Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians, and the Media

There Is Global Warming But It's Not What You Think It Is: The Sky Is Not Falling

For those of you whose understanding of climate change or global warming comes from the main stream media (New York Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, CBS-TV, et al) this book is a must read, that is if you subscribed to the 'chicken little' thesis that the sky is falling, or in the case of climate change that we will be unable to live on planet earth because rising global temperatures will destroy civilization. The sub-title of Meltdown reads 'the Predictable Distortion of global Warming by Scientists, Politicians and the Media' and in this he admirably succeeds in documenting and proving. This spirited critique challenges the conventional doom saying about global warming. Climatologist Michaels acknowledges that the earth is warming because of anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, but he insists that the warming will probably be modest and that nature and humanity will easily adjust to it. Writing in a lucid, engaging style supported by a mountain of data, he debunks such recent scare stories as melting ice caps and glaciers, intensifying storms and droughts, species die-offs and a Day After Tomorrow¿style ice age. The book amply illustrates the incompetence, ignorance, and lack of skepticism by the science writers, as well as their employers, in the main stream media. They come across as cheerleaders with a bull horn instead of skeptical fact reporting and investigative individuals they claim to be. For example, in an USA Today article on the effect of warming sea temperature, the text tells us an increase of 10 degrees will cause a volume increase of .1%. The accompanying graphic shows a 100% increase that are in fact 1000 times more than the actual effect. He argues that researchers and reporters mistakenly ascribe normal fluctuations in local weather to global warming and commonly ignore the facts (reports that the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu is being submerged by rising sea levels, for example, ignored research demonstrating that sea levels in that region have actually been falling). It's inspiring to me that a few individuals like Michaels, and some others, armed only with critical intelligence and courage, choose to stand against the tide of demagogues and chicken littles. Without the few rays of sanity provided by people like Michaels, the world would seem completely mad to me.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Some dry reading, but such is the case when reading scientific evidence

You'll see the negative reviews here are more about making a political statement than reviewing the book. Such is the agenda of the far left. Forget about commenting about the quality of the writing or the scientific evidence presented in it. If they disagree with the statements and evidence, better ot trash the opinion than question the evidence or the actual quality of the writing. Much of it is a dry read as the airing of scientific evidence often can be. But if you're interested in learning more of the facts surrounding alleged global warmimng and the causes (if it is happening) behind it, this is a great read. Best to ignore the political statements the far left feels compelled to make in their reviews.

Useful study of how the climate is changing

Michaels' very useful book examines the way the media, particularly the liberal press and the BBC, distort the realities of climate change. Yes, the climate is changing, but no, it is not racing to some irreversible tipping point presaging imminent catastrophe. Blair and other practised liars want to alarm us into cutting our living standards and paying out more taxes. Michaels punctures the rhetoric with close reasoning and hard facts. The scientist who started much of the global warming furore, NASA¿s James Hansen, now predicts warming by 0.75 degrees Centigrade over the next 50 years, i.e. 0.15 degrees Centigrade a decade. He admitted, ¿Emphasis on extreme scenarios may have been appropriate at one time, when the public and decision-makers were relatively unaware of the global warming issue. Now, however, the need is for demonstrably objective climate ¿ scenarios consistent with what is realistic under current conditions.¿ The New York Times wrote, ¿Arctic Ice is Melting at Record level, Scientists Say. The melting of Greenland glaciers and Arctic Ocean sea ice this past summer reached levels not seen in decades, scientists reported today.¿ (8 December 2002.) If the NYT¿s editors cannot see that the second sentence contradicts the first, how reliable is their scientific judgment of anything? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that sea levels will rise by between 0.2 and 0.6 metres by 2100, i.e. at most, by 60 centimetres in the next 93 years. Warming will bring warmer winters, more rain and longer growing seasons, thus enabling more food crops to grow. Warmer winters will also reduce the numbers of old people dying from cold ¿ always a far great number than those dying from excessive summer heat.

Think for a second

The point of this book is to tell us that journalists, environmentalists and politicians are conspiring to make us believe about global warming. Now, take a second to think about who is trying to make us believe that there is no global warming or that it is not human-related... oil companies, car companies, and other lobbies financed by big corporations. Now I wonder who has a 'vested interest' in hiding the truth? Remember when the big tobacco were pretending that cigarettes were not harmful? At some point they were even trying to make the crowds believe that cigarettes were good for health. For crying out loud, if you want to read a REAL book about global warming with SOLID REFERENCES to PEER-REVIEWED SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE, read 'The weather makers', 'Heat' or 'An Inconvenient Truth'. By the way, these biased arguments about cow farts are killing me: they do contribute to global warming, but it is humans that extensively developed the breeding of cows, hence multiplying their environmental impact as well. Human-made global warming is not just the cars we drive and the electricity we use, it is also the food we eat, the clothes we wear, etc.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

IT'S NOT THE SKY FALLING, IT'S THE TEMPERATURES RISING

We've heard the skeptic's viewpoint before. Whether you're comforted by MELTDOWN's message or outraged by it, the question remains: Isn't it better to err on the side of caution? Are we really so ignorant to think that 6.6 tons of greenhouse gases emitted per person per year in the United States will NOT impact the environment? What books like HEAT and INCONVENIENT TRUTH are attempting to do is rouse a very complacent America into positive action. MELTDOWN only seems bent on luring us back to sleep. Why is that? This is not a political issue for most of us, nor is it for other concerned citizens. There is no debate that our current energy/fuel sources are not sustainable. In light of that which is worse: Spending millions on policies to explore and integrate sustainable energy sources like solar and wind power, on the production of electric vehicles and hybrids, into our modern life, or to spend billions on a war to maintain our current fleeting ways. Before we write off global warming as doomsaying, let's deflate Big Oil's power and influence in governmennt and the media. Then the truth will have a way of coming out one way or another. Until then books like MELTDOWN will do its very best to keep the smokestacks pluming.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Exceptional Book

Meltdown is a great read and extremely informative. This book is well documented. It takes the reader through the science, uses facts, figures, and examples. Before someone decides that the sky is falling due to global warming they need to read this book.

Keep an open mind

Objectivity is always best when reading something controversial. Unfortunately we live in a society which collects most of it's 'news' and 'facts' by reading headlines of newspapers still in the rack or on the newsstand. If you take the time to read this book with a mindset which is open to factual reporting combined with documentation as opposed to Chicken Little style rhetoric you may discover you enjoy educating yourself through the gathering of knowledge more than frightening yourself with politically fueled scare tactics. Additionally, it's usually not a good idea to use a Dennis Quaid disaster film as supporting evidence for your thesis. The Day After Tomorrow may have been mildly entertaining, but it was NOT a documentary. There was absolutely NO science contained within it.

Oh my god...

Another right-wing idiot adding to the greenhouse gasses with his neoconservatve brain f-a-r-ts! When will you knuckle-heads wake up and realize that your lives are more important than your money?! THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT TO ALL EVIL. So you want to drive (or ride in) your gas guzzler with lessened emission enforcement, you want a job at that air polluting factory in your home town, you want to drive or ride that soot belching bus or semi-truck, and who gives a darn about the global ecology? Well either this poor excuse for even a wannabe scientist cares more about the almighty dollar or he just doesn't give a rat's b-u-t-t about human life in the long term. Come on doesn't he have to breath the same air and drink the same water we poor slugs do? What is it going to take to convince right-wingers that it is NOT about cow f-a-r-t-s causing this change? Cows have been doing this for eons without causing negative global climate shift (global warming) like this. Also global cooling is NOT a new left-wing buzz word! Its just the natural evolution of global warming effects! Please don't be a Bush lamb lead to the slaughter by this selfish and secretive administration in DC. Go rent the movie The Day After Tommorow (2004). It shows just how easy it is to be plunged into the next ice-age in a short period of time if we keep using complex hydrocarbons (i.e. oil) for fuel! This guy is obviously just another paid journalistic stooge of the Bush administration belching out this anti-ecology propaganda to help ol' '322' Bush's capitalist chronies make more money than they know what to do with at YOUR expense! Human freeze-pops anyone???

0 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Wow, is this Different (and Convincing)!

The subtitle of this book says it all. Michaels maintains that the 'culture' of modern science makes it inevitable that environmental issues become exaggerated: by scientists seeking support while competing with other issues, by politicians who reward themselves for supporting science, and by the media who simply lack any critical powers. He's got a lot of evidence. I will never read another major news story on global warming without being suspicious of exaggeration. And this applies to 'peer reviewed' magazines like Science. My fear: he's right. And if he is, how many other scientific issues are being misrepresented and exaggerated? Can someone say 'diet and cancer'? Can someone say 'an epidemic of depression'? Read this book with an open mind. It's fun, and the writer is very very good with words. You will be amazed at the facts that are marshalled in defense of his thesis. Like I said, I'm afraid he's right.