Monthly Archives: February 2007

The Water Vapor Fallacy

ignoratio elenchi n.
A logical fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but has nothing to do with the proposition it purports to prove. Also known as “irrelevant conclusion”. [Lat. ignorance of refutation.]

In her comment to our Exxon post, Beth Wellington raises an important question: What can we do to make sure that our kids are being taught the real facts on climate change? Her question reminded me of a recent incident, and leads me to award this week’s Ignoratio Elenchi Award to an unknown teacher from an unspecified state. Let me explain.

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Posted in Basic Science of Global Warming / Read 3 Responses

TXU Buyout tied to Environmental Agreement

Guest blogger Jim Marston is an attorney, and the Director of the Energy Program in the Texas Office of Environmental Defense.

Who would have thought that, almost a month to the day after the USCAP initiative was announced, coal-enamored TXU would come on board? But today’s big news is victory in Texas, thanks to an unusual buyout agreement.

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Posted in News / Read 10 Responses

A Climate Change Haiku

Glaciers in Andes mountains
frozen for 5000 years
now melting.

Posted in News / Read 3 Responses

Exxon Changes its Tune

What a difference nine years makes!

For more than a decade, Exxon has been a major player in a campaign to spread doubt about global warming. We know this for a fact because a 1998 internal Exxon memo titled “Global Climate Science Communications: Action Plan” was leaked to the press. The stated goal of the plan, whose authors include Randy Randol of Exxon Corp, Sharon Kneiss of Chevron Corp, and Joseph Walker of the American Petroleum Institute, was to change the American public’s view that global warming was a threat so that policies to curb greenhouse gas emissions could be stopped. The memo laid out a wide range of strategies and tactics to achieve this goal, budgeting nearly $6 million plus the cost of advertising.

But suddenly Exxon has changed its tune.

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Posted in Partners for Change / Read 2 Responses

This Week's Ignoratio Elenchi Award

ignoratio elenchi n.
A logical fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but has nothing to do with the proposition it purports to prove. Also known as “irrelevant conclusion”. [Lat. ignorance of refutation.]

On Monday, an article appeared in the Washington Times that offers so many outrageous examples of the logical fallacy of irrelevant conclusion (formally, ignoratio elenchi) that I’m beginning a new series of posts – the Ignoratio Elenchi Awards – for the most flagrantly misleading arguments against curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

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Posted in News / Read 1 Response

Picturing a ton of CO2

Tons of CO2 pollution. We are always hearing about how many tons of CO2 pollution we emit. The average American car emits about seven tons of CO2 in a year; the average American family, about 24 tons; the United States as a whole, over seven billion tons; and worldwide, almost 30 billion tons. The Virgin Earth Challenge (see last week’s post) offers $25 million to whoever can economically remove one billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year.

But what is a ton of CO2?

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Posted in Basic Science of Global Warming / Read 54 Responses