the > > current crisis fad (climate change) were more > likely > > to get funded. > > > > When the grant getting advantage of linking > proposed research > > to climate change wears off it, scientists will > come up with a > > novel new crisis that helps keep the grant money > rolling in. > > > > In 5-10 years the everyday discussions on ECOLOG-L > will > > likely be about a new "crisis" and climate change > will > > no longer be a dominant concern anymore just like > > concern over ozone holes, acid rain and GMO foods > > has faded away. > > > > Paul Cherubini > > El Dorado, Calif. > > > > > Malcolm L. McCallum > Assistant Professor of Biology > Editor Herpetological Conservation and Biology > http://www.herpconbio.org > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Building a website is a piece of cake. Yahoo! Small Business gives you all the tools to get online. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting
