So, the 'settled' science is not quite as settled as the true believers shout. The much-vaunted climate models are seriously out of whack with actual data. The draconian 'solutions' are, therefore, not solutions at all. Because the earth is not, in fact, warming, despite increased carbon emissions.
Last Monday – on ABC Radio National, of all places – there was a tipping point of a different kind in the debate on climate change. It was a remarkable interview involving the co-host of Counterpoint, Michael Duffy and Jennifer Marohasy, a biologist and senior fellow of Melbourne-based think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. Anyone in public life who takes a position on the greenhouse gas hypothesis will ignore it at their peril.
Duffy asked Marohasy: "Is the Earth stillwarming?"
She replied: "No, actually, there has been cooling, if you take 1998 as your point of reference. If you take 2002 as your point of reference, then temperatures have plateaued. This is certainly not what you'd expect if carbon dioxide is driving temperature because carbon dioxide levels have been increasing but temperatures have actually been coming down over the last 10 years."
Duffy: "Is this a matter of any controversy?"
Marohasy: "Actually, no. The head of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has actually acknowledged it. He talks about the apparent plateau in temperatures so far this century. So he recognises that in this century, over the past eight years, temperatures have plateaued … This is not what you'd expect, as I said, because if carbon dioxide is driving temperature then you'd expect that, given carbon dioxide levels have been continuing to increase, temperatures should be going up … So (it's) very unexpected, not something that's being discussed. It should be being discussed, though, because it's very significant."
Duffy: "It's not only that it's not discussed. We never hear it, do we? Whenever there's any sort of weather event that can be linked into the global warming orthodoxy, it's put on the front page. But a fact like that, which is that global warming stopped a decade ago, is virtually never reported, which is extraordinary."
Duffy then turned to the question of how the proponents of the greenhouse gas hypothesis deal with data that doesn't support their case. "People like Kevin Rudd and Ross Garnaut are speaking as though the Earth is still warming at an alarming rate, but what is the argument from the other side? What would people associated with the IPCC say to explain the (temperature) dip?"
Another must read. Seriously. A couple of graphs to chew on. Recent southern hemisphere sea ice extent is here. Recent northern hemisphere sea ice extent is here. By all means, go over to the site where those came from and poke around. Look at the graphical data.
The data does not match the catastrophic predictions.
I am waiting for the global warming cultists who posted on this blog a while back to return and argue again that weather does not matter, only "climate". The debate reminded me of the infamous "the narrative was right but the facts were wrong" meme during the Duke rape hoax.
Gaius, you cannot argue with global warming cultists by using facts and data. Faith always trumps reason with the Church of Global Warming.
Yes, I know, Mwalimu. My particular favorite is being lectured about how I don’t understand the ‘reality’ of alternative energy sources when I have spent my career keeping the lights on.
What?? The earth isn’t warming after all??? But I was gonna have so much fun keeping the third world impoverished!
They should make Gore give back his Nobel as well as every last cent he’s swindled from the more gullibile among us.
They should make Gore give back his Nobel as well as every last cent he’s swindled from the more gullibile among us.
No no no a thousand times no! If we save the gullible from themselves, what incentive will they have to stop being gullible? Besides – they will probably just give their money to Rev. Wright or some other fraud that comes along. You can lead them to knowledge, but you cannot make them think.
A truism known to all who gained an education in scientific fields states "If it’s settled, it’s not science." The answer to that among the cognesenti appears to be that the scientific method (which has resulted in an unbelievable increase in human knowledge and increased quality of life) is itself false. The shame is that the Luddites, the courts, large swaths of Congress, and the media are in league to further the foolishness.