Snarling pack of idiots

Let's tell a little story. One day there was a cute and perky climate scientist named Heidi. Here's a little more about Heidi:

She received a bachelor's degree in engineering/operations research from Columbia University in New York City and went on to receive a doctorate in climatology and ocean-atmosphere dynamics at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. Her dissertation focused on understanding the impacts and dynamics of the North Atlantic Oscillation, an important climate influence. As a post-doc, she received a NOAA Climate & Global Change Fellowship and spent two years working at the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction.

Then little Heidi decided to get into journalism, specifically on TV, and she was hired by The Weather Channel as their climate expert. She did some shows, made some appearances, and then they even built a whole new section of their Web site and a feature show on their channel called "Forecast Earth". And to keep it hip and contemporary, they even started their own blog.

And then one day Heidi was merrily posting on her blog, and she remembered hearing a TV weatherman, a meteorologist, expressing the opinion that climate change might be "cyclical". Actually, he said "History has taught us that weather patterns are cyclical and although we have noticed a warming pattern in recent time, I don't know what generalizations can be made from this with the lack of long-term scientific data." Heidi, who has learned a lot more about climate than this guy, knew that there is a lot of long-term scientific data, knew that "cyclical weather patterns" don't necessarily have anything to do with climate change, and also knew a lot more about causes and effects. So she suggested that the American Meteorological Society shouldn't give their Seal of Approval to a meteorologist who, in her words, "can't speak to the fundamental science of climate change". I agree. Whether or not a meteorologist agrees with the posited causes and effects, a meteorologist ought to understand the basic factors that affect Earth's climate, how they are changing, and how climate might change in response.

Well, after Heidi posted her note, screaming demonic h*ll broke loose. You see, there's a segment of society that has basically decided all climate science that indicates increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations will cause the Earth to get warmer is wrong. They are aided and fomented by Web sites that feed them with skewed and biased information, such that they have taken on the demeanor and characteristics of pseudoscientists. In general, pseudoscientists hewing to a cherished belief (such as alien abductions, Loch Ness monsters, Christian-based young earth creationism, Bermuda Triangle navigational interference -- I could go on and on and on) create cognitive filters in their minds that discard anything that disagrees with the belief and amplifies anything that appears to support it. There are psychological volumes out there on this. And with climate change and energy so tied together, this segment also sees any attempt to regulate or control CO2 emissions and the activities that create them an infringement on their personal freedom which is being supported by flawed and inaccurate science.

Add in the anonymity factor of the Internet, and this segment becomes a snarling pack of idiots, attacking anyone that puts forth a new advance in the understanding of climate and how it is changing, or any suggestion of potential alternatives that might also serve to aid our economy and national security in the years ahead (though if they are carefully prodded they might admit that we import to much oil for our own good). This snarling pack of idiots now watches every Forecast Earth blog post for indications of a relationship to climate change, and then unleashes unthinking invective on anyone that posts it (Stu Ostro and James Hrynyshyn have been recent targets) - demonstrating a response similar to a snarling, cornered, angry mutt lashing out due to powerlessness. The strength of their invective is aided by the agents of disinformation that feed their pseudoscientific need. They mark refusal to acknowledge them as further indication of the truth of their beliefs, which is being suppressed by the Church of Al Gore.



Reason does not help with them, their cognitive filters are too firmly fixed in place. This is one of the weights that I talk about. These people are so heavily weighted -- anchored, really -- that they virtually cannot be displaced. I've seen it; if somehow a contravening point penetrates the filter, the usual response is not a gratefully calm increased awareness, but rather a deeper, more smoldering and dangerous hatred for having had their cognitive supports knocked out from underneath them, for having been revealed to THEMSELVES as being both wrong and probably duped. That is why they so vociferously resist useful and accurate information that disagrees with their cherished belief that man's activities can't possibly negatively affect Earth's climate -- if they accepted it, their entire philosophical framework -- rooted, I must note, in the conservative political affiliation -- would be shaken or even collapse. Their prophets would be shown to be false, and their beliefs would have to change. And this is the type of change that is difficult to accept, a change forced upon them from inside.

And that's why I think we have reached the point where to minister to the snarling pack of idiots, before they become destructive to themselves and others, we need a 12-step program, Climate Skeptics Anonymous. These people need support from recovered skeptics who have slowly learned to accept and recognize good science. They will discover that they have hurt others by their angry outbursts. The level of adherence to their skepticism should be recognized as being as difficult to break as for addictive substances or stimulating images.

We need to do this before the next solar cycle starts to increase sunspot numbers rapidly, because as the Earth begins to warm following the past (and perhaps present) cool Pacific Ocean conditions, the false prophets of skepticism will be able to erroneously blame the warming on increased solar activity, rather than CO2 and other greenhouse gases, the true players. If we don't do it soon, they'll even start buying SUVs and incandescent lights again. Well, maybe not SUVs when the American automobile industry shuts down, but they'll find some way to burn the midnight oil.

More importantly, unless we reach out and convert this unfortunate segment of society, they will continue to oppose that which we all should be united on, the need to alter the fundamental way human civilization produces and uses energy. If that trajectory isn't changed -- soon -- there will be much more severe problems than anything we are currently facing.