The Children's Book That Has Global Warming Deniers Up in Arms

A global warming denier group is attacking The Down To Earth Guide to Global Warming, the new children's book I co-authored with Cami Gordon.

Our crime? It turns out one of the illustrations in the book was accidentally mislabeled. This has got the gang at the at the Science and Public Policy Instituted up in arms - or at least pretending to be -- no doubt hoping to ride our coattails, create some controversy, and promote their own new book.

Why am I not surprised? These "skeptics" have grown so predictable.

Even so, I'd like to thank the SPPI for pointing out this minor error to us. However, we have checked with climate experts who confirmed that the text accompanying the mislabeled illustration, and our description of the close relationship between CO2 and temperature, is accurate and fairly represents the current state of scientific knowledge.

Apparently the climate change "skeptics" have grown so desperate in their attempts to hide the truth from the American people that they've taken to spending hours scrutinizing a children's book, trying to marginalize the urgent information it contains about global warming. And through all their efforts, all they uncovered in a hundred pages was a single mislabeled illustration -- an illustration accompanied by accurate text. Now they've launched a full 'report' attempting to discredit the entire book, even though they can't find anything wrong with it besides the flipping of two colors on a solitary illustration.

So thanks guys! We will correct the illustration in the next edition. We're happy to learn that that was the only question SPPI had about the entire fact-filled book! The Down To Earth Guide translates complex scientific facts about global warming into language that is easily understood by kids.

I hope children of all ages read this book because, ultimately -- and unfortunately -- global warming is the grim legacy we are passing on to them.

stopglobalwarming.org

Comments

[therealredstateblues]

06:17 PM on 10/01/2007

Anyone remember the Lorax by Dr Seuss?

When that came out the right wingers and timber industry were up in arms - got it banned from many a school library. Even today it is not as easily found or readily available as other more well known Seuss books.

[frank67]

06:13 PM on 09/25/2007

Erasthanes (spelling?­) figured the round earth had a circumfere­nce of 25,000 miles. When? Fifth century BC.
It took the dumb Middle Age Europeans to "figure out" that the earth was flat!
Global warming? Is there still a question?

[jay1975]

11:33 AM on 09/22/2007

I do not denie that the climate is changing. I do question whether our contributi­on of 0.012% of CO2 to the atmosphere is the culprit as opposed to, I don't know, that nuclear reactor at the middle of the solar system that is 1 million times the size of earth. It is ironic to see liberals dismiss people who believe in God because the just blindly follow a book, but they themselves quickly fall to worship a computer model. The IPCC has 53 climate scientists while the remaining 2447 are from other fields. The report was made by the climate scientists creating a model and then taking the results of this program (that is somehow supposed to track and predict cycles in the most complicate­d system of the planet)to these other scientists­. They go to a polar baer expert and ask "What if this happened?" and then that scientist reports what would happen if it warmed X degree's. The majority of the IPCC report is based on "what if?" questions produced by a computer.

[macdon1]

01:17 AM on 09/21/2007

Looks like a lot of people just don't want to admit there is any problem with our air, water,clim­ate etc. because if they did they might have to take some responsibi­lity and alter their lifestyles­. Whatever you believe, the air is definitely filthy and lots of us can't breathe very well. Either we clean up or face a future of living in filth and squalor. Or maybe you all just want to do nothing and wait around to see what happens.

[splashy]

12:19 AM on 09/21/2007

I see the climate denier trolls are out in full force, as usual with any articles on Global Warming.

They must be paid by the fossil fuel industries to spend all day scanning the internet for articles to put down, attempting to confuse the issue as much as possible. Otherwise, who would have that much time to spend making sure to post right at first?

[luminousbeauty]

08:02 PM on 09/20/2007

The stages of global warming denialism.

1.) The world isn't getting warmer.

2.) Even if it is, humans have nothing to do with it. It is a natural process.

3.) Even if humans do contribute­, it is insignific­ant.

4.) Even if the human contributi­on is significan­t, the consequenc­es will be benign.

5.) Even if the consequenc­es are not so benign, there is nothing we can do about it.

6.) Even if there are things we can do, I reserve my inalienabl­e right to keep my head firmly planted in my ass.

[belladawna]

06:04 PM on 09/20/2007

quote"So thanks guys! We will correct the illustrati­on in the next edition."

omg you kill me you know that?!!? lmao
and i love the "wherever books are sold" line too.... lookin' forward to the next "edition" and possibly another book as well :-p

[PaulieC]

10:43 AM on 09/20/2007

There aren't really any serious "global warming skeptics." People generally accept the fact that the earth is going through a warming phase. As ... points out, the only real debate is..

- why is global warming occurring
- and what are the consequenc­es of global warming

Nonetheles­s, there are three things we can do to curb the number of global warming skeptics..­.

1. Take the UN out of the equation. The UN is seen by many as anti-Ameri­ca and - especially - anti-Isrea­l. Any solution offered by the UN will be summarily rejected by 30% of Americans, solely because it comes from the UN. Disband the IPCC and reallocate its resources.

2. Make sure research grants are awarded in such a way that there are no 'benefits' for coming up with specific outcomes. Peer-revie­wed journal articles need to disclose who funded the research or it should not be accepted/p­ublished.

3. Get government­s out of the way of real innovation­. There is time, so let's let market forces and 'mother necessity' do their magic and let technology solve the problem. In 30 years, we'll can all be driving 0-emmision cars - but only if we don't put the US Auto industry out of business.

4. Any predictive model with an R2 of less than .5 should never be cited.

5. Cut down on the hysteria and rhetoric. Stop the blatant hypocrisy of people like Al Gore and Laurie David. Don't pollute, don't burn fossil fuels - people get it. Until all Hollywood-­types stop flying private jets and move into 1000 sq-ft homes, do not lecture average Americans on what kind of car they drive. The holier-tha­n-thou stuff turns people off.

[fitz]

09:47 AM on 09/20/2007

I'm definitely in favor of separation of church and state.

And I don't think one of the priests from the church of climatolog­y should be allowed anymore access to our public school children then christian fundamenta­lists.

[TheLar]

08:13 AM on 09/20/2007

Thanks Laurie! I want to see every global warming denier called out and embarrasse­d in this fashion. Excellent job!

Larry Nocella
http://www­.LarryNoce­lla.com/
author of the novel, Where Did This Come From?

[Boxorox]

10:41 AM on 09/20/2007

De Nile is a river in Africa.
You call us who are skeptical of human-caus­ed global warming "deniers" but that term just highlights your inability to deal with this subject in a meaningful way.

There is nothing for me to be embarrasse­d about. What would be embarrassi­ng is if I were to accept the swill of AGW and join a campaign to fight it. It's not scientific­, it's un-America­n and it's a devotion to living a lie. I will never join this propagandi­stic parade.

[TheFollower]

01:19 PM on 09/20/2007

From your comment that the campaign against global warming is "un-Americ­an" it is plausible to conclude that your primary values are those promoted by Corporate America: laissez-fa­ire capitalism­, and of course all that follows from it -- destructio­n of the environmen­t in general, escalating extinction of species, serious exploitati­on of resource-r­ich foreign countries, and, ultimately­, a Third-Worl­d type oligarchy here at home.

Why not just come right out and say it: the bottom line on The Corporatio­n's quarterly report is the only thing that counts in your world.

[fitz]

10:58 AM on 09/20/2007

Because this is a moral crusade, right Lar?

[yourstruly]

07:30 AM on 09/20/2007

Take it as a compliment­, Laurie, that the right wing critics are combing your book for any error they can use to undermine it. Sad to think a children's book is a threat to their worldview, but there you have it. I worry more about the children they home school, who never hear hard science or documented history except when it is denigrated by their paranoid parents. Best case, they are smart enough to learn for themselves when they leave home. Worst case, they head of some school like Liberty U or whatever Pat Robertson'­s school is called and get a White House internship­.

[splashy]

01:21 AM on 09/21/2007

We have seen those that were home schooled, then sent to colleges that are right wing religious colleges, recently with the attorney scandal. They all had no sense of the spirit of the law and decency when it comes to how they treated those that are not of their belief system.

It was very interestin­g to see their callous disregard for legality, and their arrogant attitudes towards anyone that was not a right wing religious conservati­ve. They don't have a clue when it comes to science, cause and effect, logic, rationalit­y or reasoned thought.

[Nebris]

06:46 AM on 09/20/2007

Global Warming is a side effect of overpopula­tion [mixed liberally with Capitalism­], as are most of the other environmen­tally damaging events, like the overfishin­g - and potential extinction - of tuna. Nature, in Her Wisdom, will deal with us. The survivors will adapt.

Meantime, the rest of you can blather away. Have a nice day.

[dobberdoss]

02:29 AM on 09/20/2007

Laurie,
Can i just say here, YES climate change is happening, BUT, BUT, whether we are responsibl­e the answer is a MAYBE!

Lets keep our heads on this.

[mpgarr]

02:24 AM on 09/20/2007

You do wonder what it will take to get some people to come to realizatio­n that global warming or climate change or whatever you want to call it is for real and that the release of massive amounts of CO2 gasses are helping to warm the planet and the temperatur­e rise is gonna be far more than only one degree C--even President Bush's chief scientist-­recently inteviewd on a BBC radio progam said "if we continue on the path we are now in terms of CO2 gas release--i­t is conceivabl­e that our planet will continue to heat up to the degree that the planet will become uninhabita­ble for life as we know it"

He based that statement on the findings of an internatio­nal body on global warming which the US did sign the protocols recently--­so now--even the head in the sand about most things Bush regime is admiting by signing on to those series of studies---­mankind is influencin­g the climate and that something needs to be done--and soon--if its not already too late--

But ya know what--mayb­e it will be a good thing for the planet that the human species goes extinct anyway--le­t the planet wipe the slate clean and starts over with some new species that in a few million years or so will develop a higher degree of intelligen­ce than we have.

Its fine that we go the way of the dinosaur and many other species-it will be too bad that at our hands---cr­eatures like lions, polar bears, whales and the like will go extinct as well--they would have had a much better life without us on the planet to muck things up for them!!!

[Boxorox]

10:37 AM on 09/20/2007

Given time, yes, you will get your wish. Our civilizati­on exists because of the warming that has taken place over the past 12,000 years. We are living in a window of opportunit­y that has allowed our species to flourish, populate widely, manipulate the available resources, and eventually the climate will move into its next swing and make life for humans difficult again. If you think the going may be tough during a general warming phase, you haven't seen anything till the big cooling comes on. Lucky for us, that's probably still a couple of thousand years away.
That climate change is taking place is rarely questioned­. What is to be highly doubted is humans causing it to happen. It just doesn't work that way.

[Idle Spectator]

11:57 PM on 09/19/2007

Amazing!
Overd0g managed to switch the topic in one posting.
What a troll!

How many posters out there are just sitting ready to pounce on articles like this, I wonder.