Climate Policy

[Jester]

For example, the famous physicist Dr. Freeman Dyson said, "The person who is really responsible for this overestimate of global warming is Jim Hansen. He consistently exaggerates all the dangers... Hansen has turned his science into ideology.” Regarding his and others heresy on global warming Dyson says, "My objections to the global warming propaganda are not so much over the technical facts, about which I do not know much, but it’s rather against the way those people behave and the kind of intolerance to criticism that a lot of them have." This resonates with me, as I'm also a subscriber to the heresy of being an open skeptic of this complex topic.

With all due respect to one of the great living physicists, Freeman Dyson giving his opinion on climate science is kind of like Steve Gould talking about the big bang. It's way, way out of his field.

But, then, I suppose if you've constructed the idea in your head that this is some kind of religious issue for climate scientists, setting yourself up as a "heretic" is a much more satisfying position than merely a scientist with a different opinion. It has a nice contrarian savour to it, and doesn't require a comprehensive analysis of the evidence.

-Jester