A scandal in global warming research is unfolding that isn’t going away. Internal correspondence from the Climate Reseach Unit (CRU), the research center and ground zero for global warming advocacy, was released that reveals that the top global warming scientists hid data that proves the earth has been cooling for the last ten years, conspired against colleagues that were global warming skeptics, and cooked the numbers to keep the lucrative grants coming. It is taking time to digest all the facts but you can read some preliminary conclusions here: London Telegraph, Pajamas TV, Fox News, Washington Times, (Google “climategate” for more).
Global warming was of course the centerpiece of the Ecumenical Patriarch’s pastoral message to America during his trip to the United States a few weeks back. The Green Patriarch embraced the Progressive environmentalist agenda, so much so that he lent the full weight of his office to urge the passage of political legislation such as the Copenhagen Protocols that global warming advocates argued was needed to stop imminent environmental catastrophe.
We warned the EP’s handlers that the Mississippi River Symposium and the Washington, DC public relations offensive last month was a dangerous road to take. We objected that a leader of the EP’s stature was lending his moral authority to legislation built on questionable (now shoddy and corrupt) science. We rejected the political correctness that shaped many of his public statements, especially the elevation of secular moralism and apocalyptic alarmism, while ignoring the critical issues like the continuing devaluation of human life seeping into western civilization. We pointed out that two other prominent religious leaders of the West, Pope Benedict and Patriarch Kirill, have no trouble making these important moral distinctions.
Progressive environmentalism will suffer a grave blow when the corruption revealed by the release of CRU documents is fully comprehended. The Ecumenical Patriarch hitched his wagon to the environmentalist agenda and garnered heaps of praise by secular elites for his, well, “progressive” leadership.
It will prove to be a debilitating blunder. Sanctifying cultural fads and political ideologies carries a penalty. The moral stature of the Ecumenical Patriarch will diminish as the corruption of the CRU is further revealed. The basking in accolades from civic authorities and cultural gatekeepers will be seen as the abrogation of moral authority that it is. Opportunities for substantive leadership have been squandered, and the Church and the culture are the poorer for it.
This has the potential to be as huge as the UN’s food-for-oil scandal.
At the risk of making a political point, it appears that the US Senate in 1998 (majority Democrat) and George W Bush (GOP) in 2001 were 100% justified in not adhering to the Kyoto Protocols. During that time, the economy of the US grew by $6 trillion dollars while that of Japan and the EU remained static at best. Just think of all the obloquy heaped upon Bush for 8 years for not signing Kyoto? Now who looks foolish?
Now of course we’re hell-bent on going 100% in the opposite direction. It’s our turn to have a “lost generation.” And for us Orthodox, the sad thing is that we’ll be exposed as charlatans because “the First Throne of Orthodoxy” made Gaia-worship a cardinal tenet of our faith.
I know I’ve been hard on the Phanar, and I realize that many of its proponents have played the victim card, a la “do you know how many assassination attempts the EP has had to endure?” etc. And it’s true. The purpose of course was to shut up his ever-growing legion of critics. Yet let us examine this: suppose that (God forbid) a tragedy occurs. For what? Because the mean temperature of the earth may have been elevated by 1 degree Fahrenheit? (Which we now know is a lie.) I wish nothing untoward to happen to His Holiness, but if something bad occurs –to any of us for that matter–wouldn’t it be better it be because of our steadfastness to the Gospel rather than to Al Gore?
Lest we forget, Gore is a world-class hypocrite who has the carbon footprint the size of Godzilla and who is a multimillion many-times-over because he’s created an artificial market in selling carbon credits. This is nothing but a scam, no different than the RC church selling indulgences during the Renaissance. How big of a fool is Gore? He recently went on Jay Leno and stated that the core temperature of the earth was “several million degrees.” In reality, it’s about 5,000 degrees. Not only is that man a liar and a hypocrite, but a fool. (Just compare the scrutiny that Sarah Palin is subjected to in comparison to Gore. Not even close.)
Yeah, but Al Gore invented the Internet. You have to give him credit for that.
The folks over at RealClimate are heavy into damage control 😳 :
http://www.realclimate.org/
See “The CRU hack” post of 11/20/2009 and “The CRU hack: Context” post of 11/23/2009. Combined comments… over 1,400. 😯 Wow!
(And, thanks for the smilies! 🙂 )
Greg
On the other side, check out Climate Depot, where you can buy your “hide the decline” T-shirt.
Lauren Morello of ClimateWire has an update in the New York Times. Read Stolen E-Mails Sharpen a Brawl Between Climate Scientists and Skeptics.
Listen to Laura Ingraham’s interview with climatologist Patrick J. Michaels.
I just saw – get this – carbon offsets available for purchase for your cell phone!
I don’t know about yours, but my cell phone emits ZERO carbon dioxide. This is rich.
I asked the girl at Best Buy if they sold very many ‘carbon offsets’ for cell phones, and she said ‘yes,’ and was ‘pretty sure’ it goes somewhere useful. Then she asked my wife and I if we were scientists.
I responded, “No, but I can read.”
I did not try very hard to mask my incredulity, and despite her insistence that Best Buy, surely, would make sure it goes to…somewhere….that will help…well?
Man, if only I would have thought of this myself, I could retire after one Christmas season.
This really is the scam of the century, and the scientific community is to blame for permitting the politicization of junk science, and the proliferation of such manure all the way down to the classroom.
Science these days equals grant money–the whole system is corrupt and those who challenge it are penalized.
Hey, souund familiar?
The only way for the CRU, et.al. to make this go away is to make the climate change debate (and the statistics and formulas) more transparent. If this is the result of the e-mail and document disclosure, well then… all the better. If the CRU continues with the bunker mentality then those on the other side will be justified in their incredulity, and they should throw these pejorative items up at every opportunity.
How long before we pressure our elected representatives for an open Congressional hearing?
❓
CBS News: Congress may probe leaked global warming e-mails
Don’t hold your breath. They know what they don’t want to know.
“CBS News: Congress may probe leaked global warming e-mails”.
That’ll sure inspire confidence.
“We can no longer afford to be passive observers in this crucial debate,” Patriarch Bartholomew says, “If we are to save our planet sacrifices must be made by all.”
******
From “The climate e-mails and the politics of science” by Ivan Kenneally in The New Atlantis:
Illusions die hard. Ed Begley Jr. loses it on Fox News
Imagine being a GOA staffer, internet worker, press officer, speech writer etc. You have spent countless hours promoting the Green Patriarch only to realize that the vision of the Green Patriarch is a lie and a sham created for political purposes.
I would be pretty depressed if I just gave you months working on countless Green Patriarch items and its all for nothing.
Illusions are going to die hard at the GOA as well.
That’s the risk of shifting your focus from eternal verities to momentary policy concerns. While I would agree with the EP about the need to change our approach to the world that God has entrusted to us, the diagnosis remains sin, and the Church’s traditional and deeply transformational solution remains sacramental asceticism permeated by the love of Christ. This is the only cure for humanity’s essential crisis and all of the various ongoing crises that emerge from it. In comparison to such a glorious solution, “climate change policy” still looks like a mess of pottage to me.
Andrew, I’ve been thinking about your comment ever since you made it. No doubt it is deflating to give such effort and talent to what amounts to support of a fraud, but this is only part of it. More important, what explains an entire Church being pushed to embrace global warming?
I get that not everyone is a news junkie, and for many the culture debates are either a background din or high screech. But think about what we witnessed: all of the internal machinery of the GOA was geared toward making global warming a moral crusade. Call it the Al Gorization of Orthodoxy. They even had web games for kids! The entire effort was so outlandish we have to ask if there was any clear thinker in the bunch.
Just think about this. 😯 If such time, effort, and money went into sanctifying a corrupt agenda, what does that say about their discernment, caution, preparation, intellectual rigor, informed decision making and such? Not much. We witnessed the full weight of Orthodox moral authority sanctifying a political program with no apparent regard for the veracity of the science, saw concerns about the partisanship between politicos and the religious waved off, and did not even see any pragmatic calculation that the entire project could blow up in their face.
Well, blow up it did, and just two weeks after the extravaganza was completed. Now, as it sinks in how egregious the crimes (yes, crimes) committed by these fraudulent scientists really are, how can the Orthodox leaders who used their moral authority to sanctify this fraud be trusted with other things?
There is not good way out of this. If they say they were duped, well, so much for credibility and leadership. If they say they knew, then they join the ranks of the fraudulent. I wonder if they understand the box they are in.
Global Warmists Caught Red-Handed
Father, I think we could probably fill a book with the numerous moral and social contradictions in the GOA. These contradictions loom lage in many parishes and Church offices. It is embedded in the culture of Greek Orthodoxy in America.
There is no question though that the whole Green Patriarch debacle is the result of the dumbing down of Greek Orthodoxy in America.
I believe Fr. Richard John Neuhaus of blessed memory said it best “When Orthodoxy is optional, sooner or later it will be proscribed”
Ed Begley’s non-responsive rant is a textbook case of the radical leftist environmentalists approach in “debating” any subject they consider sacrosanct. They never bother to actually discuss the specific issues, the evidence, or the facts. They dismiss any of the objective contradictory information and fall back on a “mantra” or “talking point” that completely ignores the issue at hand. The other tried and true leftist tactic Ed employs is disregard the question and the objective facts and attack the messenger at all costs. Never admit to any of the information presented, and continue to point your finger in the questioner’s face and intimidate them into silence.
Poor Ed Begley. The Telegraph’s James Delingpole has posted a clip from the Not Evil Just Wrong documentary showing Ed shedding fake actor tears at an event. (Apparently, Ed’s crocodile tears weren’t the only thing faked by global warming hysterics.) Begley’s talk followed, by the way, one given by the recently departed green jobs “Tsar” Van Jones. Delingpole:
Also on the Telegraph, Gerald Warner explores the “ethos of the climate alarmist industry”:
The deafening silence of the MSM is curious – especially since one of the worst businesses today is publishing. Yet the major papers think that by ignoring this story it will go away. With more people getting their news via alternative sources, the first casualty of that foolish decision will be the ONE thing the media relies on to sell its product: credibility. (Oh well, sell that too while you’re at it.) Eventually – as with so many other stories – they’ll be forced to cover it (and then explain it away so they can justify ignoring it). Ah, the blindness of the passions, wrapped up in a self-serving ideology.
At least we have a nifty music video.
Well, that didn’t work. Try this link.
Chrys, I think “Hide the Decline” is going to be THE emblematic icon of this whole fiasco.
Whom to trust?
When it comes to science we must rely on others. There is no way to check everything yourself and repeat all that has been done up until now. You may be sure that no scientist can do every current experiment, or even follow every current argument! For most of us many (most) of the “scientific facts or truths” are a matter of faith. More than this, we are not even conscious of the fact that one is taking another’s word!
Much too often we fall into a trap: we want so badly to be regarded as intelligent people. We get lost looking at the close to infinity new concepts, definitions, new theories and hypotheses. In doing so we miss the big picture.
Any science book features the billions and millions of years it took for the planets to form, for life evolve and so on. We do not want to believe that God did everything because, well, we are rational people. Instead we replaced God with some ‘gods’. These gods have names like: time, gravity, strong force, nature, you name it. Because these gods are lower case g gods, they ofthen fail. Only God can conciliate all the current scientific theories! The god gravity who is resposible for the formation of the galaxies, stars and the planets in our solar system failed. Calculations show that around 90% of the matter in the universe is invisibile. This is the so called dark matter/energy and we needed to invent the concept because otherwise the gravity god does not explain properly how the universe works. Now we can happily go hunting the invisible dark matter.
A Cristian has a clear understanding: God Almighty made the Heavens and Earth, all that is seen and unseen (invisible). The Holy Spirit is giver of life, the “Spirit of Truth, Who art in all places and fillest all things” and Christ is “the Way, the Truth and the Life”. We have thousands and millions who laid down their lives and suffered to proclaim this Truth.
Any science book and science news presents all sorts of calamities to come:
global warming, magnetic field reversal, the fate of the universe, asteroids heading our way, deadly invisible comets, etc. These calamities are to occur sooner or in thousands of years. Are these threats meant to distract us from the real, huge calamity that is unfolding under our very eyes: the millions of lost souls due to confusion (due to misleading perhaps), which has led us dangerously close to a spiritual death of mankind?
Eine Decliner Nachtmusik
Paragraph two (above) should read:
“Yes, our planet is continually exploited by the rich; to the terrible cost of the poor, impoverished, the enslaved and starving.”
Sorry for the typo!
Well, what about the poor polluting too. In the US, certain regions, the poor have more children than the rich, and contributed more to water pollution since more people leads to more waste products. Hispanic immirgation to California for the past 30 years is a case of point of that state growing perhaps 10 million more than it would without that kind of immirgation. And many of those that support poor people are in favor of them immigating to the US where they would polluate more.
Cynthia, let’s not confuse a regional issue with a global one. Your remarks about California may be legitimate, but you are addressing a separate issue; one that that involves the US/Mexico border, etc. (If these Mexicans were not in California, they would be living some place else on planet Earth.)
The debate the original news item sparks off is whether global warming is politically or scientifically driven, and where the Church stands on the issue. At the risk of over-simplification, it comes down to which is more important: sanctity of human life or the environment.
Obviously, we need an environment to sustain human life, but the far greater challenge is the self-destruction and brutal suffering, in a myriad of forms, that human inflicts upon fellow human. The Judeo-Christian tradition has a word for it: ‘sin‘. The planet may well be destroyed by the global consequences of sin within the human condition long before our mis-use of natural resources and pollution pays its ultimate toll. But addressing sin is not a popular item on the global political agenda.
Thank God that Jesus Christ God’s son came in human flesh to save the whole world. Our task is to be bearers of Divine revelation, in order that spiritual sight may be restored to the blind, by which we might come to God’s Kingdom in repentance and faith, and prepare for His return in glory, that “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) that the Liturgy/Eucharist continually anticipates.
Writing in yesterday’s Financial Times, MIT researcher Michael Schrage offers this:
First question that comes to my mind is: what is the scale of the phenomena?
Is this an isolated case or similar stories are being played out in medicine, energy related research (mentioned here the cold fusion), earth sciences, astronomy? Politically motivated and industry-funded research is questionable since those who are paying want certain selected results.
Second question is: how long has this been going on? What about the beginning of the so called scientific revolution? My guess is that back then some research areas were ideologically driven.
And the last question is why was the Patriarch so long and deeply involved with this?
Reading the life of the Saint of the day, Monkmartyr and Confessor Stephen the New of Mt St Auxentius (http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp) I found out that Constantine, the Archbishop of Constantinople was a zealous iconoclast.
It was again Constantinople who imposed the new calendar which almost lead to a schism in the Orthodox Church. The schism was avoided by a compromise: keeping the date of the Eater as previously established, the first full moon after the spring equinox.
People started to be suspicious toward Constantinople but it does not bother them. Widespread ignorance makes room for any affirmation.
I think your right I’m talking abut the issue too narrow. And I not against Mexicans and Central Americans having a better ecnomonic situation.
Cynthia, your reply is very gracious, God bless you …and California! 🙂 I used to live in Eureka, Ca., it still has not dropped into the sea; but we did have earthquakes – and it doesn’t survive in the movie 2012. But then…. what does? (Please forgive my light-hearted comment!) John in London
about making the issue too narrow. my editing
I don’t want to get into the immigration battle right now, but I do think it is incumbent on a sovereign nation to restrict its borders, otherwise, it’s not a sovereign nation. The degree, the extent, or the quality of its laws in this regard are up to the nation in question.
IMHO, I don’t view immigration as an ecological crisis as the impact of man is minimal. Sure, people can trash their micro-environment (think about the aesthetic differences between a trailer park and a subdivision), and a mass migration of refugees can overwhelm local resources or cause desertification, but the ability of the earth to rebound after such an assault is remarkable. Look at Prudhoe Bay after the Exxon Valdez. Basically, if we mind our manners, the earth can take care of itself. Otherwise, there would not have been this mad rush to falsify data to show the reality of Anthropenic Global Warming (AGW). If it was truly man-made, then the figures would have spoken for themselves. They didn’t, hence “Climaquiddick/Climategate.”
(BTW, in the 10 days since this story broke, the word “Climategate” has seen 9 million internet hits.
Does Anyone know if the EP is actualy going to “Hopenhagen” to push the climate agreements? I know he supports it but is he going to warm up the old private jet and make a visit?
Andrew, might as well. In for a penny, in for a pound.
Warm up the Jet! It Looks like “Hopenhagen” is on the EP’ schedule.
Old Rowan Williams will be hanging out with the EP for some feel good dialogue and common prayer. It will be the ecumenical/green equivalent of dueling banjos.
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/socialpublic/environment/faithincopenhagen/
Poor Rowan Williams, it was unpleasant seeing the Pope castrate him in such a public fashion. Maybe he can work whatever magic Anglicanism has left on the EP.
Seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it? Remarks from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s Mississippi Symposium. (The Copenhagen conference opens Monday):
More EP Shenanigans! Check this out
350 is an Act of Repentance
http://www.350.org/about/blogs/patriarch-bartholomew-350-act-repentance
The EP is still hawking man made global warming. Nobody sent him the climategate memo.
Amazing Article!
Galileo and the Dangers of Faith Based Science
http://mainstreetradical.com/2009/12/01/galileo-and-the-danger-of-faith-based-science/
Now consider this, Could it be that the Green Patriarch is the modern day equivalent of the Pope at the trial of Galileo???
The comparison is compelling on some levels.
The article cited appears to be based on a number of popularly-held myths. You might want to check out “Galileo Goes to Jail – And Other Myths about Science and Religion,” a book that was
To quote a couple of relevant excerpts from The Weekly Standard review (Oct. 19, 2009):
Likewise,
More to the point, George Michalopulos (the very same who often comments on these pages) wrote a terrific review of the new book by David B. Hart which demolishes this fiction. (If you wish to read it, it is on a sister-site: OrthodoxyToday.
While I am not surprised by the growing Climategate scandal (way, way too much money and power on the line), it is dishonest for the author of the linked article to take a (heavy handed) swipe at “faith-based science,” especially since – as the books described above both note – it was (at least in part) the faith of the Church in the the reason and care of God that provided the foundation needed to study the cosmos (literally “well-ordered” creation – the very opposite of chaos). Unfortunately, anti-Catholic myths have been a useful and socially-acceptable staple since the Reformation. Not that there aren’t genuine points of disagreement, but honesty is always essential.
Unfortunately, a Chesterton noted, those who stop believing in God don’t believe in nothing, they believe in anything. Most of the time, this disbelief seems to have a strong moral motivation behind it: God gets in the way of what one wants to do, so it’s easier to deny God than one’s self. A truly “faith-based” approach would (or should) have a deep respect for fact; by contrast, once one has rendered “truth” and “fact” as merely relative, one can feel free to “use” facts in the service of one’s agenda. (This appears to be a key assumption behind the agenda-driven journalism that has dominated our J-schools for at least 25 years and may be the element most responsible for the fragile credibility of the MSM.) So, perhaps it is not surprising that a handful of scientists with the chance to grab an awful lot of prestige and influence decided that Climate policy was their ticket.
Global-warming fraud harms science
Fellow academics shocked by Climategate
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/03/global-warming-fraud-harms-science/
Jay Richards on AEI’s Enterprise blog:
—
For years, I’ve warned fellow Christians not to confuse environmental stewardship with climate change alarmism. My experience is that many Christian environmentalists simply accept the conventional wisdom when it comes to the science, rather than studying it carefully. They place a lot of weight on the credibility of mainstream views. So I’m hoping that Climategate will cause many of them to rethink their uncritical embrace of what they learn from the cover of Newsweek.
Of course, I’m not holding my breath waiting for mea culpas from, say, the Evangelical Environmental Network and National Religious Partnership for the Environment. But there are some hopeful signs among individual Christians who think about these issues. For instance, on November 20, “Blackadder,” at the (generally conservative) American Catholic wrote a post, “Are the GOP and/or Conservatives Anti-Science?” Among his examples: conservative skepticism about “evolution,” vaccines, and—you guessed it—global warming:
So in one short paragraph, Blackadder links skepticism about AGW (anthropogenic global warming) with heliocentrism, while using the bugaboo “anti-science,” which is an adjective often used by proponents of conventional wisdom to dismiss anyone who doubts said wisdom. Blackadder isn’t taking seriously the skeptical critiques of climate change orthodoxy, or even following the climate debate carefully. He’s just following conventional wisdom.
Notice that the post appeared on November 20, the same day the news broke of the leaked emails from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit. Then, on November 29, Blackadder posted “Conservatives and Science: A Partial Retraction.” Here’s what he says:
Blackadder and others at American Catholic still need to study the substance of the issue, since they’re still appealing to the fake “consensus” on climate change; but this is progress. I’m hoping millions of religious Americans are also considering retractions, if only in the way they think about this issue.
John, there’s a lot of crow to be eaten. We need to ask the GOA if humble pie is lenten.
What does global warming have to do with whether the Earth is only 6,000 to 10,000 years? Even, how old the Earth is not certain since scientist or historians can’t be certain of anything prior to written langangue about 5,000 years ago among the Egyptians or Summerians. Granted, I doubt that Dinosaurs and man existence at the same time but the bible early history is very similar to early human history information given also by the Summerians, Akkiadians and Babylonians. The Bible is a lot less cruder than those tales.
George F. Will in the Dec. 6 Washington Post:
Read The climate-change travesty
Times of London (HT: Instapundit):
The global warming fraud is like watching a building collapse in slow motion.
Perhaps this is why the EP is putting out a seperate warning now about the minorities thing in Turkey? To deflect attention from the recent “Apostolic Journey” fete-that-never-was?
Gas up the Gulfstream. From the Telegraph (UK):
Read more here.
Does anyone here actually think that a little thing like fraud will stop the statists from putting decimating regulations into effect against western industrialized countries while letting India and China run free?
After all, according the the EPA, the science is settled and CO2 is a clear and present danger to all of us. The Amish may take over the economy.
This is true that Secularists and Protestants and the Orthodox have a view of the Roman Catholic Church being anti-science. Granted, Byzantium held an advantagee during most of the middle ages and the Islam was at its height in the early to mid- middle ages. But Catholic philosophers and scientist built upon the early contributations by the other two civilizations during the latter middle ages, and after the fall of Constantinople, a lot of Byzantines fled to the west mainly to Italy and encouraged more laity education and the Catholic West and later Protestant West took advantage of this.
Scientists continue to falsify records…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/10916086/The-scandal-of-fiddled-global-warming-data.html
http://www.newsmax.com/US/climate-change-global-warming-noaa-ncdc/2015/03/10/id/629191/
That the global warming is largely a politically, rather than scientifically-driven agenda has arguably been known for a long time, and I am saddened whenever Church leaders somehow buy into what I personally consider to be largely a deceptive mechanism, by which the global governmental system can gain totalitarian power over peoples and countries. It seems evident that people in high places put out a lot of disinformation, in the hopes of making detractors to the agenda of the day look like politically incorrect fanatics and/or conspiracy theorists. Meanwhile, the mass of the populations follow by public opinion or by force, the dictates of the powerful. And of course, in the name of ecological conservationism, civil and religious liberty is under serious threat.
Yes, our planet is continued explicated by the rich; to the terrible cost of the poor, impoverished, enslaved and starving. May religious leaders of all Christian traditions take the lead in reminding the world that human sin – its rebellion against God – is at the heart of global ecological problems we now face. (see Romans 8:19-23), and that it is not the planet, but humanity, made in the image of God, that needs to be at the pinnacle of our agenda in prayers and action.