Calling on the Non-Expert 'Witness'

In this post I look at another misleading method used by Global Warming deniers.

2. Arguments put forward by high profile individuals who have no expertise in the area of Global Warming

The author of many successful novels, Michael Crichton, was a spokesman against Global Warming for years prior to his death. Crichton was an MD who turned to fiction when his novel, “The Andromeda Strain,” became so successful in the 1960s. He was an intelligent, educated and successful man. But he had no standing as an expert on Global Warming.

The following is from Crichton’s interview with John Stossel on the TV program 20/20, on December 10, 2004.

"If somebody said, 'John, I've got a nice weather forecast for you for next year, this time next year,' you wouldn't [believe them]. How about this time a hundred years from now? I mean, are you going to give that any credence at all? No."

Here’s another one from Crichton: From "Aliens Cause Global Warming," a lecture by him given at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, January 17, 2003.

“Nobody believes a weather prediction twelve hours ahead. Now we're asked to believe a prediction that goes out 100 years into the future?”

In an earlier post I already noted the difference between weather and climate. Crichton surely understood this. But to people who do not understand this, it sounds like a valid criticism of climate prediction.

The use of publicly known and respected individuals, especially those who have no training and experience in the study of climate, to counter the science of Global Warming, is not just misleading, it is reprehensible.

But there are scientists who deny the evidence on Global Warming. What about them? We have to examine the motives and the history of these people. We have to "follow the money."