[ RadSafe ] "State of Fear"

[A Karam]

This is an interesting book.  Crichton cites a great many scientific papers to refute the current concerns about global warming - showing, for example, that sea level may not be rising, that CO2 concentrations are not as alarmingly high as many thing, to show that ice caps and glaciers may not be suffering as much as is advertised, and to show that global temperatures may not be rising as much as we are told.  He makes a very convincing case that the media, environmentalists, and many scientists are being very selective in citing only evidence that supports their contention of global warming and drastic climate change.  The story he puts together is interesting and compelling.  
 
However, he has been accused of being as selective in his selection of "contrarian" papers as those he criticizes.  Many of those who criticize Crichton are, of course, those he attacks, so this sort of debate is not necessarily going to solve the debate.  I'm not aware of any neutral party who has evaluated both sides of the argument - what we could really use is a climate change "agnostic" who is willing to be convinced by the data alone.  Good luck!  
 
In some respects, this reminds me of the LNT debate - there is a lot of emotion, a lot of invective, reputations and a lot of work at stake, and data that is hardly conclusive one way or the other.
 
Regarding Crichton, he is a smart guy, and seemingly fairly humble.  He completed medical school before going into writing, so he has an understanding of science, and the willingness to try to do so.  I saw him speak once and was impressed that he refused to pontificate on subjects he was unfamiliar with - instead, he simply said he didn't know an answer and that it would be unfair to speculate.  Unrelated to his qualifications, he's also tall - more than 2 meters (6'6") making him easy to spot in a crowd!
 
In any event, I believe that Crichton has dug up a lot of good information, and that his book demonstrates that the climate change data are hardly as conclusive as many would have us believe.  The problem is that, if we act too soon and we're wrong, we'll waste a lot of money while, if we wait to long to act when we need to, we'll have bigger problems.  Tough decision.