Way Of The Dodo

Both the FEU and Dr. Lindzen calculated the amount of global warming we expect from all man-made greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, etc.). However, neither accounted for man-made emissions of aerosols (small particles from fossil fuel combustion which block sunlight and cool the Earth's surface), or other cooling effects.

In a strong showing of scientific and journalistic integrity, a number of media sources have devoted articles to noting and correcting the errors in the FEU report, including The Guardian, RealClimate, The Huffington Post, and many others. Rather than deny, ignore, or propagate the errors, scientists and the media immediately acknowledged and corrected them.

By contrast, former TV weatherman Anthony Watts' popular global warming skeptic blog, WattsUpWithThat, soon ran Lindzen's article with no commentary or analysis. As a result, Lindzen's errors and incorrect conclusions were propagated to a much larger audience, which, based on the blog comments, was very receptive to the article. The article was soon re-published by The National Review and numerous other blogs and media sources, with a distinct lack of analysis or commentary. Lindzen's errors continue to spread, unacknowledged and uncorrected.

The examples above are fairly representative of the behavior of scientists, bloggers, and global warming "skeptics." Self-proclaimed "skeptics" will pounce upon any mistake made by climate scientists with the zeal of sharks smelling blood in the water. Yet mistakes by a fellow skeptic like Dr. Lindzen are passed over in silence, and his erroneous conclusions are promoted and propagated.

Skepticism, in its true sense, means examining all evidence with an equally critical eye. A true skeptic should also look for mistakes made by those on his side; and if he encounters them, he should acknowledge and correct them. In this case study, the true skeptics were the climate scientists and journalists. Those who wish to be considered honest skeptics should take note of their commendable behavior.

None in the AGW camp defended the FEU-US, and there was universal criticism for the group's unwillingness to correct the errors themselves when they were notified of them.

The self-proclaimed "skeptics", on the other hand, behaved in a much more biased manner. They almost universally attempted to defend Lindzen's errors. Several attempted to blame the FEU-US errors on the IPCC. The "logic" was that the FEU-US scientific adviser (Osvaldo Canziani) was previously an IPCC co-chair, and the report heavily referenced the IPCC report. The fact that the IPCC had nothing to do with the FEU-US errors did not dissuade these self-proclaimed "skeptics".

In the end, The Guardian comments provided a secondary case study about the behavior of both camps. The actual skeptics, who acknowledged the mistakes where they were made, happened to be in the AGW camp. Those who refused to look at all the evidence with an equally critical eye and were unable to set their biases aside were in the "skeptic" camp.