UN claims to 'climate truth' impossible

Indeed, all scientific hypotheses, and even scientific theories, are never truth or unequivocal; they can be, and often are, wrong. Science "facts" are merely the current opinions of experts, and, especially in the case of climate change, different experts often have very different points of view. For example, the Climate Change Reconsidered series of reports of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) summarize thousands of studies from peer-reviewed scientific journals that either refute or cast serious doubt on the IPCC's science. So contrary to being unequivocal, there are many possible scientific explanations for the modest warming of the past century.

Consider the following feedback about the IPCC's use of the word "unequivocal" from two philosophers.

Lehigh University philosophy professor Steven Goldman supports the dangerous human-caused global warming hypothesis but explained in a personal communication that such IPCC statements are flawed. It is "an attempt to persuade extra-logically," said Goldman. "Strictly logically, no observations can lead to an 'unequivocal' interpretation."

David Wojick, a Virginia-based Ph.D. in the logic and philosophy of science, disagrees with Goldman about the climatic impact of human activity but agrees that the IPCC makes a serious mistake here. "Reasoning from evidence is inductive logic," said Wojick. "As for unequivocal, that is never the case in inductive logic."

It wouldn't be quite so bad if the IPCC's use of "unequivocal" was limited to this single quote. But the word appears a total of 32 times in the full report. And this mistake appeared regularly in past IPCC reports as well as in statements from IPCC leaders.

So why do more philosophers not speak out about these problems, errors that are diverting the public from properly considering the various arguments presented? It may be that academics judge that acceptance of climate concerns will encourage pollution reduction, alternative energy development, conservation, increased foreign aid, and social justice, things many regard as beneficial. So, they keep their opinions to themselves rather than risk impeding progressive policies.

But when authorities preach truth about science, progress stops. Albert Einstein once said, "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of truth and knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."

It might be humorous to the gods, but the belief that we know the "truth" about climate change and that the science is unequivocal has resulted in over one billion U.S. dollars a day being spent trying to "stop climate change." Imagine what could done if such vast sums were instead dedicated to education, health care, cleaning up our rivers, or adapting to the inevitable natural environmental changes that lay ahead.

It's time to open up the scientific debate about climate change, one of the most complex and costly issues of our age.