Truth needs to be at the core of climate change discussion
Re: “Freedom of Speech Comes First,” by the Calgary Herald in the Edmonton Journal, Dec. 10
The Friends of Science society have put up a number of billboards across the country with messages on the subject of climate change and global warming. Here is one example: “The sun is the main driver of climate change. Not you. Not CO2.”
Over the course of Earth’s history, the Sun has indeed been the main driver of climate change; however, the term “climate change,” as it is generally used today, describes the changes in global weather that have taken place from mid last century onward. This is what the Friends of Science are doing with this message, passing off one definition of a term for another.
It’s exactly as Dr. David Schindler said. The society takes a snippet of information, twists it around, and — there you are — the conclusion that humans are not causing climate change. It’s pretzel logic, pure and simple, but their conclusion is false.
Humans are responsible for most of the recent climate change the world has been experiencing. Don’t take my word for it. As the Herald itself mentioned, 97 per cent of the scientists who have published peer-reviewed papers on global warming agree that climate change is happening and that humans are the cause.
Many Canadians submitted complaints about the Friends of Science to Advertising Standards Canada, the ad industry regulator responsible for truth in adverting. The ASC ruled earlier this year that the Friends of Science ad above and another saying global warming stopped 16+ years ago violated clauses 1(b), (e) and 8 by making “claims that were not based on valid scientific evidence and could not be supported.” The Friends of Science ignored the ruling and ran these ads again.
A false statement made intentionally is a lie. Is it a crime to lie in Canada? In a courtroom, under oath, yes; the decisions of the court depend on the truth. It is also illegal to make false or misleading representations in an advertisement. The Friends of Science have not come up against the Competition Bureau, the government department responsible for truth in advertising, but I hope they do.
We need an honest discussion about climate change in this country, but we are not having that discussion because denier groups like the Friends of Science are deliberately obfuscating the truth.
In their editorial the Calgary Herald makes it very clear where they stand on freedom of speech. What’s not clear at all is where they stand on truth?
Peter Adamski, Edmonton