by Jack
If Chico State’s Executive Director for Sustainable Development, Scott McNall, didn’t tell the truth or at the very least, stated something that was not in evidence anywhere on the planet, do you think we should call him on it? Yeah, I think we should. Here goes:
An article in the News and Review (10 Nov. 2011, page 9) titled, “Watts New With Climate Change”, the author went out of his way to make Anthony Watts look biased, if not foolish. That part was unfortunate since Anthony Watts is neither biased or foolish. He is a very intelligent man of science who believes in following the rules required for scientific evidence. When the subject of global warming comes up Watts wants to keep it real. He has a plethora of evidence that shows many of the temperature recording machines were flawed, either by being placed in areas where the readings could be influenced to read warmer than the actual ambient air temperature or they were improperly maintained. Watts simply wants the data that goes into global warming models to be reliable and for that he has been excoriated by the far left.
Scott McNall aided the articles author in this unjust mischaracterization by making statements that were either plainly wrong or totally lacking in proof. For instance, McNall opened with an attack on the oil and gas industry, “If you’re selling oil or gas, you’re not really interested in trying to conserve energy. There’s a financial interest in denying climate change is real, but we’ve known that for a long time.”
Not really interested? Wow, now that’s some news- what a revelation! (Where’s the proof?)
Mr. McNall somehow missed the fact energy companies spend billions on green R & D. BP devoted an entire division to developing alternative green energy. BP has spent millions on bio-fuels, solar energy, wind energy, hydrogen power, and carbon capture-and-sequestration. The company’s sustainability report from 2008 pledges to invest $8 billion over a period of 10 years in alternative and renewable energy technologies. This is $800 million annually and it equals 7.1% of their gross profits. Chevron spends about 5.2% of their gross on renewable energy R & D. Hundreds of millions more were similarly spent by Exxon, Shell, Conoco-Phillips and Chevron.
These companies represent only the largest producers of oil and gas, but there are many more energy companies who also devote substantial amounts into green energy technology. Why? Because, this is the future trend of the energy business. We know some day our supplies of oil will run low and given enough time and consumption, our vast supply of natural gas will run low too. So, why not cash in on the green energy trend and be prepared to be a sustainable energy company far into the future? This is smart business and it’s good for the people who wish to live on earth in coming generations. Business aside, I wonder if McNall thinks that all energy people don’t care about their families future or where they live or what they eat, drink or breath?
McNall says he knows that the wealthy (and conservative) Koch Bros. donated $150k to help with funding a global warming research project ONLY because they wanted to have a world class scientist produce results that said there was no global warming. Huh? That doesn’t make any sense and besides how would Mr. McNall know that? Was he witness to the Koch brothers saying something that stupid? Did he read a credible news story that cited this, as a fact? No, at least not that the readers of this article were privileged to know anyway. So, where does McNall get this fantastic insider’s scoop on the Koch brothers? The author doesn’t bother to ask and we’re left to conclude no source was required because this empty rhetoric fits so neatly into the story on Anthony Watts and it goes with their own extreme bias.
When you’re that incredibly biased and you come up short on facts, the ol’ lefty playbook says just make stuff up, who’s going to question it? Maybe your mesmerized friends on the far left won’t, but we here at Post Scripts sure will!
Hmmmm…articles from Anthony’s “Watts Up With That” have been featured in many prominent publications including the Pittsburgh Tribune, Telegraph UK, National Review, Christian Science Monitor, Human Events, NewsBusters, and others. Both anthony and his blog site are featured on Wikipedia.
And then there’s this:
http://blog.heartland.org/2011/10/gao-confirms-anthony-watts-is-right-un-temperature-data-rigged-to-show-warming/
Anthony’s success as a serious scientist and climate blogger can be the only reason he has been targeted for such unwarranted disdain…well that and the fact that he has been willing to challenge the leftist glowalarmers on the validity of their conclusions.
Good post Jack!
It is really quite sad that Scott McNall holds a position of authority in an institution that, ostensibly, is in the business of educating our youth. There is no excuse for his reprehensible and irresponsible behavior. He is abusing and debasing a position he should be holding up and elevating.
So much for the hallowed halls of academia. McNall is no scientist. He is a political/activist hack.
Agree with Pie!
Thanks Jack, I sent graphs to the News and review, but they refused to run them.
Here’s a few graphs of interest from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. I present them as produced by their website:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/11/05/ncdc-data-shows-that-the-contiguous-usa-has-not-warmed-in-the-past-decade-summers-are-cooler-winters-are-getting-colder/
California’s agriculture and especially wine may not do so well if the trend continues.
Q…Many scientist that hold degrees, and are highly regarded in their fields, agree with Anthony Watts. Politics has nothing to do with it unless you are referring to Al Gore and the many leftist politicians that made this issue political in the first place.
How many “scientist” (with degrees) of the global warming bent have used politics and government agencies (including the UN) to further their opinions and inflict consequences, regulations, and taxes on the world even though their theories have not been proven and their methods are questionable? How many of them have invested heavily in green technologies thinking their coercive methods will make them a bundle of loot?
Why too many, of course!
I dont see Quentin complaining about Al Gore, who has no degree in Climate Science, yet has misled millions and made millions with his movie, which has 9 points of error in it according to a British judge that handled the lawsuit over it.
Mr. Watts has one thing Gore and Quentin dont have, a published scientific paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Read it:
http://pielkeclimatesci.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/r-367.pdf
-Jack
Mcnall has written extensively about his love of communist ideas, which translates to his superior attitude that makes him think that he is above the rest of us commoners who should consider it a privilege to even breath the same air as he and his leftists colleagues.
Scott Mcnall is a member of the very group that wants to make it illegal for mankind to ever set foot on any and all federal lands that he thinks the United nations should control. Check out Agenda 21 and learn more about this communist and hi plan for a Socialist World that will spell the end to America as we know it.
Next may, Chic will be ground ZERO for Agenda 21 and it’s proponents. Sustainability Conference VII will be held here, and a vast majority of the who’s who of the Agenda 21 one world socialist government will be here on March 1-3, 2012. Al under the guise of being environmentalist friendly. More like a Communist-R-US convention is what it will be.
Also, Mcnall is one of 12 writers for a journal or blog that is carried by the University of Texas Arlington called Fast Capitalism, but do not be fooled by the name. The writers of this journal consistently support Marxist ideas along with their own communistic ideas of what they envision America to be.
Go ahead and check out the writings by these authors and you will get a glimpse into the mind of a true Marxist who has nothing but contempt for America as the founding fathers envisioned it. If Scott and his buddies get their way, then Capitalism in America will cease to exist. Then it will be elitists like him and his communist buddies who will control our daily lives.
Scott Mcnall is a true OWS idiot who has no idea of how wealth is generated because like his god, Karl Marx, he has lived of the sweat of others his whole life, and he thinks he is the next Al Gore.
Jack, do you do this on purpose? Again? McNall is not the author of the article; he is quoted in it. A guy named Howard Hardee wrote the article, in which he quotes McNall and a number of other people, and research, that, alas, does rather show poor Mr. Watts up … just a bit.
But finishes up with:
“In the meantime, Watts is preparing a new peer-reviewed paper on station siting with Dr. Roger Pielke, of the University of Colorado. They intend to show what BEST and other studies missed, and how urbanization and encroachment have an effect on the temperature trend of the last 30 years, Watts writes. He adds that he expects to complete peer review and publish in the spring of 2012.”
What are you complaining about?
Thanks Gate, excellent commentary. Really puts it in focus.
Libby, I never said McNall was the author and I did allude to him being quoted in it.
I need to grow up? lol C’mon Quentin you’re the guy who assumes he has the ultimate wisdom about everything. You set yourself as the judge and jury on Anthony, but you don’t have his educational background, yet you feel like you can discredit him as a scientist? The majority of us lay people see Anthony as a first class meteorologist (scientist). Why splits hairs on this part anyway, that’s childish. The only reason I mentioned Al Gore is to show a certain bias. He represents the views of the far left and he has engaged in flagrant phoney science. His science documentary on global warming was found to be full of errors, but you never said a word about ol Al Gore because of partisan politics.