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May 20, 2008 4:06 pm US/Central
Newspaper Questions Heat Up Global Warming Debate
(WCCO)
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Mike Fairbourne said in his daily work he doesn't spend hours researching studies about global climate change, but rather the particulars of daily forecasts. He worries that people are trying to politicize the scientific issue of global warming. (File)
CBS
WCCO meteorologist Mike Fairbourne is expressing concern that some environmental groups are blaming humans too much for global warming -- accusing them of using "squishy science" to make their point.
"Do we need to be wise stewards (of the Earth)? Absolutely," Fairbourne said in an interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper. "Do we have to pin everything that happens on global warming? No, we need to have cooler heads."
In the article published online Tuesday, Fairbourne agreed that the earth is going through climate changes. But he said there is "still a pretty big question mark" about how much of that warming is caused by humans.
Five years ago, Fairbourne signed a petition along with about 31,000 other scientists who believed that the effect humans have on global warming is overblown.
And Fairbourne noted that in the 1970s people were "screaming about global cooling. It makes me nervous when we pin a few warm years on squishy science."
"We need to be calm and look at scientific evidence and evaluate it," he told the newspaper.
Fairbourne told WCCO that the petition he signed came from a solicitation he received, that it was not something he sought out. Fairbourne said he answered some questions and his name was added to the petition.
"At the time that I signed it I agreed with all the things that were stated it, or I wouldn't have signed it," said Fairbourne.
As for the questions the petition raised, Fairbourne told WCCO he still believes global warming may not be solely be caused by humans.
"I am still skeptical if (it is) totally related to man's production of carbon dioxide. I think there are other factors involved," he said.
Fairbourne said in his daily work he doesn't spend hours researching studies about global climate change, but rather the particulars of daily forecasts. He worries that people are trying to politicize the scientific issue of global warming.
"I don't use my position at WCCO to tout my political opinions, if that what it is," said Fairbourne. "It was the Star Tribune that raised that based on a petition that I signed years ago. It sounds like something that I stepped forward yesterday to say. But I was just answering the Star Tribune's inquiry about the petition I signed years ago."
WCCO has created an award-winning ongoing news series about climate change, conservation and energy policy called "Project Energy." The series is led by news anchor and reporter Don Shelby.
"Mike Fairbourne and I have been friends and colleagues for 30 years. I have long known his position on global warming and whether it is caused by humans. He has been a good sounding board within our newsroom," Shelby said. "While Project Energy has touched on global warming science as one of the compelling reasons why our future energy efficient economy is an important goal, it is not the centerpiece of that reasoning."
"I agree with Mike that more scientific work must be done, and the hysteria must be mitigated," Shelby said. "I believe… there is credible science supporting global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels. But, that is neither here nor there. It is, or it isn't. Mike provides a valuable counterbalance to the tendency to believe there is only one answer."
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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