Monte wrote:
Just because he's well educated (and by the way, his PHD is in climatology, but his undergrad and masters is in biology, and his climatology PHD was not given for climate change research but instead was related to crops, etc) doesn't mean he's not bought and paid for by an industry with a vested interest in quelling any and all regulation of their emissions.
I'm not even going to get into this discussion because you aren't going to listen. As a scientist, let me just say that what I read in that article appalls me.
But let me comment on this tidbit by you Montegue. Firstly, undergraduate and masters degrees in biology would be common for almost any biological sciences specialist. You specialize more the higher you go up. For instance, my degree is in biology, but I'm a microbiologist who plans on getting his doctorate eventually in microbiology or a highly related field. Obviously, that wouldn't qualify me to be microbiologist according to you.
As for your second point, you often do dissertation research in the area your mentor is in. So if his mentor was doing crop-based climatology, he would likely write a dissertation on crop biology. But when you go on your own, you often follow your own research interests. So before you comment next time, at least know how the process works.
Lastly, just because you receive money from an institution doesn't mean you're biased. You need research grants to fund scientific research. You wouldn't be able to conduct any research otherwise. Does receiving government money make you any less biased? After all, the government at any given time wants a certain conclusion to flow from the research as well. You do realize for the scientific data to be legitimate it must also be peer-reviewed in a scientific publication as well, right? So are you saying all those other scientists are on the payroll as well? Because that's quite an accusation to make. When you understand how the scientific process works, it becomes more clear how bias is largely weeded out. The problem occurs when there's a "consensus" and no one challenges the research, which as I have shown, is a fundamental aspect of the scientific process.