Yesterday I posted about a letter to Science signed by 255 members of the National Academy of Sciences in which they decried attacks on climate researchers and pressed for action to mitigate anthropogenic global warming and its effects.
Along with the letter the magazine published a picture of a lonely polar bear floating on a small ice floe. The message was clear to all but humanity's densest individuals.
Actually, to some, the message was quite clear: another case of the global-warming conspiracy. Turns out the picture was Photoshopped, and even worse, this fact was not apparent to readers of the letter. The climate-change deniers jumped all over this.
Bad move, Science. I even wonder why such a photo was necessary - after all, this is Science, not People.
Peter H. Gleick, the coordinating author of the letter, wrote a cogent response in The Huffington Post, titled "Remarkable Insight into the Climate Denial Machine". The follow excerpt from his letter is from Andrew Revkin's post, Sweating the Details in Climate Discourse [read his post for more insight]:
It is too bad that the editors picked a bad piece of art to accompany our letter but the focus of the climate deniers on the art is an effort to divert public attention once again from the facts of climate change. This is exactly what we’re talking about in the letter. A few vocal deniers will grasp at any straw to muddy the public’s attention and understanding of the real climate threats we face.
Gleick wisely used the case to prove his point about the nature of the climate-change deniers and their 'machine' - sort of a "I rest my case' closing statement. Well done, Peter.
Unfortunately, the point will be lost on those who need convincing: the many members of the public. The CC deniers will use this whole SNAFU as further evidence of a global-warming conspiracy among the elite. The guy or gal who watches Fox News and listens to Beck, Hannity, or Limbaugh will simply say 'I told you so.' Not that the Science letter would have convinced them.
It's too bad the editors of Science did not pay closer attention to the contents of the letter and its implications. It's as though they've been living in a hermetically-sealed cocoon lo these last few years. Let's hope they have learned their lesson: the details do matter.
But sadly, the attention has been diverted from the NAS members' letter to the polar bear photo. So it's the climate-change deniers who are saying 'I rest my case.'
Thanks to jfleck for bringing this to my attention.
"Bozone: The invisible substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating." -- Firesign Theater
Indeed. Great post, plus added points for spelling floe correctly.
Posted by: Emily Green | Monday, 10 May 2010 at 08:57 AM