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While the rest of the Canada is bracing itself to be trolled to death by yet another highly improbable theory on why climate change is actually an Illuminati hoax, James Lunney (who might want to consider changing it to “Looney” to reflect the mental rigour of his ideas), the Conservative MP hailing from the riding of Nanaimo—Alberni in British Columbia, remains adamant, claiming that climate change science is not “settled.”

The source of all this fuss comes from an article called “The Global Warming Hiatus?” which was published on The National Post’s website (the most unbiased news source in the country, hence the word “national” in its name) by Ross McKitrick, a professor in the field of environmental economics. While McKitrick will not fully admit that he is not qualified to make any scientific pronouncements on the causes behind climate change, he has readily done so anyway. In between teaching first-year economics at Guelph University, playing the Burke whistles at the Shepherd’s Pub on Friday nights, and attending church service at the Anglican church at Elora, Ontario on Sundays, McKitrick can be seen holding hands with members of the Friends of Science Society (a Calgary-based non-profit climate change skepticism organization whose core is belief that “the Sun is the main direct and indirect driver of climate change“) in the local park over lunch. 

 

James Lunney, clearly Mitchel Raphael

James Lunney: expert in science, looking snazzy while holding a cake.
Mitchel Raphael

 

Sadly, much of the blame behind Lunney’s tragic flirtation with global warning science can be lain at McKitrick’s feet since he is actually trying to perpetuate this nonsense under the guise of academia. Unfortunately, the problem with skeptic organizations like the Friends of Science Society (whose core membership is composed of retired scientists who have long gone senile) is that they all seek to validate its own far-fetched conjectures by debunking cherry-picked facts from the existing body of climate change literature (while pandering to industry interests for funding.) A perverted if not downright dangerous practice which not only threatens to destroy the pathetically tolerant climate change policy we fought tooth-and-nail to have implemented, but seeks to undermine the credibility of science as a whole.

While Lunney was not about to topple the foundations of science by sharing McKitrick’s own half-baked article via Twitter (which generated a grand total of 5 retweets, 2 favourites, and few replies which did not contain the hashtag “#idiot”) it confirms that this stubborn trend of bucking science is still best practice for many governments, organizations, and people with embedded interests (like the time when Stephen Harper tried to censor meteorologists) .

Yet, Lunney is not the only one who’s fallen prey to this Ponzi scheme — society as a whole has been deluded for years about the true effects of climate change. In fact, by appealing to religious fanatics, to oil-rich cowboys, to money-hungry politicians, and to rogue academics, nay-sayers have been able to effectively keep a tight lid on the hard facts of science behind climate change that have been accruing since the 1960s. However, the silver lining in this cloud is that most nay-sayers are not people with a coveted stake in this debate — they are simply people who have been misinformed. As such, all we really need to rectify this issue is a bit of good old education. Enter, Neil DeGrasse Tyson…

For those who may have actually enjoyed studying astronomy as a kid (which I did at the expense of having any semblance of a social life until high school), Neil Degrasse Tyson is the host of a new documentary television series called “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” which just concluded its first season on Fox (coincidentally, the bastion of conservative media in the USA).

Intended as a follow-up to the series “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage” which was first presented by the legendary Carl Sagan on PBS in 1980, the series seeks to bring back the foundations of science to the public consciousness. A measure, which will hopefully serve to deprive skeptics with even basic cable the ability to plead ignorance in future debates like this one…

 

 

While Bob Lutz may have learned his lesson, it seems that the learning curve for Lunney is going to be quite steep, given that he had similarly contested the theory of evolution in a statement in the House of Commons back in 2009. In the statement he claimed, “The evolutionists may genuinely see his ancestor in a monkey, but many modern scientists interpret the same evidence in favour of creation and a creator.” Yet, perhaps in just the same way that the universe is unfolding according to the grand design Lunney presupposes, I think we all collectively thanked some act of divine intervention when we were reminded that he will not be seeking re-election in 2015