Yesterday, EoR looked at the public deniers of climate science. But there are other deniers about, men* who form small groups and hold meetings to promote their ideology, who provide a platform to the lest creditable 'climate experts', and who pretend to be men of logic and reality.
This secretive group is the WA Skeptics.
Their most recent meetings feature the following doyens of scepticism:
November 2009: Joanne Nova. Described as "on how bullies and status seekers destroy rational debate on climate change. 'Science is not a democracy and natural laws don't form because a UN committee decreed it.'" Joanne Nova is a microbiologist. EoR wasn't at the meeting, but he suspects the 'bullies' didn't include Christopher Monckton.
March 2010: Dr John Happs ("an education consultant, former lecturer in geosciences at universities in Australia and the USA, and author of numerous science texts and book chapters" and President of the WA Skeptics). Described, quite modestly EoR notes, as "His talk was a masterly overview of climate change and the latest developments in the growing international scandal about the IPCC and its abuse of the scientific process."
May 2010. This meeting was cancelled, but was to feature David Archibald (pictured on the site with the man who wrote a forward to his book, David Bellamy). The meeting will be rescheduled.
Dr Happs has also written a diatribe to Australia's Chief Scientist which "surveys (with many quotes) the whistle blowing that uncovered abuse of science by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- an abuse that promises to be the worst scandal in science's history". Professor Hackett has not replied. EoR isn't surprised.
Why is the WA Skeptics concentrating so intensively on this one subject?
Why is it only being presented from one (contrarian) view?
Why can't they get any climatoligists to discuss the issue?
Have they asked?
Or are they so confirmed that their conspiracy world view is right?
Why don't they also invite Meryl Dorey along to present her compelling evidence for the latest developments in vaccination science, the scandal of immunisation, the (obviously, second) worst scandal in science's history, and how bullies and status seekers have sought to silence her?
More damning evidence of the worst scandal in science's history can be found at the following links:
CSIRO: State of the climate
Climate change in Australia
How to talk to a climate sceptic
*As far as EoR can determine from photographs of recent meetings on their website, the group consists of a small number of elderly white males.
Thanks for covering this EoR. Beat me to it!
ReplyDeleteI am deeply disappointed in Dr John Happs of the WA Skeptics.
He should rename to WA Denialsts Society.
Dr Happs is behaving no better than the psychics, creationists and pseudo-scientists he has rallied against over the years.
Plimer visited WA Skeptics in his previous life as an anti-creationism crusader. Now he has taken a turn for the worst. It is time for Dr Happs to interrogate himself. Is he still a skeptic? Can he accept findings from climate scientists, oceanographers and atmospheric scientists? Or does he consume magic Turkish Delight of the White Wizards of Lavoisier.
If Dr Happs invites qualified climate scientists to talk to WA Skeptics, all may be forgiven.