Debunking Inhofe’s 413 …

As discussed at Energy Smart in Inhofian Reporting: Peerless Work, Senator James M. Inhofe (R-Exxon) certainly has staff who understand how to play the media and influence game. On the eve of the Senate recess for Christmas, out went a truthiness (disingenuous, misleading, etc) “report” about “over 400 prominent scientists from more than two dozen countries recently voiced significant objections to major aspects of the so-called ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming’.” While Energy Smart (and others) provided ample material about how ridicule this report is, Mark Johnson at The Daily Green has made the effort to go through the report, “prominent scientist” by “prominent scientist” to underscore the significant (lack of) qualifications of the 413 listed in this ‘cut-and-paste’ report.

Like any conspiracy theory, the sheer magnitude of the effort lends it a first-blush air of credibility. And, like any conspiracy theory, it just doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.

No. Even cursory study, as so many of us discovered at first blush, but the more indepth look underlines the utter absurdity of the so-called “report”.

• Inhofe’s list includes 413 people. (Score one Inhofe; the math holds up.)
• 84 have either taken money from, or are connected to, fossil fuel industries, or think tanks started by those industries.
• 49 are retired
• 44 are television weathermen
• 20 are economists
• 70 have no apparent expertise in climate science
• Several supposed skeptics have publicly stated that they are very concerned about global warming, and support efforts to address it. One claims he was duped into signing the list and regrets it.

Now, we might want to laugh at the utter absurdity of it all if it weren’t about such an important issue.  We spend far too much time playing “whack-a-mole” with the deniers/skeptics/delayers rather than concentrating on the serious discussion of how best to deal with the challenges before us.