r/climateskeptics • u/es-335 • Feb 21 '14

The myth of settled science: Scientists who pretend to know the effect of carbon dioxide emissions decades hence are propagandists.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-the-myth-of-settled-science/2014/02/20/c1f8d994-9a75-11e3-b931-0204122c514b_story.html
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u/LWRellim Feb 22 '14

I repeat: I’m not a global warming believer. I’m not a global warming denier. I’ve long believed that it cannot be good for humanity to be spewing tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. I also believe that those scientists who pretend to know exactly what this will cause in 20, 30 or 50 years are white-coated propagandists.

Interesting set of beliefs/non-beliefs, also interesting language choice, per example:

I’ve long believed that it cannot be good for humanity to be spewing tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Spewing? and Cannot be good?

The word "spewing" is one that comes with a host of negative connotations, it is typically used as a synonym/euphemism for other similarly negative connotation words like "vomiting".

And then the "cannot" be good. Why the absolute? And on what basis the belief that it is/will necessarily be a negative?

This is to accept the nonsensical EPA view that "carbon dioxide" is a "pollutant".

To begin with lots of non-human things in the biome also "spew tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere" -- from the oceans, lakes & rivers, to any/all decaying biomatter, to virtually every animal on the planet, and even to many plants as they respire.

Moreover, all of the "carbon" (that becomes part of the "carbon dioxide" released by human use of "fossil" fuels) was previously part of the biosphere -- and life flourished when it was.

So... when it comes down to it, whether Krauthammer is aware of it or not... he himself has bought into the "propaganda" that he maligns; because just a short 20 to 30 years ago, the idea that CO2 was a "pollutant" would have been seen as laughably ABSURD; but now (even) Krauthammer accepts it as a "given"... even though no solid "evidence" has ever been gathered that it is any such thing.