It's time for everyone who jumped all over my previous blogs about global warming to eat some crow. And it's time to celebrate another victory for good science winning over opinions, faith and dishonesty.
U.C. Berkeley scientist Richard Muller, a climate specialist and self-described global-warming skeptic, headed a massive review of all global warming data at U.C. Berkeley. And better yet, his study was funded in part by the famous conservative billionaire brothers, Charles and David Koch.
And guess what? Muller's team confirmed that global warming is real. But even better, their results show that global warming is actually worse than the conclusions from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change!
Got that? A conservative-funded review by a top climate skeptic and his team said that the mainstream reports were too conservative and that global warming is real.
What do you think will happen to the debate now? Probably nothing. Global warming deniers are a mix of about 1% genuine scientific dissent by a few qualified scientists, joined by hoards of evangelical Christians, pseudo-Libertarians, conspiracy theorists and other hangers-on, fueled by an industry-sponsored disinformation campaign. It's certain that the real scientists in this group will review the Berkeley study's results thoroughly, and some of them will change their positions in the face of the evidence. A few will remain unconvinced.
But the non-scientists and corporate schills? Their beliefs have nothing to do with science.
The religious right will continue to deny global warming, because the Bible says God promised to protect Earth after he killed everyone and everything during Noah's flood. And the professional disinformation specialists will continue to do their jobs, fueling debate with more nonsense.
We can only hope that this report will make a difference where it matters: with policy makers.