Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
finds little evidence of global change and
claims that some of the sea level changes
recorded by tide gauges are more likely re-
lated to land movement, the local evapora-
tion of seawater, and other factors. This ab-
surd statement is widely quoted by deniers.
myth
: It's not the disappearance of sea ice
that threatens the polar bears. Non-climate
factors are causing the decline in polar bear
population.
Dr. Willie Soon, a diehard de-
nier, was the co-author of a non-peer-
reviewed paper titled “Polar Bears of West-
ern Hudson Bay and Climate Change: Are
Warming Spring Air Temperatures the
'Ultimate' Survival Control Factor?” Soon
noted in the acknowledgments that the pa-
per was partially funded by “grants from
the Charles G. Koch Charitable Founda-
tion, American Petroleum Institute, and
ExxonMobil Corporation.” Why would the
petroleum industry fund a review of re-
search on polar bears? The answer is two-
fold. The companies have an interest in
downplaying global warming and, in the
case of polar bears, keeping a popular ani-
mal off the endangered species list so that
the natural resources of the Arctic Sea re-
gion can continue to be exploited. It is im-
portant to note that the paper by Soon and
associates is a review of research; it does
not include original observations or data.
There is nothing inherently wrong in re-
view papers; they can be valuable additions
to our understanding of some phenomena.
But the deniers of global warming work ex-
clusively with the data of others, rarely pro-
viding new observations.
In the article on the polar bear, Soon ar-
gued that there was no evidence of warm-
ing climate in western Hudson Bay and at-
tributed the fall in polar bear population
to other factors, especially hunting. In a
myth
: The ipcc estimate of sea level rise
rate dropped between 2001 and 2007.
The
2001 report included an estimate of the
contribution of the Greenland ice sheet.
In the 2007 report the importance of the
ice sheet contribution was recognized, but
the projected sea level rise did not include
either the Greenland or Antarctic ice sheet
contributions. Thus the two reports are ap-
ples and oranges.
myth
: Ocean acidification is the next big
hoax.
Alan Caruba, a freelance writer and
public relations practitioner, has described
global warming as the “Big Lie” and ocean
acidification as the “next big hoax,” and pre-
dicts that carbon dioxide will be a “boon in
water as it is on land.” Caruba's assertions
have no basis in science whatsoever, and in
the fashion of so many deniers he does not
refute the scientific data (discussed above
in this chapter) but simply skirts around
them. The critical societal importance of
ocean acidification has been recognized
only recently, as discussed above, so we
can expect larger and more organized de-
nier guns to come to bear on this issue in
coming years.
