The popular vision of an
approaching apocalypse caused by global warming has no scientific
foundation, says Patrick J. Michaels. Those who warn of a
catastrophic greenhouse effect--such as Vice President Al
Gore--can justify neither their fears not their blueprints for
dramatically interfering with the U.S. and world economies.
Sound and Fury criticizes "science by sound and bite" and congressional show trials complete with testimony that has not been peer-reviewed according to scientific standards. Among the misconceptions exposed is the claim that most scientists subscribe to the apocalyptic vision of global warming. Even Greenpeace's survey of scientists who participated in the major United Nations study of climate change found that only 13 percent of the respondents believed that failure to change our energy use would result in a runaway greenhouse effect.
Michaels shows that the slight warming over the last century has been far less than the prophets of the apocalypse would expect--throwing the reliabitily of their computer climate models into doubt--that most of it happened before industry's massive carbon dioxide emissions began, and that most of the warming is at night, when it produces benign effects such as longer growing seasons. In other words, the warming that has resulted from natural climatic processes is beneficial. Distributed to the trade by National Book Network.
Patrick J. Michaels is an associate professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia, state climatologist for the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the senior fellow in environmental studies at the Cato Institute.
"Sound and Fury is absolute must reading for anyone interested in global climate change."
-Gov. Dixy Lee Ray
former chairman, Atomic Energy Commission"Environmental debate should be as open and free-wheeling as political debate--and will be if Pat Michaels has his way."
-Gregg Easterbrook
1992/196pp./$15.95 cloth ISBN: 0-932790-90-9/$11.95 paper ISBN: 0-932970-89-5
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