John Abraham: Jason Lewis misled
readers on global warming
readers on global warming
Courtesy, University of St. Thomas
Last update: March 23, 2011 - 7:56 PM
CounterpointJason Lewis's recent article on
global warming ("Getting warm. Or cool.
Let's make policy!" March 20) contained so
much misleading and inaccurate information
that it requires a response.Someone reading
this article might believe that Lewis knows
more about climate science than the 97
percent of scientists who agree that humans
are causing the Earth to warm.Rather than
focusing on what solutions are best, he
wrote a confusing and conflicting piece that
gives the impression that the Earth is not
warming, and that scientists are manipulating
data.In his article, Lewis:•Made an
unsubstantiated and untrue claim that
scientists hid a "decline in temperatures."
Where is the evidence of this? No scientists
made any statement that they were hiding a
decline in temperatures. This is a distortion
of a stolen e-mail that was actually referring
to increasing temperatures.•Took aim at
reputable institutions, including NASA. He
claims that NASA has "erroneously reported
that readings over the last decade were
warmer than the 1930s, when in fact the
opposite was true." This statement is
global warming ("Getting warm. Or cool.
Let's make policy!" March 20) contained so
much misleading and inaccurate information
that it requires a response.Someone reading
this article might believe that Lewis knows
more about climate science than the 97
percent of scientists who agree that humans
are causing the Earth to warm.Rather than
focusing on what solutions are best, he
wrote a confusing and conflicting piece that
gives the impression that the Earth is not
warming, and that scientists are manipulating
data.In his article, Lewis:•Made an
unsubstantiated and untrue claim that
scientists hid a "decline in temperatures."
Where is the evidence of this? No scientists
made any statement that they were hiding a
decline in temperatures. This is a distortion
of a stolen e-mail that was actually referring
to increasing temperatures.•Took aim at
reputable institutions, including NASA. He
claims that NASA has "erroneously reported
that readings over the last decade were
warmer than the 1930s, when in fact the
opposite was true." This statement is
inaccurate, as is his claim that NASA recanted
1998 as being the hottest year in U.S. history.
•Claimed that temperatures have been
declining since 1940. They have not. No
scientist would agree with that statement.
•Alleged that climate change theory is based
on models and not real data. This, too, is
inaccurate. The fact that increasing
greenhouse gases cause the earth to warm is
known from data that go back 800,000
years. Is that a long enough record?
•Suggested that since 1998, temperatures
have leveled off and might be decreasing
now. It turns out that the hottest three years
on record, according to NASA, were 2010,
2005 and 2009. It is tough to have this trend
occur in a cooling world.I could go on, but
you get the point. Lewis knows very little
about climate issues, and much of what he
knows is provided by think tanks, not
scientists.We desperately need good
information to move forward collectively on s
olutions to this problem.I'll bet Lewis is
deeply suspicious of regulatory solutions to
climate change; if so, he should come up with
alternative, market-based ways to reduce
global warming. Then we can select the best
plans that offer the highest payback on
investment.If we act wisely, our solutions to
global warming will give us many benefits,
including more jobs, energy diversity and
improved national security. Who can be against that?
1998 as being the hottest year in U.S. history.
•Claimed that temperatures have been
declining since 1940. They have not. No
scientist would agree with that statement.
•Alleged that climate change theory is based
on models and not real data. This, too, is
inaccurate. The fact that increasing
greenhouse gases cause the earth to warm is
known from data that go back 800,000
years. Is that a long enough record?
•Suggested that since 1998, temperatures
have leveled off and might be decreasing
now. It turns out that the hottest three years
on record, according to NASA, were 2010,
2005 and 2009. It is tough to have this trend
occur in a cooling world.I could go on, but
you get the point. Lewis knows very little
about climate issues, and much of what he
knows is provided by think tanks, not
scientists.We desperately need good
information to move forward collectively on s
olutions to this problem.I'll bet Lewis is
deeply suspicious of regulatory solutions to
climate change; if so, he should come up with
alternative, market-based ways to reduce
global warming. Then we can select the best
plans that offer the highest payback on
investment.If we act wisely, our solutions to
global warming will give us many benefits,
including more jobs, energy diversity and
improved national security. Who can be against that?
John Abraham is an engineering professor at the University of St. Thomas.
