Plimer’s biter bit + smell the Zeitgeist

The denunciations by global warming believers of Professor Ian Plimer’s best-seller Heaven and Earth are growing increasingly shrill, but no better informed.   The latest, by Michael Ashley, professor of astrophysics, in The Australian is typically abusive (sheer spite is a hallmark of the breed) - and its arguments get pulled apart by Australian Climate Madness.   For me, as a non-scientist, the most persuasive case for scepticism is the fact that scientists of the warming faith write articles as trashy as this to justify their belief.   From Andrew Bolt's blog   Simon at Australian Climate Madness clearly highlights the pea and thimble game now being played by the alarmists. Tony Jones of Lateline was at it when interviewing Professor Plimer - find a minor mistake or point to quibble on and pretend that the entire argument rests on it and is therefore invalidated by it.   Though Ashley goes further and indulges in a cheap personal attack on Plimer:   "Plimer's book deserves to languish on the shelves along with similar pseudo-science such as the writings of Immanuel Velikovsky and Erich von Daniken."   This is outrageously dishonest muck raking. Even if Plimer is wrong, (and to his credit he has a chapter devoted to just that possibility in his book), he is a scientist of considerable achievement and international reputation.   Yet again I suspect the inwardly perceived weakness of their own position is betrayed by the resort to these kinds of vicious personal attacks (and in science there can be fewer more personal and nasty comparisons you can make than to Velikovsky or von Daniken).   But this shrillness is because I believe they have "smelt" the Zeitgeist and don't like it.   I still believe that the high water mark of climate change hysteria is a year or more behind us.   Looking at the comments left after Simon's blog post I found out that New Zealand has its own equivalent of Heaven & Earth and just like it has become an instant best seller.   Interesting times.   AIR CON: The Seriously Inconvenient Truth About Global Warming by Ian Wishart.   It goes on sale in Australia this Friday.

Posted via email from Garth's posterous