If Peer Review Were a Drug, It Wouldn’t Get on the Market

By E. Calvin Beisner, Ph.D., Founder and National Spokesman, Cornwall Alliance
June 14, 2011

In a blog piece at MasterResource.org, meteorologist Chip Knappenberger presents and discusses the implications of communications from MIT climatologist Richard Lindzen documenting bias in and corruption of the scientific peer-review process against “climate skeptics,” focusing on the case of his recent submission to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that was refused there under suspicious circumstances but later accepted by the Asian Pacific Journal of Atmospheric Sciences.

“The unfortunate side-effect of this differential treatment,” writes Lindzen, “is that a self-generating consensus slows the forward progress of scientific knowledge—a situation well described by Thomas Kuhn in his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.”

Ross McKitrick here and especially here (PDF), John Christy and David Douglass, Roy Spencer, James Delingpole, Patrick Courrielche here, here, and here, Steve McIntyre, and I myself here, here, and here have discussed peer review failure and corruption in climate science, where high-stakes politics and business have driven it to extremes.

It now arises that the failures occur not just in climate science but across the board, as the article “Classical Peer Review: An Empty Gun” (published in a peer-reviewed journal!), summarized and commented on here, reveals. Writes Richard Smith in his study of peer review published in Breast Cancer Review:

… almost no scientists know anything about the evidence on peer review. It is a process that is central to science - deciding which grant proposals will be funded, which papers will be published, who will be promoted, and who will receive a Nobel prize. We might thus expect that scientists, people who are trained to believe nothing until presented with evidence, would want to know all the evidence available on this important process. Yet not only do scientists know little about the evidence on peer review but most continue to believe in peer review, thinking it essential for the progress of science. Ironically, a faith based rather than an evidence based process lies at the heart of science.

Smith quotes Drummond Rennie, deputy editor of the Journal Of the American Medical Association and intellectual father of the international congresses of peer review that have been held every four years since 1989, as saying, “If peer review was a drug it would never be allowed onto the market,” and goes on to say, “Peer review would not get onto the market because we have no convincing evidence of its benefits but a lot of evidence of its flaws.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Green Dragon: Seducing Our Children, Seizing Power, Threatening Humanity (Video)

Olympia, Washington, Church Begins Study Series on Resisting the Green Dragon

Grace Redeemer Bible Church, meeting at the grange hall, 6011 Black Lake Blvd. SW, Olympia, WA, is viewing Cornwall Alliance’s Resisting the Green Dragon video series on Sundays at 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Pastor Mark Musser, an expert on religious environmentalism and author of Nazi Oaks, a book examining the environmental elements of the twentieth-century Nazi movement in Germany, will lead discussion. Visitors are welcome. Phone 360-866-9278 for further information.

Recent Significant Developments

Editor’s note: We try valiantly to keep each issue of this newsletter brief, usually limiting it to two or three items per category. In the last few weeks, however, we’ve passed over many new developments. Today we’re catching up a bit—giving you more news than usual—but we’re keeping the summaries short, sometimes giving only headlines. Enjoy!—ECB

Science & Ecology

It's the Sun, Stupid! (David Whitehouse; Global Warming Policy Foundation)
Powerful new evidence shows that changes in the sun are more powerful drivers of global temperature than anthropogenic global warming theory recognizes.

Increase in Forest Density Worldwide (Newswire)
Apparently driven at least in part by rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, forests worldwide are becoming more dense, reversing the decline in global forest mass—one of many benefits of rising CO2.

Electric Cars May Not Be So Green (Ben Webster; The Australian)
Most electric cars will wear out before they produce a net reduction in CO2 emissions versus gasoline- or diesel-fueled cars. A “British study, which is the first analysis of the full lifetime emissions of electric cars covering manufacturing, driving and disposal, undermines the case for tackling climate change by the rapid introduction of electric cars.”

Wind Turbines Deplete Golden Eagle Population (Louis Sahagun; Los Angeles Times)
“Scores of protected golden eagles have been dying each year after colliding with the blades of about 5,000 wind turbines [near San Francisco, CA]. … ‘It would take 167 pairs of local nesting golden eagles to … compensate …,’ said field biologist Doug Bell …. ‘We only have 60 pairs.’”

Health Hazards from "Green" Buildings (Julian Pecquet; The Hill)
“The push to make buildings more energy efficient could have negative health effects …. [An] Institute of Medicine report warns that the effort to counter climate change has spurred a shift to untested new materials and building retrofits that could limit and alter the air flow inside buildings. It said this may concentrate indoor pollutants such as chemical emissions and tobacco smoke. …”

Economics & Energy

Hidden Green Taxes Constitute 20% of UK Fuel Bills; Calls Arise to Require Power Bills to Disclose Green Charges; Hard-Hit Businesses Prepare to Lay Off Workers & Move Overseas
Every utility bill should report to consumers the costs of government-mandated “green energy” components. Private customers aren’t the only ones hit hard. Businesses suffer, too—and consequently close plants, lay off workers, and head for greener pastures. Calls Mount for reversal. Related: “The EU's climate and energy policies are … driving up electricity prices for European producers compared to their international competitors …. 'As a result, factories are closing’”; Europe’s Climate Policy Threatens Global Trade War; World Bank to Suggest CO2 Levy on Jet, Shipping Fuel.

House Begins Hearings on Bill to Re-use Spent Nuclear Fuel, Reduce Nuclear Waste, Earn Federal Revenues (Energy & Commerce)
Not a bad idea.

New EPA Regulations on Coal-Fired Generators Would Raise Electricity Bills 12% to 24%, Destroy 1.4 Million Jobs

Rising Consumption, Mostly in Developing Nations, Pushes Global Oil Prices Higher (Steven Hayward; The American)
“The real driver these days is China, where consumption has increased 375 percent since 1980. … since the year 2000, … China’s oil consumption increased 74 percent over the last decade, while U.S. consumption has actually declined 2.8 percent ….”

Marcellus Shale Drilling Creates Jobs (Donald Gilliland; PennLive.com)
If job creation is such a great recommendation for “Green” energy, why isn’t it a great recommendation for conventional energy—which creates for more jobs, faster, more permanently, and with no (or fewer) subsidies? Uh—because “conventional energy” isn’t as clean, or causes global warming? If the Greens give that answer, then they must quit claiming job creation as justification for switching to renewables and make the case on the environmental merits alone. That, they can’t do. And they know it. That’s why they constantly switch the topic to creating “Green jobs.”

Forget Peak Oil; Think Peak Renewables (Stephen Murgatroyd; TroyMedia)
As subsidies run out, “the ‘peak’ of renewable energy … may have been reached.” Related: Wind Farms Aren’t Just a Blight, They’re a Folly.

"Fracking" Could Spell Energy Renaissance for U.S.--If Government Doesn't Interfere (Robert Bryce; The Wall Street Journal)

Religion & Ethics

Why Even the U.N. Hates Ethanol (The Wall Street Journal)
The moral case against ethanol subsidies and mandates is clear, just from prudential arguments: It takes more energy to make than it delivers; it puts more, not less, CO2 into the atmosphere, though reducing CO2 is a rationale for it; it causes engines to wear out faster; it reduces mileage. But worst of all, it diverts agricultural production from food to fuel, pushing prices up and thus increasing malnutrition, hunger, and starvation among the world’s poor. To be specific: “… additional biofuel production may have resulted in at least 192,000 excess deaths and 6.7 million additional lost DALYs [Disability-Adjusted Life Years] in 2010.”

The Return of the Population Bomb--A Dud Before, A Dud Today (The Wall Street Journal)
Danger looms of a return to coercive population control policies—based on bogus fears. Jonah Goldberg blasted Tom Friedman’s population fear mongering, too, and in the comments section I pointed out some of Friedman’s specific factual errors.—ECB

The Politics of "Creation Care" Proponent Joel Hunter (Aaron Klein; WordNetDaily)
“He resigned from the Christian Coalition after the group wouldn't broaden its agenda to include ‘social justice’ and fighting ‘global warming.’ He works with a left-wing think tank seeking a common-ground ‘third way’ between progressives and evangelicals on issues such as abortion and stem cell research.”

Perilous, and Inconsistent, Precaution (Roger Bate; The American)
In the wake of Fukushima, in which so far no one has died from radiation exposure, though a handful might in the long run, Germany intends to cut back nuclear power. “Meanwhile 22 people have died from E. Coli found in bean sprouts in Germany.” Will the German government outlaw bean sprouts?

Law, Regulation, & Litigation

The EPA's War on Jobs (The Wall Street Journal)
“The EPA is currently conducting a campaign against coal-fired power and one of its most destructive weapons is a pending regulation to limit mercury and other hazardous air pollutants …. Astonishingly, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson claimed in March that the utility rule is ‘expected to create jobs,’ because it will ‘increase demand for pollution control technology’ and ‘new workers will be needed to install, operate, and maintain’ it. In other words, the government should harm an industry and force it to ruin working assets so maybe other people can clean up the mess.” We recommend that Ms. Jackson read Frederic Bastiat’s “That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Not Seen.”—ECB

Big Green Lawsuits Are Obstacle to Jobs, Economic Growth (The Washington Examiner)
Case in point: lawsuits just filed against Royal Dutch Shell’s plans to resume deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Taking the EPA to Court (World Climate Report)
“On May 20, three briefs were filed with the Washington DC Circuit Court of Appeals laying out petitions to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulatory initiatives concerning greenhouse gas emissions ….” Contains links to the full briefs.

Kyoto Protocol's Death Is Just Around the Corner (Deutsche Welle)
The European Union is set to abandon unilateral climate control measures, and with Russia, Japan, and Canada all making their participation contingent on emerging nations like China, India, and Brazil being bound, the likelihood of a second round of Kyoto is slim to vanishing.—ECB

Politics & Debate

Obama's Nuclear Power Politics (Kimberly Strassel; The Wall Street Journal)
“For its latest in brass-knuckle tactics, consider the ongoing fight over the proposed Yucca nuclear waste facility.” In a rare event, Washington Post agrees with Wall Street Journal. See more background here.

Bailed Out GM Spends Millions on Phantom Carbon Offsets (Paul Chesser; National Legal and Policy Center)
And see here for analysis of Wal-Mart’s Green public relations campaign.

The Left Opening a Third Front on Fossil Energy (John Brignell; Science and Public Policy Institute)
What’s wrong with the new focus on sub-microscopic particulate emissions? A delightfully instructive exercise in the importance of numeracy and historical literacy.

Foundations Often Predetermine Results of Work They Fund by Environmental NGOs (Ron Arnold; The Washington Examiner)

Meet the Critics: William R. Kininmonth

Landmark Documents from the Cornwall Alliance

E. Calvin Beisner, Ph.D., Founder and National Spokesman
Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation

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