Sound and Fury:
The Science of Politics and Global Warming
Patrick J. Michaels
Cato Institute
The Apolcalypse Machine
From a review of the various uses that have been made of [the] pattern, we can divine the rules to be followed by those who use environmental science for political ends.
- Define the problem as apocalyptic…
- Present the apocalyptic vision as a mainstream view; dissenters are crackpots…
- Play up the lurid prognostications and imagery of doom because apocalypse sells newspapers and television time…
- Build massive financial support…
- Use that lobbying support to pass economically profound legislation before the necessary science has been completed…
- Invent a new one…
That argument is at the core of the frequently made assertion that “the [observed} data don’t matter” as far as greenhouse policy is concerned. Chris Folland of the United Kingdom Meteorological Office … uttered those very words during a presentation on observed climatic change …. The presenter was incredulous and asked Folland to repeat his statement so that the entire audience could hear, and Folland again said, “the data don’t matter.”
