critical thinking

What happened to global warming?

By Paul Hudson. Climate correspondent, BBC News

(Page last updated at 15:22 GMT, Friday, 9 October 2009 16:22 UK)

"This headline may come as a bit of a surprise, so too might that fact that the warmest year recorded globally was not in 2008 or 2007, but in 1998.

But it is true. For the last 11 years we have not observed any increase in global temperatures.

And our climate models did not forecast it, even though man-made carbon dioxide, the gas thought to be responsible for warming our planet, has continued to rise. ...

One thing is for sure. It seems the debate about what is causing global warming is far from over. Indeed some would say it is hotting up."

More precisely, the debate about whether there even is any such thing as "global warming" (or more accurately "anthropogenic climate change") is far from over.

Read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8299079.stm.  Think for yourself.  Our brains are still the most powerful computers on the planet.  All the computer models, theories, and hypotheses are merely tools to help us think, not think for us.  Be aware of your biases too, we all have them.  Almost everyone believes that humans should (even must) be good stewards of the planet and its environment -- Regretably this can make almost everyone suceptible to manipulation in the name of doing good for the earth and its inhabitants.  Moreover, since this is a political debate as well as a scientific one, it may be revealing to follow the money.  And keep in mind that power, influence, and money are fairly fungible these days when it comes to political and business decisions; and sadly, scientific ones too (e.g., see http://chronicle.com/article/Medical-Journals-See-Cost-in/48393/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en, http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/346/24/1901).

While there is no doubt that we do have serious human-caused pollution issues that critically need to be addressed, it appears that the current nearly obsessive focus on the questionable relationship between humans, carbon, and climate may be diverting our attention from other environmental matters about which we are far more scientifically certain as to the harm they cause to life on this planet (like mercury, airborne particulate, acid rain, MTBEs, excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides, and so on).  Also of concern are the many understudied health-related issues that may well have pollution-related connections to our air, food, and water (like cancer, asthma, autism, and diabetes to name but a few).  Agricultural and industrial polluters could not have conspired to better divert our attention from so many important environmental and health matters.  The fact that most of the world’s so-called environmental groups have joined in this distracting obsession is profoundly troubling.  That many of our politicians and corporations have joined in this fixation has potentially devastating public policy, national security, and economic implications for the USA and the world.  That the US media is almost totally on board this questionable train provides stark evidence as to the incapacitation and possible death of investigative journalism in this country.

"For every complex and difficult issue, there is always an answer that is simple, easy, and wrong." H. L. Mencken

We have terrible pollution and very real environmental problems and we should be doing much more about them instead of wasting our good intentions on this very questionable theory of human-made climate change. There is no definitive scientific evidence that carbon dioxide is causing climate change; there's barely any decent evidence to support the hypothesis at all and plenty to disconfirm it -- All the predictions and projections are basically just long-term weather forcasts based on imperfect computer models filled with assumptions, estimates, and human bias.  Would you bet your life on a 5-day weather forcast, or the economic future of your country on a 40- or 50-year weather forcast?

The unscientific obsession with anthropogenic climate change is harming the environment by diverting our attention from very real environmental problems.  Science is not dogmatic, so keep an open mind.  Try to remember the complexity of climate and how poorly the local news does predicting tomorrow's weather -- Think they're any better at 10, 20, or 100 year projections?  After all, it is basically the same computers and programs.  Then check out the 700 scientists in this report who also question the carbon-climate connection … http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_i...  Or these and hundreds of other credible sources that are strangely ignored by our politicians and the mainstream media – Then ask yourself, why is this so? 

The debate is not over and anyone who says so is either disingenuous, has not examined the facts, and/or does not know how science works.

Here's some links on carbon and climate, in no particular order.  Some scientists, some journalists, some others.  All thought provoking ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEJ5pHVKjiI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1_eaZ74Z_A&feature=related

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124286145192740987.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ai7HGQoteE

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/10662

http://icecap.us/index.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUmsw1lwcY0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfafW_3oJ3Q&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1_eaZ74Z_A&feature=related

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/4990704/Nobody-listens-to-the-real-climate-change-experts.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKhnUqrqVqQ&feature=related

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/28/nasa_climate_theon/

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=164002

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=164004

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3312921/The-deceit-behind-global-warming.html

http://www.kusi.com/weather/colemanscorner/38574742.html

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/6855

http://fora.tv/2008/08/19/Environmentalism_is_the_New_Religion

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/09/04/scigore104.xml

http://climaterealists.com/index.php?id=1551

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24036736-7583,00.html

http://www.weatherquestions.com/Roy-Spencer-on-global-warming.htm