3. A Climate-Change Skeptic Changes His Tune
3.一位气候变化的怀疑者改变论调
Two years ago, the Charles G. Koch foundation funded a study whose purpose appeared to be to prove once and for that climate change was a fraud. The project was led by physicist Richard Muller, founder of the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project at UC Berkeley and a prominent critic of the science of climate change; its billionaire funder Charles Koch, together with his brother David, is a major funder of conservative political activism. Still, if the study was expected to provide scientific cover for conservative hostility to efforts to combat global warming, Muller's preliminary findings proved to be a shocker. In an October Wall Street Journal article titled "The Case Against Global-Warming Skepticism: There were good reasons for doubt, until now," Muller wrote that his scrutiny of the data demonstrated that he'd been wrong all along. Although he claimed the issue of whether (or how much) human activity contributed to phenomenon remained unresolved, he believed, there was no getting around the facts. "Global warming is real," he wrote. "Perhaps our results will help cool this portion of the climate debate."
两年前,由Charles G. Koch基金会资助的一项研究试图证明气候变化是无稽之谈。该项目由伯克利大学地表温度研究项目的发起人,物理学家Richard Muller领导,他同时也是众所周知的对气候变化科学结果持怀疑态度的批评者。这一项目的资助者是亿万富翁Charles Koch及其兄弟David,这位富豪同时也是保守派政治激进主义的一位主要金主。然而,如果这项研究的初衷是要为同全球变暖的努力做对的保守的敌对势力提供科学外衣,Muller的初步成果却令他们意外。在十月的一期《华尔街日报》中的一篇题为《一个另全球变暖怀疑论者缄口的例证:到目前为止,确实存在合理的怀疑》中,Muller写道他对数据的周密分析表明他一直以来都是错的。尽管他声称,对于人类活动是否(或在多大程度上)影响了气候这一问题仍然悬而未决,但他已经相信全球变暖这一事实是无可回避的。“这是真的,他写道,“也许我们的结论能有助于对气候变化有关问题争论的降温。
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