It's time for everyone who jumped all over my previous blogs about global warming to eat some crow. And it's time to celebrate another victory for good science winning over opinions, faith and dishonesty.
U.C. Berkeley scientist Richard Muller, a climate specialist and self-described global-warming skeptic, headed a massive review of all global warming data at U.C. Berkeley. And better yet, his study was funded in part by the famous conservative billionaire brothers, Charles and David Koch.
And guess what? Muller's team confirmed that global warming is real. But even better, their results show that global warming is actually worse than the conclusions from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change!
Got that? A conservative-funded review by a top climate skeptic and his team said that the mainstream reports were too conservative and that global warming is real.
What do you think will happen to the debate now? Probably nothing. Global warming deniers are a mix of about 1% genuine scientific dissent by a few qualified scientists, joined by hoards of evangelical Christians, pseudo-Libertarians, conspiracy theorists and other hangers-on, fueled by an industry-sponsored disinformation campaign. It's certain that the real scientists in this group will review the Berkeley study's results thoroughly, and some of them will change their positions in the face of the evidence. A few will remain unconvinced.
But the non-scientists and corporate schills? Their beliefs have nothing to do with science.
The religious right will continue to deny global warming, because the Bible says God promised to protect Earth after he killed everyone and everything during Noah's flood. And the professional disinformation specialists will continue to do their jobs, fueling debate with more nonsense.
We can only hope that this report will make a difference where it matters: with policy makers.
Monday, October 24, 2011
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Dear readers -- I am no longer blogging and after leaving these blogs open for two years have finally stopped accepting comments due to spammers. Thanks for your interest. If you'd like to write to me, click on the "Contact" link at the top. Thanks! -- CJ.
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As Skeptical Science noted, Anthony Watts is a great example of how this will sadly change almost nothing about the debate. Back in March 2011, he said this:
ReplyDelete"I’m prepared to accept whatever result they produce, even if it proves my premise wrong..."
Results came in, draft papers were released, and what was his response?
"I consider the paper fatally flawed as it now stands, and thus I recommend it be removed from publication consideration by JGR until such time that it can be reworked....it appears they have circumvented the scientific process in favor of PR."
Of course.
These conservative global warming deniers are going to cost lives with their stupidity and stubbornness to accept facts.
ReplyDeleteWell of course the planet is warming- but there's nothing humans can do about it. The planet naturally has solar cycles in which warm and cold periods are created. What could the policy makers do- tax the sun until it stops heating the planet? (That seems their solution to everything else.) Thinking humans could affect the whole planet's climate that much involves dangerous amounts of hubris.
ReplyDeleteVid – you're simply, factually wrong. There is no longer room for doubt that the current global warming is caused by human activities. To think that humans could affect the planet that much is just good, peer-reviewed science.
ReplyDeleteWhat's always mystified me is why so many people are resistant to the idea. I mean, the science has been settled for well over a decade now - although of course there is a lot of work to do to figure out exactly what will happen next. But many people seem really driven to try to clutch onto the idea that it isn't happening. I really do find it perplexing.
ReplyDeleteI find it worrying that so many people are ideologically set on the idea that global warming isn't happening. It is, and yet the more the evidence mounts up, the more they retreat into denial. Global warming denial is almost a form of religion.
ReplyDeleteIf you do a simple google search you will see that this guy isn't a skeptic at all, which to skeptics might invalidate your post altogether (since the author is clearly lying about at least that).
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 10 of his book Physics for Future Presidents, which was released in 2009, he says, "The heat of the debate can sometimes overwhelm the heat of global warming (which, incidentally, /is/ real)... Carbon dioxide is very likely to cause significant warming, and as we burn more fossil fuels, the temperature is very likely to continue to go up."
And here is a catched copy of an article where he is quoted saying he left the Sierra Club 30 years ago over the issue of climate change: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.grist.org/article/lets-get-physical