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Friday, April 17, 2009
Geoscientist Brian Pratt recently wrote a brilliant article to dismantle the global warming hysteria. In it, he wonders why so many physicists have not dealt honestly with the evidence or why the science community has been largely silenced by politicians. He hints at the answer: money and political pressure. Read it all.
[W]hen you stop and think about it, the apocalyptic predictions don’t quite make sense scientifically. Alongside the enormity of the sun and what we know of the scale and power of natural processes, to imagine humans being able to make any difference to global climate would seem like the most preposterous conceit.

Even though I consider myself a dedicated environmentalist I cannot accept the claims of anthropogenic—human caused—global warming. My research involves deducing climate back in what we call “Deep Time” – geological eras of millions and billions of years ago - so I think I have enough background to understand the evidence. I know that the factors controlling climate work as an extremely complex, integrated system that cannot be resolved by debate and exchange of opinion.

Therefore the suspicions of any scientist should be aroused by glib assertions like “the science is settled” or “there is a consensus,” because this is not how scientists and engineers operate. Al Gore’s movie and books are so appallingly riddled with mistakes and outlandish exaggerations that they would be laughable if they weren’t taken so seriously by so many.

Legislators have even passed laws declaring CO2 to be a pollutant, seemingly unaware of photosynthesis, respiration and biodegradation. Should I feel guilty that my beer gave off CO2 during fermentation and when I opened it? I need something to cry into when I hear of the measures planned to reduce “carbon emissions”, because of the threat these pose to our already economically fragile society.

Here are the facts, as I understand them: solar heat varies cyclically at different frequencies, from the decades to the hundreds of thousands of years. Atmospheric CO2 concentration and temperature are linked, but rather than the former driving the latter, it is the other way around and there is a nearly thousand-year lag in the response.

The oceans are the great sink for CO2. Atmospheric CO2 concentration is not uniform around the globe and regional variations are tied to sea-surface temperature because CO2 dissolves in colder sea water while it degasses from warmer sea water.

CO2 is a greenhouse gas, yes, but it absorbs only a very small portion of the infrared spectrum and its capacity to do so declines exponentially with concentration. It’s a fact of physics that the CO2 molecule radiates almost none of the heat it can absorb. Moreover, it is such a trace gas that this effect is negligible, and even less so at the low pressures and cold temperatures high in the atmosphere.

All of this explains why, when CO2 concentration is thought to have been much higher in Deep Time such as during the Paleozoic, the surface of the globe did not overheat and the polar regions were still cold. Water vapour is what insulates the Earth and CO2 concentration has nothing to do with cloud generation. Why, then, have anthropogenic global warming promoters seized upon CO2 as the culprit?
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There has grown a whole industry of taxpayer-funded climate modellers whose equations can’t reproduce last week’s weather let alone past climate change at all, but whose crystal balls universally forecast impending disaster (and of course the urgent need for more research money). Why haven’t physicists pointed out the basic mistakes in the science?
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Moreover, the zealotry of many adherents is frighteningly reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition, fascism and other movements designed to take control and silence dissent. Vicious personal attacks on those who raise valid scientific questions infect the blogosphere, including likening them to Holocaust deniers. Even NASA’s James Hansen, a very vocal promoter of anthropogenic global warming, has been allowed to get away with all sorts of very unscientific and virulent statements, such as demanding that oil company executives be tried for “crimes against humanity and nature”.

Globally averaged temperature data—imprecise, it must be admitted—show that temperature has not risen in the past 10 years: we are not in the midst of global warming at all. The famous “hockey-stick” graph wielded by Al Gore and the IPCC reports that claimed to show a dramatic rise in global temperature in the latter 20th century turns out to be a methodological and statistical chimera. Some have even suggested that it was a deliberate fraud. Temperature fluctuations and regional variations in the last few decades do not track rising atmospheric CO2 concentration.

So, if anthropogenic CO2 is not driving climate change, why do most Western governments—with the notable exception of Václav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic—continue to fall over themselves in support of the belief of anthropogenic global warming, and try to best each other in promising to cap CO2 production, designing carbon taxes and cap-and-trade legislation, and throwing huge sums of money at alternative energy schemes, CO2 sequestration projects and climatological research? Sure, certain individuals stand to make a lot of money out of these measures, but some of them arguably will amount to economic suicide. Well, what politicians do "passeth all understanding” for most of us in the trenches, but it does illustrate the power of the green lobby and, in my opinion, a dearth of real leadership.
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As James Hutton said in 1795, the Earth has “no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end” and this holds true for climate change. Does reducing our dependence on fossil fuels justify promulgating scientific lies? I don’t think so. But it is inescapable that coal, oil and natural gas are finite natural resources and when they are burned up they are gone. Period. Profligacy with these precious commodities is what needs to change.

6 comments:

Chris A said...

Yeah, its really funny that they treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant while the government via the DOE is funding the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program where they are spraying sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere to "geo-engineer" the environment. So we can't breathe without being accused of causing global warming, but they can put aerosol particles into the atmosphere with the express purpose of modifying the weather, and you never hear scientists talk about it.

Chris A said...

Alright, its finally here baby! The moment you've all been waiting for. Drum roll please...All hail the American Clean Energy And Security Act of 2009 "to create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence, reduce global warming pollution and transition to a clean energy economy." Yeah, right.

If you thought "global warming" was going to go away because of the economic collapse, you were wrong. They just fuse the two "issues" together and make this law part of the "solution".

And just so everyone is clear, this bill could not have passed without Republican support. It was close, but Republicans tipped the scale in favor of government control.

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2454/text

Chris A said...

Oh and to be clear, this hasn't passed into law just yet; it has only passed the House, but our president is quite optimistic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7ea5qsFYr0&feature=player_embedded

Darius said...

The best part is the fact that there wasn't even a full single copy of the bill to read before they voted. They just voted and decided they would read it later... pathetic. If that's what Obama's government is, count me out. I thought he was going to be transparent, but it seems not.

I'm not so sure about its chances in the Senate... it's not going to happen til fall, which gives a lot of time for people to actually read it and see the evil involved. And the Republicans are likely to filibuster it if Franken isn't seated yet.

Chris A said...

Yeah, supposedly there is C-SPAN footage (I haven't seen it yet) where a representative asks to see the bill and he was denied. Then I heard they added 300 pages to it at the last minute.

I doubt the Republicans will filibuster even if Franken isn't seated. I just can't see it happening. The global warming lobby is extremely powerful right now. We'll see what happens, but I wouldn't be too hopeful. My prediction is that Republicans in the Senate will sell out as quickly as the ones in the House. A few of them will put up a fight for show, but it won't amount to much.

Speaking of President Obama's promise for transparency, remember when he said he would post all bills on the internet, and the public would be able to see them for at least three days before he signed them? He's continuing with the same philosophy of secrecy that his predecessor was known for, but he's just a whole lot smoother.

Chris A said...

This is what Pat Buchanan had to say about the bill, and (in this instance) I think he is 100% right:

"More and more science is coming forward to say this is a hoax and a scam which is designed to transfer wealth and power from the private sector to the government sector, and from the government of the United States to a world government, which is what we're gonna get in Copenhagen when we get the Kyoto II agreement."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hYaQTSoUdA&feature=player_embedded

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The Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel The Main Thing
Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God
Overcoming Sin and Temptation
According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible
Disciplines of a Godly Man
Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem
When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor. . .and Ourselves
The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith
Respectable Sins
The Kite Runner
Life Laid Bare: The Survivors in Rwanda Speak
Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak
A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a missional, evangelical, post/protestant, liberal/conservative, mystical/poetic, biblical, charismatic/contemplative, fundamentalist/calvinist, ... anabaptist/anglican, metho
Show Them No Mercy
The Lord of the Rings
Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass
The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception
Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming
The Chronicles of Narnia
Les Misérables


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