Stephen Green writes...

On the heels of the recent Rachel Carson teardown over at Reason, ABC's John Stossel is ready to do his bit to put scare science in its place on the next edition of 20/20.

You may have heard that 1,600 scientists signed a letter warning of "devastating consequences." But I bet you hadn't heard that 17,000 scientists signed a petition saying there's "no convincing evidence" that greenhouse gases will disrupt the Earth's climate.

Pat Michaels of the University of Virginia says scientists have an incentive to scare people.

"Let's imagine there's a Senate hearing. The senator who disburses the funds goes to the administrator of NASA and says, 'I've heard global warming is the most serious problem confronting mankind. Can your agency use another $2 billion a year to study this thing?' What's he going to say? 'No?'"

{Gosh, some of us have posted similar thoughts here}

Priceless. This site has never endorsed watching a TV news program (at least not while sober), but Friday's 20/20 may be an exception.

The question I have is, Will his producers make Stossel tone it down again?
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ABC's Stossel is just about the only mainstream media "investigative reporter" who is not innumerate. Because he is a skeptic, can do math and follow a logical train of thought, his segments are unusual, thought provoking and informative.

-p