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| {{Short description|2009 book by Christopher Booker}} | |||
| {{Infobox Book | |||
| {{Infobox book | |||
| | name = The Real Global Warming Disaster | |||
| | |
| name = The Real Global Warming Disaster | ||
| | image = Real Global Warming Disaster book cover.jpg | |||
| | image_caption = Cover of the book | |||
| | caption = Cover of the book | |||
| | author = ] | |||
| | |
| author = ] | ||
| | country = United Kingdom | |||
| | language = ] | |||
| | language = English | |||
| | series = | |||
| | series = | |||
| | subject = ]/] | |||
| | |
| subject = ] | ||
| | genre = ] | |||
| | publisher = ] | |||
| | publisher = ] | |||
| | pub_date = 17 Oct 2009 | |||
| | pub_date = 17 October 2009 | |||
| | media_type = Print (]) | |||
| | media_type = Print (]) | |||
| | pages = 368 pages | |||
| | pages = 368 pages | |||
| | isbn = 1441110526 | |||
| | isbn = 1-4411-1052-6 | |||
| }} | }} | ||
| '''''The Real Global Warming Disaster''''' (subtitle '''''Is The Obsession With 'Climate Change' Turning Out To Be the Most Costly Scientific Blunder In History?''''') is a 2009 book by ] that examines, from the point of view of ] ], the subject of ]. In the book Booker charts chronologically the history of how scientists came to believe that ] – as a result of ] ({{chem|CO|2}}) emissions – had brought the Earth to what he calls the brink of catastrophe; he interweaves the science of the subject with that of its political consequences to show that, as governments become poised to make radical changes in ], the ] for global warming is also, in his opinion, becoming increasingly challenged. Booker questions whether global warming is supported by the ], and consistently criticises how the ]'s ] (IPCC) presents evidence and ], citing in particular its reliance on potentially inaccurate ] to make future temperature projections. Booker surmises at the end of the book that "it begins to look very possible that the nightmare vision of our planet being doomed" may be imaginary, and that, if so, "it will turn out to be one of the most expensive,<ref>Booker in particular refers to the cost of implementing the UK's ]</ref> destructive, and foolish mistakes the human race has ever made".<ref name="Booker-342">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=342}}</ref> | |||
| '''''The Real Global Warming Disaster''''' (''Is the Obsession with 'Climate Change' Turning Out to Be the Most Costly Scientific Blunder in History?'') is a 2009 book by English journalist and author ] in which he asserts that ] cannot be ], and then alleges how the ] was formulated. | |||
| The book was described in '']'' as "the definitive climate sceptics' manual" which presents "just about every criticism ever made of the majority scientific view that global warming, most probably caused by human activity, is under way", without showing any challenges to these criticisms.<ref name="guardian.co.uk">], The Observer, November 15, 2009, </ref> Before publication, Booker gave a synopsis of the book, both in one of his columns in '']''<ref name=" Booker The Sunday Telegraph ">{{cite news | |||
| | url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/6425269/The-real-climate-change-catastrophe.html | |||
| From a standpoint of ], Booker seeks to combine an analysis of the science of global warming with the consequences of political decisions to reduce ] emissions and claims that, as governments prepare to make radical changes in ], the ] for global warming is becoming increasingly challenged. He asserts that global warming is not ], and criticises how the ]'s ] (IPCC) presents evidence and ], in particular citing its reliance on potentially inaccurate ] to make temperature projections. Booker concludes, "it begins to look very possible that the nightmare vision of our planet being doomed"<ref name="Booker-342">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=342}}</ref> may be imaginary, and that, if so, "it will turn out to be one of the most expensive, destructive, and foolish mistakes the human race has ever made".<ref name="Booker-342"/> | |||
| | date = December 2, 2009 | |||
| | title = The real climate change catastrophe | |||
| The book's claims were strongly criticised by ] ],<ref name="guardian.co.uk"> | |||
| | author = ] | |||
| {{cite news | |||
| | url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/nov/15/real-global-warming-christopher-booker | |||
| | date = 15 November 2009 | |||
| | title = The Real Global Warming Disaster by Christopher Booker | |||
| | author = Ball, Phillip | |||
| | work = ] | |||
| | access-date = 4 February 2010 | |||
| | author-link = Philip Ball | |||
| }}</ref> but the book was praised by several ]s. The book opens with an erroneous quotation,<ref> | |||
| {{cite news | |||
| | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/fabricated-quote-used-to-discredit-climate-scientist-1894552.html | |||
| | date = 10 February 2010 | |||
| | title = Fabricated quote used to discredit climate scientist | |||
| | author = Connor, Steve | |||
| | work = ] | |||
| | access-date = 10 February 2010 | |||
| | quote = The quotation has since become the iconic smoking gun of the ] community. The words are the very first to appear in the "manual" of climate denialism written by the journalist and arch-sceptic Christopher Booker. They get more than a 100,000 hits on Google, and are wheeled out almost every time a climate sceptic has a point to make | |||
| }}</ref> which Booker subsequently acknowledged and promised to correct in future editions.<ref name="Booker retraction"> | |||
| {{cite news | |||
| | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/7280369/What-the-weatherman-never-said.html | |||
| | date = 20 February 2010 | |||
| | title = What the weatherman never said | |||
| | author = Booker, Christopher | |||
| | work = ] | | work = ] | ||
| | |
| access-date = 21 February 2010 | ||
| | author-link = Christopher Booker | |||
| }}</ref> and in '']''.<ref name="Booker The Daily Mail">{{cite news | |||
| | url = http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1230113/The-devastating-book-debunks-climate-change.html | |||
| | date = December 2, 2009 | |||
| | title = The devastating book which debunks climate change | |||
| | author = ] | |||
| | work = ] | |||
| | accessdate = February 5, 2010 | |||
| }}</ref> | }}</ref> | ||
| The book was ]'s fourth bestselling environment book of the decade 2000–10.<ref> | |||
| ==Synopsis== | |||
| {{cite news | |||
| The book is divided into three parts. | |||
| | url = https://www.theguardian.com/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2010/dec/17/bestselling-green-books-decade-2 | |||
| | date = 17 December 2010 | |||
| In '''Part One, Forging the 'Consensus 1972—1997''', Booker presents a ] depicting average global temperatures over the past 11,000 years<ref name="Booker-21">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=21}}</ref> | |||
| | title = Bestselling green books of the decade | |||
| showing how temperatures over the last 1,000 years have consistently fluctuated and how when they again began to rise in the 1970s, scientists such as ] began to postulate that the earth, as a result of the ], was heating up – with potentially disastrous consequences. Figures such as the environmental activist ] and scientist ] are then introduced, who would allegedly "play a crucial role in what lay ahead" in influencing governmental policy and helping form the scientific basis for global warming.<ref name="Booker-32">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=32}}</ref> Booker then identifies 1988 as being a key year in which the IPCC was set up and ] appeared at the ] in ], at which he stated he was "99 percent certain" that man's contribution to the greenhouse effect was the cause of global warming.<ref name="Booker-41">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=41}}</ref> According to Booker, "on all sides 'global warming' became the cause of the moment"<ref name="Booker-38">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=38}}</ref> after Hansen's appearance. Booker then describes how: | |||
| | author = Carrington, Damian | |||
| | work = ] | |||
| | access-date = 12 July 2011 | |||
| }}</ref> | |||
| == Synopsis == | |||
| *in 1990, the IPCC published its ] which made projections of future temperature rises; | |||
| The book consists of three parts and an epilogue. | |||
| *at the ] "politicians from 154 countries queued up to sign a ']" that would "commit all the signatory governments to a voluntary reduction of greenhouse gas emissions";<ref name="Booker-53">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=53}}</ref> | |||
| *the ] (SAR) in 1995 which found that the "body of statistical evidence now points to a discernible human influence on the global climate".<ref name="Booker-63">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=63}}</ref> | |||
| The SAR was criticised by ], who alleged that "more than 15 sections in Chapter 8 of the report – the key chapter setting out the scientific evidence for and against a human influence over climate – were changed or deleted after the scientists charged with examining this question has accepted the supposedly final text".<ref name="Booker-65">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=65}}</ref> The chapter ends with an account of the signing of the 1997 ] and the setting of new targets for reduced {{chem|CO|2}} emissions. | |||
| In '''Part Two: The 'consensus' carries all before it: 1998—2007''', Booker asserts that ] the ] "contradicted the idea that late twentieth century temperatures had suddenly shot up to a level never known before in history",<ref name="Booker-80">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=80}}</ref> and that this problem was dealt with by a 1998 graph (see figure, right) depicting temperatures "suddenly shooting up in the twentieth century to a level that was quite unprecedented. ] simply vanished".<ref name="Booker-83">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=83}}</ref> Booker claims that the ] became the "supreme iconic image for all those engaged in the battle to save the world from global warming".<ref name="Booker-84">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=84}}</ref> He then asserts that the IPCC's methods, and in particular the ] of its next report, came in for serious criticism from scientists such as ].<ref name="Booker-88">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=88}}</ref> | |||
| Booker then examines Al Gore's ] winning film '']'' and the subsequent questioning of many of its assertions, including ], drowning ]s, use of the Hockey Stick graph, the melting of the ] and snows of ] and ].<ref name="Booker-144-150">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| pp=144-150}}</ref> | |||
| Booker begins '''Part Three: The 'consensus' begins to crumble: 2007—2009''' by quoting the then ] stating that the ] was the "the final nail in the coffin of the climate change deniers",<ref name="Booker-175">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=175}}</ref> and then contrasting this assertion with what he sees as evidence emerging to the contrary: | |||
| that the earth had in fact ], and how this may have been as a result of ]; however, the results of research into this theory by the scientists Knud Lassen, ] and ] were dismissed by Bert Bolin as "scientifically extremely naïve and irresponsible".<ref name="Booker-180">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=180}}</ref> The theory was further expounded in the 2007 film ].<ref name="Booker-183">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=183}}</ref> Booker then alleges that a 'consensus' and 'counter-consensus' had begun to form, and gives details of a 2007 report by the US Senator ] that claimed to list 400 scientists "now prepared to express their dissent, sometimes in the strongest terms, from the IPCC's 'consensus' view of global warming".<ref name="Booker-208">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=208}}</ref> Booker then quotes the June 2007 ] announcement that the cost of halving {{chem|CO|2}} emissions by 2050 (the US and UK governments were intending 80% cuts<ref name="Booker-255">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=255}}</ref>) would be US$ 45 trillion – equivalent to "two thirds of the world's entire current annual economic output".<ref name="Booker-233">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=233}}</ref> | |||
| Booker sums up the book's contents in a long ], which quotes ] in '']'': | |||
| Booker ends the book by describing events in the lead up to the ]: | |||
| *]'s taking the issue of climate change very seriously; | |||
| *the emergence of ]gers skeptical of climate change such ] and ] placing IPCC data under close scrutiny; | |||
| *the BBC reporting that "the severity of global warming over the next century will be much worse than previously believed";<ref name="Booker-270">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=270}}</ref> | |||
| *the failure of the Caitlin Atlantic Survey to establish that ice at the ] was diminishing; | |||
| *a conference organised by the ] entitled "Global warming: is it really a crisis"; | |||
| *the reluctance of ] countries to reduce their {{chem|CO|2}} emissions, frustrating efforts before the Copenhagen conference; and | |||
| *the increasingly astronomic forecast cost to Western economies of ] their economies.<ref name="Booker-279">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=279}}</ref> | |||
| <blockquote>In the night, imagining some fear, | |||
| ==Reception== | |||
| How easy is a bush supposed a bear</blockquote> | |||
| Booker contends that in this quote ] is identifying that "when we are not presented with enough information for our minds to resolve something into certainty, they may be teased into exaggerating it into something quite different from what it really is".<ref name="Booker-341">{{harvnb |Booker|2009| p=341}}</ref> The first chapter of the book is the introduction, where Booker warns us of the risk posed by 'those measures being proposed by the world's politicians in the hope that they can avert' climate change. It talks about the ineffectiveness of wind turbines, and how they produce the same amount of energy per year as one ] (3.9 gigawatts). In the prologue, Booker claims that many people, including the former U.S President Barack Obama, were 'seriously misinformed' about the evidence surrounding Global Warming and the effects it might have on the world. Part I of the book tells how Climate Change has risen to 'the top of the World's political agenda' so quickly, and the methods he thinks the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change used to convince politicians that the issue was genuine, including James Hansen's famous hearing before the American Senate, where he allegedly turned the room temperature up in order the strengthen his point. Part II of the book is entitled 'Gore and the EU unite to Save the Planet'. It depicts how, panic-stricken, the world's politicians took action to encourage more renewable forms of energy, and the closure of the world's non-renewable power stations. Finally, Part III speaks of how the Global Warming 'consensus begins (began) to crumble.' It claims that the evidence behind Climate Change and its causes is coming under increased scrutiny, and that by no means is the science "settled". | |||
| The book received a mixed reception by press reviewers. | |||
| == Reception == | |||
| A review in '']'' by ], former editor of '']'', was very critical, and, though expressing admiration at the "skill and energy with which Booker has assembled his polemic", dismissed the central claims made by the author in the book as "bunk". Ball criticised Booker's tactic of introducing climate sceptics "with a little eulogy to their credentials, while their opponents receive only a perfunctory, if not disparaging, preamble" and rejected his implication that the entire scientific consensus on global warming rests on the ].<ref name="guardian.co.uk"/> | |||
| The book received a positive reception from non-scientists in the media: In '']'', ] said it was one of the best of its type, remarking that Booker "narrates this story with the journalist's pace and eye for telling detail and the historian's forensic thoroughness which have made him a formidable opponent of ]".<ref name="Leach The Spectator"> | |||
| In '']'', guest reviewer Charles Clover, former environment editor of '']'', criticised the book for ignoring entirely the issue of ], a subsidiary effect of {{chem|CO|2}} emissions.<ref name="Clover The Sunday Times">{{cite news | |||
| {{cite news | |||
| | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6954527.ece | |||
| | url = http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/5503548/a-wild-goose-chase.thtml | |||
| | date = December 13, 2009 | |||
| | date = 4 November 2009 | |||
| | title = If climate change doesn’t grab you, meet its evil twin | |||
| | title = A wild goose chase | |||
| | author = Charles Clover | |||
| | author = Leach, Rodney | |||
| | work = ] | |||
| | work = ] | |||
| | accessdate = February 5, 2010 | |||
| | access-date = 2 February 2010 | |||
| }}</ref> | |||
| | author-link = Rodney Leach | |||
| }}</ref> Columnist ], himself the author of a denialist book, described the book as "another of those classics which any even vaguely intelligent person who wants to know what's really going on needs to read".<ref name="Delingpole Spectator"> | |||
| In '']'', writer and environmentalist ] chose ''The Real Global Warming Disaster'' as one of his books of the year, writing that "though barely credible in places" it was an "important, brave book making and explaining many valid points".<ref name=" Lister-Kaye The Scotsman ">{{cite news | |||
| {{cite news | |||
| |url = http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/all/5482258/you-know-it-makes-sense.thtml | |||
| |date = 28 October 2009 | |||
| |title = You Know It Makes Sense | |||
| |author = Delingpole, James | |||
| |work = ] | |||
| |access-date = 5 April 2010 | |||
| |url-status = dead | |||
| |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091111154714/http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/all/5482258/you-know-it-makes-sense.thtml | |||
| |archive-date = 11 November 2009 | |||
| |author-link = James Delingpole | |||
| }}</ref> Writing in '']'', ] was largely sympathetic to the position taken by Booker in the book, ].<ref name="Morton The_Herald"> | |||
| {{cite news | |||
| | url = http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/non-fiction-reviews/the-real-global-warming-disaster-by-christopher-booker-continuum-16-99-1.930081 | |||
| | date = 3 November 2009 | |||
| | title = Is a climate-change sceptic more like a flat-earther or a Holocaust denier, merely out of touch or mendacious and evil? | |||
| | author = Morton, Brian | |||
| | work = ] | |||
| | access-date = 3 April 2010 | |||
| | author-link = Brian Morton (Scottish writer) | |||
| }}</ref> A positive review by Henry Kelly in '']'', referring to the book as "meticulously researched, provocative and challenging",<ref name="Kelly_Irish Times"> | |||
| {{cite news | |||
| | url = http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/1119/1224259112575.html | |||
| | date = 19 November 2009 | |||
| | title = Myths of global warming skilfully debunked | |||
| | author = Kelly, Henry | |||
| | newspaper = ] | |||
| | access-date = 12 April 2010 | |||
| }}</ref> was criticised by Irish environmental campaigner and ''climatechange.ie'' website founder ], who said that the decision by ''The Irish Times'' to allow Kelly to review ''The Real Global Warming Disaster'' was part of a recent trend of "the media giving too much coverage to 'anti-science' ]s and failing to convey the gravity of the threat, making readers and viewers apathetic".<ref name="Monaghan_Times"> | |||
| {{cite news | |||
| | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article7086902.ece | |||
| | date = 4 April 2010 | |||
| | title = A little warming under the collar | |||
| | author = Monaghan, Gabrielle | |||
| | work = ] | |||
| | access-date = 12 April 2010 | |||
| }}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> In '']'', writer and environmentalist ] chose ''The Real Global Warming Disaster'' as one of his books of the year, writing that "though barely credible in places" this was an "important, brave book making and explaining many valid points".<ref name="Lister-Kaye The Scotsman"> | |||
| {{cite news | |||
| | url = http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/Books-of-the-year-Writers39.5886342.jp | | url = http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/Books-of-the-year-Writers39.5886342.jp | ||
| | date = |
| date = 5 December 2009 | ||
| | title = Books of the year: Writers' choice | | title = Books of the year: Writers' choice | ||
| | author = |
| author = Lister-Kaye, John | ||
| | work = ] | | work = ] | ||
| | |
| access-date = 5 February 2010 | ||
| | author-link = John Lister-Kaye | |||
| }}</ref> | }}</ref> | ||
| Scientist ], on the other hand, wrote in his review in '']'' that the book was "the definitive ]’ manual" in that it makes an uncritical presentation of "just about every criticism ever made of the majority scientific view" on global warming. Though expressing "a queer kind of admiration for the skill and energy with which Booker has assembled his polemic", Ball called the claims made by the author "bunk". Ball also criticised Booker's tactic of introducing ]s "with a little eulogy to their credentials, while their opponents receive only a perfunctory, if not disparaging, preamble".<ref> | |||
| In '']'', ] wrote that "the shelf of sceptical books keeps filling and Booker's belongs there with the best", remarking that Booker "narrates this story with the journalist's pace and eye for telling detail and the historian's forensic thoroughness which have made him a formidable opponent of ]".<ref name=" Leach The Spectator ">{{cite news | |||
| {{cite news | |||
| | url = http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/5503548/a-wild-goose-chase.thtml | |||
| | url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/nov/15/real-global-warming-christopher-booker | |||
| | date = November 4, 2009 | |||
| | |
| date = 15 November 2009 | ||
| | title = The Real Global Warming Disaster by Christopher Booker | |||
| | author = ] | |||
| | |
| author = Ball, Philip | ||
| | work = ] | |||
| | accessdate = February 2, 2010 | |||
| | access-date = 4 February 2010 | |||
| | quote = But much, including the central claim, is bunk. Booker's position would require that you accept something like the following: 1) Most of the world's climate scientists, for reasons unspecified, decided to create a myth about human-induced global warming and have managed to twist endless measurements and computer models to fit their case, without the rest of the scientific community noticing. George W Bush and certain oil companies have, however, seen through the deception. 2) Most of the world's climate scientists are incompetent and have grossly misinterpreted their data and models, yet their faulty conclusions are not, as you might imagine, a random chaos of assertions, but all point in the same direction. | |||
| | author-link = Philip Ball | |||
| }}</ref> | }}</ref> | ||
| ==Houghton misquotation== | |||
| The book opens with an incorrect quotation which wrongly attributes to ] the words "Unless we announce disasters, no one will listen".<ref> | |||
| In '']'', ] wrote that "anyone seriously interested in this subject owes a great debt to Christopher Booker, who has set down all the arguments for doubt in a single, concise book" and praised Booker for producing what he saw as a "courageous" piece of work.<ref name=" Hitchens The Mail on Sunday ">{{cite news | |||
| {{cite news | |||
| | url = http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2009/11/the-inconvenient-truths-mr-gore-and-his-fanatical-friends-didnt-tell-you-about-climate-change.html | |||
| | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/fabricated-quote-used-to-discredit-climate-scientist-1894552.html | |||
| | date = November 30, 2009 | |||
| | date = 10 February 2010 | |||
| | title = The inconvenient truths Mr Gore and his fanatical friends DIDN'T tell you about climate change | |||
| | title = Fabricated quote used to discredit climate scientist | |||
| | author = ] | |||
| | author = Connor, Steve | |||
| | work = ] | |||
| | work = ] | |||
| | accessdate = February 9, 2010 | |||
| | access-date = 10 February 2010 | |||
| }}</ref> | |||
| }} | |||
| </ref> The publishers apologised for this misquotation, confirmed that it would not be repeated, and agreed to place a corrigendum in any further copies of the book. In an article which appeared in '']'' on 20 February 2010, Booker wrote "we shall all in due course take steps to correct the record, as I shall do in the next edition of my book".<ref name="Booker retraction"/> | |||
| Houghton felt that Booker continued to misstate his position regarding the role of disasters in policy making, and he referred the matter to the ] (PCC Reference 101959), following whose involvement ''The Sunday Telegraph'' published on 15 August a letter of correction by Houghton stating his actual position, that adverse events shock people and thereby bring about change.<ref name="Houghton letter"> | |||
| {{cite news | |||
| | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/7944874/Trident-shouldnt-lead-to-more-defence-cuts.html | |||
| | date = 15 August 2010 | |||
| | title = Letters | |||
| | work = ] | |||
| | access-date = 28 September 2010 | |||
| }}</ref> | |||
| An article supportive of Houghton appeared in the '']'' magazine.<ref> | |||
| {{cite news|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627606.300-living-in-denial-unleashing-a-lie.html|title=Giving life to a lie|author=Giles, Jim|work=]|date=15 May 2010|access-date=24 June 2010}}</ref> | |||
| == See also == | |||
| Writing in '']'', ] was largely sympathetic to the position taken by Booker in the book: "The question isn't whether climate is changing, but what is to blame. A crippling tithe of international political effort and social action is directed to the assumption that we are", and "the climate change debate – or enforced consensus – concerns the way science is done and perceived. As Booker says, "consensus" is not a term in science but in politics".<ref name="Morton The_Herald">{{cite news | |||
| {{portal|Global warming}} | |||
| | url = http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/non-fiction-reviews/the-real-global-warming-disaster-by-christopher-booker-continuum-16-99-1.930081 | |||
| | date = November 3, 2009 | |||
| | title = Is a climate-change sceptic more like a flat-earther or a Holocaust denier, merely out of touch or mendacious and evil? | |||
| | author = ] | |||
| | work = ] | |||
| | accessdate = April 3, 2010 | |||
| }}</ref> | |||
| == Bibliography == | |||
| ==Falsely attributed Houghton quotation== | |||
| On the front page of the book, Booker quotes ] as saying "Unless we announce disasters, no one will listen", attributing the quote to Houghton's 1994 book ''Global Warming, The Complete Briefing''. This has also been quoted by other critics, including ], ] and ]. However, the quote does not appear in any edition of Houghton's book. Houghton denies saying it, and has stated that he believes the opposite.<ref>{{Citation | |||
| | date = Wednesday, 10 February 2010 | |||
| | year = 2010 | |||
| | title = Fabricated quote used to discredit climate scientist | |||
| | periodical = ] | |||
| | url = http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/fabricated-quote-used-to-discredit-climate-scientist-1894552.html | |||
| | accessdate = 2010-02-10 | |||
| }} | |||
| </ref> In his column in ''The Daily Telegraph'', Booker said he was "misled by the internet" and promised to correct the error in subsequent editions of ''The Real Global Warming Disaster''.<ref name="misled_by_the_internet">Christopher Booker, Daily Telegraph. February 20, 2010, </ref> | |||
| * {{cite book | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| | last = Booker | |||
| * ] | |||
| | first = Christopher | |||
| * ] | |||
| | title = The Real Global Warming Disaster | |||
| * ] | |||
| | publisher = Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd | |||
| * ] | |||
| | year = 2009 | |||
| * ] | |||
| | isbn = 978-1-4411-1052-7 | |||
| * ] | |||
| | url-access = registration | |||
| | url = https://archive.org/details/realglobalwarmin0000book | |||
| }} | |||
| == |
== Notes == | ||
| *{{cite book|author=Booker, Christopher|title=The Real Global Warming Disaster |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd|year=2009|isbn=1441110526}} | |||
| {{Reflist | |||
| ==Notes== | |||
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| {{reflist|2}} | |||
| | refs = | |||
| }} | |||
| ==Further reading== | == Further reading == | ||
| {{refbegin}} | |||
| *{{cite book|author=Booker, Christopher; North, Richard|title=Scared To Death: From BSE To Global Warming, Why Scares Are Costing Us The Earth|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd|year=2007|isbn=0826486142}} | |||
| *{{cite book|author=Montford, Andrew|title=The Hockey Stick Illusion; Climategate and the Corruption of Science|publisher=Stacey International|year=2010|isbn=1906768358}} | |||
| * {{cite book|author1=Booker, Christopher|author2=North, Richard|title=Scared To Death: From BSE To Global Warming, Why Scares Are Costing Us The Earth|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd|year=2007|isbn=978-0-8264-8614-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/scaredtodeathfro00book}} | |||
| * {{cite book|author1=Carter, Robert |author2=Spooner, John |title=Taxing air: Facts and fallacies of climate change|publisher=Kelpie Press|year=2013|isbn=9781742983189}} | |||
| * {{cite book | |||
| | last = Montford | |||
| | first = Andrew | |||
| | title = The Hockey Stick Illusion; Climategate and the Corruption of Science | |||
| | publisher = ] | |||
| | year = 2010 | |||
| | isbn = 978-1-906768-35-5 | |||
| | pages = 482 | |||
| | title-link = The Hockey Stick Illusion | |||
| }} | |||
| {{global warming}} | {{global warming}} | ||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Real Global Warming Disaster}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Real Global Warming Disaster}} | ||
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Latest revision as of 04:07, 27 September 2024
2009 book by Christopher Booker Cover of the book | |
| Author | Christopher Booker |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Climate change |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Continuum |
| Publication date | 17 October 2009 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 368 pages |
| ISBN | 1-4411-1052-6 |
The Real Global Warming Disaster (Is the Obsession with 'Climate Change' Turning Out to Be the Most Costly Scientific Blunder in History?) is a 2009 book by English journalist and author Christopher Booker in which he asserts that global warming cannot be attributed to humans, and then alleges how the scientific opinion on climate change was formulated.
From a standpoint of environmental scepticism, Booker seeks to combine an analysis of the science of global warming with the consequences of political decisions to reduce CO
2 emissions and claims that, as governments prepare to make radical changes in energy policies, the scientific evidence for global warming is becoming increasingly challenged. He asserts that global warming is not supported by a significant number of climate scientists, and criticises how the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presents evidence and data, in particular citing its reliance on potentially inaccurate global climate models to make temperature projections. Booker concludes, "it begins to look very possible that the nightmare vision of our planet being doomed" may be imaginary, and that, if so, "it will turn out to be one of the most expensive, destructive, and foolish mistakes the human race has ever made".
The book's claims were strongly criticised by science writer Philip Ball, but the book was praised by several columnists. The book opens with an erroneous quotation, which Booker subsequently acknowledged and promised to correct in future editions.
The book was Amazon UK's fourth bestselling environment book of the decade 2000–10.
Synopsis
The book consists of three parts and an epilogue.
Booker sums up the book's contents in a long epilogue, which quotes Theseus in A Midsummer Night's Dream:
In the night, imagining some fear, How easy is a bush supposed a bear
Booker contends that in this quote Shakespeare is identifying that "when we are not presented with enough information for our minds to resolve something into certainty, they may be teased into exaggerating it into something quite different from what it really is". The first chapter of the book is the introduction, where Booker warns us of the risk posed by 'those measures being proposed by the world's politicians in the hope that they can avert' climate change. It talks about the ineffectiveness of wind turbines, and how they produce the same amount of energy per year as one coal-fired power station (3.9 gigawatts). In the prologue, Booker claims that many people, including the former U.S President Barack Obama, were 'seriously misinformed' about the evidence surrounding Global Warming and the effects it might have on the world. Part I of the book tells how Climate Change has risen to 'the top of the World's political agenda' so quickly, and the methods he thinks the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change used to convince politicians that the issue was genuine, including James Hansen's famous hearing before the American Senate, where he allegedly turned the room temperature up in order the strengthen his point. Part II of the book is entitled 'Gore and the EU unite to Save the Planet'. It depicts how, panic-stricken, the world's politicians took action to encourage more renewable forms of energy, and the closure of the world's non-renewable power stations. Finally, Part III speaks of how the Global Warming 'consensus begins (began) to crumble.' It claims that the evidence behind Climate Change and its causes is coming under increased scrutiny, and that by no means is the science "settled".
Reception
The book received a positive reception from non-scientists in the media: In The Spectator, Rodney Leach said it was one of the best of its type, remarking that Booker "narrates this story with the journalist's pace and eye for telling detail and the historian's forensic thoroughness which have made him a formidable opponent of humbug". Columnist James Delingpole, himself the author of a denialist book, described the book as "another of those classics which any even vaguely intelligent person who wants to know what's really going on needs to read". Writing in The Herald, Brian Morton was largely sympathetic to the position taken by Booker in the book, attributing global warming to natural causes. A positive review by Henry Kelly in The Irish Times, referring to the book as "meticulously researched, provocative and challenging", was criticised by Irish environmental campaigner and climatechange.ie website founder John Gibbons, who said that the decision by The Irish Times to allow Kelly to review The Real Global Warming Disaster was part of a recent trend of "the media giving too much coverage to 'anti-science' climate change deniers and failing to convey the gravity of the threat, making readers and viewers apathetic". In The Scotsman, writer and environmentalist Sir John Lister-Kaye chose The Real Global Warming Disaster as one of his books of the year, writing that "though barely credible in places" this was an "important, brave book making and explaining many valid points".
Scientist Philip Ball, on the other hand, wrote in his review in The Observer that the book was "the definitive climate sceptics’ manual" in that it makes an uncritical presentation of "just about every criticism ever made of the majority scientific view" on global warming. Though expressing "a queer kind of admiration for the skill and energy with which Booker has assembled his polemic", Ball called the claims made by the author "bunk". Ball also criticised Booker's tactic of introducing global warming deniers "with a little eulogy to their credentials, while their opponents receive only a perfunctory, if not disparaging, preamble".
Houghton misquotation
The book opens with an incorrect quotation which wrongly attributes to John T. Houghton the words "Unless we announce disasters, no one will listen". The publishers apologised for this misquotation, confirmed that it would not be repeated, and agreed to place a corrigendum in any further copies of the book. In an article which appeared in The Sunday Telegraph on 20 February 2010, Booker wrote "we shall all in due course take steps to correct the record, as I shall do in the next edition of my book". Houghton felt that Booker continued to misstate his position regarding the role of disasters in policy making, and he referred the matter to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC Reference 101959), following whose involvement The Sunday Telegraph published on 15 August a letter of correction by Houghton stating his actual position, that adverse events shock people and thereby bring about change. An article supportive of Houghton appeared in the New Scientist magazine.
See also
Bibliography
- Booker, Christopher (2009). The Real Global Warming Disaster. Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4411-1052-7.
Notes
- ^ Booker 2009, p. 342
- Ball, Phillip (15 November 2009). "The Real Global Warming Disaster by Christopher Booker". The Observer. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
-
Connor, Steve (10 February 2010). "Fabricated quote used to discredit climate scientist". The Independent. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
The quotation has since become the iconic smoking gun of the climate sceptic community. The words are the very first to appear in the "manual" of climate denialism written by the journalist and arch-sceptic Christopher Booker. They get more than a 100,000 hits on Google, and are wheeled out almost every time a climate sceptic has a point to make
- ^ Booker, Christopher (20 February 2010). "What the weatherman never said". The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 21 February 2010.
- Carrington, Damian (17 December 2010). "Bestselling green books of the decade". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
- Booker 2009, p. 341
- Leach, Rodney (4 November 2009). "A wild goose chase". The Spectator. Retrieved 2 February 2010.
- Delingpole, James (28 October 2009). "You Know It Makes Sense". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 11 November 2009. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
- Morton, Brian (3 November 2009). "Is a climate-change sceptic more like a flat-earther or a Holocaust denier, merely out of touch or mendacious and evil?". The Herald. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
- Kelly, Henry (19 November 2009). "Myths of global warming skilfully debunked". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
- Monaghan, Gabrielle (4 April 2010). "A little warming under the collar". The Times. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
- Lister-Kaye, John (5 December 2009). "Books of the year: Writers' choice". The Scotsman. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
-
Ball, Philip (15 November 2009). "The Real Global Warming Disaster by Christopher Booker". The Observer. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
But much, including the central claim, is bunk. Booker's position would require that you accept something like the following: 1) Most of the world's climate scientists, for reasons unspecified, decided to create a myth about human-induced global warming and have managed to twist endless measurements and computer models to fit their case, without the rest of the scientific community noticing. George W Bush and certain oil companies have, however, seen through the deception. 2) Most of the world's climate scientists are incompetent and have grossly misinterpreted their data and models, yet their faulty conclusions are not, as you might imagine, a random chaos of assertions, but all point in the same direction.
- Connor, Steve (10 February 2010). "Fabricated quote used to discredit climate scientist". The Independent. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- "Letters". The Daily Telegraph. 15 August 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2010.
- Giles, Jim (15 May 2010). "Giving life to a lie". New Scientist. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
Further reading
- Booker, Christopher; North, Richard (2007). Scared To Death: From BSE To Global Warming, Why Scares Are Costing Us The Earth. Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd. ISBN 978-0-8264-8614-1.
- Carter, Robert; Spooner, John (2013). Taxing air: Facts and fallacies of climate change. Kelpie Press. ISBN 9781742983189.
- Montford, Andrew (2010). The Hockey Stick Illusion; Climategate and the Corruption of Science. Stacey International. p. 482. ISBN 978-1-906768-35-5.
