Unstoppable Disinformation Every 15 Minutes From Fred Singer - Grist

[hatrack]

So Kansas state House member Larry Powell has sent a copy of Fred Singer's lame denier treatise, Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years, to every Kansas legislator. Of course, he sent one to Governor Sebelius, who denied a permit for two large coal-fired power plants in his home county.

Since I've been blogging regularly on Kansas, Kansas reporter Sarah Kessinger called me Friday for my opinion on Singer's book and what legislators should do to become informed on climate. The book has been widely debunked -- see this post on RealClimate. The most absurd thing about the book is that ... wait for it ... the Earth wasn't actually in a warm trend -- unstoppable or otherwise -- 1500 years ago! (Yes, during the Medieval Warm Period, parts of the earth were a bit warmer, but that peaked 1,000 years ago.) I thought the reporter would like that fact:

"I don't think there's anybody in the scientific community who takes Fred Singer seriously," said
Joseph Romm, a Washington scientist and author. Romm said the 1,500-year cycle theory isn't
possible considering the earth wasn't in a warming trend 1,500 years ago.

Duh! I mean, seriously: Every book contains at least a few small errors, but most real scientists, heck, even most global warming deniers try to avoid putting egregious factual mistakes in the title of the book. That is a pretty good sign you can skip the contents.

EDIT

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/1/21/11832/1079

[diane in sf]

1. Unstoppable blasts of disinfo are to be expected from anyone with a financial

stake in crappy, unsuitable technologies. People who disagree with them will be constantly assaulted and blasted because the purveyors of crap can't make the case for their technology on its own merits.