Bias About Climate Change

Abstract

Science's brittle aversion to policy-makers who want to know more about climate change was on full display in the 28 July account of the U.S. House of Representatives hearing on the hockey stick theory (“Politicians attack, but evidence for global warming doesn't wilt,” R. A. Kerr, News of the Week, p. [421][1]). Kerr refers to Committee Chairman Joe Barton's request for independent statistical analysis of the hockey stick theory not as a logical step, but as “a highly unusual move.” And didn't everybody just hate how he “bore down” on the National Academies' panel's chairman? Thank goodness Gerald North “deflected the charge like an all-star hockey goalie.” The best that can be said of Kerr and his publisher, Alan Leshner, is that they don't hide their biases. And they will have further opportunities for public display now that Congressman Barton has broached the idea of inviting experts at the National Research Council and the Government Accountability Office to get involved in the evaluation process. Lord only knows how Science will fault that, but in a place where the mere asking of questions is deemed a threat, you just know they will. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.313.5786.421