Misuse of Scientific Data By the White House

Science data nerds writes "The White House is consistently and persistently claiming that the US is doing better than Europe in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This is false — their claim is purely based on carefully selecting the only subset of the data that supports this conclusion. When all the data are used, it is plain that European emissions have declined substantially and US emissions have grown substantially. The article, and this linked analysis, debunk the White House claims."

Comments

Ah, a nice flame war

[Richard McBeef]

The ensuing hot air will contribute [a] little.

Re:Ah, a nice flame war

[mOdQuArK!]

It's cherry picking on both sides.

Hardly. One side has most of the scientific establishment behind it. The other side has a few crackpots, "researchers" paid to provide desired data, and cherry-picked data. Only the willfully ignorant at this stage give equal credibility to both sides.

Re:Ah, a nice flame war

[evanbd]

But, then again, I'm one of the .01% of people on /. who don't think that the current White House is an incarnation of Cthulhu

I'd just like to speak up to show my solidarity here. The current White House is definitely not an incarnation of Cthulhu. Cthulhu would be far more honest about his evil ways, and certainly wouldn't need to do anything as wimpy as manufacturing data.

Re:Ah, a nice flame war

[pluther]

In other words:
They say 2+2 is 4.

We say it's 18.

So, obviously, it must be somewhere around 11?

Obligatory recommended reading

[Raul654]

For everyone interested in this topic, Chris Mooney's The Republican War on Science is required reading.

All your Data...

[SyscRAsH]

are belong to U.S.

Re:As Fry Would say...

[king-manic]

The only way they could claim ignorance at this point is by making a concerted effort to maintain said ignorance by ignoring any of the multitude of reports out there that contradict them. Going to that much effort to remain ignorant in order to avoid changing your opinion is evil in itself.

A reformulation of CLarks third law by J. Porter Clark: "sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice"

Re:They All Do It.

[quantaman]

I am sick of people countering arguments with just words. Put up the link where you got your info or shutup. Okay

China will probably become the biggest greenhouse gas emitter this year or next, International Energy Agency Chief Economist Fatih Birol said in April. Ma said today this is inevitable and he can't estimate when it will happen.

...

The country's[China's] greenhouse gas emissions reached 5.6 billion tons in 2004, of which 5.05 billion tons were carbon dioxide, the commission said in the report. U.S. emissions that year reached 7.12 billion tons, according to the Department of Energy.

Going Green does not hurt our economy.

[Organic Brain Damage]

The largest, most successful car company on the planet? Toyota. The leader on going Green through higher fuel economy and smarter technology? Toyota. Coincidence?

Which city in the rust belt has a trade surplus with China and why? Erie PA. Because GE makes the most fuel efficient locomotives on the planet in Erie and even though the Chinese have lower labor costs and environmental protection standards, the GE locmotives, while costing more to purchase, pay-back the extra cost very rapidly in fuel savings. The greenest tech is the most efficient tech and it wins economically.

So, protecting and subsidizing stupidity might protect one particular set of players in an industry (GM & Ford, for instance) but overall it doesn't do the USA any good.

Green is efficient, so Green is smart business.

There's green in going green -- Friedman

Re:not true

[cowboy76Spain]

Please don't try to make jokes about the scientific abilities of Bush.

The press is clear about it.