In his recent letter to the editor (“Hot air about global warming”, The Progress, Feb. 14), Art Daher asserted that global warming is bunk, and in fact the world is growing colder, not warmer. Mr. Daher’s letter frequently made reference to “evidence”, “respected climatologists” and “scientific facts” without ever identifying any of them, so I was unsure about where he was getting his information. But then, he did mention Sun News as one of the sources of his enlightenment. Being without cable television at home, I was blissfully unaware of Sun News TV, but naturally all their stuff is available online so I briefly immersed myself in Sun’s version of “news”. And then I went and took a shower. For anyone who needs a (dark) laugh, surf over to www.sunnewsnetwork.ca and watch the video entitled “True Science”. Betcha didn’t know that passionate environmentalists are actually sulking, misanthropic losers bent on the extinction of the human species, did ya? Or that the ice caps are actually getting bigger.
But in all seriousness, Sun News TV, like its American soulmate Fox News, seems only too happy to grant love-in interviews to dubious groups like the International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC) and its director, creepy former energy lobbyist and PR guy turned astroturf-roots organizer Tom Harris, who seek not to resolve the debate about global warming, but to encourage the notion that a legitimate argument still exists. They suggest that because some of the many scientists studying the issue of global warming disagree, the central theory that human activity is altering our atmosphere is false. In reality, scientists disagree a lot. Doubt is the basis of all scientific progress. About whether or not humans are changing the atmosphere and climate of our planet, however, there seems to be increasingly little doubt within the credible scientific community. ICSC would like you to believe that global warming is a conspiracy cooked up by Al Gore, David Suzuki, ultra-left socialists and wind turbine manufacturers.
With respect, I suggest that Mr Daher is being slickly and professionally lied to by a very powerful and interlocking group of business interests. There is quite literally trillions of dollars at stake in making people believe that global climate change simply doesn’t exist, and drastic action on our part is definitely not required. The denial exists on many levels. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s just business – a convenient untruth (to mangle Gore) – and if there is a hell then the marketing minds behind this shameful deception have standing reservations there.
Neither camp is above stretching the facts but ask yourself, who has the most to gain from outright lying to me, the vast majority of the earth’s scientists and environmentalists, or a military-industrial-media complex fueled by oil?
Greg Davis,
Chilliwack
