Posted by
El Puntillero on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 9:24:06 AM
The Tactics of Last Resort
Timothy Ball is a retired professor. Recently, he has received five death threats by e-mail. The reason? He dared to question the claim that global warming is an imminent threat to the world and caused by human activity.
Dr. Ball was a professor of climatology at the University of Winnipeg, so at the very least he is qualified to speak on the subject. In addition, Dr. Timothy Ball is Chairman and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Natural Resources Stewardship Project. His profile at the NRSP reads as follows:-
“Dr. Ball is a renowned environmental consultant and former professor of climatology at the University of Winnipeg. Dr. Ball has served on many local and national committees and as Chair of Provincial boards on water management, environmental issues and sustainable development. Dr. Ball has given over 600 public talks over the last decade on science and the environment.
Dr. Ball has recently (Dec 06) co-authored a paper in the scientific journal, Ecological Complexity, with Baliunas, Dyck, Soon, Baydack, Legates, and Hancock entitled Polar bears of western Hudson Bay and climate change: Are warming spring air temperatures the “ultimate” survival control factor? He is also co-author of the book Eighteenth Century Naturalists of Hudson Bay (2004 - McGill/Queens University Press) with Dr. Stuart Houston, one of the World's leading authorities on arctic birds.
Dr. Ball’s extensive science background in climatology, especially the reconstruction of past climates and the impact of climate change on human history and the human condition, make him the ideal head of NRSP as we move into our first campaign, Understanding Climate Change. His extensive public speaking experience and presentations to professional societies, business conferences, public forums and a wide variety of public, private and non-profit organizations make him the ideal spokesperson for NRSP as well.
His other work in such areas as water resources, sustainable development, pollution prevention, environmental regulations, the impact of government policy on business and economics will be invaluable as NRSP tackles other issues starting later in 2007.
Throughout his career, Dr. Ball has been heavily involved in local and national committees related to climate, water and river management and hazardous waste. He is regular contributing writer for Country Guide and has appeared as a guest opinion writer in all of Canada’s major newspapers.
Dr. Ball is a researcher/author of numerous scientific papers on:
- climate (especially historical climatology);
- long range weather patterns;
- impacts of climate change on sustainable agriculture, ecosystems, air quality;
- untapped energy resources;
- silting and flooding problems;
- bird migration patterns;
- historical sites development;
- impact studies on flooding of aboriginal lands in Manitoba.”
Two key facts emerge from this biography. First, Dr. Ball is extremely knowledgeable on the subject of climate change. Second, he is a rational, compassionate man who clearly cares deeply about the environment. Anyone prepared to study and write a book about Eighteenth Century Naturalists of Hudson Bay must have a passion for nature that few can match. A man who has become one of the world’s leading authorities on arctic birds is highly unlikely to support any action that would lead to their extinction.
So what motive could any “opponent” have for threatening to kill the professor?
One possible answer might be that Dr. Ball has been threatened for entirely different reasons, despite being told that if he continued to speak out, he would not live to see further global warming.
Richard Lindzen, the professor of Atmospheric Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, appeared on a documentary with Dr. Ball called The Great Global Warming Swindle. According to Professor Lindzen,
“Scientists who dissent from the alarmism have seen their funds disappear, their work derided, and themselves labelled as industry stooges. Consequently, lies about climate change gain credence even when they fly in the face of the science.”
Dr Myles Allen, from Oxford University supports this opinion.
“The Green movement has hijacked the issue of climate change. It is ludicrous to suggest the only way to deal with the problem is to start micro managing everyone, which is what environmentalists seem to want to do.”
Former New Scientist editor Nigel Calder pointed out
“Governments are trying to achieve unanimity by stifling any scientist who disagrees. Einstein could not have got funding under the present system.”
Dr. Ball blames unscrupulous politicians for the climate of fear.
“Western governments have pumped billions of dollars into careers and institutes and they feel threatened,” he explained. “I can tolerate being called a sceptic because all scientists should be sceptics, but then they started calling us deniers, with all the connotations of the Holocaust. That is an obscenity. It has got really nasty and personal.”
In fact, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, in November 2006 said those who deny that global warming is a real and imminent threat to our world should not be given any more access to the media than Islamic terrorists.
This is the kind of opposition open minded scientists are up against: left wing, vitriolic, dishonest, downright stupid and in power.
There is a glimmer of a silver lining in this oppressive tale: the opposition must be getting desperate if it has to resort to such tactics. Rational people do not threaten to kill scientists just because they have exposed a theory to serious doubt. If they are honest, they examine the facts and either concede they made mistakes or present fresh evidence to support their claims.
All the global warming fanatics have done is turn up the volume and threaten anyone who still protests and has the wit to point out how utterly wrong they all are. Sooner or later, enough impartial people will realise the truth and the eco-pseuds will be forced to concede defeat.