| "The five Ws of journalism have long, long since gone by the boards... and have been replaced by the five Cs: controversy, conflict, confusion, chaos, crisis, confrontation, and it goes on and on," joked Premier Ralph Klein on March 28 during his keynote address to delegates at the Progressive Conservative annual general meeting in Red Deer.
Wait – that's six Cs, isn't it? The premier may not be able to count and dismiss his former profession at the same time, but the message to Albertans is clear: the media needs to cook up stories, but if you're interested in the truth, look to the Klein Government and you won't be steered in the wrong direction.
Unfortunately for Albertans, Environment Minister Lorne Taylor and Energy Minister Murray Smith appear not to have been let in on their new roles as dispensers of accurate and clear information.
Earlier in the day, during a forum entitled "Climate Change: The Alberta Plan," one delegate asked if the ministers were aware of Björn Lomborg's book The Skeptical Environmentalist. Taylor and Smith both chimed in on the virtues of the Danish statistician's work. One might have concluded from their praise that the Klein government's next move on the international stage is a call to the Vatican for Lomborg's hasty beatification.
In the book and in subsequent interviews, Lomborg attacked what he deems the sky-is-falling pessimism of environmental groups and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations-appointed committee that, after exhaustive review, decided global warming science is credible, and that human-driven climate change poses a serious threat to populations across the globe over the next century. The National Academy of Sciences may have affirmed the IPCC report for President Bush, but by Lomborg's calculator the report is statistical gibberish.
It is not surprising then that the Klein government, the Fraser Institute and other Kyoto Protocol objectionists, have jumped on the Lomborg express. Smith gushed about how he made sure every member of caucus had a copy of what he called "an excellent book."
There's just one tiny problem with Lomborg's book: it is neither honest nor scientific. After being rebuked by scientists worldwide, Lomborg took his most serious hit in January when the Danish Committee on Scientific Dishonesty (DCSD) released their findings following a year-long review of The Skeptical Environmentalist. The news for Lomborg-lovers everywhere was bad. The DCSD concluded, "Objectively speaking, the publication of the work under consideration is deemed to fall within the concept of scientific dishonesty... the publication is deemed clearly contrary to the standards of good scientific practice."
Smith grimaced and claimed not to be aware of the DCSD’s report when asked after the forum. "That’s why the government doesn’t get into the scientific debate and we’re sticking with the policy," he countered, referring to Bill 37, the government’s proposed Climate Change and Emissions Management Act.
Dr. David Schindler of the University of Alberta's Biology Department, a Fellow of the prestigious Royal Society of London (former Fellows include Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin), says praising Lomborg reflects the minister's "wishful thinking."
"There is no debate on (human-driven) global warming in the real scientific community," he says.
"Lomborg is a joke. There are no skeptics (of global warming) published in any of the reputable scientific journals. Lomborg doesn't distinguish between scientists and environmentalists. There's a big difference."
Schindler adds that the Government of Alberta doesn't make this distinction, either. "They don't distinguish between someone from Earthfirst! and a Nobel Prize winner."
Instead, Albertans are being served more obfuscations. Taylor continues to speak of the government’s strategy to reduce "emissions intensity." Under Bill 37, introduced to the legislature on April 7, emissions of greenhouse gases will "reduce" per dollar of GDP.
Real emissions, however, will continue to go up. The Pembina Institute estimates that the Alberta plan will result in a 66 per cent increase in actual greenhouse gas emissions produced by the province in 2020, compared to 1990 levels. The atmosphere – apparently not a PC – is unlikely to care for Taylor’s funny math, and will continue to absorb greenhouse gases regardless of the hallowed GDP.
So what's a citizen to do? Premier Klein has left Albertans with few avenues to inform themselves. The media supposedly can't be trusted, and his ministers are dividing their time between Orwellian double-speak and championing their candidate for book of the year in the fiction category.
If you still trust yourself, here are a few places to help you form your own opinion
· www.ipcc.ch
· www.pembina.org
· www.nas.edu/nas/ (National Academy of Sciences)
· www.lomborg.com/
· www.forsk.dk/eng/uvvu/index.htm (Danish Committee on Scientific Dishonesty)
· www.gov.ab.ca/home/kyoto |
Copyright ©2003 FFWD. All rights reserved.