Sheldon claimed:
<< Ed on the other hand has thrown in simplistic generalizations and numerous factual errors that others have had to correct. If anyone doubts that this is the case and wants me to prove it, I can list some of those errors here. To give just one example, Ed falsely claimed (on the global warming talk page) that the National Association of Science predicted a looming ice age in 1975. I corrected him, and to his credit he backed off of his error. One again, however, it illustrates his pattern of factual sloppiness mixed with disdain for leading scientific voices and organizations. (The NAS is the most prestigious scientific body in the U.S. and arguably the world). >>
Sorry about my "false claim", Sheldon. Perhaps I was wrong to believe Lowell Ponte, who attributed the "ice age" prediction to the NAS:
In "The Cooling: Has the next ice age already begun? Can we survive it?", published in 1975 by Prentice--Hall, its author Lowell Ponte captures the then prevailing mood: "The NAS report was shocking, for it represented a warning from some of the world's most conservative scientists that an Ice Age beginning in the near future . . . was not impossible." Contending that we may be "on the brink of a [10,000 year] period of colder climate," the NAS urged an immediate near- quadrupling of funds for research. "We simply cannot afford to be unprepared for either a natural or man-made climatic catastrophe [of global cooling]."
=> Quoted at http://www.sepp.org/glwarm/sciaddheat.html
Or maybe I was wrong to believe that S. Fred Singer was quoting Ponte correctly.
Or maybe I just misunderstood the quote. You're an expert on disinformation, and you probably have Ponte's book on your shelf.
On the other hand, if Singer correctly quoted Ponte, and if he in turn correctly characterized the views of the NAS, then maybe my mistake lay in knuckling under to pressure from a biased, axe-grinding environmentalist.
If the shoe fits, wear it. If it doesn't fit, stop beating me over the head with it!
Ed Poor
"Poor, Edmund W" Edmund.W.Poor@abc.com writes:
=> Quoted at http://www.sepp.org/glwarm/sciaddheat.html
Or maybe I was wrong to believe that S. Fred Singer was quoting Ponte correctly.
Lets quote from other sections of "The Cooling"
"There are very few pages that, as a scientist, I could accept without questions of accuracy, of precision, or of balance..."
Thats from the preface. Sadly, you're not a scientist Ed, and so not quite as discriminating.
Ponte massively misrepresented the NAS report, in order to (wait, here comes the shocker SELL MORE BOOKS [see Lomberg, Bjorn]) Here is the conclusion of that NAS report :
"The climates of the earth have always been changing, and they will doubtless continue to do so in the future. How large these future changes will be, and where and how rapidly they will occur, we do not know"
The final recommendations of the report, were that climate change was possible, and that further research would be advisable. Pretty shocking stuff.
Basing a scientific article on Ponte's "The Cooling" is akin to writing a balanced report on the US media using only quotes from Ann Coulter and Michael Moore, or quoting Paul Ehrlich on the Black-Scholes equations...
Further Reading : http://www.wmc.care4free.net/sci/iceage/nas-1975.html http://www.wmc.care4free.net/sci/iceage/ponte.html The last six months JPO, GRL or any other creditabel Earth Science journal)
(PS : Lowell Ponte's future scientific works were published in Reader's Digest)