Not the greatest idea

Excerpt from this article:

PALO ALTO -- Stanford University sophomore Sabine Bergmann wants to focus her education on issues involving global warming.

"I really want to spend my life and career on climate change," the 19-year-old said. "But there's no major geared toward that specific topic because it's so new and cutting-edge."

Check out the confident claim by Stephen Schneider:

At Stanford, students organized a conference featuring a number of speakers including Stephen Schneider, a climatologist and environmental professor at the university.

The fact that the Earth was warmer 125,000 years ago doesn't mean "the current warming is natural," Schneider said. "If we understand the cause (of the current warming), we have to do something to reduce that cause. The cause is humans using the atmosphere to dump our tailpipe and smokestack waste."

Note also the old quote by Stephen Schneider here:

"On the one hand, as scientists we are ethically bound to the scientific method, in effect promising to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but - which means that we must include all the doubts, the caveats, the ifs, ands, and buts. On the other hand, we are not just scientists but human beings as well. And like most people we'd like to see the world a better place, which in this context translates into our working to reduce the risk of potentially disastrous climatic change. To do that we need [Scientists should consider stretching the truth] to get some broadbased support, to capture the public's imagination. That, of course, entails getting loads of media coverage. So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have. This 'double ethical bind' we frequently find ourselves in cannot be solved by any formula. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest. I hope that means being both."