The Inhofe Scale

[This was first posted as a blog entry on March 23, 2007.]

One of the issues I deal with every day is how to respond to the peak oil and/or global warming subverters. One individual in particular has emerged as the pinnacle of adamant, willful ignorance on the global warming front is US Senator James Inhofe, from the great state of Oklahoma.

How far out is he? A the recent CPAC meeting he said:

I have been called -- my kids are all aware of this -- dumb, crazy man, science abuser, Holocaust denier, villain of the month, hate-filled, warmonger, Neanderthal, Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun. And I can just tell you that I wear some of those titles proudly.

He is also the US Senator famous for calling global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people". For a detailed treatment of Inhofe's claims regarding global warming, see this RealClimate post.

The same source linked above also contains this text:

Inhofe repeated his view that man-made global warming is "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people," and he quarreled with a Bush administration proposal to list polar bears as a threatened species. "They're overpopulated," he declared. "Don't worry about it: The polar bear is fine." His staff handed out supporting documentation, including the claim that "MARS HAS GLOBAL WARMING DESPITE ABSENCE OF SUVs."

And of course just yesterday, he embarrassed himself, the people of his state and the entire US with his childish behavior at Al Gore's testimony. He repeatedly asked Gore questions and then cut him off until Senator Boxer, the chairperson of the committee holding the hearings had to, in effect, give him a timeout like a five year old jacked up on a sugar high. As this happened, Senator Inhofe obviously was having a good time, and gave no evidence that he thought the issues at hand were serious. You can see a video of the exchange here, as well as numerous other videotaped examples of Senator Inhofe in action on YouTube.

So, how to respond to this track record? After much thought and finally being prodded by Senator Inhofe's performance yesterday, I've decided to inaugurate a new feature on this site, The Inhofe Scale.

The Inhofe Scale will be used to measure statements (but most definitely not the speakers who make them) that exhibit a noticeable and willing detachment from reality. The scale is calibrated so that 100 equals the detachment seen in Senator Inhofe's "greatest hoax", polar bear, and Mars quotations, seen above. Extra consideration is given to positions espoused with an excessively cavalier attitude or downright meanness, and those from people or organizations that have a obligation to get it right.

Just to be clear, this is a measurement of detachment from widely accepted reality, not a measure of how much the speaker disagrees with me.

And by "willful detachment from reality" I mean far more than simple ignorance. If my neighbor's eight-year-old son suggests that it would be cheaper to make cars fly than to clear roads with snow plows in the winter, he's speaking from simple ignorance and the typical boyhood fascination with all things that fly. If that boy's father were to make that same suggestion in all seriousness, then we could only conclude that he was delusional or willfully detached from the facts.

Some additional examples might help flesh this out a bit more:

The US Dept. of Energy routinely makes forecasts of US and world energy production and consumption. While I have a great deal of respect for their work with historical data in their various publications, their projections, showing unhindered growth for the next two-plus decades in the consumption of oil and natural gas, and the creation of CO2 emissions, has for some time been deep into the "what are they smoking over there" range. At this point, even they have to realize that it just isn't going to happen. I would give these projections (and most comments from the POD (peak oil denier) People) an Inhofe Scale score of 70.
People very often talk about peak oil and implicitly make the assumption that peak oil means no oil at all. It's sometimes subtle, but it's not hard to spot once you starting looking for it. (The detachment from reality comes from their refusal to see how the world works; commodities almost never simply dry up completely. There is an ongoing adjustment caused by higher prices--just ask the US car companies who are getting hammered for leaning far too much on truck sales.) Most of these statements would rate about a 30 to 50 on the Inhofe scale.
And then there are the Apocalypticons, the people who think the suburbs and all large organizations will perish with the coming of peak oil. Many of these people exhibit all but uncontainable glee in their doomerism, something that I find repulsive. (The fact that at least some of them were the ones telling us Y2k would be "the end of the world as we know it" should tell you all you need to know about them and their understanding of how the real world works.) Most of these statements from that camp earn an Inhofe Scale score of 100 to 200. (Some of them get considerable extra credit for being flaming misanthropes.)

Finally, let me say a few words to the good people of Oklahoma. James Inhofe has been your senator since he won a special election in 1994 (according to his page on the Senate web site), but you deserve better than this in a Senator. I realize how easy it is to vote for a veteran lawmaker, someone who will have more influence, and therefore someone able to deliver more to your state, than a rookie in the Senate. But please take into account his and all candidates' views on this most pressing of issues. Having a lawmaker who is firmly rooted in reality and appreciates the gravity of this situation is in your and everyone's best interest.