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James Taylor
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It’s been a tough week for climate alarmists. First, as my Forbes.com column this week pointed out, the peer-reviewed journal Remote Sensing reported NASA satellite data showing that the Earth’s atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted.
As I wrote for Forbes, “the new findings are extremely important and should dramatically alter the global warming debate.” And alter it in the way that throws cold water on the alarmist line. Speaking of cold water … there’s news on the polar bear front.
The Daily Caller quoted me in a story titled: “Polar bear climate-change scientist investigated for ‘integrity issues’.” According to the story:
The federal wildlife biologist whose research on drowning polar bears became a rallying cry for global warming advocates is under investigation for “integrity issues” relating to his scientific studies.
Charles Monnett, a scientist with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) was placed on administrative leave by the agency on July 18, pending an investigation by the Department of the Interior’s Inspector General office.
In 2006, After observing a number of drowned polar bears while doing field work, Monnett and a colleague published a peer-reviewed article suggesting that “drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice and/or longer open water periods continues.”
The article never explicitly tied polar bear deaths to global warming, but it was nevertheless picked up by environmentalists — and even made its way into Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth.”
We’ve all seen the phony but exploitative photos — such as the one illustrating this post. If you’ve seen Phelim McAleer’s film “Not Evil, Just Wrong,” you’ll remember the scenes in the beginning of British children all-but-crying over the impending extinction of polar bears due to the CO2 humans are emitting into the atmosphere.
Hogwash then. Hogwash now. Anyway, here’s my quote about this controversy in the Daily Caller story:
James Taylor, a senior fellow for environment policy at the Heartland Institute, had a different take.
“Without knowing the specifics of the evidence for or against Monnett, I will say that government-funded scientists should be able to and indeed required to provide supporting evidence for their claims,” Taylor said. “If Monnett did nothing wrong, an inquiry into his work will enhance his reputation and his claims. If he did poor research or engaged in misconduct, then the public certainly has a right to know that, too.”
Fair enough, I think.
