In another of their “great” contributions, CO2 science has decided to take issue with a recent publication by Charlie Veron on the critical importance of 350ppm for the survivals coral reef (see here for our writeup at Climate Shifts). The issue seems to focus upon a series of unambiguous statements as to where we stand with respect to climate change and coral reefs – instead suggesting that we read a poorly written piece of pseudo-science penned by an industry shill Craig Idso:
In an article published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin, Veron et al. (2009) go far beyond the normal bounds accepted by most rational scientists, when they emphatically state, not what they contend may occur to earth’s coral reefs as the air’s CO2 content continues to rise, but what they dogmatically declare will happen, as if they were gods, condescending to reveal the fearful future to the rest of us mentally-deficient mortals.
We’ve blogged extensively before about “CO2 Science” (see here) who have deliberately misquoted and paraphrased our own publications to fit their paid agenda. It’s an intriguing aim – maintain ambiguity and doubt regarding the threat that climate change poses to coral reefs to sustain the relative policy inertia in some parts of the United States and other countries. Considering the mission statement of the “The Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change” (i.e. CO2 Science) claims that:
“In this endeavor, the Center attempts to separate reality from rhetoric in the emotionally-charged debate that swirls around the subject of carbon dioxide and global change…”
They haven’t done themselves any favours here by publishing exactly that: an emotionally charge piece laden with rhetoric.
You have to smile at the irony in the crevasse separating CO2 Science’s goal “to separate reality from rhetoric” and their use of rhetoric in their post through repeated satirical religious references to Vernon and his colleagues as “gods” and “The Enlightened Ones” and their pun on the Ten Commandments.