The Island of Doubt

Our observer of all things antipodean, Deltoid Tim, reminds us that there are still some pseudoskeptics out there of some stature who not only cling to the notion that humans aren't to blame for climate change, but also continue to insist the world isn't warming at all. Nigel Lawson, a member of that bizarre and elite club known as the British House of Lords, was on a New Zealand television morning show the other day, fielding softballs on the subject, when he actually said:

"There's no global warming happening at the present time. That is clear. That's accepted on all sides."

But I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. Lawson's been holding forth with this sort of nonsense for years now, not just taking issue with the science, but making it up when needed. What puzzles me is why groups like the NZ Business Roundtable would consider the likes of Lawson worthy of inviting round for a chat. Yes, he was chancellor of the exchequer for Margaret Thatcher, but how does that qualify him as an expert on climatology? And yes, I know Al Gore has next to no science training, either. But at least Gore has been listening to scientists for 30 years, draws on their expertise and references peer-reviewed publications to make his case. Lawson can make no such claims. No, the Business Roundtable would probably find a lecture from his daughter more informative, as Nigella "Domestic Goddess" Lawson at least has experience with the consequences of varying temperatures.

Consider this little snippet from a year-old report the elder Lawson wrote for the Centre for Policy Studies, in which he demonstrates an incredible lack of understanding of time:

It is perfectly possible, for example, that over the next hundred years or so, the world might enter another ice age. There is ample evidence that this has happened at fairly regular intervals over the long history of the planet, and that we are overdue for another one.

But perhaps the 75-year-old peer is simply experiencing the early stage of dementia. In the NZ Business Breakfast TV spot, the one in which he begins by insisting that everyone agrees that the planet is not warming, he later suggests that our best course of action is "adapt." To a trend that isn't happening. Riiiight.

Here's another excerpt from his 2006 report, which manages to invoke not just all of the BBC's new list of top 10 climate denial myths, but all of New Scientist's list of 26 myths.

The argument that we need to cut back substantially on carbon dioxide emissions in order to help the world's poor is bizarre in the extreme. To the extent that their problems are climatic, these problems are not new ones, even if they may be exacerbated if current projections are correct. If, twenty years ago, when as Chancellor I was launching the first concerted poor-country debt forgiveness initiative, subsequently known as the Toronto terms, anyone had argued that the best way to help the developing countries was to make the world a colder place, I would probably have politely suggested that they see their doctor. It makes no more sense today than it would have done then.

A better example of wooly-headed thinking would be harder to find. The developing world isn't hot enough already?

I did manage to quote-mine one phrase of wisdom from that report, though:

The extent of ill-informed wishful thinking on this issue is hard to exaggerate.

Indeed.