Warmist gives mixed review of Morano’s book, praises humor! ‘Little gems…John Oliver level quality material’

I’m giving Marc Morano’s new book 3 stars — the average of my split sentiments of 1 star and 5 stars, as I shall explain.

Let’s start with the 1 star aspects. First off, this book should be mandatory reading for classes in environmental politics and communication. I’m serious about that. It’s a prime example of what evolutionist Genie Scott labeled the Gish Gallop after creationist Duane Gish who was a master of spewing factoids far faster than any audience could follow or scrutinize.

Morano has been working on his gallop for decades and this book is his greatest effort to date. He’s really good at it. But the problem is, it’s just too much to consume — topic/point after topic/point, at breakneck speed.

More importantly, the climate skeptic movement is these days up against staggering levels of improbability. First, you have to believe in this global conspiracy of distortion given how ubiquitous the evidence of climate change is — from the melting tundra (I spoke at a conference in Norway a few years ago where they are working on making money off the opportunities arising from melting tundra) to displaced Pacific islanders.

I was a scientist. I know so many honest, hard working, apolitical scientists who are interested in one thing only — the truth. So many of them talk to me about what they are seeing for climate change these days. It’s just too many to believe they’re all blind or corrupt. Regardless of whether it’s 97% or some other number. It’s most of them.

Then second, there’s the burden of proof — it needs to be on the skeptics to show that we can alter the atmosphere as we have and not have any consequences. If you asked someone to eat poison, the burden of proof would be on you to show that it wouldn’t kill them, rather than on them to show that it would. Their whole thinking is backwards on this stuff.

So they’re fighting a lost cause.

But I give Morano and his efforts … wait, can’t say the high score — don’t want to be quoted on it — but I do think he is A) an important and somewhat useful voice, B) needs to be taken more seriously by the climate crowd (the book spent 2 weeks with an Amazon sales rank above 1,000 — almost no climate books manage that, yet in typical form when I tweeted about this the climate folks replied by attacking the metric saying it’s meaningless — it’s not, ask any book publicist, sheesh), and C) he is a long time warrior in The War on Boredom, and for that I am always appreciative because the climate folks, despite their great intentions, can be so lethally boring with their mission.

He’s got lots of little gems throughout the book — like digging up the fact that the armadillo has been the mascot for both warming and cooling. I’m sorry, but that’s John Oliver level quality material. And “El Nino ate my homework.” The humor element really is a welcome relief (though there is also some unintended humor — like saying the Obama administration “ruthlessly politicized science” — before Trump came along and set things right? now that made me really laugh out loud)

There is a great deal of noise in the huge amount of media attention climate receives. Buried in that noise is inevitably a gold mine of contradictions that feed the Morano machine. But there is also a dire need for the media to be scrutinized in the way that Jon Stewart, Colbert and John Oliver have perfected. Morano’s not quite at their level (what do you expect for a one man band), but it’s fitting that the right have at least one voice that is tuned into that approach.

I will finish with one serious warning. If Morano were ever given a team of quality comedy writers of the level of those comedians, the climate community seriously better watch out. When will they ever take him seriously? In 1999 Michael Crichton warned, “The information society will be dominated by those who are skilled at manipulating the media.” That quote foretold the current president. What will it take for the climate folks to see the same thing evolving here?

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