James Hansen’s understudy, eco activist and founder of 350.org Bill McKibben just gave me an endorsement, which I’m surprised about. The article, syndicated in a number of outlets is titled Climate-change deniers on the ropes
McKibben writes of the Heartland billboard, claiming it has put a damper on all things skeptic, and has pretty much driven Heartland’s donors away. Perhaps he missed this report where Heartland says the donors have doubled, despite losing some.
Here’s the money quote though. McKibben writes:
Whatever the final outcome, it’s worth noting that, in a larger sense, Bast is correct: this tiny collection of deniers has actually been incredibly effective over the past years.
The best of them – and that would be Marc Morano, proprietor of the website Climate Depot, and Anthony Watts, of the website Watts Up With That – have fought with remarkable tenacity to stall and delay the inevitable recognition that we’re in serious trouble. They’ve never had much to work with. Only one even remotely serious scientist remains in the denialist camp. That’s MIT’s Richard Lindzen, who has been arguing for years that while global warming is real it won’t be as severe as almost all his colleagues believe. But as a long article in the New York Times detailed last month, the credibility of that sole dissenter is basically shot. Even the peer reviewers he approved for his last paper told the National Academy of Sciences that it didn’t merit publication. (It ended up in a “little-known Korean journal”.)
McKibben goes on to name other skeptics, including Monckton and Luboš Motl, for their roles.
I got quite the kick out of this ending though:
But damn, it’s a hard fight, up against a ton of money and a ton of inertia. Eventually, climate denial will “lose”, because physics and chemistry are not intimidated even by Lord Monckton. But timing is everything – if he and his ilk, a crew of certified planet wreckers, delay action past the point where it can do much good, they’ll be able to claim one of the epic victories in political history – one that will last for geological epochs.
Gosh, “certified planet wreckers”? Where does one get a certificate like that? Is getting one like being a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists, where only a valid credit card is needed? If so, maybe I’ll offer them here.
Couple of things Bill, since I know you read WUWT:
1. Where’s the beef?
2. Hansen’s alternate view of cause was swept under the rug, he’s flip-flopped on the causes of global warming back and forth.
3. Climate “Deniers” Winning the War
h/t to Dr. Leif Svalgaard
UPDATE: here’s another article, with “planet wreckers” in the title
NOTE: This is an update by Mike Lorrey, added after the fact – Anthony
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Heartland’s Billboard was correct. They are nuts.
Hey, Bill, there’s a cabin in the woods near Lincoln, Montana, that could have your name on it. Cheap, I’m thinkin’.
That’s some great new fodder for Josh.
I’d proudly wear a Certified Planet Wrecker t-shirt, especially if it featured a Josh cartoon.
I smell a $$$ opportunity for Watts Up and Josh.
sigh, I miss the Daily Bayonet.
One mention of Weepy Bill would make my day.
“The best of them… have fought with remarkable tenacity to stall and delay the inevitable recognition that we’re in serious trouble.”
It’s no wonder the alarmists are losing ever more credibility with the masses every day. Just like Gleick showed in his fake Heartland letter, they convince themselves that sceptics are simply evil baddies, funded by Big Oil, conspiring to destroy the world. So whilst the sceptics are busy arguing the science, the alarmists are busy fighting a bogeyman that doesn’t exist. Idiots.
He can’t really believe this stuff can he?
Can he?
McKibben behaves like a typical narcissist. They try and ASSERT what they want to believe. They hope their followers are too dumb to understand their assertions are pure fabrication as his claim about HI demonstrates. The bad news for people like McKibben is when narcissists lose their following they become very depressed and often suicidal. His future is not bright.
[Eventually, climate denial will “lose”]
Ignoring the urge to debate the actual unkind prejudicial labels, and just evaluating McKibben’s train of thought, this level of cognitive dissonance is worthy of a “Monty Python Black Knight” award for persistence.
(The Black Knight is a tragic figure from Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail).
Perhaps we’ll hear McKibben moving from “flesh-wound” to “we’ll call it a draw” soon.
If his wild predictions are false does he take responsibility for all the harm done to the economies of developed countries,and the deaths and suffering caused in developing countries whose development is halted by CAGWism?
Planet wrecker? You’re a Vogon?
(If you find out who issues those certificates, I want one.)
I have not, yet, read Mr. McKibbin’s interview so I’ll admit that I am going off half cocked when I make this comparison. He claims
“[The deniers] never had much to work with.”
But fighting ‘deniers’ is a
“ hard fight, up against a ton of money and a ton of inertia.”
This, to me, smacks of cognitive dissonance. Even HE can no longer reconcile the facts as he sees them.
“On the ropes”? What fantasy world is he living in?
Given the warmists track record with statistics, is anyone surprised that they consider a doubling of donors to be a reduction?
Perhaps Josh can draw up a certificate (suitable for framing) for being a ‘Planet Wrecker’ and we could all buy one. A matching wallet size card to go with the certificate would also be appropriate.
Mckibben’s rant is, in fact, a sign that WE (the sane ones in the climate debate) are winning the argument.
“That have fought with remarkable tenacity to stall and delay the inevitable recognition that were in serious trouble.”
Serious trouble? REALLY?! Where? He needs to get a grip on reality…
“on the ropes”?
Maybe he should watch a youtube of one of the Klitchko brothers taking apart some fighter so that he understands what the expression means.
I eagerly await McKibben’s comeuppance from some less than “remotely serious scientists”.
Professor Lindzen only rates a “remotely serious”?
When do the rest of us get to see our share of that “ton of money”? Any idea on how the sharing breaks out? Should I/we contact Mr. McKibben directly to find out who’s passing out the checks?
I just put a new roof on the house, so the extra cash would come in handy right now.
Oh, and who do I contact to get my Planet Wrecker certificate?
By the way, shouldn’t we have some Planet Wrecker team wear? I’m thinking something like a picture of the Death Star with the words “Certified Planet Wrecker” in a digital font. The logo could be something like a shield with a polar bear on its back, all four paws in the air.
I’d buy and proudly don a ” Certified Planet Wrecker” T- Shirt.
As I have long said this is not even a subject with polarised positions. It is a battle between reason and a huge group narcisistic disorder. For McKibben it really is about good and evil, he being good and worthy and sceptical thinkers being evil. He says there is only ONE scientist against his contructed reality – on any measure in any way this is completely untrue – and goes miles beyond cognitive dissonance – the man has deluded himself and is no different to a nut job with a sandwich board at the side of the road, unwashed, unkempt, socially isolated, utterly consumed by his obsession.
Have we ever had an accounting of how much money “Big Oil” has funneled into “Big Green?”
If you keep saying the same thing over and over again, people will believe it, even if it’s a load of hogwash. My students are prime examples of that–no matter how many times I try to teach them the truth they refuse to believe it, because people like McKibben and his ilk (two can play that game) keep saying the lie over and over again. Disgusting.
this tiny collection of deniers has actually been incredibly effective over the past years…..They’ve never had much to work with.
I beg to differ. We have had lots to work with! Mother nature is on our side! Here is the proof.
On all data sets, the different times for a slope that is flat for all practical purposes range from 10 years and 7 months to 15 years and 6 months. Following is the longest period of time (above 10 years) where each of the data sets is more or less flat. (For any positive slope, the exponent is no larger than 10^-5, except UAH which was 0.00055 per year so it could be questioned whether it can be considered to be flat.)
1. RSS: since November 1996 or 15 years, 6 months (goes to April)
2. HadCrut3: since January 1997 or 15 years, 3 months (goes to March)
3. GISS: since March 2001 or 11 years, 2 months (goes to April)
4. UAH: since October 2001 or 10 years, 7 months (goes to April)
5. Combination of the above 4: since October 2000 or 11 years, 6 months (goes to March)
6. Sea surface temperatures: since January 1997 or 15 years, 3 months (goes to March)
7. Hadcrut4: since December 2000 or 11 years, 5 months (goes to April using GISS. See below.)
See the graph below to show it all for #1 to #6.
http://www.woodfortrees.org/plot/hadcrut3gl/from:1997/trend/plot/gistemp/from:2001.16/trend/plot/rss/from:1996.83/trend/plot/wti/from:2000.75/trend/plot/hadsst2gl/from:1997/trend/plot/uah/from:2001.75/trend
For #7: Hadcrut4 only goes to December 2010 so what I did was get the slope of GISS from December 2000 to the end of December 2010. Then I got the slope of GISS from December 2000 to the present. The DIFFERENCE in slope was that the slope was 0.005 lower for the total period. The positive slope for Hadcrut4 was 0.004 from December 2000. So IF Hadcrut4 were totally up to date, and IF it then were to trend like GISS, I conclude it would show no slope for at least 11 years and 5 months going back to December 2000. (By the way, doing the same thing with Hadcrut3 gives the same end result, but GISS comes out much sooner each month.) See:
http://www.woodfortrees.org/plot/hadcrut4gl/from:2000/to/plot/hadcrut4gl/from:2000.9/trend/plot/gistemp/from:2000/plot/gistemp/from:2000.9/to:2011/trend/plot/gistemp/from:2000.9/trend
Have we ever had a true accounting of how much money Saudi Oil has funneled into Big Green for the purpose of destroying our energy industry? Socialism is all about the big lie which is told often enough to make people believe it.
I would gladly purchase a Josh shirt with a certified planet wrecker statement on it.