A book review by Steve Welcenbach
At the International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC) sponsored by the Heartland Institute June 30 - July 1, 2011 in Washington DC, I enthusiastically purchased a copy of "Watermelons," written by British author James Delingpole.
I met James at the ICCC held in May last year in Chicago. Being one of the key journalistic bloggers responsible for breaking open the Climategate scandal, he was invited to speak at the conference to provide the details of how uncovering this scandal all came to pass. His talk was fascinating. And this scandal provided the incontrovertible truth that the entire anthropogenic global warming (AGW) scare has nothing to do with science and everything to do with implementing a political agenda.
"Watermelons" delves into the science primarily from the standpoint of how the data keeps on compiling demonstrating AGW as a flawed hypothesis and how it is reaching the general public in spite of continuing efforts to stifle its dissemination. While many in the scientific world thought Climategate would be the be-all end-all to AGW alarmism, the investigations into the most notorious culprits like East Anglia's Phil Jones and Penn State's Michael Mann proved to be nothing more than whitewashed pardons. These guys are right back in business doing the damage against real science that their subversive masters have appointed them to do.
Which brings us to the thesis of his book. The true scientific record has long held data sets disproving the AGW hypothesis and continues to accumulate new data daily. Yet in the political arena the drumbeat continues as if this data never existed or Climategate never happened. This story is nothing new, having been thoroughly discussed in a myriad of publications by a plethora of authors. The identification of Climate Alarmism, Environmentalism and the Green Movement in general as a quasi-religion with rituals, graces and penances has also been widely acclaimed. And the fact that none of these related alarmist movements from DDT to the Population Bomb to Peak Oil to AGW has anything to do with the stated issue (the "environment") Chris Horner and others unmasked long ago.
Delingpole's genius takes us into the darkest territory of the reality of the truth that we must face. In order to stop the ultimate goal of the Green Movement, the complete subjugation of individual liberty to an undemocratic, fascistic, socialistic world government, it requires the unwavering courage of ordinary individuals to face the unrelenting tidal wave of demonization and coercion dispatched by the promulgators of alarmism. These Alarmists are not well-intentioned guardians of Gaia. They are not harmless, misguided lovers of flora and fauna. They are every bit the ruthless accumulators of political power by any means possible, and they will wield it with equal ruthlessness to obtain any social and political aim.
The personal journey Delingpole documents about his life since Climategate shows us all a glimpse of what we can expect when we stand up to these "Watermelons." It will be a journey with lots of pitfalls and discouragements, demonization and character assassinations. There will be few tangible rewards. But because we have courage, there will always be hope. This struggle is no different than the first struggle in Eden. It is about good and evil. There is no middle ground. Delingpole's point: Choose freedom, and be prepared to defend it for life against a powerful and ruthless enemy which will morph into many forms but never goes away.