The Inquisition of Climate Science
Published on 30. August 2011
Book
Hardback
272 pages
978-0-231-15718-6 (ISBN)
Description
Modern science is under the greatest and most successful attack in recent history. An industry of denial, abetted by news media and "info-tainment" broadcasters more interested in selling controversy than presenting facts, has duped half the American public into rejecting the facts of climate science-an overwhelming body of rigorously vetted scientific evidence showing that human-caused, carbon-based emissions are linked to warming the Earth. The industry of climate science denial is succeeding: public acceptance has declined even as the scientific evidence for global warming has increased. It is vital that the public understand how anti-science ideologues, pseudo-scientists, and non-scientists have bamboozled them. We cannot afford to get global warming wrong-yet we are, thanks to deniers and their methods. The Inquisition of Climate Science is the first book to comprehensively take on the climate science denial movement and the deniers themselves, exposing their lack of credentials, their extensive industry funding, and their failure to provide any alternative theory to explain the observed evidence of warming.
In this book, readers meet the most prominent deniers while dissecting their credentials, arguments, and lack of objectivity. James Lawrence Powell shows that the deniers use a wide variety of deceptive rhetorical techniques, many stretching back to ancient Greece. Carefully researched, fully referenced, and compellingly written, his book clearly reveals that the evidence of global warming is real and that an industry of denial has deceived the American public, putting them and their grandchildren at risk.
In this book, readers meet the most prominent deniers while dissecting their credentials, arguments, and lack of objectivity. James Lawrence Powell shows that the deniers use a wide variety of deceptive rhetorical techniques, many stretching back to ancient Greece. Carefully researched, fully referenced, and compellingly written, his book clearly reveals that the evidence of global warming is real and that an industry of denial has deceived the American public, putting them and their grandchildren at risk.
Reviews / Votes
This book is a winner, written in an easy, logical style with thorough and fascinating discussions of major deniers. -- Orrin Pilkey, Duke University, coauthor of The Rising Sea With the evidence for global warming so strong, why, Powell asks, does half the American public doubt it? His answer is a history of the campaign of denial, the most comprehensive and up-to-date history available. It is well written and well worth reading: this is the most important issue facing our generation. -- Spencer Weart, author of The Discovery of Global Warming This courageous and well-researched book exposes how ideologues and money combined to attack sound climate science. -- Richard Somerville, University of California, San Diego, author of The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change, second edition Powell consistently brings the sharp insight of a knowledgeable insider melded with the skepticism of a critical outsider to the most important issues in science. In his latest book-his best yet-he shows us the path to understanding climate change. -- Peter D. Ward, The University of Washington James Lawrence Powell's must-read book is a welcome addition to the growing literature debunking fossil fuel-funded, anti-science disinformation. As Powell makes clear, it is time for scientists to stand up and be counted. -- Joseph Romm, editor of Climate Progress and senior fellow at American Progress this is a highly authoritative and accessible book that should be read by everyone who has any doubts about the reality of climate change. Irish Times Books like 'The Inquisition' offer a clear antidote to the evolving national viral infection of antiscience. Get it. Read it. Tell others about it. -- John Atcheson 1895 By looking at climate science, business, politics, and media, Powell has taken a comprehensive approach, doing a thorough job of boxing in the deniers' arguments and deflating them while at the same time providing an accessible read for nonprofessionals. Library Journal Xpress Reviews A masterful compilation of nearly all the evidence, not only for the reality of anthropogenic global warming, but especially answering point-by-point the ridiculous attempts by climate deniers to cloud and distort the issues by raising one bogus charge after another. -- Donald R. Prothero Skeptic Blog A rare look at the politicalization of an important science... Recommended. Choice ...succinctly summarizes the entire disinheartening story. -- Naomi Oreskes Physics Today ...a worthwhile read...an invaluable tool for those of us that are committed to fighting against the assault on climate science, be it the writers, the teachers, the activists, the politicians, or the scientists. -- Sarah Kenehan Environmental Philosophy A clear antidote to the evolving national viral infection of antiscience. Get it. Read it. Tell others about it. -- John Atcheson Science Progress The Inquisition of Climate Science is an excellent, well-written book for the general audience which gives readers a broad view of organized attacks on climate science over the last few decades. Reports of the National Center for Science Education The first book to examine the history and milieu of the climate science denial process as a whole... a 'must' for any college-level science collection. Midwest Book ReviewMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
7 line drawings
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
468 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-231-15718-6 (9780231157186)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
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James Powell
The Inquisition of Climate Science
Book
12/2012
Columbia University Press
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Person
James Lawrence Powell was born and raised in Kentucky and graduated from Berea College. He received his Ph.D. in Geochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has had a distinguished career as a college teacher, college president, museum director, and author of books on earth science for general audiences. He serves as executive director of the National Physical Science Consortium, a partnership among government agencies and laboratories, industry, and higher education dedicated to increasing the number of American citizens with graduate degrees in the physical sciences and related engineering fields, emphasizing recruitment of a diverse applicant pool that includes women and minorities. He has taught at Oberlin College and has served as its acting president. He has also been president of Franklin and Marshall College, Reed College, the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Both Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush appointed Powell to the National Science Board.
Content
Preface Introduction Not Skeptics, by Deniers 1. Science and Potemkin Science Never a Crisis A Political Movement A Cheap Tuxedo Better Than Scientists 2. Adventures in Denierland Urban Myth? Cave Junction 3. The Evidence for Consensus Spam Filter Newton's Second Law Polling Scientists An Extremely Pernicious Development 4. Discovery of Global Warming One of the Oldest Theories A Large-Scale Geophysical Experiment 5. The Greenhouse Effect: From Curiosity to Threat Models Predict Warming Globetrotters The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 6. Global Warming: All You Really Need to Know in One Chart 7. Tobacco Tactics: The Scientist-Deniers All of Those People Are Wrong With All Due Respect, by Dr. Michaels The $45 Million Man If Science Doesn't Have Integrity Blue Marble Nuke Vietnam? Foot Soldier 8. Fear of State: The Nonscientists Aren't You Embarrassed, by Mr. Will? Once Again The Lomborg Deception Bed-Wetting, by Messianic 9. Toxic Tanks Harry and Louise Tale from the Crypt Please Don't Poop in My Salad Embarrassing General Marshall Push Down on the Accelerator 10. An Industry to Trust Most Profitable Company in History An Industry That Cannot Afford Denial 11. Balance as Bias: How the Media Missed "The Story of the Century" The Prestige Press Plumes of Smoke from China Carbongate End of Objectivity? Systemic Failure 12. Science Under Attack It's the Sun, by Ozone Testosterone Watts Up with That? Slap Shot The Medieval Warm Period Do Climate Models Work? Did Global Warming End in 1998? Chicken or Egg? GRACE Tropospheric Cooling? 13. Greatest Hoax in History? Who's to Blame? Liberals, by of Course To Command Spring Funding Research Traitors 14. Climategate: Much Ado About Nothing One Million Words Innocent of All Charges Gates and More Gates 15. Anatomy of Denial To Roll Back Industrial Society 16. Escalating Tactics Monkey Trials Old Virginia Home 17. Earning Trust Appendix Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Index
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