CALL IT A DRAW

Can Climate Dissent Fill The Big Tent?

There were several surprises at the climate change conference I attended in New York. The seriously interesting scientific presentation by Roy Spencer contrasted with the belated revelation that the Discovery Institute , reincarnated as " a think tank that promotes free market ideas" , cosponsored the event. Organizers told the media it was convened to refute the contention of Jim Martin of the Colorado department of the Environment, that :

  “You could have a convention of all the scientists who dispute climate change in a relatively small phone booth.”

Seeing the conference banquet crowd had filled a hotel ballroom,  Heartland Institute chairman Jim Bast crowed:

" Hey Jim Martin, does this look like a phone booth to you?"

But when all scientists attending  were asked to step forward for a group photo, 19 scientists appeared in it, reports The New York Times.
The Guinness  record for stuffing a  phone booth  is 22.

Since I didn't count myself, I have to concede there were more than in the picture, but  my  own twenty something  guess is based on the  ~100 presenters, mostly pundits and economists , not the audience.

Comments

[B. Heart]

It undermines credibility in scientific circles to acknowledge Discovery Institute as a sponsor. Baffling.

But it does enable the daunting question: who has better judgment about the environment, Discovery or Mr. Gore?