UPDATE! See this new press release: AGU backs away from “climate rapid response team” citing faulty reporting
Gosh. A “Climate rapid response team” from Minnesota? What will they be armed with? Wits and a hockey stick? So far that hasn’t worked out too well. From the Chicago Tribune:
Climate scientists plan campaign against global-warming skeptics
The American Geophysical Union plans to announce Monday that 700 researchers have agreed to speak out on the issue. The effort is a pushback against congressional conservatives who have vowed to kill regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.
Faced with rising political attacks, hundreds of climate scientists are joining a broad campaign to push back against congressional conservatives who have threatened prominent researchers with investigations and vowed to kill regulations to rein in man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
The still-evolving efforts reveal a shift among climate scientists, many of whom have traditionally stayed out of politics and avoided the news media. Many now say they are willing to go toe-to-toe with their critics, some of whom gained new power after the Republicans won control of the House in last Tuesday’s election.
On Monday, the American Geophysical Union, the country’s largest association of climate scientists, plans to announce that 700 climate scientists have agreed to speak out as experts on questions about global warming and the role of man-made air pollution.
Some are prepared to go before what they consider potentially hostile audiences on conservative talk-radio and television shows.
John Abraham of St. Thomas University in Minnesota, who last May wrote a widely disseminated response to climate-change skeptics, is pulling together a “Climate Rapid Response Team,” which so far has more than three dozen leading scientists to defend the consensus on global warming in the scientific community. Some are also pulling together a handbook on the human causes of climate change, which they plan to start sending to U.S. high schools as early as this fall.
“This group feels strongly that science and politics can’t be divorced and that we need to take bold measures to not only communicate science but also to aggressively engage the denialists and politicians who attack climate science and its scientists,” said Scott Mandia, professor of physical sciences at Suffolk County Community College in New York.
“We are taking the fight to them because we are … tired of taking the hits. The notion that truth will prevail is not working. The truth has been out there for the past two decades, and nothing has changed.”
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Heh, that last sentence pretty well sums it up. Read the whole article here.
I find the phrase “climate rapid response team” a bit of an oxymoron. Given the speed of climate change, did they mean “weather response team”? 😉
Well it looks like I and many of my associates be traveling more. When these guys come to your town, demand some equal time to present the skeptic side of the story.
h/t to WUWT Reader “Craig” in tips and notes.
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John P. Abraham
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Associate Professor Email: jpabraham@stthomas.edu Phone: 651-962-5766 Toll Free: (800) 328-6819, Ext. 651-962-5766 Mail OSS101 2115 Summit Ave. St. Paul, MN 55105 Office Location: OSS 107 |
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Why 700 scientists? If their theory is right, one scientist would have been enough. It took only one scientist to prove E=MC2. LOL. Now now, wait a minute. I have re-read the report and it does not say ‘scientists’ but ‘researchers’. Does’nt it explain it all/ These 700 researchers are all riding the research gravy train and if CAGW dies the death, or better still has its life-support machine switched off, these researchers will all be unemployed. Poor kids, what a way to go?
Nay, it should be:
“Climate rabid response team”
: )
John
With JA as their leader, we can’t lose.
He’s way out of his depth, and the undertow has him in its grip.
The whining “pickin’ on me!” tone of the Warm-larmists is in response to what they’ve gotten hit with so far? What’s about to slam them will raise howls of agony.
Schadenfreude is such fun!
“Climate scientists plan campaign …”
When scientists “campaign”, that is your first indication that something is very, very wrong. Physics isn’t a democracy. The nature of things isn’t decided by how many believe that this or that is so. It is what it is.
So far the major failings of their “campaign” have been:
1. Failure of transparency in data and methods.
2. Reluctance to accept criticism when errors are pointed out.
3. Failure to show any atypical climate behavior (rate of change) in the current time relative to other periods in the Holocene.
4. Failure to show any atypical global temperatures (magnitude of change) in the current time relative to other periods in the Holocene or past interglacial periods.
5. Failure to show results consistent with observational data through dubious “adjustments” to the raw data that completely change trends in both sign and magnitude.
6. Failure to observe any of the predicted side effects of CO2 forced warming (e.g. mid-troposphere “hot spot”).
7. Repeated attempts to obfuscate methods and data, deceive, sidetrack, delay, and suppress any attempt to look into their work to include the social isolation or professional ostracizing of anyone looking with a critical eye at their work.
8. Coordination of propaganda among different “scientists” of a consistent theme and (written) evidence of conspiracy among them in coordinating that propaganda message.
9. Failure to maintain a consistent source of measurement stations over the course of the record with additions and deletions from the network contributing to a “warm bias” by eliminating wholesale the rural and high altitude stations.
10. Failure to show that today’s climate is in any way harmful to any one or any thing.
So, we have no evidence that today’s temperatures are unusual. We have no evidence that the rate of change in today’s temperatures are unusual, we have no evidence that the data used to present the current state of global climate is even accurate, we have manipulation in the network of reporting stations, we have manipulation of the data that completely changes the result (hey, whatever happened with that New Zealand case?) … and NOW they are going to embark on a “campaign”? It seems to me that they have been on a “campaign” for decades already. All that this “campaign” is doing is yet again attacking anyone who dares disagree with them.
It is a desperate act by desperate people.
@ur momisugly Alex the Sceptic. Wasn’t it a yiddish library clerk who did physics as a hobby, not a scientist, who discovered E=MC2 ? As I remember, the scientific consensus looked at his scruffy exercise books full of math equations and said, “this can’t be right, your maths is crap”. A group of scientists with nothing better to do reworked the math and said, ” Hey, this boy’s got something”, and Newton was knocked off his pedestal. All the great and good were so embarrassed that they allowed the library clerk to be called a scientist out of sheer self-defence. There’s a lesson somewhere in there for scientific consensuses everywhere, something along the lines of, “The science is never settled, there’s always a smartarse who will upset the applecart.” perhaps?
co2insanity says: “Now I’m going to have nightmares about scientists dressed in white lab-coats, bullet-proof vests with pocket-protectors and helmets on, kicking in the doors in Cancun to intimidate everyone into signing a climate agreement … ”
… Actually, there’s not going to be a single scientist of any description at Cancun. It’s just all politicians, media types, bankers, bureaucrats, regulators, and money movers. Says it all, really.
As for the 700 … I’ve a list of over 7,000 real scientists, engineers, Phds, and Masters saying the opposite, and they don’t have grants to protect. The clue is in the word “researchers” – as in their eternal cry; “we need MORE MONEY” for ‘climate research’.” Who’s the public going to believe?
CCX … good riddance.
Look at the notion of plate tectonics. Wegener’s idea were not accepted until 20 years after he died. If anyone should have been “campaigning” it should have been him. He, after all, was right. They laughed at his notion of continental drift at the time.
Time to write a letter.
Dear local radio station,
Just wanted to make you aware of this group of 700 scientists who are openly challenging skeptics to debate in conservative forums such as yours. Could you please contact them and get some of them on the air as soon as possible? Act now because my understanding is that there are only 39 left of the original 700 and no one knows where the others have gone. If you could have someone knowledgeable from the skeptic side at the same time, I think that would be wonderful. I have a list of questions that I would be happy to submit in advance if that would be helpfull. We could start by getting an explanation of how 7 trees in Siberia represent the climate of the earth over 1,000 years, there must be some serious science in that. Then perhaps we could ask how tree rings have been no where near the thermometer record in the last 50 years, but we are certain that they were accurate for the 9 centuries before there were thermometers to verify against, and then I would like to know…
Regards,
AndyOH’s comment about Templar Knights needs to be seriously considered by all of us concerned in getting reasonable debate and honesty on the AGW issue. !
Templar Knights still exist in some countries, and they are determined people.
One has only to look at the current dilemma in Germany with many thousands of believers of stopping nuclear power production fuel being returned from the French reprocessing plant by blocking the railway lines, and so far the police are helpless without using undue force. This will get ugly as many AGW believers have similar warrior attitudes.
REMEMBER.. It was not long ago that the comment was posted “We know who you are, and where you live”. Barack Obama has the power to stop this issue going that far, but will he do so.! I think not..!! Al Gore would never forgive him.
“We are taking the fight to them because we are … tired of taking the hits. The notion that truth will prevail is not working. The truth has been out there for the past two decades, and nothing has changed.”>>
Huh? Say what? You picked up a hockey stick, brandished it about in a professional hockey league, and when you take a few body checks into the boards suddenly you are going to write a report and send it to the other team’s kids? You’re tired of being hit? If your science were solid it could take the hit, keep the puck, and put it on net. But your science never learned to skate, let alone stick handle the puck, and it was only a matter of time before the people in the stands figured out that the ticket prices went up because the guy skating on his ankles is demanding more money and the coach and general manager are dumb enough to pay it, plus your science wants an enforcer on the left wing so that they don’t have to take the hits and fight their own fights. Oh, and they only want to play against the other team’s kids.
On the truth side, yes it has been out there for two decades. But nothing’s changed? Let’s see. Hockey stick graph, debunked. Positive feedbacks, debunked. Tipping point, debunked. Polar bear extinction, debunked. Glacier extinction, debunked. Sea level rise, debunked. The truth is out there and as the invisible cloak unravels, even a child at some point has to snicker, point, and exclaim – the truth is the emperor is naked! And he skates on his ankles!
In other news, Obama says he’s going to find “other ways” of restricting CO2 since the newly elected house doesn’t seem to be afraid of science’s left wing enforcer. I note that in his career, Obama has never accomplished much except to create a great deal of hype and charisma to launch himself to yet a more prestigious position than the last one. Having become president of the USA, one wonders what his next move is, and what “other ways” means. Is he going for a job at the UN? Look out Ban Ki Moon, soneone wants your job. (And I’m good with that as long as he accomplishes as much at the UN as he has in the rest of his career).
“The notion that truth will prevail is not working.”
Oh dear! The facts are not supporting the CAGW theory, public support for mitigation is falling to lower and lower levels and our quiet sun is dealing a death-blow to the idea that increases of a few ppm of CO2 will fry the world.
The true believers in who earn their income from CAGW now want the debate to be reopened without new evidence. Feather dusters at dawn, anyone?
Michael in Sydney says:
November 8, 2010 at 12:03 am
“Looks like a good member of the team – has the same [/snip] eating grin as Mann’s mug shot.”
Another top quality post in what is ostensibly science blog. Well done sir.
[REPLY: Kind of hard to encourage folks to let their kids read WUWT, learn from content here, etc… if we get to spicey with language… bl57~mod]
“Some are also pulling together a handbook on the human causes of climate change, which they plan to start sending to U.S. high schools as early as this fall.”
Who is paying?
What clever folk. This story, the one most will remember, simply says that “The American Geophysical Union plans to announce Monday that 700 researchers have agreed to speak out on the issue.”
700 sounds impressive, if one is impressed by such numbers. Much better than 39. But from a November 8 story:
“In the week that Abraham and others have been marshaling the team, 39 scientists agreed to participate…”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-na-climate-scientists-20101108,0,3784003.story
So… they plan to announce this as a fact just as soon as they round up another 661 comrades, if that ever happens. Its yet another convenient projection. And in the meantime this 700 story is out there in the ‘news’ stream, fooling some of the people.
How did Abraham’s last attempt at influencing people end up? His recent attempt was a less than spectacular success. Last I heard in the story Chris Monckton was threatening him with all sorts of unpleasant legal stuff…and a book.
Does anyone have a later instalment of this gripping drama? Or should Abraham just expect His Honour Lord M to be waiting at his first public appearance? With considerable malice aforethought. Can I buy a ticket now please?
With apologies to Edward Lorenz…
Does the flap of a climate scientist gums in Minnesota set off a tornado in Washington?
<blockquote cite="DirkH says:
November 7, 2010 at 4:23 pm
……..Abraham: NOBODY expects the Climate rapid response team! Our chief weapon is surprise…surprise and fear…fear and surprise…. Our two weapons are fear and surprise…and ruthless efficiency….
kadaka (KD Knoebel) says:
November 7, 2010 at 6:40 pm
……..No one expects the Climate Inquisition!
TomRude says:
November 7, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Someone post this one, please:
Oh, thank you God! – this is sublime comedy.
Even better than “Climate Hawks (Dodos)”.
I’ve been weeping into my coffee all morning.
“Nobody Expects The Climate Inquisition!” has got to be their best move since Splattergate.
A few years ago a poster on this blog said the AGWers will have lost their cause when two things happen. The climate refuses to warm to a tipping point and, the AGWers are publically ridiculed. That time has about arrived.
As I have said all along, we are fighting the climate war.
Tim says “Another top quality post in what is ostensibly science blog. Well done sir.”
My apologies for the language – I agree it is uncalled for and writtern in a moment of haste.
Perhaps those with opposing views can drop the more offensive term of “denialists” etc as used by John Abraham in what is ostensibly a science debate – or is it not?
[REPLY: Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. You are correct regarding the other matter. Disparaging labels ‘should’ be left out of intelligent conversation lest it no longer be. .. .bl57~mod]
Latimer Alder says:
November 8, 2010 at 2:07 am
“How did Abraham’s last attempt at influencing people end up? His recent attempt was a less than spectacular success. Last I heard in the story Chris Monckton was threatening him with all sorts of unpleasant legal stuff…and a book. ”
Monkton threatens…as far as I’m aware, he has yet to file a libel case against Abraham. A book is much more likely.
Stop it rednecks, and stop it puppets for oil companies.
Scientists do not do science because of funding nor do they engage the public because of the threat of cutting funding. It is not the way it works. Study the history of science.
It is a history of curiosity and anti-establishment thinking.
In the present day, scientists are far beyond Your level of intelligence – they would be the last people to ever be fooled by a conspiracy to establish one world government or whatever You dim-wits believe their motivation is.
Compare their achivements with Yours and develop some respect. Not everybody is motivated by base greed and ignorance like You are. By the way, how does it feel to be fooled to support the same people who supress You in health care and finance? Hard to admit is it not?
REPLY: And once again “truth” and insults are hurled by a person too cowardly to put his/her name to their own words. Some class act. – Anthony
scott ramsdell says:
November 7, 2010 at 6:46 pm
700 “climate scientists” vs. 1 Lord Monckton
Bets?
****************************
Lord Monckton is a gentleman and as such knows that it is the height of bad manners to engage in a battle of wits with someone who is obviously unarmed!
In good ol’ days, them charlatans would be tared and feathered.
Sounds like a job for Rapid Climate Repair Man.