Cardinal Pell Heats Up...

... the debate over global warming. CWNews reports:

In a column for the Australian Sunday Telegraph, Cardinal Pell charges that the intense concern about the dangers of climate changes are the result of an effective public campaign in which “zealots have been presenting extreme scenarios to frighten us.”

The result, the cardinal said, is “an induced dose of mild hysteria,” which he said has grown “dangerously close to superstition.”

Announcing that he is “deeply skeptical” about the argument that global warming threatens the future, the cardinal pointed to the mixed scientific evidence on the question. “The science is certainly more complicated than the propaganda,” he said, urging readers to reject “scare-mongering” and resist hasty conclusions.

Cardinal Pell's Sunday Telegraph column does not appear to be online as of the moment can be read here.

• Read a 2005 interview with Cardinal Pell.
• Read an interview with Tess Livingstone, who wrote the biography, George Pell: Defender of the Faith Down Under.

Comments

[David]

Hi Carl,

Here's a link of the article from the Sydney Archdiocese website:

http://www.sydney.catholic.org.au/Archbishop/STC/2007/2007218_978.shtml

Cheers,
David

[V]

While I agree with Cardinal Pell that much of the science is essentially uncertain, that is weather systems are believed to be chaotic, or at the very least there is too much information to make a coherent model to test for. Nevertheless we still do pollute the environment, and yes we do contribute(how much and how much an effect this has is debatable) to Global Warming(whether this will be disasterous is also debatable). So, writing in the diocesan newspaper, instead of just pointing out the propaganda, he could have finished with something like:"In the end we are called to be stewards of God's creation, and not mere users, so perhaps take a bike to work in the summer."

[V]

excuse me, I should have mentioned that climate and weather are not the same thing.

[padraighh]

'Nevertheless we still do pollute the environment, and yes we do contribute(how much and how much an effect this has is debatable) to Global Warming(whether this will be disasterous is also debatable).'

V,

Both weather and climate change over time. Many of the factors that
cause change have nothing to do with humans, e.g. ocean currents,
the jet stream currents, variations in solar output.

The reason for the hysteria is:

1) More gov. finding for the hysterics ( I recall when I was a
young professor that a certain professor went around asking faculty
to sign a pledge not to work on the 'Star Wars' initiative
unless you might be able to get funding).

2) To create a political environment to control the behavior of the population,
this is especially true concerning procreation rights.
( I think this is exactly the point Pell is trying to make).

3) To make energy more expensive and thereby to control world economics.

I think it is no secret that the left has latched onto the global warming
argument to advance their adgenda.

[padraighh]

'Nevertheless we still do pollute the environment, and yes we do contribute(how much and how much an effect this has is debatable) to Global Warming(whether this will be disasterous is also debatable).'

V,

Both weather and climate change over time. Many of the factors that
cause change have nothing to do with humans, e.g. ocean currents,
the jet stream currents, variations in solar output.

The reason for the hysteria is:

1) More gov. finding for the hysterics ( I recall when I was a
young professor that a certain professor went around asking faculty
to sign a pledge not to work on the 'Star Wars' initiative
unless you might be able to get funding).

2) To create a political environment to control the behavior of the population,
this is especially true concerning procreation rights.
( I think this is exactly the point Pell is trying to make).

3) To make energy more expensive and thereby to control world economics.

I think it is no secret that the left has latched onto the global warming
argument to advance their adgenda.

[Brian John Schuettler]

"Both weather and climate change over time"
As does everything in the material universe...

[Kevin Cary]

Seems like there are some bigger fish to fry than global warming bums... but maybe that's just me.

[Mark Brumley]

To embark on frying catfish doesn't require that one refrain from deep frying shrimp.

[Cristina A. Montes]

All these seafood metaphors are making me hungry...and it's a day of fasting, not just abstinence! Help! :P