This is what happens when anyone dares question the validity of the man-caused global warming hypothesis. The proponents of the idea attack the credibilty of the source. Read the background of Prof. Robert M. Carter; he is hardly what anyone could call a "quack". Is there a geologist anywhere in the world who has not somehow, some way benefitted from the oil industry, or some other industry? The answer is no. The argument is absurd. Everyone is beholden to someone in some way. Everyone gets their education and paycheck from somewhere. The story in this article warrants reading and thinking about because it offers a glimpse into what is going on behind the scenes.
Peter
from:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/minchin-denies-climate-change-manmade/2007/03/14/1173722560417.html
Minchin denies climate change man-made
Wendy Frew, Environment Reporter, March 15, 2007
A SENIOR Federal Government minister has expressed serious doubts global warming has been caused by humans, relying on non-scientific material and discredited sources to back his claim.
One month after a United Nations scientific panel delivered its strongest warning yet that humans were causing global warming, the Finance Minister, Nick Minchin, has questioned the link between fossil fuels and greenhouse gas pollution.
In a letter he wrote on March 5 to Clean Up Australia's founder, Ian Kiernan, Senator Minchin took issue with Mr Kiernan's criticism of the minister's scepticism.
"Putting whatever my views might be to one side, I am nevertheless interested in your apparent opinion that anyone who remains to be convinced that anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are the cause of climate change is a scientific loony," Senator Minchin said. "I therefore enclose for your information material which indicates that a number of eminent scientists remain in the 'sceptical' camp."
Senator Minchin appears to have taken his advice in part from a collection of columns written by the Canadian newspaper columnist Lawrence Solomon. Among those was one promoting the work of Danish scientist Henrik Svensmark. But that research has proved to contain numerous calculation and methodological errors, say some other scientists.
Senator Minchin also referred Mr Kiernan to a critique of the economic review of global warming by Sir Nicholas Stern. One author of the critique was the retired James Cook University professor Bob Carter. Professor Carter, whose background is in marine geology, appears to have little, if any, standing in the Australian climate science community. He is on the research committee at the Institute of Public Affairs, a think tank that has received funding from oil and tobacco companies, and whose directors sit on the boards of companies in the fossil fuel sector.
A spokesman for Senator Minchin yesterday defended the credibility of the material sent to Mr Kiernan. "The senator stands by his comments in that letter," the spokesman said.
Professor Carter told the Herald yesterday the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had uncovered no evidence the warming of the planet was caused by human activity. He said the role of peer review in scientific literature was overstressed, and whether or not a scientist had been funded by the fossil fuel industry was irrelevant to the validity of research.
"I don't think it is the point whether or not you are paid by the coal or petroleum industry," said Professor Carter. "I will address the evidence."
A former CSIRO climate scientist, and now head of a new sustainability institute at Monash University, Graeme Pearman, said Professor Carter was not a credible source on climate change. "If he has any evidence that [global warming over the past 100 years] is a natural variability he should publish through the peer review process," Dr Pearman said. "That is what the rest of us have to do." He said he was letting the fossil fuel industry off the hook.
Of Senator Minchin's letter, he said: "I am worried that a federal minister would believe this crap."
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