There is an issue here though, Black’s perception of
himself as reporting ‘objectively’ (his term) on climate change. No
one is objective on anything. We must bear in mind that uncertainty is in the
eye of the beholder and (forgive me, I don’t have time to source the
quote) we mustn’t forget the advisor to the Bush administration who said that
if they can make uncertainty the defining feature of the climate change debate then
they would have won. So to sit ‘objectively’ astride the
uncertainty fence is to take a position, is to ignore how power operates.
And in the Schneider piece Black dismisses the fascist group and
their theories of Jewish world dominance. Whilst I agree with Black on this
point, I don’t do so from an ‘objective’ position but because
of my beliefs. The same is true for Black.
Chris
From: Discussion list for the Crisis Forum
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Oliver Tickell
Sent: 01 October 2010 12:09
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CCG] "warmist" crowd sometimes plays dirty
also..... sigh!!
Re Chris's suggestion that we should all email Richard Black,
Chris, you fail to say why you think we should do that or what we should say.
Would that be to praise him for his studious protest and objective
reporting of complex environmental issues? Or to protest at the fact that he
has written an article, reporting on what looks like some pretty sound
research, indicating that the end of summer Arctic sea ice may not take place
quite so soon as has previously been suggested?
Joe Romm's article looks to me motivated by personal belief and
prejudice more than science. Richard Black is doing a good job of
presenting the science accurately and intelligently. And that is surely what we
need. There is more than enough hysterical ranting around as it is.
Oliver Tickell.
From:
Discussion list for the Crisis Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Sam Geall
Sent: 01 October 2010 10:25
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CCG] "warmist" crowd sometimes plays dirty also.....
sigh!!
I think it's a good idea to read Richard Black's previous,
rather disturbing account of the kinds of email abuse climate scientists tend
to receive. It is in that context he is writing. (By the way, I largely agree
with Joe Romm's critique of Black's report -- but that doesn't necessarily mean
an email campaign is an effective strategy.)
Richard Black | 15:43 UK time, Tuesday, 20 July 2010
I didn't know Stephen Schneider, the Stanford University
climatologist who has just died from an apparent heart attack, well enough to
pen a comprehensive account of his life and works.
RealClimate has an appreciation by
his close colleague Ben Santer; and the Los Angeles Timesand Washington Post have
obituaries, among others.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) has an In Memoriam note [46.60KB PDF] that
describes Dr Schneider as...
"...a major contributor to the IPCC and one of its fiercest supporters... a warrior for honesty and a dedicated campaigner for giving people the complete story.
"Steve's scholarly approach, combining world-class research with deep commitment to broad communication, set a remarkable standard of excellence."
As a journalist covering climate change
through the Kyoto conference of 1997, the Bush administration's decision to
absent itself from that arena, the seminal IPCC report of 2007 and last
December's UN summit in Copenhagen,
Stephen Schneider was someone whose influence you could hardly miss, from his
pioneering work on developing numerical models of climate to the interviews and
conversations and speeches through which he sought to convey the implications
of all that science to the public.
Of course, that didn't necessarily make
him a popular man.
I last spoke to him about three months
ago. The context was abuse: the vitriolic, sustained, personalised and
sometimes apparently organised abuse that has been levelled against scientists
in the climate field, including him.
It materialises in blogs and newspaper
articles that appear to start from the standpoint that everyone in the field is
corrupt, incompetent and crooked. It streams into scientists' e-mail inboxes.
Some of those receiving it see it as a
deliberate, malicious and politically-motivated campaign of harassment.
Australian journalist Clive Hamilton has
documented the threats and abuse levelled against scientists in his country in
a series of online articles commencing with "Bullying, lies and the rise of
right-wing climate denial".
He cites cases of scientists being
compared in emails to Pol Pot, and being told that unless they stopped what
they were doing, they would "end up collateral damage in the war".
From my own enquiries, such harassment
does not appear routine in the UK, though it does happen. Prominent climate
scientists I spoke to have encountered abusive e-mails, some registering a
crescendo in the run-up to the Copenhagen conference, and others noting that it
emerged whenever they published a paper or spoke in the media.
It has reached its apogee, however, in
North America - not least in the threatening e-mails and indeed events that
have followed Stephen Schneider, Ben Santer and several of their colleagues in
recent years - events that the former detailed to some extent in his book Science as a Contact Sport.
In one of his recent e-mails to me, he
said that title was probably "too wimpy an analogy" given how far
things had gone.
We're not only talking here about
messages accusing scientists of being communist traitors whose raison d'etre is
world government - though there are enough of those - but threats to life and
limb.
We're talking about a threat perceived to
be serious enough that a prominent climate researcher had to be escorted to
last December's American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting by security guards.
We're talking about a dead rat left on a doorstep around
midnight, the perpetrator driving off hurling abuse in - perhaps inevitably - a
huge 4x4.
Some of the scientists have been most
concerned bya posting on the website of the
white supremacist organisation Stormfront.
It shows photos of eight prominent people
working in climate change, either as scientists or on the policy side -
including Stephen Schneider - and labels them all as "Jews".
Further down, a comment on the thread
contends that the "global warming scam has always borne the stench of the
same old Jewish liars, thieves, swindlers and murderers".
Dr Schneider regularly engaged with
scientists and politicians sceptical of climate science, through peer-reviewed
publications, books, advice to a succession of US administrations, and the
IPCC.
But how is anyone supposed to engage with
Stormfront?
Here is perhaps an issue that ought to
concern people sceptical of human-induced climate change.
It is a broad spectrum. But how does
propagation of the "Jewish liars" or "world government"
arguments affect perceptions of those who challenge the mainstream picture
along scientific lines?
Doesn't the climate of abuse overshadow
the real issues that sceptics are flagging up, and reduce the chances of
"sceptical" science being taken seriously?
And what is the abuse supposed to change?
Does anyone really expect committed scientists to stop doing science just
because they are labelled "scum" or "paid liars"?
It's an approach to winning hearts and
minds that must have a limited chance of success.
Stephen Schneider didn't feel inclined to
pull back. In a recent e-mail to me and others, he decried the attempt by Senator James
Inhofe [639.15KB PDF] and others to seek legal redress against
17 climate scientists, including Phil Jones of the University of East Anglia,
as "a smokescreen of denial and deceit".
He recounted that he was working an extra
four hours every evening trying to put the record straight, as he saw it, on
issues such as "ClimateGate" and alleged mistakes in IPCC assessments
- "No time to stop now..."
On Fri, Oct 1, 2010 at 4:40 PM, Chris Keene <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
Should we all be emailing Richard Black?
Chris
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: |
[CCG] "warmist" crowd sometimes plays dirty
also..... sigh!! |
Date: |
Fri, 01 Oct 2010 05:40:49 -0000 |
From: |
Thecanadianone <[log in to unmask]> |
Reply-To: |
|
To: |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2010/09/something_new_and_not_altogeth.html
Richard Black | 16:42 UK time, Wednesday, 22 September 2010
It seems that something new, and not altogether welcome, may be happening in
the politicking over climate change.
Error! Filename not specified.
I
have written before of the orchestrated villification that comes the way of
climate scientists from some people and organisations who are unconvinced
of the case for human-induced climate change - "sceptics",
"deniers", as you wish.
Journalists, including your humble correspondent, receive our fair share
too.
This week, for the first time, I am seeing the same pattern from their
opponents.
Joe Romm, the
physicist-cum-government-advisor-cum-polemicist, posted a blog entry
highly critical of the Arctic ice
article I wrote last week.
Headlined "Dreadful
climate story by BBC's Richard Black", it takes me to task,
essentially, for not mentioning human-induced climate change explicitly.
At least, that is the surface complaint; what my omission hides, he hints
heavily, is an agenda aimed at downplaying the impacts of humanity's greenhouse
gas emissions.
He then gives my email address and invites his readers to send in
complaints. Many have, perhaps swayed by judgemental terms in his post
such as "spin", "inexcusable", and
"mis-reporting", with several citing his interpretation as
gospel truth.
He is as entitled to his views as anyone else.
But this is, at least in my experience, the first time that
"warmers" - those who, like Dr Romm, believe climate change is taking
us to hell in a handcart and who lobby for more urgent action on the issue
- have resorted to the internet equivalent of taking banners onto the street in
an attempt to influence reporting of the issue.
It may be something that other journalists have seen before - I can only
report that I have not. Always, in my experience, it has come from the side of
"the debate" that Dr Romm abhors.
I am wondering, therefore, whether it does presage the start of
something - whether it is now going to be routine for those of us who attempt
to report on climate change objectively to be on the receiving end of barrages
of critical mail, stimulated by bloggers with a definable agenda, whenever
we write something that does not tally with their agenda.
What about scientists? If researchers publish papers on climate change that
do not include cataclysmic warnings of where the world is heading, will
they receive the same treatment?
Anyone who shares Dr Romm's views should, I suggest, be
hoping this is not the case. As I have asked before in relation to
pressure from the "sceptical" camp, what makes anyone think that
organised abuse is an effective lobbying tactic?
Rather, it takes us further down the spiral of confrontation, where no-one
listens to anyone with an opposing point of view, where every word has to be
weighed for ideological purity rather than accuracy, and where free and
effective discourse becomes impossible.
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