Climate & Climate Change

SPINNING THE CLIMATE

Excerpt: However, the authors of Chapter 1 “The Climate System: An Overview” signed their own death warrant when they wrote: “ The fact that the global mean temperature has increased since the late 19th century and that other trends have been observed does not necessarily mean that an anthropogenic effect on the climate has been identified. Climate has always varied on all time-scales, so the observed change may be natural” This true statement has led to the replacement in “Climate Change 2007” of this introductory Chapter with a completely different Chapter entitled “Historical Overview of Climate Change Science” which is a highly selective history boosting the activities of the IPCC…..

One of its features is to conceal the very existence of measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration before 1958 which show a variability which would interfere with the IPCC calculations of “radiative forcing” The Chapters in “Climate Change 2007” are only slightly rearranged and they all push the same message, enforced by an increase in gloomy “opinions” derived from the “spin” process described herein. < > It is all (the UN IPCC process) a magnificent example of what public relations can achieve, but the consequences for most of us, and for the scientific community before it is eventually exposed for the deception that it is do not bear contemplation.

George Taylor, Oregon State Climatologist, responds to the Willamette Week article written by Paul Koberstein:

HOT OR NOT: Oregon’s official weatherman has good news about global warming-it doesn’t exist.

Extract:

George Taylor shouldn’t scare anybody. He has been a vegetarian since the 1970s. He commutes to work by bicycle. He’s an ex-hippie and an ex-surfer. He recycles. He likes trees and salmon.
He’s also, according to his critics, one of the most dangerous men in Oregon.

Nestled comfortably in a state that boasts of its environmental cred the way California touts its sunshine, Taylor is one of the leading circuit riders for the church of Global Warming Ain’t Happening.

From his third-floor office in the Strand Agriculture building at Oregon State University, Taylor, 58, a state employee who runs an agency with a half-million-dollar annual budget, is often at work discrediting the well-established scientific facts about global warming.

His views have been read on the floor of the U.S. Senate and, most recently, influenced global-warming bills in Salem. In the past, he also has tried to undermine global-warming legislation in Canada.

“Look, it’s not that complicated,” says Taylor, who, as head of the Oregon Climate Service at OSU, is known as the state climatologist. “It’s not clear that we are seeing unprecedented warming, and it’s definitely untrue that any warming trend can be assigned to human activities. Natural variations in climate are much more significant than any human activities…………………..”

Video of Taylor’s response is here.

A transcript is here.

Excerpt: I get most of my information from peer-reviewed journals, including Journal of Climate, Journal of Geophysical Research, and Climate Research. The articles I write (including, for example, the Arctic article) are based on journal articles and contain full bibliographies. Admittedly, I seldom give“both sides” of the argument, because the “other side” (the one that suggests that human activities exert a dominant role in the climate system) is well-represented in journals and the media. My goal is to be a voice saying “wait, maybe there’s another side to this. Take a look at THIS data and see what you think. Then let’s talk about it.” Unfortunately, this issue has become such a divisive and angry one that ad hominem attacks have replaced dialogue..

When I write about global climate issues, I do so on my own time from home. I’m cautious about having my opinion construed as representing the State of Oregon or Oregon State University, and I try to separate my analyses of global climate from my day to day work as the State Climatologist.

Thanks to Luke Walker for alerting me to this:

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Too late to avoid warming: climate report

Sydney could face an annual temperature rise of up to 4.3 degrees by 2070, and a tripling of the number of days a year when the thermometer soars above 35 degrees, if global greenhouse gas emissions are not cut steeply, a new report has found.

It is too late for the city to avoid a warming of about 1 degree by 2030 as well as a 3 per cent reduction in annual rainfall because of polluting gases already in the atmosphere.

More droughts, fires, and severe weather events, and less rain and snow across the country are also on the horizon, according to the report, Climate Change in Australia, which contains the most detailed and up-to-date climate projections produced by the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology.

Its findings, released at the Greenhouse 2007 conference in Sydney this morning, include projections of up to 20 per cent more drought months over most of Australia by 2030.

Read the report ‘Climate Change in Australia’ here.

Report with animation here.

Hansen’s blog is here.

A couple of sample extracts:

The deceit behind the attempts to discredit evidence of climate change reveals matters of importance. This deceit has a clear purpose: to confuse the public about the status of knowledge of global climate change, thus delaying effective action to mitigate climate change. The danger is that delay will cause tipping points to be passed, such that large climate impacts become inevitable, including the loss of all Arctic sea ice, destabilization of the West Antarctic ice sheet with disastrous sea level rise later this century, and extermination of a large fraction of animal and plant species. “Make no doubt, however, if tipping points are passed, if we, in effect, destroy Creation, passing on to our children, grandchildren, and the unborn a situation out of their control, the contrarians who work to deny and confuse will not be the principal culprits. The contrarians will be remembered as court jesters. … “The real deal is this: the ‘royalty’ controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children.”

Enjoy!

The Top 100 Effects of Global Warming

Thanks to Woody for this one.

VA State Climatologist skeptical of global warming loses job after clash with Governor: ‘I was told that I could not speak in public’

Excerpt: Gov. Kaine had warned Michaels not to use his official title in discussing his views.

“I resigned as Virginia state climatologist because I was told that I could not speak in public on my area of expertise, global warming, as state climatologist,” Michaels said in a statement this week provided by the libertarian Cato Institute, where he has been a fellow since 1992. “It was impossible to maintain academic freedom with this speech restriction.”

Less Visibility in Store After Boss’s Departure

Global Warming Views Drew Criticism

By Jackie Spinner Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 29, 2007; Page B03

Maybe Patrick Michaels should apply to Soros for funding to protect free speech!?