Guest post by John Coleman – KUSI-TV, Weather Channel Founder
December 7, 2009
David and Goliath
The 21st century Goliath is Global Warming. It is a powerful six-legged monster. In no order of strength, those legs are:
(1) The big money climate change scientists and their powerful institutions from governmental centers to Universities,
(2) The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which is a Geneva-based, highly funded bureaucracy controlled by one-world government political activists,
(3) Environmentalists who seek to use threats of climate chaos to stop the use of fossil fuels and return to a simpler, more “natural”, primitive lifestyle,
(4) Government at all levels whose political leaders find dealing with global warming is their opportunity to save us all from disaster cementing their status and success,
(5) The media populated by people who love to warn us of impending disaster and give us the advice we need to cope, who believe in Al Gore and his political party and who know that “the sky is falling” is the best headline of them all,
(6) Al Gore, who uses his status as a successful former Senator and Vice President to provide a platform to promote his message of doom and gloom, a message he learned in his only college science class and must have truly believed for many years but should see now is only an empty threat.
The total financial resources and power structure behind Goliath are staggering.
Goliath now occupies Copenhagen. For the 15th time, Goliath is meeting to publicize his long list of threatened consequences if do not head his demands. The ice will melt, the coasts and islands will flood displacing millions and killing tens of thousands; the polar bears and eventually thousands of other species will die as habitats are destroyed; hurricanes will become superstorms wrecking havoc on the coastal cities killing tens of thousands; heat waves will kill more hundreds of thousands as they grip the planet; drought and heat will destroy our agriculture starving untold millions more. He tells us this is because of our carbon footprints left by our burning of fossil fuels emitting exhaust of carbon dioxide.
Fifteen thousand “delegates” are attending Goliath’s conference coming by hundreds of private jet aircraft, riding in over a thousand limos, occupying every hotel room for miles around and all living on expense accounts paid by taxpayers and stock holders. They are making speeches, politicking one another and most importantly negotiating how much the people of each of their nations will reduce their carbon footprints in coming years, having a major impact on all our lifestyles.
Meanwhile, here at home The Environmental Protection Administration, part of Goliath’s government leg, just classified carbon dioxide as a pollutant that is an endangerment to our lives. And the US Congress is working with the President on legislation known as Cap and trade that will make all of us pay taxes for our carbon footprints.
Goliath is a rich and very powerful monster. He thrives on carbon dioxide.
David is tiny and weak. He is composed of:
30 thousand scientists who sign a petition but only a few hundred of whom have the specialized education, skill and positions to do unfunded or underfunded research that debunks the carbon dioxide greenhouse claims of Goliath,
A handful of struggling policy institutes that strive to stage events to educate the public and media about the global warming myth,
The internet, a resource that is open to all on both sides to communicate and educate and organize and protest as best the skeptics can, There skeptics have established websites and blogs and posted videos, some serious and some as clever as animated musical parodies,
Talk radio with a hundred solid talk hosts who cover all aspects of the folly of global warming and reach several million people,
And a small cadre of elected officials from one or two Senators to a hand-full of members of the House of Representatives, to the President of Czech Republic and a small collection of other office holders who understand the science and are brave enough to join a minority group.
We are outmanned, poor by comparison and somewhat leaderless and disorganized.
How can David win this battle? The rocks he throws are small and his rock pile is small. Time is short before the consequences of increased government control, a scaled back and altered lifestyle and, most of all, establishment of bad science as a controlling instrument.
David has one great strength, however: Truth.
There is no significant man-made global warming, there has not been any in the past and there is no reason to fear any in the future. Carbon dioxide is a natural trace gas in the atmosphere with very limited greenhouse impact on temperatures and naturally produced CO2 greatly exceeds the CO2 produced by burning fossil fuels. There is no tipping point when the impact of CO2 sets in to cause an increased impact because of “forcing.” The bad science behind the global warming myth is based on a hypothesis that has failed.
Superman fought for “truth, justice and the American way.”
So is David. But he is no Superman. The battle goes on.
John Coleman
http://www.kusi.com/weather/colemanscorner
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The ‘CO2 battle’ you outline touched Nanaimo yesterday afternoon with a protest banner over the Island Highway at Long Lake that reads (Or read);
Exposed. CLIMATEGATE. N.W.O.
David´s stone: A brilliant ball up above: The Sun. This is a an unfair battle: A bunch of fools spitting to the sky. They won´t succeed.
Re: Coleman’s point #5: click
I’m wondering how the ice extent could be dipping myself. The arctic temperature mean http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/meant80n.uk.php has dropped so freeze up should be increasing. Any AMSR-I folks know what is going on?
“Chris (01:46:19) :
what about the arktic sea ice extend?
it went down at the beginning of the copenhagen meeting.
http://www.ijis.iarc.uaf.edu/en/home/seaice_extent.htm:
AGW proves that ignorance is not a privilege anymore. Information does not mean knowledge necessarily. Knowledge is as material as any other thing so it can not be divided endlessly.
“What nature does not give no school can lend”
As I said on the previous thread:
Science by consensus?
Very odd.
Dave Wendt (01:32:25) : “Given the incredible disparity in financial resources, the almost complete domination by the alarmists of every means of opinion formation in society[news, entertainment, education,etc.], the ability of the rational viewpoint to turn the tide of public opinion in the face of a two decade long massive propaganda campaign from the climate alarmists has to rank as a miracle. Were I a more devout believer, I might be moved to suggest that it indicates that God is on our side.”
Sorry, don’t have time to read more comments. But Dave Wendt’s might just give all the truth-seekers, all the natural skeptics, great hope in human beings, even those young people recently educated by our schools. Regardless of our religion, if we develop more faith in our friends, relatives, children, and fellow citizens, we might make a greater effort to educate them. People do find joy in “thinking” — some of the time — and bearing the pain of being wrong or not knowing. Let us help them think more of the time. The recent “icing” of North America and soon-to-come in Europe, at the very least, might give us our greatest opportunity.
Just read a great book (to a novice) by John Wilson & Ron Clowes, “Ghost Mountains and Vanished Oceans: North America From Birth to Middle Age”. If “global citizens” had more of this kind of an overview they might not be so transfixed by millenialist end-of-the-world fantasies. I do wonder if some of the evangelical fervor of saving the earth (including our technological inventiveness — Y2K) might have to do with end-of-the-millenium fever (anxiety). Perhaps this is its last push and all humans will settle down for awhile. But the forces that have attached themselves to these psychological-emotional needs (in every historical civilization thus far, I think) are very powerful and will need a tremendous push over the edge by all of us.
An excellent science education beginning in preschool might be one of those essential “beginnings” of a respectful, skeptics (truth-seeking) movement. I think of Anthony Watts as one of the greatest educators of our time. Thank you.
E.M.Smith (00:49:25):
Good one. I like “big picture” analysis. Yes, they had the hypothesis without the science in the 70s, and by god that was their story and they stuck to it. By any means necessary.
@ur momisugly alleagra (02:37:50) :
One way to start winning the battle is to create a single well-publicized authoritative website that acts as a to provide rebuttals for the latest scare story from the AGW crowd.
I think you mean something like this:
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2009/12/global-warming-skepticism-101/
I think this answers most of your points.
Donkeys are hard to move when they decide to stop at Copenhagen ☺
“Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite.”
President Dwight Eidenhower 1961
40 years later
“The science is settled”
Al Gore
BTW Everything is cold now, except for two points. Look at this:
http://weather.unisys.com/surface/sst_anom.html
That hot point near NY has several weeks.
Great article … Thanks
The book “The Starfish and the Spider” explains how headless groups of people are most resistant to being subverted. It’s clear that government grants(payoffs) have caused science to veer from the truth into the political. The lay people investigating Climategate cannot be bribed or swayed from their course of pursuit of truth, the fatal flaw for the scam of AGW.
Fool me once — Open science is the only science to be trusted.
fabius (06:16:36) : said “Have you guys heard of common purpose?” Unfortunately, yes I have, and their methods sound very similar. Rather alarmingly they had their main opponents website taken down a few days ago. They are claiming copyright on FOI requests! How wonderful – you can ask us questions, but not tell anyone else what we tell you!!
http://cpexposed.com/
Another example of trying to stifle any dissenting voices?
rich1225 (08:47:49) :
“Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite.”
President Dwight Eidenhower 1961
For the sake of truth: It has been exactly the opposite: A pseudo-scientifictechnological “new age”elite captive of a political elite, captive again by a Wall Street elite.
And what motivates a 6 legged beast?
feeding trough
herd mentality
No “conspiracy” need be invoked, except perhaps among some of those controling the purse strings, i.e, holding the keys to the feeding trough. But even among them I think the motivation can still be attributed largely to those 2.
JonesII (09:12:34) :
Perhaps this quote best sums up the problem we are facing now?
” the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present – and is gravely to be regarded. “
For that and others, see here in context.
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/ike.htm
Mapou (03:33:45) :
“May I suggest that this blog use a share button that readers can use to share articles with sites like Digg, Reddit, Slashdot and others? Anti AGW commenters and submitters almost always get voted out at those sites. We need to stop that.”
THIS IS A *GREAT* IDEA.
Regarding the environmentalists who want us to return to a simple, more primitive lifestyle, they are the 21st Century version of the “Pigs” that Orwell portrayed in Animal Farm. These Pigs will preside over the naturalization of Gaia and all of her creatures. Pigs will again be “more equal than others” oligarchs. Pigs will never abandon their limos and and private jets while the rest of us will revert to the horse and buggy days.
I think that the cause needs some better words as to describe what the anti-agw is trying to accomplish. “Deniers” and “Critics” is damaging and does not have a very nice ring to it. Introduce something better. Anyone with a good grasp of the english vocabulary that give a hand?
fabius (06:16:36) : All those “civil societies” have a common agenda, the one of their patrons, who are the same ones behind “climate change”, they have in common that nobody ever elected them and reclaim for them the right to manage power as would be elected officials. Their goal is only one and the same for all them, though its participants may ignore it.
However, there is a bigger conspirer, call it nature or God, who just laughs at them.
“Goliath now occupies Copenhagen”
Dec. 15-25: You’re Freezing if You’re in Europe
http://www.accuweather.com/video-on-demand.asp?video=55253314001&channel=VBLOG_BASTARDI&title=Dec. 15-25: You’re Freezing if You’re in Europe
Please God
Dave Wendt (01:32:25) :
“Given the incredible disparity in financial resources, the almost complete domination by the alarmists of every means of opinion formation in society[news, entertainment, education,etc.], the ability of the rational viewpoint to turn the tide of public opinion in the face of a two decade long massive propaganda campaign from the climate alarmists has to rank as a miracle. Were I a more devout believer, I might be moved to suggest that it indicates that God is on our side.”
Perhaps god and the truth are one and the same. Despite our sophistication and intelligence we are still just social animals who have the instinct to cower together in the face of the unknown. When scared we will tend to accept the authority of our existing leaders, until better ones come along.
The swing against AGW started long before the Climategate leak, as one after another ‘predicted disasters’ failed to happen. The cooling NH also helped de-bunk the CO2 myth.
Those in control of the world know that this ‘big lie’ has failed, and are retreating gracefully into the dark corners where they hide. However, they will not give up, so watch this space and be prepared for the next ‘big lie’ to happen.
Here’s the ice extent from Arctic-Roos. Observe the large error bars the put on the base average. Estimating sea-ice isn’t easy, even using satellite imagery and data.
http://arctic-roos.org/observations/satellite-data/sea-ice/ice-area-and-extent-in-arctic
Seems like there’s also a lot of money behind Oil and Coal companies (Exxon, etc). Hmmm, maybe more money and power than the so-called “big money climate change scientists”? Well at least big industries has never tried to influence policy in the face of adverse science before.
(7) [largest in America] Wall Street Carbon Trading Firms and wannabes and their “corporate partner” NGOs they donate to or create.
Tenuc (10:30:48) :
“Here’s the ice extent from Arctic-Roos. Observe the large error bars the put on the base average.”
Their +/-1 STD looks like it’s probably been selected from the “best” of their data to reflect their alarmist views.
Here’s another, slightly less scary, look at the data, without the misleading STD info.
http://www.ijis.iarc.uaf.edu/en/home/seaice_extent.htm\
Note how the data here isn’t the same as that for your refs. If that’s a reflection of their uncertainty about what it is, then the real error must be much greater than what they are claiming it to be.
For them to suggest that small error bars are actually reflective of the reality seems to me to be completely in line with the “tricks” used by CRU. I don’t trust any of them.