On Tuesday, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers accused climate scientists of corruption, saying that because they “work for the government,” they could lose their jobs if they didn’t say man-made global warming was real. In an interview with CNN’s Ali “Clean Coal” Velshi, Myers responded to a New York Times article that television meteorologists widely believe that man-made global warming is a hoax, in stark contrast to actual climate scientists. After admitting that “man has a lot to do with” the rising global temperatures, Myers went on the attack:
I also think it has something to do — follow the money a little bit. Meteorologists aren’t paid by the government, the ones on TV, the climatologists are. If there’s nothing to talk about, will their jobs really be all that secure? So, follow the money a little bit, I think you’ll find 10% and 15% and every little corner has to do with it.
Watch it:
Myers’ implication of a widespread conspiracy to doctor science for cash seems odd, coming from someone who almost without doubt makes considerably more money than any climate scientist on the planet. The television industry — unlike scientific research — is driven by pursuit of controversy, not accuracy. Myers, who has a bachelor’s degree in meteorology from the University of Nebraska, had been a denier of man-made global warming as recently as 2008, telling Lou Dobbs, “To think that we could affect weather all that much is pretty arrogant.”
Myers also raised two other classic canards of climate conspiracy theorists — that the sun is responsible for global warming and that climatological models can’t be accurate if meteorological models aren’t. Rather than retreading the reasons those are debunked fallacies, I’ll just direct you to SkepticalScience.com (“It’s the sun” and “Scientists can’t even predict weather”).
Transcript:
VELSHI: All right, let’s go “Off The Radar” for a minute, this is what Chad and I like to do when there’s something going on that he knows about that we all don’t. Tell me about this, a rumble going on —
MYERS: Yeah!
VELSHI: — amongst you folks that give us the weather.
MYERS: Or the climatologists and meteorologists. The New York Times had a little deal going on their blog today, about why do TV meteorologists so to speak not believe so much in global warming compared to climatologists around the world.
VELSHI: Okay.
MYERS: And they said less than 50% of meteorologists on TV believe in global warming. I tell you, I believe the globe is warming. I believe man has a lot to do with it, maybe not everything, but a lot to do with it.
VELSHI: Sure.
MYERS: The sun has something to do with it, it’s the biggest factor in our world. But climatologists and meteorologists are kind of at odds, you both basically went to the same schools. One wanted to learn about the long-term process, one the short-term process. I believe that meteorologists don’t believe in the long-term, 15-year computer models, because our friends at RightWeather just gave us — this is a ten-day computer model. I doubt this one is even right. So meteorologists are thinking there’s no way we can get 15 years from now right, if we can’t get 15 days from now right!
I also think it has something to do — follow the money a little bit. Meteorologists aren’t paid by the government, the ones on TV, the climatologists are. If there’s nothing to talk about, will their jobs really be all that secure? So, follow the money a little bit, I think you’ll find 10% and 15% and every little corner has to do with it.
VELSHI: Chad Myers throwing it down. I’ll bet you I’ll get some comments on this. Send your comments to my Facebook page, Ali Velshi —
MYERS: The globe is warming, trust me on this one, we know we’re losing ice caps.
VELSHI: So, we know where Chad has come down on this one. All right, you can go to my Facebook Ali Velshi page, those of you out there, I think it’s good to rustle up that discussion about whether the global is warming and who and what you think is responsible for it.
MYERS: Exactly the case for it right there. We know it’s going up, but why?
VELSHI: Fair enough.
Update:
At Climate Progress, Joe Romm praises Chris Morrison’s story, If Global Warming Kills Us, Blame the Weatherman.