For years people like Al Gore, Robert Kennedy Jr., John Cook, and others have labeled those who question one or another aspect of the case for belief in dangerous human-induced climate change as "science deniers," "climate deniers," "environmental criminals," and worse. Such rhetoric is far from helpful not only because it demonizes, making respectful dialogue difficult if not impossible, but also because it leads inexorably to misrepresentation, and consequently misunderstanding, as people with … [Read more...]
Al Gore Signs Open Letter Supporting Climate Skeptic Scott Pruitt for EPA Administrator
An open letter supporting the nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator organized by The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation has attracted some very famous signers. U.S. Senate Environment & Public Works Committee Chairman Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced the letter into the official record of Pruitt’s confirmation hearing January 18. Probably the highest name recognition worldwide would go to German … [Read more...]
Snarky—But Right
Okay, so most of the time here at the Cornwall Alliance we try to keep our language entirely civil, to avoid both formal and informal fallacies, and just stick to true premises and valid inferences to support our conclusions. Rational, yes. Entertaining? Well, not always. And in today's America, lots of people---at least if their conduct reveals anything about their values---value entertainment a good deal more than reason. So for their enjoyment---and for the enjoyment of those who really do … [Read more...]
DiCaprio’s Titanic Failure: Did “Before the Flood” Sink on Maiden Voyage?
Early in Leonardo DiCaprio’s Before the Flood, which aired Sunday night on the National Geographic Channel, we see a clip of DiCaprio speaking before the U.N. General Assembly, saying, “I stand before you not as an expert.” That’s the most credible line in the movie. And the least credible may be one that follows almost immediately: “I want to do everything I can to learn more about this issue.” If he’d really meant that, he might have gone to the trouble to speak to some of the … [Read more...]
“Climate Science” Warned Us: More & Stronger Hurricanes Coming! Climate Didn’t Get the Message
On September 9, 2005, with much of New Orleans submerged by the failure of fifty levees and flood walls after Hurricane Katrina (category 1 at landfall) dumped 8 to 10 inches of rain, former Vice President Al Gore told the Sierra Club's National Environmental Convention and Expo in San Francisco: Ladies and gentlemen, the warnings about global warming have been extremely clear for a long time. We are facing a global climate crisis. ... Last year we had a lot of hurricanes. ... The scientists … [Read more...]
Louisiana’s Flooding: Brought to You by Climate Change?
Did climate change cause Louisiana’s flooding? The New York Times, Al Gore, Vox, Congressman Raul Girjálva, Chris Mooney (citing evangelical climate-alarmist darling Katharine Hayhoe) in the Washington Post, and lots of others in the mainstream media think so. But more sober voices disagree. Adam Sobel of the Earth Island Institute at Columbia University, no “climate-change skeptic,” writing at Phys.org, says, no study can tell us that climate change caused an event like this to happen, … [Read more...]
How Theology Can, and Should, Contribute to Scientific and Public Discourse about Anthropogenic Global Warming
A paper presented to the Round Table on Theology, Climate Change, and Politics, University of Western Ontario, May 29, 2012 Paleoanthropologist and philosopher Loren Eiseley (1907–1977), who though religious in the tradition of American Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau was certainly no orthodox Christian theist, on reflecting on the kind of soil in which science could flourish, wrote, “In one of those strange permutations of which history yields … [Read more...]
Do AGs Bent on Prosecuting Climate Skeptics Have a Political Agenda?
You can’t make these things up! A small group of attorneys general, led by New York AG Eric Schneiderman, held a press conference Wednesday, March 30, to announce their determination to track down and prosecute for fraud (knowingly conveying false information to enrich oneself or harm others) evil skeptics of climate change. One look at this photo tells you everything you need to know about their real agenda. It just so happens that the fate of the Obama Administration's most … [Read more...]
The Theologization of Global Warming Among American Evangelicals: Who Says Religion and Science Can’t Mix?
[Note: This essay was written in the summer of 2010 at the request of Dr. Patrick Michaels, intended for a book he was editing. His publisher declined to include it in the book because of its religious content. It was never published elsewhere until now. We hope it remains a helpful survey of the history of the debate over global warming among evangelicals up to that time.—ECB, March 11, 2016] Introduction In the last half decade there has been a blossoming of public concern about global … [Read more...]
The Dangerous Linkage of Government and Science—Ike Was Right
President Dwight D. Eisenhower was a great man, a true lover of liberty, and very suspicious of the power of government at the same time that he recognized its necessity. Millions of Americans would benefit enormously from reading his Farewell Address. Most have heard of the "military-industrial complex" but don't know that it was Eisenhower who warned of it. Very few know that in the same speech he warned of the twin dangers of government dominance in scientific research and of a … [Read more...]
