Isn’t Halloween over? Then why is Friends of Science (FOS) rising from the dead with a new radio campaign.

Or maybe its April Fool’s because the FOS ads are so inaccurate or misguided that they must be taken as a joke – or must be playing us all for fools.

The ads, currently running on radio stations across the country, make the claim that there, “Hasn’t been global warming for over 10 years.”

I put this to a couple of top climate scientists and both said, unreservedly, that this is an outright false statement. Both pointed to temperature data on NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) that very clearly shows that temperatures over the last 10 years have been some of the hottest on record.

According to NASA, the five hottest years on record have been:

1) 2005

2) 1998

3) 2002

4) 2003

5) 2006

Then, there’s this graph of temperature measurements since 1880 that also clearly show it isn’t getting any cooler.

And if for some reason you don’t think NASA know what they’re talking about, there’s always the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which also measures global temperatue. Their measurements similarly debunk the claims made by the Friends of Science.

I know that media are hard up for ad revenue, but the Friends of Science ads are irresponsible; they  should be pulled immediately.

There are two ways this can be done.

The first (and the most effective) is to call or email the radio station when you hear the ad and demand that the ad be pulled AND that the station run a correction.

In fact one media personality is pretty much calling for this on his own station already.

Then, send a complaint to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which is in charge of regulating such things. Here’s the information you need to make such a complaint.

Now, before the trolls start complaining at the foot of this post, let’s deal with the complaints.

First, this is not an attack on “free speech.” This is “paid speech” and it’s wrong. If a company was advertising items for sale at a price they wouldn’t honor, their ad would be pulled. FOS are advertising a world that doesn’t exist, and recommending that we act on their erroneous counsel. It’s wrong, it’s dangerous and it should be stopped.

Second, there are surely some out there who will point to 1998 as the year that the Hadley Centre in the UK identifies as the hottest on record. Well, go slam your head against the evidence. “Statistics” and “damn statistics” should be left to people who are competent to deal with them. “Lies,” on the other hand, should be tracked down, rooted out and dismissed.