Not many today can profess ignorance of purportedly one of the worst of catastrophes looming on the horizon. Global warming or the drought, flooding, famine, over-population and extinction that are variously linked to it, have taken over the headline. The environmentalist agenda has become a prominent factor determining foreign policy and influencing the economic arena.
Unlike what has been the case with other impending ‘catastrophes’ — such as over-population — the case for global warming has not managed to corner the market, and the initial cries of wolf carried with them not echoes, but responding challenges and warning bells of false alarm. Global warming has reached the public as a controversy, and everybody confronting the issue is aware that it is a debated one.
But knowing that there’s another side to the story is only half the battle. In the on-going repartee, the meteorological layman finds himself wondering what exactly are the facts of the matter. And then, even given enough evidence to cast doubt upon global warming, or at least upon any drastic, undesirable consequences, where do we find the arguments that ground a rejection of the alarmism and demand for radical action that are so often linked to this issue? Where, can a layman find the bottom line? We know that the arguments exist, but how do we get hold of them?
A relatively new website, a product of the efforts of the Cooler Heads Coalition, goes a long way in responding to this need. Appropriately named the Global Warming Information Page and located at globalwarming.org, this site collects and localizes a broad range of information related to the issue of global warming. The visitor to this site finds a comprehensive, and yet manageable introduction to the debate as it has unfolded.
A heavy focus of the site is up-to-date reporting on the political, scientific and economic aspects of this rapidly moving discussion. Using a journalistic approach, it gathers media reporting and press releases documenting the principal tenets of what has become the dissenting opinion in the public forum. First, that the scientific community shares no consensus on global warming; second, that the evidence for global warming does not warrant a radical and heavy-handed response and that the world economy and social well-being stand to suffer if the policies currently advocated in the international forum are ratified and implemented. A brief tour through these sections of the site results in a quick identification of the theses and authorities to be turned to in a more in-depth investigation.
Globalwarming.org is also valuable for the visitor trying to do more extensive research. Posted on the site are briefings and reports that give detailed expert analysis of for instance, the impact of global warming proposals on defense, agriculture, industry, small business, and various sectors of the economy. It provides a whole area dedicated to scientific studies explaining the phenomenon of world climate change, challenging theories such as those linking global warming to rises in sea level, hurricanes, adverse effects on human health, or to human causation.
An unusual feature of this website is its consideration of parents, and the inroads that have been made in reaching children with the global warming rhetoric. The site recommends a manual for teaching children about the environment appropriately titled Facts, Not Fear, and lists several of the teaching suggestions.
And finally, globalwarming.org is linked to related web sites and hotlines. It provides a running list of conferences, meetings or briefings on issues related to global warming, and a bibliography, with many of the items listed available free of charge.
Perhaps the most striking aspect of this site is its dispassionate, scientific objectivity. It lets the experts and the facts do the talking, and leaves the visitor to make up his own mind. Within the context of a discussion that, more often than not, is colored by ideological fervor and carried on with messianic zeal, this approach is a welcome change. The site provides a resource useful for anyone, whether novice or advanced, following the global warming debate and looking for “the other side” of the story.
Kateryna Fedoryka coordinates population programs for the Population Research institute.
