Climate Change
Totally new data set – totally new temperature proxy – totally the same Hockey Stick.
Michael Mann, Phil Jones and all the experts are more than vindicated.
Steve McIntyre, Marc Morano, and your “tribes”, will you stand aside, please ?
You’re just getting in the way of the true course of discovery.
We learn from Caroline Spelman, care of Fiona Harvey, that Climate Change could be good for British farming :-
https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4e2c238e-c276-11df-956e-00144feab49a.html
“Climate change could benefit UK farmers : By Fiona Harvey and George Parker : Published: September 17 2010 : Climate change and global food shortages could bring unexpected benefits for British farmers in the next two decades, ultimately relieving taxpayers of the burden of subsidising them, Caroline Spelman, environment secretary, has claimed. Ms Spelman said the UK was unlikely to suffer the severe water shortages that scientists predict will afflict other parts of the world, and that British farmers should be able to exploit greater demand for their produce…”
Note that the argument is not that Climate Change will create better conditions for growing food in the UK.
Instead, the logic is that because we live in North Western Europe, which will see less Climate Change than other parts of the world, our agricultural produce won’t be affected as badly as, say, Asia, so, suddenly British food production will have stronger commercial value as export.
That’s rather perverse, isn’t it ? Profiting at others’ expense never looked so…existential, so morally challenged.
I think that what will happen is that British food production will be increased in order to give it away, in the form of international disaster aid.
The Common Agricultural Policy could become the Crisis Agricultural Subsidy.
In a never-ending rolling disaster, the ethics of meeting basic human needs will surely take precedence over business competition.
https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gt9FazoUMIDxODUKwX2TF5LxndsQ
“Protesters condemn ‘dirty oil’ at World Energy Congress : (AFP) : 14 September 2010 : MONTREAL — Hundreds of protesters demonstrated in the streets of Montreal Sunday, calling for an end to “dirty, risky” oil exploration, ahead of a global gathering of energy experts. A dozen protesters covered in molasses staged a “Black Tide Beach Party,” while dozens of others carried banners that read “Too dirty, too risky, go beyond oil.” A blond baby boy smeared in brown sticky molasses wailed in his activist father’s arms, while protesters used megaphones to slam the provincial Quebec government of Jean Charest for inviting oil companies to the five-day World Energy Congress at the sprawling Palais de Congres. Some 5,000 participants from industry, government and academia, were expected to attend the conference, slated to officially open Sunday evening. The event is expected to tackle global energy issues, such as improving access to energy in the world’s poorer regions and the role of new technologies in ensuring a sustainable energy future. Many protesters directed their anger at BP over a devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year. But Julien Vincent, a campaigner for Greenpeace International, said BP was only part of the problem. “British Petroleum is one part of a big industry that’s got an abysmal safety record and an abysmal record in terms of its obligations toward protecting communities,” he told AFP. “You also have oil from Shell dripping out over Nigeria right now. You have oil spills that have taken place in China that have flooded ports,” he added. “The entire industry needs to be told to sit back and listen up.” …”
“We have to believe what we are witnessing with our own eyes — floods, fires, melting ice and feverish heat: from smoke-choked Moscow to water-soaked Pakistan, to soaring temperatures in the US and a deteriorating landscape in the High Arctic, our planet seems to be having a breakdown. It’s not just a portent of things to come but real signs of very troubling climate change already under way.”
https://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dlashof/this_is_what_global_warming_lo.html
“Tell Congress not to weaken Clean Air Act protections : As the EPA prepares to set standards for global warming pollution from power plants, refineries and other major polluters, some members of Congress want to weaken the Clean Air Act and give industries free rein to dump harmful pollution into our air…”
“With January to August 2010 found to be tied for the hottest year on record by NOAA, new analysis from NRDC shows that it wasn’t just daytime temperatures that’ve been soaring. In fact, 37 states in the US set record high nighttime temperatures this summer…”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Atlantic_hurricane_season
Somebody took a big spoon and starting stirring the Atlantic and the Pacific, and this is what we got : ocean-scale coffee cream swirls – a cluster of major storms with the potential to wreak significant havoc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Pacific_typhoon_season
Are records being broken ? Yes. Is it all getting worse, really ? Probably :-
https://climateprogress.org/2010/09/16/2010-hurricane-season-records-jeff-masters-global-warming/
It continues to astonish me that environmental reporters cannot pick up the Arctic meltdown ball and run with it.
The trend in meltdown in the northernmost latitudes is a very big deal – and it’s ongoing, it hasn’t stopped, gone into remission or gone away.
The nature of the ice is changing – so much so that scientific monitoring equipment was confused.
It is now clear that Arctic summer sea ice is in a “death spiral”, a phrase first used very recently, in an attempt to properly describe what is happening :-
Found at : Only In It For The Gold
Will the long-term future for much of inundated Pakistan resemble a country-wide-scale New Orleans – destroyed and mostly deserted ?
Where will the people go ? Or will they rot and die in “temporary” camps ?
What will become of those stranded in their villages – they stayed to protect the land – they didn’t realise the floodwaters would be like never before – coming to take away their livelihoods and possibly their lives.
https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jX_KetVCMo64AOZxSMudPWArFrJgD9I946KG0
“US envoy warns Pakistan of flood funding shortfall : By SEBASTIAN ABBOT (AP) : 16 September 2010 : KARACHI, Pakistan — The world will only be able to fund around 25 percent of the tens of billions of dollars needed to rebuild Pakistan after the floods, and its government will have to make up the shortfall, the U.S. envoy to the country warned Thursday. Richard Holbrooke said America would not condition its assistance to the country, but warned that the U.S. Congress might not be generous if it felt that Pakistan was not taxing its own citizens enough. Pakistan’s rich have traditionally not paid much tax on their income or their property — either because they evade them or are exempt — and the country’s collection rates are among the lowest in the world…Monsoon rains triggered massive floods six weeks ago that spread across the country and are still continuing in parts of the south. Some 8 million people have been made homeless in what Pakistani and U.N. officials have said is one of the largest humanitarian disasters in living memory…”
Sir John Beddington, the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, makes the case for the Science of Climate Change over at the Government Department for Business Innovation and Skills :-
https://www.bis.gov.uk/go-science/climatescience
How do I know about this ? I was forwarded an e-mail Press Release. Doesn’t appear to have been newsworthy or conflictual enough for the BBC or the major daily newspapers (correct me if I’m wrong).
That’s probably got something to do with the in-built accusation against the Media, where Sir John is reported as saying, “Reporting on climate change science has often created more heat than light…”
Good old Climate Change. As exciting and full of portent and importance as ever !
“Explaining the Science of Climate Change : 16 September 2010 00:01 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills : A new website which explains the science behind the headlines on climate change was launched today by Government Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Sir John Beddington. The website presents an overview of some of the most important areas of study in climate science, to help anyone wishing to get beyond the day-to-day headlines to gain a deeper understanding of the fundamental scientific issues involved. For those uncertain about the state of scientific knowledge, the web resource explains both where evidence is well established and where findings and projections remain subject to greater uncertainty. Few areas of science have such profound implications for public policy and society as the study of climate change. It is a research field that has come under intense scrutiny, particularly over the past year with a series of stories hitting the headlines. Sir John said: “Reporting on climate change science has often created more heat than light. The evidence is compelling that climate change is happening, that human activities are the major driver for this and that the future risks are substantial. At the same time, there is much we need to understand better; for example, the pace and extent of the changes we can expect, and regional impacts. The fact that uncertainty exists in climate science, as it does in other fields, does not detract from the value of the evidence. But an appreciation of the nature and degree of uncertainty, and of the likelihood and potential severity of risks, is critical if the science is to properly inform decision-making.” …”
“…The website presents an overview of areas of study in climate change and Sir John hopes it will end ‘uncertainty’ around the subject…”
Are the Media going to start getting this right, reporting on Climate Change from the point of view of risk analysis, analysis from real-world evidence and reasonable projections from the world’s experts ?
We shall see.
Richard Black redeems himself somewhat with a suitably seriously concerned piece on the expected impacts of Climate Change :-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11322929
“16 September 2010 : Climate change advisers urge UK to prepare for change : By Richard Black : Environment correspondent, BBC News : The UK needs to prepare itself quickly to deal with the impacts of climate change, government advisers warn. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) says climate effects are already being felt in the UK in the form of higher temperatures and changing seasons. Using land more sensibly, adapting buildings and planning for emergencies are areas where it recommends action. Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman describes the CCC’s adaptation report as “a wake-up call”. “There is no part of our society which is immune from the effects of climate change,” she is due to say in a speech on Thursday. “Britain’s economy will only be as resilient and prepared as British firms, communities and infrastructure.”…”
Who’s going to pay for that, then ?
And so it is we learn from the Daily Express, that most learned journal, that the ethos, the very foundation, of Climate Change science is in question :-
“CLIMATE CHANGE: FAILURES OF GLOBAL WARMING PROBES ‘LET DOWN PUBLIC’ : Wednesday September 15, 2010 : By John Ingham, Environment Editor : PUBLIC inquiries into the Climategate scandal have failed to restore confidence in the science behind global warming, a report claimed yesterday. It branded as flawed the three inquiries into the leaking of e-mails by scientists at East Anglia university’s world-leading Climate Research Unit. And it called for independent inquiries into the ethos of climate research and the science itself…”
We’re post-modern 21st Century humans. It’s OK to question everything. There’s every likelihood that we control our own destinies by our thoughts; that tobacco doesn’t cause lung and pancreatic cancer; that sexual intercourse between a male and a female is not the cause of human reproduction; that Jesus was Catholic, and not Jewish; that so-called waterborne diseases aren’t caused by microscopic organisms; that infection by the HIV virus doesn’t lead to AIDS; that Barack Hussein Obama is a non-American Muslim; that the CIA planned 9/11 (no, really, they did !); that mobile phone masts are killing bees (well, it can’t be the pesticides, can it ?); the moon landings were staged; that wind power will never amount to much, and that chocolate doesn’t give you spots.
If you want to believe that DDT controls malaria, then go right ahead. We live in a tolerant society, and your knowledge is just as good as mine, really :-
https://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2010/09/indor_goklnay_ddt_and_malaria.php
And of course, it’s entirely reasonable to assert that the Earth is the centre of the Universe, for medieval clerics so believed :-
https://www.catholicintl.com/galileowaswrong/index.html
The theory of evolution, of course, is a hoax :-
“…The author, who has offered 10,000 euros to anyone who can scientifically prove evolution exists…”
(as found on https://johnquiggin.com/).
Dr Judith Curry will probably be wasting a lot of her valuable time in future, as she has started her own “balanced” web log :-
Several commentors appear quite relieved that she has decided to stop (pa)trolling their websites and has gone off to draw all the sceptic hormonally-charged untrained non-scientists beta males to hers.
Phew ! Now perhaps we can get on with the Science and the Data in peace !
https://initforthegold.blogspot.com/2010/09/curry-blogs.html
https://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2010/09/about_time.php
It’s a thankless task, engaging in dialogue with the voracious, capacious sceptics. Hopefully she gets paid for her trouble.
Excruciatingly, she’s in store for recurring complaints from Climate Change Scientists.
The not-widely-awaited “investigation” into the official inquiries into “Climategate” from the Nigel Lawson “social experiment”, the “Global Warming Policy Foundation”, looks to me rather like a botched piece of cosmetic surgery on first scan.
I’d recommend avoiding it, as it seems to me like a total waste of valuable time, based, as I believe it is, on an obvious absence of leg-shaped support.
I wouldn’t have bothered spending five vacant minutes commenting on it unless I knew my various sceptic readers were standing by, eagerly salivating over tearing me to shreds about any statements I might make.
Lunch, boys ?
If you are a proper Climate Change researcher, unless you’ve got the time and funds and staffing to launch an investigation into how the Climategate Media circus was ever allowed to happen, I’d suggest you avoid entering into any kind of discussion about this latest seemingly vapid wraith of veneer.
https://www.thegwpf.org/climategate/1532-damning-new-investigation-into-climategate-inquiries.html
I am sure you will detect what looks like irascible sniping from Andrew Montford (as known as “Bishop Hll”) in various newspaper reports that follow on from this outpouring of apparently obsessive introspection into a non-scandal that’s deader than a century-old donkey’s fetid tail.
But nothing will trounce the ultimate truth – Climategate will never breathe another modecule of serious Media oxygen, even if it lives on in rabid obscurity in Internet zombie-blog-land.
People often talk about the weather in relation to Climate Change, but neglect to talk about the possible obvious and inevitable side-effects – hunger and starvation.
Frontline Club will screen the film “The Hunger Season” on 1st October 2010, and follow it with a panel discussion hosted by BOND and Oxfam UK :-
“Across the world a massive food crisis is unfolding. Climate change, increasing consumption in China and India, the dash for Biofuels are causing hitherto unimagined food shortages and rocketing prices. This has already provoked unrest and violence from the Middle East to South America and there is no end in sight in the coming months. The people who are going to be most sorely affected are those already living on the razors edge of poverty, those dependent on food aid for their very survival. As commodity prices have risen by 50%, the UN Agencies have barely half the budget they need to meet the needs of 73 million hungry people they are currently feeding…”
Biofuel targets may not be the only factor behind food price rises :-
https://www.wdm.org.uk/food-speculation/great-hunger-lottery
“In The Great Hunger Lottery, the World Development Movement has compiled extensive evidence establishing the role of food commodity derivatives in destabilising and driving up food prices around the world. This in turn, has led to food prices becoming unaffordable for low-income families around the world, particularly in developing countries highly reliant on food imports. Nowhere was this more clearly seen than during the astonishing surge in staple food prices over the course of 2007-2008, when millions went hungry and food riots swept major cities around the world. The great hunger lottery shows how this alarming episode was fueled by the behaviour of financial speculators, and describes the terrible immediate impacts on vulnerable families around the world, as well as the long term damage to the fight against global poverty…”
[ UPDATE : America might not actually, finally, do something – check the resistance dinosaurs. ]
We have waited long enough for serious action States-side on Global Warming.
The bankers (apparently largely Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan with lashings of Tony Blair) had their chance to talk up the idea of Carbon Trading. What a dead duck that turned out to be !
Carbon Taxation looks like it’s a non-starter with the global economy being a whisker from utter, utter, collapse.
The Clean Development Mechanism isn’t.
(Plus, the CDM hasn’t helped those it was principally promoted to help – Africa).
The global Biofuels targets are reducing rainforest to logpiles.
The Coal Kings have been pushing the idea of Carbon Capture and Storage for well over fifteen years and persuaded…no one.
The nightwalkers from the dark, radioactive side are still scaring people and luring them at the same time. If Iran wanting Nuclear Power was tricky enough, now Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait want it too, and I don’t expect the international dialogue tightrope act to get any easier.
The Congress and the Senate have seen filibuster and deal-breaking and lobbyist handshakes in dark corridors and reneging in bars.
But, at long last, it seems like Barack Obama is going to do what he hinted at, and regulate the bottom line out of Carbon Dioxide emissions, regardless of whether there’s any elected representatives passing bills :-
Almost everybody who watches the charts knows that the La Nina swing of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in 2010 has probably been the largest contributor to global temperatures moving consistently downwards since March – it should be an obvious logical connection to make for even a casual observer :-
Up until this month, however, despite the La Nina effect, 2010 still ranks as one of the hottest, if not the absolute hottest, years on record so far, according to NASA GISS :-
I have been rather, erm, critical, of Roger Harrabin’s approach to reporting the “Climate Change narrative” in the past, but I have to say, I think he has pulled up his socks somewhat with a two-part Radio 4 presentation “Uncertain Climate” :-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tj525/Uncertain_Climate_Episode_1/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tmcz3/Uncertain_Climate_Episode_2/
But of course, the BBC has to keep people sweet, and obviously continues to “play both sides”, don’t they ? How else did Roger get to interview Steve McIntyre of the truly annoying Canadian whine (it’s not his fault, I have to add, that I find his voice unbearable) and Nigel Lawson ? And Judith Curry ?
Or maybe not. Roger Harrabin admits to a stand-up row with Al Gore. Hopefully he’s still welcome in the United States of America.
There seem to be about 50 mentions of the word “uncertainties”, and an obsession about temperature rise projections – with no focus on the melting Arctic – which is not at all uncertain as it is a demonstrable fact.
Wake up ! The Arctic’s melting !
A rash of media-Shell relationships appears to be infecting our big name news organs.
First it was The Independent :-
https://www.joabbess.com/2010/09/04/the-independent-in-association-with-shell/
Now it’s the Daily Telegraph :-
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/earth/future-of-energy/
Disappointments will never cease.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the backbone of the British Civil Service (the unelected slice of governance), the people who helpfully retrieve UK citizens from Indonesian prison cells, Colombian drug kidnaps or Egyptian terrorists, or even France if you lose your passport, all your money, all your plastic, your keys and your mobile phone whilst on a picnic, (yes, Sarah, I’m talking about you), have trouble detecting Climate Change in the extreme weather events currently going on :-
https://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=News&id=22831648
“Is climate change responsible for natural disasters? : 09 September 2010 : Extreme rainfall in Pakistan and high temperatures in Russia have recently raised questions about how much climate change could be to blame. Without strong scientific evidence it is difficult to know whether climate change is a factor and if we can expect more of these types of events in future. Our understanding is that climate change is likely to increase the frequency of such extreme heat and rainfall events and while we can’t relate these recent events directly to climate change, they are a reminder of how damaging extreme climate events can be and why we should be concerned to limit the level of climate change…”
But, fortunately, being rational, they are going to set about finding out :-
“…A group of scientists from some of the world’s leading meteorological organisations, including the UK’s Met Office got together for a discussion on the Attribution of Climate-related Events (ACE). FCO staff in Houston have been supporting this as part of an initiative between the Met Office, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) and US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). UK and US scientists will work together with the UK Met Office, NOAA and NCAR to carry out attribution experiments to better enhance their understanding of the scientific basis to climate events. Another of the ACE’s aims will be to provide clear statements on the meaning and implications of the scientific findings of natural disasters so policy leaders and governments can make informed judgments…”
Expect the Climate Change sceptics to go wild (or at least a little flagrant) about this one !
The British Government is about to announce that the people be left to the ravages of Climate Change and cope by heaving-ho and a rolling-up of the sleeves and display war-time grittedness through voluntary “Big Society” :-
“Britain must adapt to ‘inevitable’ climate change, warns minister : As experts call for action now, the coalition withholds green funding and appeals to private enterprise : By Matt Chorley and Jonathan Owen : Sunday, 12 September 2010 : Britons must radically change the way they live and work to adapt to being “stuck with unavoidable climate change” the Government will caution this week, as it unveils a dramatic vision of how society will be altered by floods, droughts and rising temperatures. The coalition will signal a major switch towards adapting to the impact of existing climate change, away from Labour’s heavy emphasis on cutting carbon emissions to reverse global temperature rises. Caroline Spelman, the Tory Secretary of State for the Environment, will use her first major speech on climate change since taking office to admit that the inevitable severe weather conditions will present a “survival-of-the- fittest scenario”, with only those who have planned ahead able to thrive. Adapting to climate change will be “at the heart of our agenda”, she is expected to say…”
“Climate change is inevitable, says Caroline Spelman : Britain can no longer stop global warming and must instead focus on adapting to the ‘inevitable’ impacts of climate change such as floods, droughts and rising sea levels, Government ministers will warn this week. : By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent : Published : 13 Sep 2010 : For the past few years Government policy has concentrated on trying to make people turn off lights and grow their own vegetables in an effort to bring down carbon emissions. But as global greenhouse gases continue to increase, with the growth of developing countries like China and India, and the public purse tightens, the focus will increasingly be on adapting to climate change. The Government will set out plans to protect power stations from flooding and ensure hospitals can cope with water shortages during dry summers….”
September 2010 is turning out to be a veritable over-stuffed cornucopia of Climate Change- and Energy-related events.
This week, 15th September 2010 breaks the record for the number of useful things I could be doing. I am effectively quintuple-booked, and something’s got to go (well, nearly all of them, actually).
I made the mistake of attempting to contribute to the discussion following Andrew Montford’s “right of reply” to Bob Ward – and backed away from the keyboard when I found my very innocent comments being removed by the Moderator.
I wasn’t rude. I wasn’t nasty. I didn’t use any bad words. What is wrong with The Guardian’s Comment is Free ? It’s not free, that’s what.
If The Guardian want to have productive, open discussion on Comment is Free, they need to make sure that people who are genuinely trying to contribute relevant information get the platform. Otherwise it’s just a waste of space. I won’t be contributing to The Guardian Comment is Free discussions in future, and I’d advise you not to, either.
https://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/sep/10/hockey-stick-graph-illusion
Example 1
“MartinFulbright : 10 September 2010 11:33PM : @joabbess : I ask this this with all humility because I avoid answering it myself…But have you ever used calculus in a working way?”
“joabbess : 10 September 2010 11:47PM : @MartinFulbright : It’s a while since I did any serious Mathematics. I claim that the recent sharp rise in global temperatures is problematic. To try to explain what I mean, here is something that should be be relatively straightforward for you :- https://www.joabbess.com/2010/07/19/simple-integration/”
Example 2
“mpaul : 11 September 2010 12:28AM : I think it’s abusive that the Guardian would hold Andrew’s response to Bob’s comment above in moderation for so long. Free the comment!”
“joabbess : 11 September 2010 12:50AM : @mpaul : I don’t think that Andrew Montford’s comments will add much to universal accord or understanding on the subject of Global Warming. Free the science ! :-
https://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/5/3/034008/fulltext : Environ. Res. Lett. 5 (July-September 2010) 034008 : doi:10.1088/1748-9326/5/3/034008 : Top-down solar modulation of climate: evidence for centennial-scale change : M Lockwood, C Bell, T Woollings, R G Harrison, L J Gray and J D Haigh”
The Climate Change narrative is being hijacked by several “special interests”, or rather “corporate public relations operations”, I have decided.
Let me take you round the loop one time to show you my logic on their warez. Note the dates of the pieces – Evidence A was quickly followed everywhere by Evidence B :-
Evidence A : Recent Research links Bee Death to Pesticides
https://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/news/43568
“Aug 27, 2010 : Insecticide implicated in bee decline : Honeybees, bumblebees and many other insects are being slowly poisoned to death by persistent insecticides used to protect agricultural crops. Small doses of the toxic chemicals accumulate over time, meaning that there is no safe level of exposure. That’s the conclusion from recent research looking at the long-term effects of a commonly used class of insecticides. As they buzz from flower to flower, bees, moths and hoverflies carry out a vital job. Around one third of agricultural crops are pollinated by these busy insects, a service that is worth £440 m a year to the UK economy alone. But in recent years these valuable pollinators have been struggling, with populations plummeting worldwide. Honeybees in particular have been suffering, with colony collapse disorder (CCD) – a phenomenon where the bees desert the hive – becoming more common in Europe and North America. Controversy has swirled around the issue, and everything from mobile phones to GM crops have been blamed. Now new studies indicate that insecticides are playing a significant role. The most recent studies have exposed a variety of insects to varying doses of neonicotinoid insecticides over long time periods – 12 months or more. Neonicotinoid insecticides are widely used worldwide; they work by acting on the central nervous system of the insect…”
Image Credit : Mil (Dan Woods)
Like my anti-hero, James Delingpole, I am going to make a capitalised comment : THIS IS SO ABOUT THE SCIENCE, JAMES DELINGPOLE :-
https://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100052655/im-funny-official/
“I’m funny: official…the same tired old smears and inaccuracies. Sceptics are funded by Big Oil; they’re a weird, swivel-eyed minority; Climategate was “a storm in a tea cup” which did nothing to shake the underlying science; etc. Am I bothered? More weary than anything, for we have all heard these canards many, many times before (and no doubt will do again in some of the comments below), and I’m not sure it’s a game I can be bothered to play any more…The debate on CAGW, I’ve come to realise, is as futile as the one about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Which isn’t to say I don’t hugely respect the work done by the likes of Watts Up With That and Climate Audit and Bishop Hill to expose the flaws in the Warmist scientists’ dodgy theories. We need such indefatigable seekers-after-truth in this war but what we also need to realise is that this is never an argument that is going to be won on the science alone. That’s because the CAGW craze is and never was about the science, any more than the Eighties “Acid Rain” craze was about the science, or the Nineties BSE craze was about the science. They’re all just branches of political activism…THIS IS NOT ABOUT THE SCIENCE.”
Oh yes it is, Jems dear. It is 100%-a-mento about the Science. And it’s also about the de-Scientising of the Science.
An e-mail trail with a certain amount of political content…
from: Kate Shepherd
date: Tue, Aug 10, 2010
subject: Climate Week
Hello Jo
It was lovely to speak with you today about Climate Week and I’d be grateful if you could pass on the information to the rest of your team.
Climate Week, 21st – 27th March 2011, is a new national occasion on climate change, backed by the Prime Minister, Al Gore and Kofi Annan. During Climate Week, thousands of events will be run by organisations from every part of society to highlight the positive steps being taken to help prevent climate change.
I have attached a document for further information, the document includes a list of supporters of Climate Week, which range from every part of society: from the Chief Fire Officers Association to the Women’s Institute, the Girl Guiding UK to several Regional Development Agencies.