John Abraham contacted me shortly after I completed my videos lambasting “His Lordship” Christopher Monckton. He said he was a professor at a college in St Paul, and had been doing some research to find out how much of Monckton’s YouTube hit St Paul Lecture, which Abraham had attended, was actually true.
Well, of course, turns out almost none of it. And when I finally got to listen to Abraham’s complete presentation, I knew he had done something special. By spending the hundreds of hours necessary to piece together the supposed sources of Monckton’s “science”, Abraham had gone much further than I had in completely deconstructing one of the vaunted heroes of climate denial.
Monckton has never recovered. Not long ago he was the republican party’s sole witness in hearings before congress on the subject. Now he is such an embarrassment, that his name is no longer mentioned by anyone who wishes to preserve even a thread of credibility.
John has gone on to become a co-founder of the Climate Science Rapid Response Team – one of the most effective and widely accessed resources for journalists needing clarification on climate issues and climate disinformation.
In the audio interview above, Abraham shows how to get the job done when faced with a hostile right wing interviewer – telling the truth, powering thru the harassment and making them like it.
Regarding the interviewer questions, which obviously were leading questions, based on denier talking points by someone completely ignorant of the topic, but thinking he knows better than this scientist because he read some cockemame skeptic arguments.
Varying degrees of science out there? No there is the science and there is a massive disinformation campaign putting out these bogus ideas. Guess who is funding that? What is the biggest business enterprise in history, with the most to lose if we switch to clean energy? Do you not remember the tobacco companies doing the exact same thing? They even use the same “think tanks” to dispense this nonsense.
The fact that CO2 can warm the atmosphere, regardless of it’s small amount relative to the atmosphere, is undisputed in science. It’s not even an intelligent argument. It just sounds like one.
“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge”
Charles Darwin
You can look up any skeptic argument you have heard at Skeptical Science and read what the science says.
Yes, water vapor is a strong greenhouse gas. It cannot “cause” global warming by itself, though.
Water Vapor is never a climate forcing on it’s own, becaue the total amount of water doesn’t change. It is a feedback, that accelerates warming, no matter what forcing causes the warming.
As the earth warms, more water evaporates, adding to the greenhouse effect. Warm air holds more moisture than cold air.
Remember. It’s easy to sound ‘scientificky’ when talking about extremely complex science. That’s how the deniers convince so many people. The following nails it.
“The target audience of denialism is the lay audience, not scientists. It’s made up to look like science, but it’s PR.”
David Archer