WORLD EXCLUSIVE!: Hot Topic can reveal that the days of the great climate science conspiracy are finally over. In an unprecedented display of public candour Dr Jim Salinger, New Zealand’s leading climate scientist, admitted in a letter to the NZ Herald this week that he’s been part of a conspiracy to mislead the public about global warming. Responding to a perceptive column by investigative reporter Jim Hopkins, he wrote (and this is the unedited version which names names — I had to hack into his email system to get it):
I was very upset to see that the doyen of climate science investigators, Jim Hopkins, has finally got to the truth of NZ’s con of the century. Yes – he has uncovered it – the Great Aotearoa Climate Conspiracy (GACC) of the 20th century! My fellow schemers over the years include E Kidson, Ben Garnier, Blair Fitzharris, Trevor Chinn, Kevin Trenberth, John Kidson, James Renwick, Brett Mullan, and Rob Muldoon. GACC operatives have secreted heaters and concentrated sunlight on the permanent snow and ice that once clothed Aotearoa. The Mackenzie hydro scheme generates power for the heaters under Mt Cook. We have been so successful that the ice volume has dripped from 100 cubic kilometres in the 1900s to 45 cubic kilometres by 2008. Thus we have convinced the good peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand that the climate is indeed warming.
And indeed, to demonstrate that we have been in control, we were planning to turn the Land of the Long White Cloud into a lot of hot air. But we have been exposed by the mighty pen of Hopkins! Wait until The Guardian’s George Monbiot learns of this. I will have to consider a career change – perhaps to becoming a columnist so that I can write whatever I want without worrying about the facts. Long live the truth!
It’s unclear how the GACC operation fits into the wider global conspiracy revealed in my earlier post about the hijacking of Monckton’s emails, but my research indicates that Salinger commands a senior position in the hierarchy: he has taken to signing his emails as “Climate operative 007″. Meanwhile, sources close to Lucy Lawless, who has been a close companion of Salinger in recent months, tell me she is now refusing to let him anywhere near her shower.
[Disclosure: the author is GACC operative 287(b): (b) denotes blogger. We all have badges to wear at meetings, there’s a secret handshake, and members of the NZ GACC are also obliged to wear smocks made from Emperor penguin hides. Details of the Aussie branch regalia are sketchy, but seem to involve doing strange things with Tasmanian marsupials.]
[Update: For an alternative view on the merits of Hopkins’ reporting, see this post at Editing the Herald.]
Satire, puff, condescending trust me I’m a scientist reassurance but no actual rebuttal.
Oh really? Did you miss this?
“ice volume has dripped from 100 cubic kilometres in the 1900s to 45 cubic kilometres by 2008.”
This is known as rebuttal by reality.
Right… so even if this is true, this proves MAN MADE CLIMATE CHANGE? Or even UNPRECEDENTED CLIMATE CHANGE?
You don’t know the secret handshake, so I can’t tell you.
Ah well that explains why the flat temperature graphs were adjusted upwards in three separate countries…. NOT.
‘trust me I’m a scientist’
pfft.. that makes me laugh.. really? What kind? I know you Madeleine from years ago and you are still a sad cliche.
I think she meant that Gareth has written a “condescending-trust-me-I’m-a-scientist-reassurance”, not that she is a scientist.
Correct diessoli (LOL)
I’ve also been quite suprised how it is the Herald’s comedians (e.g. Jim Hopkins, Garth George, etc) who have grasped the mettle of attacking the AGW “doomers”. Jim Hopkin’s columns are usually satirical and “hilarious” in a strange kind of way, but his recent couple of tirades against AGW have been “hilarious” in a sad kind of way – it seems that he actually believes the crap that he’d be much better off lampooning.
As for Garth George, his columns on the subject were practically lifted verbatim from denier websites (as highlighted on this blog earlier).
Then there’s Deborah Coddington – another “funny” columnist who lurches off into anti-environmentalism occasionally.
Some interesting psychology going on here – most articles on the topic that appear in the Herald accept the science, except for this gaggle of “comedians” who push the denier line – and aren’t even funny about it. Or maybe that’s the joke?
As I’ve said elsewhere, Billy, I think there’s a fine line between being a bit of a clown and being an idiot. Jim Hopkins crossed that line some time ago. He seems to think he can get away with serious accusations that scientists are lying and falsifying data just by using a joky tone. This rebuttal is quite entertaining:
http://editingtheherald.blogspot.com/2009/11/its-garth-jim-but-not-as-we-know-it.html
That would be the link in the post, Carol…
Sorry, you’re way ahead of me, I didn’t see the update.