New Book Misrepresents Climate Change Science
Authors of the book “SuperFreakonomics” push global cooling myths and illogical, distorted arguments against climate change.
October 15, 2009
From the Union of Concerned Scientists
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Ken Caldeira, the primary climate scientist interviewed in “SuperFreakonomics,” has said the book inaccurately portrays his views.
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS
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The new book SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner is slated to be released on Oct. 20, 2009. Experts at the Union of Concerned Scientists found that the fifth chapter of the book, “Global Cooling,” repeats a large number of easily discredited arguments regarding climate science, energy production and geoengineering.
The authors appear to have taken a purposefully contrarian position on climate change science and economics. While such a position may help draw attention to their book, their reliance on faulty arguments and distorted statistics does a disservice to their readers.
In 20 short pages, the authors:
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- Repeat tired global cooling myths
- Unfairly trash climate models
- Highlight irrelevant statistics about carbon dioxide without context
- Extol the virtues of excess carbon dioxide while ignoring the downsides
- Ignore a major source of sea level rise
- Cherry-pick short-term climate fluctuations while missing the bigger picture
- Use faulty statistics to trash renewable energy
- Advocate rolling the dice on unproven technology
- Use a silly analogy to attack plans to reduce emissions
Repeat tired global cooling myths
First, the chapter rehashes 1970s global cooling myths (pages 165 and 166). In fact, the 1970s “cooling scare” is largely an invention of the opponents of addressing climate change. Only a few news organizations reported on a handful of scientific papers regarding cooling in the 1970s. What was going on? Scientists noted that sulfur-dioxide production and other particulates that reflect sunlight were on the rise, outstripping the effect of heat-trapping gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. Over time, industry reduced emissions of these cooling pollutants, which also cause acid rain. Meanwhile, fossil fuel emissions and deforestation have exploded, leading to an overabundance of warming gases in our atmosphere. The scientific research on global warming is orders of magnitude larger and more robust than the science underpinning a handful of cooling articles in the 1970s.
Unfairly trash climate models
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