Many-a-journalist will tell you that one of the perils of their jobs involves throwing a massive boulder into a lake and waiting for the resulting waves. Only to find nary a ripple. That's one of the upsides of writing on climate change and global warming. It appears there are few better ways to provoke a tide of letters to the editor, tirades, and outbursts than to report on the issue. Don't believe us? Ask some environmental and science reporters.
   Or ask, for instance, Editor & Publisher regular columnist Steve Outing. His August 28, 2007, column in the newspaper editors' publication of record was headlined "Climate Change: Get Over Objectivity, Newspapers." Outing defended journalistic objectivity as an essential tool in reporting on "controversial issues where there is a significant split of opinion." But not so with climate science, where "there's clearly scientific consensus that humans are altering the planet's climate, and that the effect is accelerating." His piece – but not the pro and con (apparently mostly con) letters to the editor it provoked – is at the site. You'll have to be a subscriber to E&P to see the letters to the editor.