Well, such a trial did indeed occur – albeit by sixth-graders at a middle school in Colorado – and the jury found in favor of the skeptics.
Sadly, as a result, no media outlets addressed this event, or the surprising verdict.
As marvelously reported by the Daily Times-Call (emphasis added throughout):
With Earth’s warming accepted as a tenet, pre-teen “lawyers” and “scientists” debated whether humans have caused it.
Eleven jurors listened intently as prosecutors and defendants flashed contradictory graphs tracking global temperatures, carbon dioxide levels, polar ice cap statistics, volcanic activity and sea surface temperatures — all of which were found Wednesday in the school’s computer lab.
Outstanding. Fortunately, the best was yet to come:
“The earth has warmed and cooled over many years. If it’s caused by CO2, why haven’t the charts shot up?” Poppe’s son and lead prosecutor Caleb argued during a rebuttal.
In a climax that sent half the class to its feet and forced the judge to call for order, opponent Monique Nem slapped a contradictory graph onto the prosecution’s table.
“We’ve proven you wrong! The CO2 levels have shot up,” she said.
The jury responded more warmly, however, to Caleb Poppe’s response: The graphic cited a Hawaiian source; Hawaii has volcanoes; volcanoes emit CO2.
Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. And here’s the delicious punch line:
In closing arguments, Alexia Hegy said global temperatures actually decreased in the 1960’s, while the global population rose. Humans cannot be at fault, she concluded.
[…]
Seven of 11 jurors decided humans are not to blame, but everyone agreed classroom debates make for fun learning.
So much for consensus.
Of course, the most important aspect of this event is likely how the media ignored it. Sure, this is just one middle school in a city outside of Boulder, Colorado, with a total population of 83,000.
However, given the huge attention being paid to global warming, and the Congressional testimony of soon-to-be-Dr. Al Gore just days prior, isn’t it rather safe to assume that if the verdict had gone for the AGW believers, this would have been covered as a puff piece by many media outlets?
/>Can’t you envision Meredith Viera and Matt Lauer getting all gooey over how darling these kids were, and how amazingly clever for their age? And doesn’t this just show how important and dire this issue is, and how clearly settled the debate if a group of sixth-graders can see the truth that the skeptics can't?
Of course, none of that happened because the outcome didn’t fit with the media’s view.
As a result, precious few will know that global warming is indeed being debated -- even by children -- and not everyone is as convinced as the alarmists in the media and their prophet, Al Gore, continue to arrogantly assert.
