Global Warming: "Pseudoscientific Fraud"

[byu71]

No, climate change does not impact volcanoes or earthquakes. Nobody is claiming it does.

However, there has been a significant change in frequency and severity of extreme weather events (droughts, floods, etc) in recent years. There is a very high likelihood that it is related to climate change. It doesn't make sense to look at a single event (such as Katrina) and state definitively that it is due to climate change because such events have always happened at some frequency. But when you analyze all the data in aggregate and see a significant change, you can be confident that something is going on.

We agree, something is going on. Something went on before man arrived. Maybe I am showing my ignorance, the big Ice age was man here?

My point in the post is though what a farce the left promotes. He is talking about climate change and then states, natural disasters cost $40 billion last year, the highest $$ amount in history. Some unsuspecting person listening thinks he is feeding them accurate information. Earthquakes and Volcanoes have nothing to do with climate change. Why use them to get to the $40 billion figure.

I think I have a right to be very skeptical of these folks. If they are so correct, why do they need to mislead people?

[byu71]

Utah is about 70-80% of normal but most of Colorado has ~100% normal snowpack. Should be a great year to refill the reservoir somewhat and rebound from the past two years. I am heading down this weekend.

Sadly, the quagga/zebra mussels have been found in big numbers at Wahweap. That is going to be a big problem over the next 20 years.

Be very, very careful. A friend of a friend came back from Powell very sick. Even went into the hospital.

I had never heard of this, but apparently someone had pooped in Powell and it got into his system. Wish I could remember the name of it. I don't think it was shit disease, but something like that.

[Shaka]

I am heading down this weekend.

I'm jealous. I'll be down there next month. My ballast system is going to be a pain in the arse when it comes to passing mussel inspection.

[Jeff Lebowski]

We agree, something is going on. Something went on before man arrived. Maybe I am showing my ignorance, the big Ice age was man here?

My point in the post is though what a farce the left promotes. He is talking about climate change and then states, natural disasters cost $40 billion last year, the highest $$ amount in history. Some unsuspecting person listening thinks he is feeding them accurate information. Earthquakes and Volcanoes have nothing to do with climate change. Why use them to get to the $40 billion figure.

I think I have a right to be very skeptical of these folks. If they are so correct, why do they need to mislead people?

I don't know what statement(s) you are talking about, so I can't comment.

There are some crazy things being said on the left regarding policy. And there are some crazy things being said on the right about science.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I'm jealous. I'll be down there next month. My ballast system is going to be a pain in the arse when it comes to passing mussel inspection.

I will be down there next month too.

I hear they had a roadblock near Page recently and were giving $500 fines to people who hadn't gone through the inspection station upon leaving the lake. Be careful.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

The interesting thing about the media in at least the UK and Germany is how they're not as politically monolithic as their counterparts in the US. Here is Der Spiegel again being a fly in the ointment.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-968856.html

As far as I can tell, the Max Planck Institute is Germany's major climate research outfit. Lennart Bengtsson, who was formerly the director of the institute, became involved with something called the GWPF. Bengtsson describes the GWPF as an outfit of economists and his stated goal was to "broaden the debate" and perhaps get an economic viewpoint on how to deal with climate change. The GWPF can also be described as a group that is skeptical of global warming. Nevertheless, Bengtsson thought it was a way to, "urgently explore realistic ways to address the different scientific, technical and economic challenges in solving the world's energy problems and the associated environmental issues." Supposedly one member of the group is a former finance minister to Margaret Thatcher.

This interview from Der Spiegel came out May 12.

Two days later (today!) Bengtsson tendered his resignation from any association with the GWPF. Did Bengtsson find anything objectionable in the GWPF that made him reconsider his association? Well not really, this is why he left:

I have been put under such an enormous group pressure in recent days from all over the world that has become virtually unbearable to me. If this is going to continue I will be unable to conduct my normal work and will even start to worry about my health and safety. I see therefore no other way out therefore than resigning from GWPF. I had not been expecting such an enormous world-wide pressure put at me from a community that I have been close to all my active life. Colleagues are withdrawing their support, other colleagues are withdrawing from joint authorship etc.

http://www.thegwpf.org/lennart-bengt...nce-community/

I'm shocked that the consensus is only 97% given these tactics. The other 3% must be some tough hombres not to mention independently wealthy or don't have to worry about their funding being dependent on the outcome of their research.

[Topper]

This is horseshit. The funding process for climate research via the NSF, NOAA, NASA, etc is no different than any other discipline.

Really?

I don't see NASA scientists weighing in policy issues, just procurement of their own funding, usually in a bi-partisan fashion.

[Pelado]

No, climate change does not impact volcanoes or earthquakes. Nobody is claiming it does.

However, there has been a significant change in frequency and severity of extreme weather events (droughts, floods, etc) in recent years. There is a very high likelihood that it is related to climate change. It doesn't make sense to look at a single event (such as Katrina) and state definitively that it is due to climate change because such events have always happened at some frequency. But when you analyze all the data in aggregate and see a significant change, you can be confident that something is going on.

I've heard this said before. Do you know what data is out there to back up the claim? How far back do we have proper recording of extreme weather events so as to give an accurate comparison to current extreme weather events?

[Jeff Lebowski]

Really?

I don't see NASA scientists weighing in policy issues, just procurement of their own funding, usually in a bi-partisan fashion.

NASA funds (and conducts) a lot of climate research. Stop pretending you are familiar with the process.

[Omaha 680]

I've heard this said before. Do you know what data is out there to back up the claim? How far back do we have proper recording of extreme weather events so as to give an accurate comparison to current extreme weather events?

The last IPCC report actually says there is no trend on the number of hurricanes. It did claim hurricane intensity has increased in the Atlantic since the 1970s.

[imanihonjin]

No, climate change does not impact volcanoes or earthquakes. Nobody is claiming it does.

However, there has been a significant change in frequency and severity of extreme weather events (droughts, floods, etc) in recent years. There is a very high likelihood that it is related to climate change. It doesn't make sense to look at a single event (such as Katrina) and state definitively that it is due to climate change because such events have always happened at some frequency. But when you analyze all the data in aggregate and see a significant change, you can be confident that something is going on.

Yeah, that is true, because the earth has never seen fluctuations of climate over time before, and never severe fluctuations. So if we observe it now, then it must be because of humans, right?

[Topper]

NASA funds (and conducts) a lot of climate research. Stop pretending you are familiar with the process.

I am not part of the process of NASA funding. And if NASA does what you say, then it should stop and return to its basic purpose. If it needs that information for take offs, landings, and other aspects of interstellar exploration, then it should keep that but not for purposes unrelated to its basic charter. It seems I would oppose more organizations pursuing unrelated projects. Thanks for pointing out how much bloating we have in our budgets.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

This is the German Daily Show:

We're not paying through the nose for the green energy nonsense like they are Germany. If we were, we'd be mocking it like the Germans apparently are.

If the climate change scientists were truly serious about climate change being a dire threat to our survival, then they'd be promoting tangible solutions rather than banal platitudes like "we must lessen our reliance on fossil fuels." Wind and solar power aren't solutions especially in the short term and supposedly this is a problem that needs to be remedied right now. What is a much more effective solution and one that could find a much broader consensus would be replacing all the fossil fuel plants with nuclear plants, improving the power grid, and making electricity cheaper (preferably with surplus nuclear power) in order to promote the transition to electric cars. I imagine there are a few guys already promoting this, but it's hard for me to take most of them seriously when they continue to engage in pie in the sky nonsense like wind and solar power which will never be a viable alternative to fossil fuels.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I've heard this said before. Do you know what data is out there to back up the claim? How far back do we have proper recording of extreme weather events so as to give an accurate comparison to current extreme weather events?

You would be amazed at how much data is available. You can look at things like tree rings, ice cores, sediment layers, etc and get a pretty accurate picture going back thousands of years. Fascinating stuff.

[woot]

No, climate change does not impact volcanoes or earthquakes. Nobody is claiming it does.

However, there has been a significant change in frequency and severity of extreme weather events (droughts, floods, etc) in recent years. There is a very high likelihood that it is related to climate change. It doesn't make sense to look at a single event (such as Katrina) and state definitively that it is due to climate change because such events have always happened at some frequency. But when you analyze all the data in aggregate and see a significant change, you can be confident that something is going on.

Last I heard, the latest hypothesis is that climate change isn't making storms more common, but it should be making them stronger. Not sure how accepted it is though.