Smart Bombs: Throttling the truth

Confronted with the fact that 2,500 climate scientists from 130 nations reached the conclusion that human-caused forces are “very likely” to blame for global warming, Kenneth Green of the American Enterprise Institute replied, “That doesn’t mean they’re always right.”

“Very likely” means scientists believe this with at least 90 percent certainty. That’s an upgrade from the last report in 2001, where the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that humans “likely” were a factor.

Anyway, it seems that the possibility of these scientists being wrong occurred to the pro-business think tank six months before the IPCC panel produced its findings, which were released Friday. In July, AEI offered scientists up to $10,000 to write global-warming critiques, with the goal of publishing these essays at about the time the IPCC was scheduled to finish, according to Reuters. AEI subsequently shelved the campaign.

Green denies AEI was funding a pre-emptive strike, noting that it just wanted to find moderate voices to balance “the skeptics” and “the alarmists” (also known as experts). By the way, AEI has received $1.6 million from ExxonMobil. Did that money influence matters?

Very likely.

This is a job for High Tech Man. Here are a few details from the IPCC report, as reported by the Associated Press:

“If nothing is done to change current emissions patterns of greenhouse gases, global temperature could increase as much as 11 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100.” And, “sea levels are expected to rise 7 to 23 inches by the end of the century. Add another 4 to 8 inches if recent, surprising melting of polar ice sheets continues.”

Suddenly, the Inland Northwest looks more attractive.

With such dire news, the government is sure to swing into emergency mode and call for dramatic changes, right?

Um, no. The Bush administration said, in essence, “Super job on that report, but we won’t be mandating reductions in greenhouse gases. Technology can solve this problem.”

The president taps the same superhero when addressing significant increases in fuel-mileage standards and other conservation measures. From the State of the Union address:

“I understand some are out there scratching their heads, saying, you expect me to believe, President, that I’m going to be driving a car, the fuel from which has been derived from switch grass? And my answer is, yes, I do.”

Is this the answer the American Enterprise Institute’s benefactors want to hear?

Very likely.