The Atlantic Mag.: Morano is a ‘professional climate-change denier’ who ‘panders to TV viewers’ by ‘trafficking in doubt’
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/03/the-new-west-antarctica-yep-its-east-antarctica/388018/
JAMES HAMBLINMAR 20 2015, 8:00 AM ET
Jamin Greenbaum/BBC
Even if you’re lucky enough that there’s an ice runway where you want to land in Antarctica, that doesn’t mean the weather will allow you to. And then, even if your plane is equipped to fly for eight hours, at some point, you do have to find a way to stop flying. When that happens to the scientists of the International Collaboration for Exploration of the Cryosphere Through Aerogeophysical Profiling (ICECAP) team, they manage to land “in the middle of nowhere,” according to on-board geophysicist Jamin Greenbaum. Then they camp out. Eventually they’ll be able to make it back to their base.
Greenbaum tells me he’s never been scared. Even though the plane is an Indiana Jones-style Douglas DC-3 that served in World War II. It can deploy skis as landing gear when necessary, and the pilots are a Calgary-based crew, expert at flying in suboptimal conditions.
“We have had some harried situations,” Greenbaum said. For the past eight years he has done annual two-to-five-month deployments to Antarctica to survey the ice. He rides in the cargo hull of the plane, along with 1,000 pounds of ice-penetrating radar, lasers, and magnetic-field mapping equipment. “You know, it’s Antarctica; in 1,500 hours you’re going to have some bad weather. But no, I’ve never once gotten nervous.”
It’s believable; his manner is stead. When we spoke it was broken only by excited descriptions of data collection equipment and the latest findings of the ICECAP team, released Tuesday, which he called “very alarming.”
That alarm is not his alone, nor is it limited to the scientific community. It is because of the ICECAP team that East Antarctica has been a trending topic on Facebook this week—in case you didn’t notice. Or you did, and thought it strange, even by the standards of Facebook trending topics. In recent years most people have been talking about West Antarctica. West Antarctica this and West Antarctica that.
ICECAPS team (Jamin Greenbaum)
The West Antarctic ice sheet is unstable, and the melting of a major section that contains enough ice to raise sea levels four feet “appears unstoppable,” according to NASA. That alone could be enough to devastate coastal cities worldwide within the not-distant future, not to mention increase storm surges and anomalous severe-weather events worldwide. If that concept hasn’t yet left you subject to “eco-anxiety,” a relatively new …
Review: Morano is ‘a highly charismatic, silver-tongued pundit-for-hire’
http://www.heraldnews.com/article/20150319/ENTERTAINMENT/150315600/2052/ENTERTAINMENT
And, he shows how they hoodwink us with slick PR campaigns and highly charismatic, silver-tongued pundits-for-hire, like lobbyist – and Rush Limbaugh pal – Marc Morano, who present themselves in the media as scientific authorities. Laughs Morano: “I’m not a scientist, but I play one on TV, occasionally.”…
NPR: Morano ‘compels with the kind of winning charisma and unshakable confidence that would make Ronald Reagan smile’ – Review of ‘Merchants Of Doubt’
Read Climate Depot’s Hate Mail – Plus Morano on WaPo & ‘Merchants of Doubt’: ‘Having the Post describe me as a ‘jocular’ advocate for ‘ignorance’ is odd’
Having the Post describe me as a ‘jocular’ advocate for ‘ignorance’ is odd, considering I feature on Climate Depot the views of skeptical scientists like Nobel Prize winning physicist Dr. Ivar Giaever, who also appears in my upcoming film Climate Hustle. On Climate Depot, I publish interviews and will feature interviews in my film of renowned Princeton Physicist Freeman Dyson, Green guru James Lovelock, Ivy League U. Penn Geologist Dr. Robert Giegengack and many other prominent scientists. (See” Scientists converting to skeptics)
Under what criteria does the Washington Post Style section essentially call the skeptical climate views of world renowned scientists ‘ignorant’?
As for me playing ‘rough’. Over the years, I have occasionally posted the publicly available emals of professors at major Universities, available to anyone on their websites. I have never posted private emails. All sides of the debate get nasty emails. I hope the warmist professors can hear from the public.
The warmists have been upset that the public has reached out to them. Everyone in this debate gets hate mail:
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Warmist Joe Romm praises ‘Merchants of Doubt for exposing ‘cyberbully Marc Morano’ – ‘Morano is gleeful and jocular about his pernicious tactics’
…‘Global warming disaster’: Despite much hype, skeptic smear film ‘Merchants of Doubt’ viewed by only 6,000
Global warming disaster: Despite much hype, skeptic smear film 'Merchants of Doubt' viewed by only 6,000. #Bomb pic.twitter.com/da70IJTSPX
— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) March 19, 2015
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Review: Morano is one of ‘extraordinary spin doctors’ – ‘One of America’s most successful professional’ skeptics’ – Employs ‘shock-and-awe sensationalism’
“I’m not a scientist, but I occasionally play one on television.” Marc Morano, executive director of ClimateDebot.com, chuckles to himself after making this statement during a key interview with the filmmakers of Merchants of Doubt. It’s a bold and gregarious confession by one of America’s most successful professional “skeptics,” lobbyists posing as experts who are paid by corporations to debunk environmental concerns like global warming through shock-and-awe sensationalism. …
Wash. Post: ‘Morano is, arguably, the star of ‘Merchants of Doubt’ – ‘Morano makes for a jocular — and weirdly unapologetic — advocate for what can only be called ignorance’
He also plays dirty. In “Doubt,” Morano recounts with glee how he has published the e-mail addresses of climate scientists, subjecting them to intimidation and flaming attacks from anonymous critics. (Several of the abusive e-mails are read aloud in the film by their recipients, in an evocation of Jimmy Kimmel’s “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” segments.) It makes for a semi-serious tone that masks Kenner’s more sobering message: We’re routinely being lied to, by people who are darn good at it.
…
Climatologist Dr. Judith Curry rips the ‘bankruptcy of the ‘Merchants of Doubt’ meme – ‘Morano is actually quite broadly knowledgeable about climate science and the associated politics’
The 21st century ‘doubters’
The movie interviewed the following ‘doubters’:
- Fred Singer
- William O’Keefe
- Marc Morano
William O’Keefe is President of the George Marshall Institute, someone that I had never heard of until last fall when I was invited by GMI to give a seminar. The George Marshall Institute is definitely a villain in this piece; from Sourcewatch it seems that GMI runs on a shoestring budget of less than $1M/yr. Makes me wonder how $1M/yr, whatever its source, can have much influence on an international political debate?
Marc Morano is described in the review by LA Weekly:
Kenner finds a magnificent antihero in Marc Morano, a cheery, chatty prevaricator who has made a mint by muddying water. His job is to promote skepticism of a truth that even Skeptic magazine believes in, and since Morano’s cocksure, and good at yelling on TV, he steamrolls over climate scientists on cable despite his lack of expertise.
I’ve met Marc Morano a number of times. He is actually quite broadly knowledgeable about climate science and the associated politics. He is the one ‘doubter’ in this whole piece that actually has some influence in the current climate debate.
Clearly this list of ‘doubters’ is not very impressive. There is a hacker that has broken into an email chain, originated by Marc Morano, using the name ‘willieasoon’. The objective of this hacker seems to be to grow the list of ‘publicly shamed’ doubters.
Inside Climate News has the story: Leaked email reveals who’s who list of climate denialists: A network of pundits and scientists is consulted about stopping the release of “Merchants of Doubt”, a documentary that exposes their work. There is a list of 30 names (that were on the email list), including my name. Most of these people I’ve never heard of; a few I have contact with. The blurb describing me:
Curry is a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology. During a January 2014 hearing before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Curry said the problem of climate change has been “vastly oversimplified.” She said scientists should pay more attention to the role of natural variability in the climate system and the uncertainties in climate modeling. She also said the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is overly confident in attributing most of the warming to human activity.
Horrors.…
Reviews are in! Skeptic Morano as villain in warmist film is ‘terrifyingly impressive, sadistic’ – ‘The doc’s most engaging character’ – ‘A magnificent antihero, a cheery, chatty prevaricator’ – ‘Slick’ – ‘Scary’ – ‘A loathsome mercenary’ – ‘Sleazy spin doctor’
Watch ‘Merchants of Doubt’ Trailer here:
Morano featured as villain in new warmist documentary: ‘Merchants of Doubt’ – Marc Morano in warmist film: ‘I am not a scientist, although I do occasionally play one on TV — Ok — Hell, more than occasionally.’ – ‘We (skeptics) the negative force, we are just trying to stop stuff.’
[Note: For those not interested in attempted smear job on global warming skeptics, Hollywood has the answer. See ‘Kingsman’ instead! See: The movie ‘Kingsman’: ‘The most subversive anti-AGW movie’ – ‘This movie presents in Technicolor the awful nature of alarmists; they are elitist, narcissistic and misanthropic. And riddled in hypocrisy’]
NYT: Morano exemplifies ‘slickness, grandiosity & charm’ – New York Times: ‘Morano is a cheerful and unapologetic promoter of climate-change skepticism’ – NYT film review of warmist documentary ‘Merchants of Doubt’: ‘Public relations, in contrast, is built on slickness, grandiosity and charm. These traits are exemplified by Marc Morano, a cheerful and unapologetic promoter of climate-change skepticism and currently the executive director of the website Climate Depot. One of the film’s conceits is that the actions of Mr. Morano and his colleagues can be con games and magic tricks.’
Newspaper calls Marc Morano ‘terrifyingly impressive’ and ‘sadistic’ – Daily Californian’s film review of ‘Merchants of Doubt’: ‘Marc Morano is one of the terrifyingly, impressive and yet sadistic experts with this skill set. His statements add shock and give viewers a hard-hitting wakeup call’
Mag. reviews ‘Merchants of Doubt’ – Calls Morano ‘a grinning-skull nihilist LulzSec member’ – Calls Climate Depot ‘leading site for climate change skeptics’ – Excerpt: Morano is ‘a grinning-skull nihilist LulzSec member, hacking reality for the LOLs—a mirror-world Yes Man who has decided there’s more to be gained in being an actual yes man.’ – ‘Morano, who ascended from accosting celebrities outside the men’s room for Rush Limbaugh’s TV show in the mid-1990s to debating Bill Nye on global warming on CNN in 2012, seems to relish revealing the secrets to his greatest illusions.
Warmist review of Merchants Of Doubt criticizes film for being …