MSNBC reports that the lack of temperature rise in the last 12 years has convinced environmentalist James Lovelock ( The Gaia Hypothesis) that the climate alarmism wasn’t warranted.
From his Wikipedia entry: Writing in the British newspaper The Independent in January 2006, Lovelock argues that, as a result of global warming, “billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable” by the end of the 21st century.
He has been quoted in The Guardian that 80% of humans will perish by 2100 AD, and this climate change will last 100,000 years. According to James Lovelock, by 2040, the world population of more than six billion will have been culled by floods, drought and famine. Indeed “[t]he people of Southern Europe, as well as South-East Asia, will be fighting their way into countries such as Canada, Australia and Britain”.
What he has said to MSNBC is a major climb down. MSNBC reports in this story:
James Lovelock, the maverick scientist who became a guru to the environmental movement with his “Gaia” theory of the Earth as a single organism, has admitted to being “alarmist” about climate change and says other environmental commentators, such as Al Gore, were too.
Lovelock, 92, is writing a new book in which he will say climate change is still happening, but not as quickly as he once feared.
He previously painted some of the direst visions of the effects of climate change. In 2006, in an article in the U.K.’s Independent newspaper, he wrote that “before this century is over billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable.”
However, the professor admitted in a telephone interview with msnbc.com that he now thinks he had been “extrapolating too far”…
…
“The problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books – mine included – because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn’t happened,” Lovelock said.
…
“The world has not warmed up very much since the millennium. Twelve years is a reasonable time… it (the temperature) has stayed almost constant, whereas it should have been rising — carbon dioxide is rising, no question about that.”
This won’t sit well with many. McKibben has a whole movement based on alarm for example. Watch the true believers now trash him in the “doddering old man” style we’ve seen before.
hat tip to Steve Milloy at junkscience.com
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Quite shocking, but very revealing. A real blow at all climate alarmists. I don’t expect this will hit the mainstream media, though.
… that awkward moment when you wake up realizing you’re near the end of your time on earth, and your lasting legacy may be associated with the same folks who taught about the flat earth, the y2k bug and how there would never be a processor faster than the 8086.
Good News!
Amazing!
Truth and data are stubborn things. What else can you do but climb down if you have a shred of honesty about you? Al Gore is right, the debate is over.
If he wasn’t credible in 2006, what makes him credible now?
Time for another letter to the editor….as well as posting the story link to SkS for deletion.
I was searching for quotes by Molière for a crossword puzzle recently and I came across this gem:
‘It infuriates me to be wrong when I know I’m right’
An IPCC scientist admitted to me that they don’t understand why the temperature hasn’t increased over the last 15 years, and ‘anyone who claims to know why, is a liar”.
They are progressives, it’s what they do. As soon as they see they have gone too far, they slow down to allow the balance of power. Then they go nuts again to push the Fabian Socialist agenda.
Bladeshearer – changing one’s mind publicly and with reason IS a good way to gain credibility.
Maybe he also saw the latest Arctic ice extent/ice area graphs. You don’t hear too much about those these days from the AGW crowd.
Lovelock has been showing some disappointment about the direction of Greenism for a while. For instance, he’s been stoutly for nuclear power while most Greenies want zero power and zero humans.
Nice to see a firm and definite statement!
Of course he doesn’t control any grants or budgets, so this won’t make any practical difference.
Did this cause another cranial decompression event with Mr.Romm?
And where is the cost or scorn for yelling fire in the theatre in the first place? There is no cost for this villiage idiot stupidity and that is the policy problem for the global civilization. He got his 15 minutes of fame like Charles Mansion and the rest of us have to gho pick up the pieces and shake our heads in the aftermath. Soviet misinformation specialists could not craft such effective media schemes because their KGB masters would have balked at the incredulity of the operation’s concept and plausibility.
Quite shocking, but very revealing. A real blow at all climate alarmists. I don’t expect this will hit the mainstream media, though
I’m happy to read this, as his thoughts parallel my own, and also reflect the public words of Dr. Richard Lindzen. The mass of carbon dioxide being exhausted into the atmosphere is immense and growing, but the direct relationship to excessive warming is fuzzy at best. This warrants more HONEST scientific examination, not more of the fear-mongering and economic tampering of the Hockey Team and their ilk.
Good news, Anthony, thanks.
“The world has not warmed up very much since the millennium. Twelve years is a reasonable time… it (the temperature) has stayed almost constant, whereas it should have been rising — carbon dioxide is rising, no question about that.”
The above alone is going to cause a storm. Its a massive blow to the AGW alarmists. I just hope the alarmists take this statement for what it is, an observable fact,. Sadly though, history tells us that Mr Lovelock will have to endure much personal abuse for his truthfulness.
Unfortunately the evidence from sea level rise, global ocean heat content, ice melt and global temperature series all show that there has been no decline in the rate of anthropogenic global warming, so this story seems to be rather premature. Also, greenhouse gases are accumulating in the atmosphere faster than ever, so there is no reason to be complacent.
Wow.
I am…surprised. Very surprised.
Icarus62 says
You flew too close to the sun, son.
Wait, does this mean that Al Gore will admit there’s no consensus anymore?
(roll-eyes)
Icarus62 says:
April 23, 2012 at 10:16 am
Unfortunately the evidence from sea level rise, global ocean heat content, ice melt and global temperature series all show that there has been no decline in the rate of anthropogenic global warming, so this story seems to be rather premature. Also, greenhouse gases are accumulating in the atmosphere faster than ever, so there is no reason to be complacent.
===============
…and my arthritis is acting up
Expect the usual alarmist suspects to start labeling him an old, senile and mentally compromised fart in a few minutes. No no, don’t listen to him! He’s old and senile and losing his mind! The Big Oil funded Deniers got to him! Etc. etc. etc.
It is refreshing though, I agree with that. Now to see if he suddenly recants and tells the world he was quoted out of context after he starts getting pressured by the watermelons.
They’re imploding and you don’t have to connect many dots to see it now …
Pointman