Guest post by Steve Goreham
Climatism, the belief that man-made greenhouse gases are destroying Earth’s climate, is a remarkably flexible ideology. Calling it “global warming” for many years, advocates then renamed the crisis “climate change” after the unexpected cooling of global surface temperatures from 2002-2009. Last month, John Holdren, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, urged everyone to start using the term “global climate disruption.” What’s next — “catastrophic climate calamity”?
Decreasing snowfall was once claimed as an indication of man-made climate change. After years of declining snowfall in England, Dr. David Viner, senior scientist at the Climate Research Unit of East Anglia, predicted that winter snowfall would become “a very rare and exciting event.” Others predicted that snow cover in the United Kingdom would disappear by 2020. But last winter, at the same time that much of the eastern U.S. received record snowfalls, the U.K. was entirely blanketed by snow, as shown in the following NASA satellite photograph — a rare occurrence.
The heavy snow in England was very embarrassing for the U.K. Meteorological Office, which had predicted a mild winter.
So what have the alarmists done? Attend almost any lecture today by an advocate of man-made global warming and you’ll find that “heavy snowfall” is now included on the list of impacts from climate change. Now both heavy snow and lack of snow are evidence of man-made warming.
To anyone who studies geologic history, the 1.3oF rise in global surface temperatures over the last century is unremarkable. Yet the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the United Nations calls this rise “unprecedented” and labels it evidence of man-made climate change. This recent temperature rise is well within the +/-2.5oF range of Earth’s average surface temperature over the last ten thousand years. It’s a remarkably small change, given the titanic forces exerted on our world by the sun, the planets, and Earth’s own terrestrial forces of weather and ocean cycles. Even though the average surface temperature of Earth has stayed in a narrow range, local temperatures vary widely. In Chicago, for example, the average annual range is from about -5oF to +95oF. Such wide local variation means that a “hundred-year weather event” is occurring somewhere on our planet at any given time.
Climatism uses these local weather variations, and increasingly the term “climate volatility,” to raise alarm. A recent example is the August report from the World Bank warning that “climate volatility” is expected to “worsen poverty vulnerability in developing countries.” This year, we’ve had drought in Russia and record floods in Pakistan. Both occurrences were seized upon by climate alarmists as evidence of increasing man-made climate volatility. Record cold temperatures in July in Bolivia, which killed millions of fish in South American rivers, were ignored. Natural local weather events, selectively amplified, provide an endless source of fodder for promoting the coercive governmental policies of Climatism.
Yet, scientific evidence shows that weather would be less extreme in a warmer world. Peer-reviewed studies on droughts, floods, hurricanes and storms show that 20th Century occurrences have been of equal or lesser severity than similar events in past centuries, when Earth’s climate was in the cooler period of the Little Ice Age. The bulk of science shows that today’s climate is not more volatile as alarmists claim.
The latest initiative from the climate change chameleon is to frame global warming as detrimental to the health of U.S. citizens. On September 28, a joint letter from 120 of America’s health organizations was delivered to President Obama, supporting efforts by the Environmental Regulatory Agency to regulate greenhouse gases. The letter claims that man-made global warming is now a U.S. public health issue especially for “older adults.” Yet senior citizens continue to retire to Florida, Texas, and Arizona rather than North Dakota and Minnesota. Don’t they know that warmer temperatures are a serious health risk?
Steve Goreham is Executive Director of the Climate Science Coalition of America and author of Climatism! Science, Common Sense, and the 21st Century’s Hottest Topic.
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Smokey says:
…..
The alarmist crowd owns the “unchanging climate” lie, and they twist and turn now, trying to project it onto skeptics. But skeptics know the truth of the matter, and you won’t be allowed to re-frame the argument by using psychological projection.
We should be sensitive to his feelings about what is happening to his world. Like we shouldn’t remind him that most of us perscribe a rapid increase in usage of nuclear (clean) energy along with hydro-electric. Problem with utility emissions…solved. Put money into not subsidies but research and development for better electrical/battery systems for cars. 20 years from now, cars are clean and reliable….In fact, we don’t have to take any money in the US anyway from anything important. All we have to do is gut the NSF and use that money for what I proposed above. We would have enough left over to increase NASA funding and change its course to get us to Mars at the same time. Only people that get bad stuff from this are the leacher/professors who study pseudo-science. I have a job at McDonalds they can have scrubbing toilets. Since Dr. Hansen likes jail-cells, he would find this to his liking as well.
But just by saying this, I have given him a glimpse of reality, I hope I don’t rupture his view on existance.
Alan the Brit says:
October 22, 2010 at 7:47 am
Anyway, as I say to all & sundry, you only have to answer two simple questions needing basic knowledge with a little political history, & those are a) What is the ultimate ideological objective of Marxist Socialism? & b) What is the ultimate solution to Anthropogenic Global Warming? There is only one answer to both these questions, “Global Government!” Simples.
Hi Alan,
Answers.
a) Power. The same as all political regimes, fascist, communist, democracy or theocracy.
b) Keep plugging away with the evidence. Things are slowly changing, it take a long time to turn a large ship around, but eventually we will reach a tipping point where discredited science is seen for what it is, and we can really start to look after our environment.
Simples, ( Apologies to the Meercat!)
Phillip says:
October 22, 2010 at 6:45 am
And speaking of reality, the reality is that the global climate is warming, mankind is responsible for much of the warming, and the consequences will be serious.
You, of course, KNOW this to be true. Please share your incontrovertible evidence with us all.
Alexander K>
“Many years ago I worked with a Romanian gentleman who had escaped from Eastern Europe about 10 years after WWII and eventually fetched up in New Zealand. He used to lecture me about the evils that politicians wrought and claimed that he had escaped ‘red’ communism, where everybody knew they had no choices, to ‘white’ communism in the West where we had the illusion of choice.”
Funnily enough, I know quite a few Romanians of a very different generation, who grew up under Communism and remember it well. They say something not too different. I, and I think they, would agree with your colleague that many of the choices we have are illusionary, but the one thing we have that totalitarian regimes do not is the ability to put forwards and elect our own political candidates.
I come around more and more to the idea that we here on WUWT need to start from the ground up and build a movement that can get candidates elected – first at the local, then the national level.
Our president says: “is because we’re hard-wired not to always think clearly when we’re scared”
=======================================================
Global warmers seem to be very scared…..
………that explains it
“What’s next — “catastrophic climate calamity”?
My guess is that the next disaster du jour will be the unrelenting and crushing boredom of climate sameness.
Sorry, but the English letter imitation of the Cyrillic Russian initialism СССР (kyrillian) is SSSR and the “translated” equivalent would be USSR, so that “joke” falls on it’s face.
Phillip says:
October 22, 2010 at 6:45 am
“[…]fallacies, so I’ll just talk about a favorite one I see here often – the canard that the term “Climate Change” was adopted a few years ago.
Y’all do understand, don’t you, that the IPCC, is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and, since it was establilshed in 1988, that means that the term “Climate Change” has been a preferred term for 22 years?”
You are right when it comes to the naming of the IPCC; but in the media, there was a clear trend visible that since 2007, you would find less and less “Global Warming” headlines and more and more “Climate Change” headlines. It looked like an orchestrated campaign. Green PR agencies like futerra might be behind it.
Good post.
As I drive past the local airport I note the temperature reading as displayed by that really handy auto thermometer. 12 miles down the road in rural countryside, the temperature consistantly drops by 6 to 12 degrees F. The only place it is heating up is….. ???? let me guess…. big city airports???
Phillip says,
“And speaking of reality, the reality is that the global climate is warming, mankind is responsible for much of the warming, and the consequences will be serious. The readers of this blog have the choice of accepting reality and joining the work on finding and implementing solutions to AGW . . . or of keeping their minds tightly closed and staying in the fringe in this cyber circle jerk. The choice is yours.”
No Phillip, the reality is that the religion of AGW has skewed the scientific research to “prove” catastrophic warming. The real reality is that every day instead of focusing on giving my customers more energy efficient solutions, my hands are tied by the USBGC, LEED salesman and the MSM to bow to “green” and “sustainable” solutions based on carbon. The movement is costing millions just in paperwork and billions in construction and energy services at a time when the real issue is saving the economy, not just of the US but the world. People think they can build truly zero carbon buildings power free and the scientists and engineers are just hiding the magic solutions because the big corporations control them; funny how it’s actually the big coroporations are behing cap and steal. True environmentalists (who have my respect) look at the whole picture; the Greens Gaia movement focuses on carbon is just way to help pay back GE and others and concentrate money and power. Greens just can’t stand thinking that maybe mankind doesn’t harm the earth with every action they take, and they censor any dissenting point of view. Your religion may be settled but the science isn’t. Prove the science by the scientific method or stick with drinking the kool-aid with the rest of Goretown. The choice is yours.
CCCP is good. 🙂
If you read to the bottom of that article Dr Viner says
“Heavy snow will return occasionally, says Dr Viner, but when it does we will be unprepared. “We’re really going to get caught out. Snow will probably cause chaos in 20 years time,” he said.”
So I guess the jury is still out. The swans from Siberia arrived in SW England early this year which is supposed to mean a cold winter. My criteria are “one hot summer does not a climate change make, nor one cold winter”
SouthAmericanGirls says:
October 22, 2010 at 5:09 am
No argument from me regarding Climate Science and Keynesian Economics… there are so many big lies woven into the fabric of our society that it is becoming harder and harder to differentiate between fact and fiction… so always look at an issue from various angles, look for the smoking guns, remember to follow the money and always do a reality check.
SouthAmericanGirls says:
October 22, 2010 at 6:12 am
USSR – Usually S**t Statistical Records
STALIN – Standard Techniques: Alarm, Lie, Intimidate, Negate
“What’s next — “catastrophic climate calamity”?”
How about reducing it down to the level it deserves.
Worrisome Weather Watching
And your evidence for this ‘reality’ is . . . ?
The usual knee-jerk response, perhaps? “Ninety percent of scientists say so”?
And (assuming that made-up number meant anything) their evidence is . . .?
We’ve all heard this before, of course:
“. . . And speaking of reality, the reality is that [X is true], [Y is true], and [you’ll be sorry if you don’t believe it].”
That’s the modus operandi of ideologues, True Believers (to use Eric Hoffer’s term). Substitute some values for X and Y, say “The reality is that Aryans are the master race and Jews are evil”; or “The reality is that the Earth was created 6,000 years ago and unbelievers are sinners”; or “The reality is that class struggle is the future, and the capitalist bourgeoisie are the villains”; and you can fill in the rest.
Climatism/Warmism/Environmentalism is a statist political-religious movement that has captured academia, government, and the media. It’s going to be hard to stop it, but stop it we must, before its adherents gain enough power to stifle industry, commerce, and ultimately the freedoms we still enjoy in the West.
/Mr Lynn
SouthAmericanGirls says:
October 22, 2010 at 5:09 am
The Cold War ended with the collapse of the USSR… so I guess the Warm War will end when temperatures collapse and/or the money runs out… could go either way… but both options are looking good bets at the moment.
* For every Al Gore, there is a Jim Imhofe
* For every MSNBC, there is a FOX
* For every Mann, there is a McIntyre
* For every Skeptical Science, there is a WUWT
——————————————
For every criminal there is a policeman.
Flexibility is required if you want to advance your goals in the face of rapidly growing opposition and contradictory evidence.
Sun Tzu would be proud!
Call warmists “Warm Warriors”?
Back to the UK and anecdotes: When we arrived here in London in 2001 as antipodeans not used to snow unless we went to the Alps or mountains, we were told “It never snows in London.” So far, snow has lain on the ground in London every winter we have been here. Admittedly it may not have been a lot of snow, or for long some winters but we have not missed a winter yet. The last one was the best for snow – unless you wanted to move around the city!
Phillip,
Which flavor is your favorite, grape, orange or watermelon?
Phillip says:
“This blog, with all of its moonbat posters and commenters…”
I’m surprised that this got by the mods. Direct personal attacks on the people who post here is a sure way to lose an argument. We are skeptics who want facts. Your insults don’t help anything.
I used to believe in AGW 100%. One day, I decided to go look at the actual data so that I could write down same facts that would support my views. I’m a programmer. I deal with models and data analysis every day. The facts did not support AGW at all. In fact, the input data is complete garbage or on very thin ice (pardon the non-intended pun) to say the least. Now that I have seen with my own eyes the actual data, saying something like
“And speaking of reality, the reality is that the global climate is warming, mankind is responsible for much of the warming, and the consequences will be serious.”
is just not backed up by facts. I’m actually on your side. I want to believe in AGW. But nothing stands up. I’ve been duped. And so have you. Don’t take my word for it. Go look up that data and don’t tell anyone what you find. Only keep an open mind for YOU and do the research in private. That way, you have nothing to prove either way.
————-
David S,
Nice. If I may extend that then maybe we could expect the next apocalyptic scream will be something like:
Declaring all weather proof of global warming is like the coin toss where the rules are heads I win tails you lose. Rigging the toss is good, for Al Capone.
And here’s something else Global Warming, sorry, Climate Change causes – late trains!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11601014
I can just hear the station announcement: ‘We apologise for the late arrival of the 12:15 from London. This was due to Climate Change’.