Post a blog entry on how successfully Time Magazine's cover "Be Worried. Be Very Worried" gets picked up by the Internet, and the skeptics swarm in, armed with ad hominem attacks and familiar arguments.And, lately, loaded with links to the works of Messrs. Harrison Hieb and Monte Hieb.
The following comment is a classic denialist-in-service attack:
If I am looking for an 'education' on mining engineering, I would possibly consult Monte Hieb, since he worked as chief engineer for the West Virginia Office of Miner’s Safety. If I were an fossil hobbyist I would probably look at his amateur fossil website.
But he is not a climate scientist, which is why he has not published any scientific papers on causes of global warming. A search through the peer-review scientific journals where all new claims are tested and confirmed by scientists specialising in the field shows no ground-breaking advances in understanding by Monte Hieb or Harrison Hieb.
However he has published a lot of opinion pieces on global cooling, and the role of water vapour in global warming. On the latter makes this colourful claim:
Water Vapor Rules
By Monte HiebJust how much of the "Greenhouse Effect" is caused by human activity?
It is about 0.28%, if water vapor is taken into account-- about 5.53%, if not.
I won't take you through it because, until it is verified by peers, it is opinion masquerading as science, targeted to a gullible public. If I was looking for a real education on the role of water vapour I would get it from the horses mouths' themselves; the scientific discussion at Realclimate.org is a good place to start, and is positively swimming with references to peer-reviewed science.
If Hieb is not interested in advancing scientific understanding via the time-honoured peer-review method, it's most likely that his agenda is to create the impression that there is scientific doubt about global warming. A conspiracy? Who benefits - well, his employer - the coal industry. While the public believes there is doubt among scientists, there is less political will for a carbon tax. So people like Hieb publish junk science to create the public conditions that help the fossil-fuel industry stall the inevitable tax on carbon emissions.
But at what cost to us? An impost so large, it is intergenerational one.
It is worth noting that this is the second occasion that Time Magazine has written a cover story on global warming.On April 9, 2001 their cover read "GLOBAL WARMING. Climbing temperatures. Melting glaciers. Rising seas. All over the earth we're feeling the heat. Why isn't Washington?"
Almost exactly five years later this question remains utterly unanswered. No progress has been made by either the Australian and US governments to reduce our emissions today.
That is a frying shame.
Global Warning Climate Change
In the mean time, I suggest you get yourself an education and stop listening to the celebrities and the junk science.
http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/global_warming.html
http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/global_warming.html
Education? OK, I'll play. Who the hell are Monte Hieb and Harrison Hieb and what is their background in the field of climate science? Why does their site link to a whole bunch of fossil-fuel info links?