Excerpts: Meltdown of the climate ‘consensus’
By MATT PATTERSON
The global-warming establishment took a body blow this week, as the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change received a stunning rebuke from a top-notch independent investigation.
For two decades, the IPCC has spearheaded efforts to convince the world’s governments that man-made carbon emissions pose a threat to the global temperature equilibrium — and to civilization itself. IPCC reports, collated from the work of hundreds of climate scientists and bureaucrats, are widely cited as evidence for the urgent need for drastic action to “save the planet.”
But the prestigious InterAcademy Council, an independent association of “the best scientists and engineers worldwide” (as the group’s own Web site puts it) formed in 2000 to give “high-quality advice to international bodies,” has finished a thorough review of IPCC practices — and found them badly wanting.
…
Al Gore and many other warming alarmists have insisted that “the debate is over” — that the science was “settled.” That claim is now in shreds — though the grants are still flowing, and advocates still hope Congress will pass some version of the economically ruinous “cap and trade” anti-warming bill.
The warming “scientific” community, the Climategate emails reveal, is a tight clique of like-minded scientists and bureaucrats who give each other jobs, publish each other’s papers — and conspire to shut out any point of view that threatens to derail their gravy train.
Such behavior is perhaps to be expected from politicians and government functionaries. From scientists, it’s a travesty.
earthdog says:
September 2, 2010 at 12:22 pm
………………………………… Somehow they know what is best for the world and they need to force us back into the past, ends justifying whatever means they feel necessary?
Yes. The Jesus syndrome. They truly believe they have been divinely chosen to “save the world”, and become angry and frustrated when they are not believed. They simply cannot understand why people would ridicule them and their labors to save the world, and think that “non-believers” must be suicidal. Their ego’s and general mental state will not permit them to believe that they may be wrong.
More importantly, the report implicitly supports these conclusions of the IPCC:
1.) Global average surface temperature STILL DEFINITELY going up 3-6C (5-10F) this century under business as usual, 1C if we stopped burning fossil fuel right now.
2.) Burning gigatons of fossil fuel per year are to blame for 1.
3.) 1. will cause economic hardship, unpredictable agricultural output (most likely global total reduction–predictability is the friend of agriculture!), and immigration.
After reading the report and reading reviews of the report, it seems that the IPCC will come out of this with more funding, more staff and a permanent executive that will remain constantly active.
There was no “stunning rebuke” but rather affirmation and additional resources.
On a slightly OT , but somewhat related, note a story which suggests that the alarmists won’t go “gently into that goodnight” but will “rage against the dying of the light”.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727752.600-liability-for-climate-change.html
“WHEN extreme weather strikes, such as the floods in Pakistan, the null hypothesis is to assume that humans have not played a role, then figure out if they did.
“That’s the opposite of what should be done, argues Kevin Trenberth of the US National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. We should assume global warming plays a role in every climate event, then ask whether that role is a significant one. The view is likely to be controversial, but a government-convened meeting last week suggests that it is gaining favour (see “Time to blame climate change for extreme weather”).”
Here is my cynical read on the whole situation. Pachauri has become an embarrasement to the IPCC because of the scandals and conflicts of interest that have come out in the last year. They’d like to get rid of him but he doesn’t want to be seen as having been “fired”. So here’s this report recommending that the head of the IPCC change hands every few years. So, in the end, hey, he wasn’t fired, the new rules say its just time for him to step down. Everyone saves face. I have no proof for this – just my gut feeling that this is a little bit of media theatre.
IPCC was out of control, which was bad, but on the plus side it gave rise to WUWT and similar blogs, and even more importantly gave rise to worldwide web-communities of people of different backgrounds, knowledge and experience. This is a unique sociological phenomenon.
In order for these communities to thrive, or in final analysis to survive, the IPCC should not destroy , it is just needed to get it down to manageable control.
If the IPCC is dead, I am sorry to say that could be the end of websites like WUWT. A lesson from the nature is needed, at best to have symbiosis with the IPCC, or at worse let it live and the sceptics take role of a ‘parasite’, sapping just enough strength out of it to keep it alive but not to let it flourish….
The tragedy is the waste, the utter heartbreaking waste of time and energy and money on a unbelievable fraud.
Nobody I know ever bought into the AGW cult, it was all so obviously ridiculous from the start. Fools and charlatans and gullible fools and cynical exploiters in a circus of epic proportions and all for nothing, we have nothing to show for it except a much weaker Western world, mired in debt and a scientific establishment utterly ruined with the cause of real genuine science set back decades, just imagine what could have been achieved with the money so far frittered away!
Now science will have to pick up the pieces and try to move forward but its going to be a long hard road for science and scientists are going to have to work very hard to win back the trust of the people.
“Earthdog: Mann knows well that climate has elements of a cyclical nature, but underestimated the cynical nature of man.”
richard telford : Man knows well that climate has elements of a cyclical nature, but underestimated the cynical nature of mann.
Another nail to the coffin of the AGW theorists..
[url]http://www.nu.nl/wetenschap/2324027/bewijs-oude-doorgang-in-antarctica-gevonden–.html[/url]
I hope my translation makes any sense. 😉
The isolated parts of Antarctica were formally fused by a passage is the conclusion that results from a study after mossanimals.
© Inertia Stockscientists of the British Antarctic Survey discouveredthat on both sides of the West-Antarctic icecap there are simular mossanimals wich share a lot of simularities.
The finding suggests that there was once a passage between the two parts if the two kilometres thick icelayer. These mosscreatures can’t swim, just float.
Therefore they must have floated from one side to the other.
Anderlan
Yes, but there was a mistake somewhere about something in the 3000 pages of IPCC AR4 which proves everything was a hoax and hence the laws of physics have been revoked.
Is there a link to the actual report? I’m not too interested in what someone as biased as Matt Patterson has to say about it since he also believes DDT is harmless. Linking to the actual report so that readers here can see the conclusions reached by the Council would be a good idea.
Scientists were invested by the public with high trust and respect. Now they are regarded as just another special interest intent on profiting at public expense. By investing in this global political-scientific bureaucracy (aka IPCC) bent on a single outcome, science has squandered its currency to the detriment of us all. And as long as the IPCC continues to exist, we will get what we have always got. It has to go.
It all comes round again: this time, the InterAcedemy Council is nemesis to the IPCC’s hubris…
“It’s a travesty”
OUCH
What a fine ending – very clever Mr. Patterson.
(I assume I don’t need to explain)
Projections, conjecture, model output etc. but no evidence.
“So what is it? Are they thinking that under a new, green, carbon restricted, government controlled world that they will come to hold some sort of seat of power?”
It’s called masonry, plus lots of money.
John Whitman says:
September 2, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Musing from a minor prophet : )
Hark all yea troubled masses, rich ideologues and grant seeking scientists . . .
…..well said, Mr. Whitman – well said. – (all of it)….
richard telford says:
September 2, 2010 at 1:09 pm
I don’t know what Patterson read, but it certainly wasn’t the InterAcademy Council’s report. The report does not rebuke the IPCC, but it does find that the procedures set up for writing the first report at the end of the 1980s are no longer adequate for the much larger reports now being written and the much more politicised environment.
_________
How dizzying it must be to spin like that.
For those who read the report as an endorsement of the IPCC and the science behind the reports:
Firstly, the mandate of the Inter Academy Council was not to review the science. The IAC document specifically states: “This report examines the procedures and processes used to carry out IPCC assessments; it does not examine climate change science or the validity of its representation in the assessment reports.”
Secondly, the report found that there were “….. many statements in the Working Group II Summary for Policy Makers that are assigned high confidence, but are based on little evidence.”
Thirdly, the report criticizes the scientists’ “…….. unwillingness to share data with critics and enquirers and poor procedures to respond to freedom-of-information requests ……… Poor access to data inhibits users’ ability to check the quality of the data used and to verify the conclusions drawn.”
It is simply incorrect to claim that the IAC document is an endorsement of the science behind the IPCC reports.
This is still going to be a long battle. Even when the alarmism is muffled there is the constant low level, near-subliminal propoganda dribbling out of the mainstream media.
Here are two stories from the BBC website which confirm what should be a joke ie. that Warm = Climate while Cold = Weather.
Moscow heat = Climate
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10919460
Britain cold = Weather
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11152077
earthdog: cash is a huge part of it. The PIs are well paid and on top of that many places give *large* bonuses (tied to a % of the funding) to people bringing in grant money that is on top of their pay.
John Whitman says:
September 2, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Musing from a minor prophet : )
Nice – this is from one of the major prophets:
Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“Because you have … relied on oppression [1]
and depended on deceit [2],
this sin will become for you
like a high wall, cracked and bulging,
that collapses suddenly, in an instant.
It will break in pieces like pottery,
shattered so mercilessly
that among its pieces not a fragment will be found
for taking coals from a hearth
or scooping water out of a cistern.”
Isaiah 30, 12-14
[1] Marginalising dissenting scientists, intimidating and vilifying skeptics as “deniers”etc..
[2] Anticlockwise rotation of temperature record, killing MWP, “hiding the decline” etc..
Curiousgeorge says:
September 2, 2010 at 1:12 pm
earthdog says:
September 2, 2010 at 12:22 pm
………………………………… Somehow they know what is best for the world and they need to force us back into the past, ends justifying whatever means they feel necessary?
Yes. The Jesus syndrome. They truly believe they have been divinely chosen to “save the world”, and become angry and frustrated when they are not believed. They simply cannot understand why people would ridicule them and their labors to save the world, and think that “non-believers” must be suicidal. Their ego’s and general mental state will not permit them to believe that they may be wrong.
—————————————-
Bingo george! The “Jesus” syndrome has happened throughout history. It is amazing to me that so many seem to believe it couldn’t happen in our day and time. I guess there were those before who also thought it couldn’t happen in their day and time when the “church” was preaching the Earth as the center of the universe.
“But the prestigious InterAcademy Council, an independent association of “the best scientists and engineers worldwide” (as the group’s own Web site puts it) formed in 2000 to give “high-quality advice to international bodies,” has finished a thorough review of IPCC practices — and found them badly wanting.”
The best scientists and engineers worldwide? If i read a group describing itself like that they get the same ranking as the IPCC and the Club Of Rome in my book. IOW, probably a bunch of rent-seekers.
Re earthdog
While they work as pseudo-scientists, there are fringe benefits. Trips to exotic locations for conferences, occasional appearence fees for TV and maybe in print. May also get some book deals. Mann did his “Dire Predictions: An Illustrated Guide to the IPCC”. In hindsight. the title may not have been the best choice given it can easily be taken out of context. Now where have I heard that before?
Big money though is outside of science. Young scientist makes a name for themselves as the guy who helped invent global warming and help validate a multi-billion dollar investment scam. So consultancy jobs for cash or equity to ‘green’ start ups, seats on company boards as scientific advisor. Nice work if you can get it, assuming the bubble doesn’t burst before you can jump ship and the grants dry up.