Have you checked out The Weather Channel‘s so-called “climate expert”, Dr. Heidi Cullen? The first time I saw a promo for her new weekly show, “The Climate Code” (hah, I get it – like “The Da Vinci Code”, right? What a knee-slapper!), I could tell she was a lightweight. Definitely not in the same league as Jim Cantore or Mark Mancuso, and DEFINITELY not in the same universe as my favorite, Dave Schwartz, to be sure.

A couple of disclaimers are in order first:

1. Having known more than a few in my life, Ph.Ds by nature don’t impress me. I know, I know – to get one’s doctorate is no small feat; it requires an incredible amount of dedication, research, and hard work, and I respect that. But being a Ph.D in and of itself does NOT automatically qualify one as an expert in anything other than how they were able to successfully accomplish their dissertation. Like my old friend Jack Lyon, long-time professor at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell was wont to say, there’s a big difference between book sense and horse sense.

2. Can we all agree that: a) global climate change is a serious-enough issue, with major implications for humankind and the resources it needs to sustain life, that warrants both serious consideration and extensive research, but b) regardless of what the ‘Chicken Littles’ in the mainstream dino-media might tell you, there is no consensus among scientists and so-called “experts” as to what effect humans have on climate change and global warming? I hope so.

(BTW, I find it difficult to be posting anything about global warming as I watch my backyard cactuses slowly turn from green to brown after last weekend’s hard freeze, where it got down to 26 degrees Saturday night.)

Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah. Seems that Dr. Cullen is calling for de-certification of any member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) who doesn’t fall lock-and-step into the whole global warming hysteria. Matt Drudge has a link to a post by Marc Morano of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, reporting that, on her December 21st Weather Channel weblog entry, Dr. Cullen calls for the AMS to revoke its so-called “Seal of Approval” for any television weatherman who ‘expresses skepticism that human activity is creating a climate catastrophe’. Morano quotes Dr. Cullen’s blog as saying, among other things:

“If a meteorologist can’t speak to the fundamental science of climate change, then maybe the AMS shouldn’t give them a Seal of Approval. Clearly, the AMS doesn’t agree that global warming can be blamed on cyclical weather patterns.”

Now before you start worrying that your favorite local weather forecaster might soon find themselves working behind the counter at the local Arby’s preparing roast beef sandwiches, consider that this is the same so-called “expert” who, in the same blog entry, also writes:

“It’s like allowing a meteorologist to go on-air and say that hurricanes rotate clockwise and tsunamis are caused by the weather. It’s not a political statement…it’s just an incorrect statement.”

Umm…paging Dr. Cullen: as Morano rightly points out, tropical systems in the Southern Hemisphere – you know, below the equator? – actually do rotate clockwise.

I recommend reading Morano’s merciless fisking of Cullen’s obviously extreme views on climate change. It’s a no-contest and a fun read. Rather than buying into the all-too-typical global warming hysteria we so often get from so-called “experts” like Dr. Cullen and Al Gore, it might be a good idea if everyone takes a deep breath and understand the complexity of this issue before trading in that SUV for a horse-and-buggy. After all, there are also studies out there like this one, which, after studying climate change from a more historic perspective, proposes that the only thing constant about the world’s climate is its innate historical instability and erratic behavior.

A much better idea than to propose stripping people of their livelihoods simply because they aren’t as quick to buy into your global warming/climate change hysteria, dontcha think, Dr. Cullen?