The Sociology of Global Warming?

My youngest recently came to me with a request for help in providing documentation that would refute his sociology teacher's continued Global Warming/Climate Change assault on his students:

"He's driving me nuts, Dad! And when I complained he told me that he wasn't going to shut up about global warming until I could provide him with solid proof that it wasn't happening!"

My first reaction was to ask, "What in hell does global warming have to do with an introductory sociology class at the high school level?" but I immediately realized that it was a stupid question because the vast majority of sociology teachers believe that anything and everything falls within their purvey, especially if it helps them advance their pet liberal causes.

So we sat down and within 10 minutes had used a third of a ream of printer paper documenting merely the highlights of all the actual information out there that contradicts and questions the new global warming religion. We organized it for presentation, fully realizing that it probably wouldn't make a bit of difference in the teacher's mind, but determined to make the attempt.

I told my son, "It is very important that you come across as open-minded if you wish to engage him in actual dialogue. Simply start by asking him if he believes that the pursuit of the truth is the essence of education. If he says yes, then simply say, 'Look, I don't know if global warming is actually taking place, but even the experts disagree right now whether we are warming, cooling, staying the same, and what's causing it.'"

"Then you should say, 'But does it make any sense at all to spend billions, maybe trillions of dollars, money that we don't actually have, on solutions that may not be necessary or might, if we guess wrong, make things worse? Do we have the right to expect everyone in America to radically change their way of life, to surrender some of their individual freedoms, based on science that it most definitely not settled?'"

Thus armed he has turned in his report. I will report back his results. We are not optimistic.

RELATED ITEM - Scientists report that after 200 years of melting, Alaska's glaciers are gaining ice mass again. The reason? The solar wind stream is at a 50-year low and temperatures are falling. Here's a link to an interesting report, and here's another link to a discussion at National Review's Planet Gore blog.

RELATED PHILOSOPHIC QUESTION - Does truth even matter anymore? Should teachers be asked to take some sort of variant on the Hippocratic oath that insists "First, tell no lies" ?