Peter Foster of the Financial Post has published a brave new column, the first in a series titled "Countdown to Paris" that will no doubt do its best to disparage the global agreement. The piece itself is unremarkable. It takes potshots at the draft agreement and repeats the usual talking points. What makes it brave—on the part of the Financial Post—is that Foster was allowed to write about climate at all, given how he's one of four writers the B.C. court found guilty earlier this year of defaming climate scientist Dr. Andrew Weaver.
Though, perhaps Foster has learned his lesson. In his Financial Post piece, Foster shies away from attacking climate scientists. Instead, he makes unflattering comparisons between Mark Carney (the Bank of England head who recently warned of climate risk) and Neil Young and Pope Francis. He then goes on to discuss the Paris Agreement, falsely claiming things like developing countries are "gung ho for coal." In reality, China, India and others are serious about adopting clean energy, and across the planet developing countries are installing renewables at about twice the pace of developed countries.
Let's turn now to someone who has yet to tone down his attacks on climate science, James Delingpole. In response to the multiple debunkings of his misleading coverage, Delingpole goes a bit over-the-top. Here's just the subtitle of his recent article:
One of my resolutions this year has been to try to avoid the use of personal invective against the insufferably thick, dribble-mouthed, grant-troughing, pathologically mendacious, small-penised, knuckle-dragging, impotent, spavined, dishonest, compromised, sub-redbrick-educated inadequates, poltroons and borderline criminals on the opposing side of the climate change debate.
The article doesn't get much better from there.
Assuming your stomach is strong enough to make it through his tirade, a sweet piece of irony awaits in the final section. To appreciate the irony, you must know that Delingpole has made it a point to say he doesn't read peer-reviewed papers and instead considers it his job to "take care of the spin and the snark."
So when proud English major Delingpole says a climate scientist describing his own study is "speaking well above his pay grade," it's difficult to keep a straight face.
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