Members quitting the American Meteorological Society over stance on climate

This can’t be good:

It gets worse:

h/t to Steve Milloy

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June 21, 2013 12:22 pm

When the walls – come crumbling down…. ~John Cougar

Andrew
June 21, 2013 12:25 pm

If only there were more like him

June 21, 2013 12:26 pm

Not all is lost. Some scientists are not corrupt.
The AMS saves face!

Roy UK
June 21, 2013 12:35 pm

I just followed the twitter link. I think I need a shower…
Do people actually believe this sh!t??? eg: Black Forest Fire most destructive in Colorado history- 360 homes lost & no containment this posted with the hashtag climate, by a member climatereality they should be ashamed of themselves.
PS I did not link to the tweet itself because I did not want to give it any publicity.

profitup10
June 21, 2013 12:36 pm

We can end GRANT SCIENCE by making the Federal government small,weak and limited – take away income tax money as proposed in this Project to Restore Liberty and States rights.
http://articlevprojecttorestoreliberty.com/article-v—group-overview-and-proposal.html

June 21, 2013 12:38 pm

The truth will prevail

MarkW
June 21, 2013 12:39 pm

The Black Forest fire was destructive because of where it was. Right on the outskirts of Colorado Springs. One report that I saw stated that there are over 12,000 homes in that area. That over 500 of those homes burned is a tragedy, but not a surprise. It isn’t even the largest fire so far this year in terms of total acres burned. It’s just that most fires burn where there are few houses.

Janice Moore
June 21, 2013 12:41 pm

Way to go, Science Heroes for Truth!
You are heroes in the spirit of Hal Lewis:
“Harold Lewis is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Here is his letter of resignation to Curtis G. Callan Jr, Princeton University, President of the American Physical Society.
Anthony Watts describes it thus [http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/10/16/hal-lewis-my-resignation-from-the-american-physical-society/]:

This is an important moment in science history. I would describe it as a letter on the scale of Martin Luther, nailing his 95 theses to the Wittenburg church door. It is worthy of repeating this letter in entirety on every blog that discusses science.
It’s so utterly damning that I’m going to run it in full without further comment. (H/T GWPF, Richard Brearley).

Dear Curt:
When I first joined the American Physical Society sixty-seven years ago it was much smaller, much gentler, and as yet uncorrupted by the money flood (a threat against which Dwight Eisenhower warned a half-century ago). Indeed, the choice of physics as a profession was then a guarantor of a life of poverty and abstinence—it was World War II that changed all that. The prospect of worldly gain drove few physicists. As recently as thirty-five years ago, when I chaired the first APS study of a contentious social/scientific issue, The Reactor Safety Study, though there were zealots aplenty on the outside there was no hint of inordinate pressure on us as physicists. We were therefore able to produce what I believe was and is an honest appraisal of the situation at that time. We were further enabled by the presence of an oversight committee consisting of Pief Panofsky, Vicki Weisskopf, and Hans Bethe, all towering physicists beyond reproach. I was proud of what we did in a charged atmosphere. In the end the oversight committee, in its report to the APS President, noted the complete independence in which we did the job, and predicted that the report would be attacked from both sides. What greater tribute could there be?
How different it is now. The giants no longer walk the earth, and the money flood has become the raison d’être of much physics research, the vital sustenance of much more, and it provides the support for untold numbers of professional jobs. For reasons that will soon become clear my former pride at being an APS Fellow all these years has been turned into shame, and I am forced, with no pleasure at all, to offer you my resignation from the Society.
It is of course, the global warming scam, with the (literally) trillions of dollars driving it, that has corrupted so many scientists, and has carried APS before it like a rogue wave. It is the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist. Anyone who has the faintest doubt that this is so should force himself to read the ClimateGate documents, which lay it bare. (Montford’s book organizes the facts very well.) I don’t believe that any real physicist, nay scientist, can read that stuff without revulsion. I would almost make that revulsion a definition of the word scientist.
So what has the APS, as an organization, done in the face of this challenge? It has accepted the corruption as the norm, and gone along with it. For example:
1. About a year ago a few of us sent an e-mail on the subject to a fraction of the membership. APS ignored the issues, but the then President immediately launched a hostile investigation of where we got the e-mail addresses. In its better days, APS used to encourage discussion of important issues, and indeed the Constitution cites that as its principal purpose. No more. Everything that has been done in the last year has been designed to silence debate.
2. The appallingly tendentious APS statement on Climate Change was apparently written in a hurry by a few people over lunch, and is certainly not representative of the talents of APS members as I have long known them. So a few of us petitioned the Council to reconsider it. One of the outstanding marks of (in)distinction in the Statement was the poison word incontrovertible, which describes few items in physics, certainly not this one. In response APS appointed a secret committee that never met, never troubled to speak to any skeptics, yet endorsed the Statement in its entirety. (They did admit that the tone was a bit strong, but amazingly kept the poison word incontrovertible to describe the evidence, a position supported by no one.) In the end, the Council kept the original statement, word for word, but approved a far longer “explanatory” screed, admitting that there were uncertainties, but brushing them aside to give blanket approval to the original. The original Statement, which still stands as the APS position, also contains what I consider pompous and asinine advice to all world governments, as if the APS were master of the universe. It is not, and I am embarrassed that our leaders seem to think it is. This is not fun and games, these are serious matters involving vast fractions of our national substance, and the reputation of the Society as a scientific society is at stake.
3. In the interim the ClimateGate scandal broke into the news, and the machinations of the principal alarmists were revealed to the world. It was a fraud on a scale I have never seen, and I lack the words to describe its enormity. Effect on the APS position: none. None at all. This is not science; other forces are at work.
4. So a few of us tried to bring science into the act (that is, after all, the alleged and historic purpose of APS), and collected the necessary 200+ signatures to bring to the Council a proposal for a Topical Group on Climate Science, thinking that open discussion of the scientific issues, in the best tradition of physics, would be beneficial to all, and also a contribution to the nation. I might note that it was not easy to collect the signatures, since you denied us the use of the APS membership list. We conformed in every way with the requirements of the APS Constitution, and described in great detail what we had in mind—simply to bring the subject into the open.
5. To our amazement, Constitution be damned, you declined to accept our petition, but instead used your own control of the mailing list to run a poll on the members’ interest in a TG on Climate and the Environment. You did ask the members if they would sign a petition to form a TG on your yet-to-be-defined subject, but provided no petition, and got lots of affirmative responses. (If you had asked about sex you would have gotten more expressions of interest.) There was of course no such petition or proposal, and you have now dropped the Environment part, so the whole matter is moot. (Any lawyer will tell you that you cannot collect signatures on a vague petition, and then fill in whatever you like.) The entire purpose of this exercise was to avoid your constitutional responsibility to take our petition to the Council.
6. As of now you have formed still another secret and stacked committee to organize your own TG, simply ignoring our lawful petition. APS management has gamed the problem from the beginning, to suppress serious conversation about the merits of the climate change claims. Do you wonder that I have lost confidence in the organization?
I do feel the need to add one note, and this is conjecture, since it is always risky to discuss other people’s motives. This scheming at APS HQ is so bizarre that there cannot be a simple explanation for it. Some have held that the physicists of today are not as smart as they used to be, but I don’t think that is an issue. I think it is the money, exactly what Eisenhower warned about a half-century ago. There are indeed trillions of dollars involved, to say nothing of the fame and glory (and frequent trips to exotic islands) that go with being a member of the club. Your own Physics Department (of which you are chairman) would lose millions a year if the global warming bubble burst. When Penn State absolved Mike Mann of wrongdoing, and the University of East Anglia did the same for Phil Jones, they cannot have been unaware of the financial penalty for doing otherwise. As the old saying goes, you don’t have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. Since I am no philosopher, I’m not going to explore at just which point enlightened self-interest crosses the line into corruption, but a careful reading of the ClimateGate releases makes it clear that this is not an academic question.
I want no part of it, so please accept my resignation. APS no longer represents me, but I hope we are still friends.
Hal
Harold Lewis [was] Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, former Chairman; Former member Defense Science Board, chmn of Technology panel; Chairman DSB study on Nuclear Winter; Former member Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Former member, President’s Nuclear Safety Oversight Committee; Chairman APS study on Nuclear Reactor Safety; Chairman Risk Assessment Review Group; Co-founder and former Chairman of JASON; Former member USAF Scientific Advisory Board; Served in US Navy in WW II; books: Technological Risk (about, surprise, technological risk) and Why Flip a Coin (about decision making).”
[By James Delingpole – London Telegraph – Last updated: October 9th, 2010]

June 21, 2013 12:41 pm

What is new is that they are just now speaking up. What the alarmists are doing they have been doing, but it is good to see others now standing up for their integrity.

Roy UK
June 21, 2013 12:43 pm

I am sorry I was a bit hasty. I apologise to anyone affected by the fires, and if it is indeed the worst ever I apologise again.
However h**p://thinkprogress.org/climate/ are linking this event to climate change, and I do not think this is right or proper. I apologise again if I seemed insensitive about this issue.

Reply to  Roy UK
June 21, 2013 1:08 pm

@Roy UK – no apology necessary. It is not the worst. The fire of 1898 burned a lot more acreage. This one burned more houses, but then there are a lot more people living there today than in 1898.

Justthinkin
June 21, 2013 12:51 pm

HEY…teacher…leave those kids alone
Making love out of nothing at all
Hey,hey,hey, good bye. Nah nahnahnahnahnah,goood bye.
(with apologies to Pink Floyd,Meat Loaf, and Queen)

wws
June 21, 2013 12:54 pm

There’s no difference between this and some fundamentalist linking the fires to the Wrath of God for our wicked ways. There’s just as much evidence for one as for the other. (Especially if you consider using carbon based fuels to be “wicked”)

MarkW
June 21, 2013 1:12 pm

Roy UK says:
June 21, 2013 at 12:43 pm
The problem is how do you define “worst”. If it’s in terms of acres burnt. It’s not even close, there was a fire back in the 30’s that was close to 100 times bigger. If it’s terms of damage to property, it is definitely the worst, by a significant margin. But as I pointed out, that is entirely a function of where it burned. Much like the problem of hurricanes becoming more expensive. It’s not that hurricanes are bigger or more powerfull, it’s just that there is more stuff in the way compared to years ago.

June 21, 2013 1:14 pm

Greater than 50% of Meteorologists don’t buy the AGW scam. So it’s a puzzle that the American Meteorological Society’s position doesn’t reflect this. Funny how it’s meteorologists that know that weather isn’t climate, while it’s climatologists that keep trying to insist weather (as hurricanes etc) is climate.
The Economist has another great piece of agw titled “A Cooling Consensus.” Here we have this liberal MSM publication, as so many others now, puzzling over the slowdown in warming or the “warming plateau.” Climatologists have been trying to run a diversion play by changing the name of their crisis from global warming to climate change, and by talking always about the weather, not about the temperature, or their failing models. Meteorologists know better. They know that the weather is just as its always been. There’s nothing wrong with the climate.
[and I fixed this one for you too, please learn how to use HTML features – mod]

Bruce Cobb
June 21, 2013 1:20 pm

Their recent policy statement regarding climate science being “the core to science education” is an eye-opener.
It is blatantly anti-scientific syrup of IPeCaC-flavored propaganda.
I’m surprised they’re not leaving in droves.

Stephen Parr
June 21, 2013 1:21 pm

It’s why I haven’t become a member of the AMS. I am a member of the NWA and prefer their approach to the topic.

June 21, 2013 1:25 pm

Re the Colorado wildfires:
“Despite the recent wildfire activity, the nation’s year-to-date burned area–0.49 million acres by June 17–was just 29% of the 10-year average.”. — source: USDA Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin dated 06.18.2013 at page 3. (USDA is United States Department of Agriculture)
I have No comment on the wisdom of fire management practices, regulations on brush clearances from homes, or building flammable structures in fire-prone areas. I live in an area that is subject to earthquakes, tsunamis, radiation poisoning from nuclear power plant rupture and meltdown, wildfires, torrential rains and flooding, and mudslides. I live in Southern California.

dp
June 21, 2013 1:27 pm

The Hayman fire was worse in terms of lost life – the only metric that should matter. It was also far more scorched acreage than the current blaze. I was staying at a “dude” ranch 5 miles south of the initial blaze and watched the the first wave of aircraft make drop after drop. It was futile and the fire burned nearly 140,000 acres. We were all on short notice to get out fast if the wind changed direction. Doesn’t matter in the long run what is or isn’t the worst – wildfire isn’t a contest.
Congratulations to those who have voted with their feet to leave the AMS.

jai mitchell
June 21, 2013 1:32 pm

Only 14,000 more members to go.
http://ametsoc.org/MEMB/
Apparently they had a problem with this:
http://www.ametsoc.org/policy/2012climatechange.html
There is unequivocal evidence that Earth’s lower atmosphere, ocean, and land surface are warming; sea level is rising; and snow cover, mountain glaciers, and Arctic sea ice are shrinking. The dominant cause of the warming since the 1950s is human activities.
———–
This happens to be the position of :
American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America
American Geophysical Union
US National Research Council[
American Chemical Society[48]
American Institute of Physics[49]
American Physical Society[50]
Australian Institute of Physics[51]
European Physical Society[52]
American Astronomical Society[90]
American Statistical Association[91]
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The Royal Society of the United Kingdom
Royal Society of New Zealand
Geological Society of London
Geological Society of America
European Geosciences Union
European Federation of Geologists
United States National Research Council
International Union for Quaternary Research
American Quaternary Association
World Meteorological Organization
Royal Meteorological Society (UK)
Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences
Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies
European Science Foundation
European Academy of Sciences and Arts
Engineers Australia (The Institution of Engineers Australia)[92]
International Association for Great Lakes Research[93]
Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand[94]
American Academy of Pediatrics[82]
African Academy of Sciences
American College of Preventive Medicine[83]
American Medical Association[84]
American Public Health Association[85]
Australian Medical Association in 2004[86] and in 2008[87]
World Federation of Public Health Associations[88]
World Health Organization[89]
American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians[72]
American Institute of Biological Sciences
In October 2009, the leaders of 18 US scientific societies and organizations sent an open letter to the United States Senate reaffirming the scientific consensus that climate change is occurring and is primarily caused by human activities. The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) adopted this letter as their official position statement:[73][74]The letter goes on to warn of predicted impacts on the United States such as sea level rise and increases in extreme weather events, water scarcity, heat waves, wildfires, and the disturbance of biological systems. It then advocates for a dramatic reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases.[75]American Society for Microbiology[76]
Australian Coral Reef Society[77]
Institute of Biology (UK)[78]
Society of American Foresters issued two position statements pertaining to climate change in which they cite the IPCC[79] and the UNFCCC.[80]
The Wildlife Society (international)[81]
National Association of Geoscience Teachers
International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
International Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences (CAETS)
InterAcademy Council
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change
—————————
But I am sure that the hundreds of thousands of scientists and members of these professional societies are all just in it for the research grant money. . .

profitup10
Reply to  jai mitchell
June 21, 2013 1:50 pm

Now compare the list of organizations and Universities posted above that are true believes of AGW – Now go to the Government financial records of GRANTS and the lists will be remarkably similar – – it is about POLITICS of power and control of the citizens. These imitation scientists are nothing but PROSTITUTES they sell their wares for a few dollars more.
Take the money away from the Government and they will all return to honest endeavors and here is how the money is removed from the equation.
http://articlevprojecttorestoreliberty.com/article-v—group-overview-and-proposal.html

Reply to  jai mitchell
June 21, 2013 6:09 pm

#Jai – I do not ask my Gastro intestinal doctor to diagnose my car problems. So why would anyone but a fool ask the AMA about AGW?
But then maybe they are just in it for the pile on effect.

Warrick
June 21, 2013 1:39 pm

Why has it taken them so long and how can this not be good? To my mind, no evidence for GW or any of its more recent acronyms and obfuscations existed in the 1990s when I was reading the excellent articles posted by the late John Daly on his Waiting for Greenhouse website.

auto
June 21, 2013 1:53 pm

jai mitchell says:
June 21, 2013 at 1:32 pm
Follow the money . . .
Or – is it follow the fashion?
But the latter is a simulacrum of the former.
And doesn’t explain why data seems to have been adjusted; weather stations (away from tarmac) have been closed – in their hundreds and thousands; ad hominem attacks have been made on ‘sceptics’; every attempt is made at allowing governments – and supra-governmental bodies – to have more control over our lives; and why there has ben no statistically significant warming for fifteen [or more] years (some series have that at twenty-plus . . . .
Even Ed Davey [a graduate in Politics, Philosophy and Economics] and a UK minister [Secretary of State for Energy Climate Change and Popcorn or something] can’t square the circle. He may have a 16 plus qualification in a science subject – if so, it’s not on his Wikipedia page [remember, Wikipedia is the fount of all trust and truth].
Yet weather [including temperature] is cyclic; there are daily cycles, annual cycles, and there appear to be longer cycles.
Are we on a down-swing on a sixty-year cycle? Or a longer cycle still?
If so, I bet millions of Americans will give praise to fracking.
Brits would too – if fracking gets past the watermelons . . . .
Auto, in a pessimistic mood.

Joe
June 21, 2013 1:54 pm

jai mitchell says:
June 21, 2013 at 1:32 pm
Look at my big consensus
———————————————————————————————————————–
Jai, when you grasp the very fundamental fact of science that “lots of believers doesn’t make it true” you might be worth listening to.

profitup10
Reply to  Joe
June 21, 2013 1:59 pm

There is no principle in Real Science for “CONSENSUS OF OPINIONS” – That silly notion is reserved for Politics which is where the MONEY is flowing from – I debated a NASA Ph.D for months before he finally was forced to admit that Consensus is not equal to a “PROOF” by peer review and that no peer review was ever possible as no one had the complete data sets that made up the Computer simulator . . GIGO . . is the correct term.

RobertInAz
June 21, 2013 2:02 pm

I am originally from the Pacific Northwest and was a long time resident of Colorado Springs. One of my so-workers lost his house. As a young man, some of my friends spent the summer cutting firebreak. Several from the church we attended lost their homes.
My heartfelt sympathy goes out to those who died and lost their homes.
That said – Black Forest was a disaster waiting to happen.

Steve in Seattle
June 21, 2013 2:09 pm

Jai M is in love with his Wiki list. He, like the other ecos’ thinks the surface impression is all that there is … such a shallow grasp, however, typical of the greens.
Perhaps he will add to his list, a date, showing when each organization took such position ?
Perhaps he will remove from such an update, all organizations that are composed of members in fields OTHER than geology, solar physics, and atmospheric scientists ?
Then, and ONLY then we can begin an intelligent discussion of this resultant list.
I am waiting …

June 21, 2013 2:11 pm

Not sure if this works or is allowed but I am sure Jai has a sense of humour:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384886688283231&set=a.130396740398895.21184.130307693741133&type=1&theater

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