April 22nd, 2011

Climate Change Letter to WSJ Editor

A guest post from my friend, Jeff Dubin, sent to Wall Street Journal
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Dear Editor:

Like politicians engaging in “gotcha politics,” The Wall Street Journal is once again engaging in “gotcha climate science.”  The WSJ and other climate change skeptics are having a field day with the 2005 United Nations prediction of fifty million climate refugees by 2010 (“Climate Refugees, Not Found” editorial, April 21).  Climate change skeptics point to this report, the UK Climategate scandal, and other missteps by climate scientists as evidence that the so-called “climateers” are being unnecessarily alarmist.

Why can’t the Journal and other skeptics aim higher than just finding chinks in the climate change community’s armor?  The Journal and other skeptics would be far more persuasive if they presented their own body of solid science showing that climate change is not happening.  It’s easy to say “gotcha!” but that’s about all climate change skeptics can do when the facts are overwhelmingly not on their side.

If The Wall Street Journal wants to responsibly propagate a less alarmist view of our climate, it will have to be less disingenuous in the facts it cites.   For instance, the editorial is technically correct when it claims that “global average temperatures are about where they were when the prediction [of fifty million climate refugees] was made.”  But to imply that climate change is not happening because 2010 tied 2005 as the warmest years on record while ignoring the overall warming trend over the past several decades is a great example of scoring rhetorical points at the expense of honesty.

Jeff Dubin
Princeton, NJ