During David Suzuki’s Q&A on Australian ABC-TV, and WUWT regular Bill Koutalianos puts the fruit fly guy on the spot. Video of the interview follows. Andrew Bolt writes:
David Suzuki proves he’s pig ignorant about global warming
The very first question put to David Suzuki on Q&A last night revealed this warming alarmist’s complete ignorance of the most basic facts of global warming.
Fancy Suzuki not even knowing what the world’s main temperature data sets say about global temperatures. Fancy him not even knowing what those data sets are, even when he is given their names.
The only rational response to Suzuki’s astonishing admission of utter ignorance would have been to say to him: “Sir, you are a phony and imposter. Get off the stage and don’t waste our time for a second longer.”
Read the exchange for yourself:
BILL KOUTALIANOS: Oh, hi. Since 1998 global temperatures have been relatively flat, yet many man-made global warming advocates refuse to acknowledge this simple fact. Has man-made global warming become a new religion in itself?
TONY JONES: David, go ahead.
DAVID SUZUKI: Yeah, well, I don’t know why you’re saying that. The ten hottest years on record, as I understand it, have been in this century. In fact, the warming continues. It may have slowed down but the warming continues and everybody is anticipating some kind of revelation in the next IPCC reports that are saying we got it wrong. As far as I understand, we haven’t. So where are you getting your information? I’m not a climatologist. I wait for the climatologists to tell us what they’re thinking.
TONY JONES: Do you want to respond to that, Bill?
BILL KOUTALIANOS: Sure, yeah. UAH, RSS, HadCRUT, GISS data shows a 17-year flat trend which suggests there may be something wrong with the Co2 warming theory?
DAVID SUZUKI: Sorry, yeah, what is the reference? I don’t…
BILL KOUTALIANOS: Well, they’re the main data sets that IPCC use: UAH, University of Alabama, Huntsville; GISS, Goddard Institute of Science; HadCRUT. I don’t know what that stands for, HadCRUT; and RSS, Remote Sensing something. So those data sets suggest a 17-year flat trend, which suggests there may be a problem with the Co2.
DAVID SUZUKI: No, well, there may be a climate sceptic down in Huntsville, Alabama, who has taken the data and come to that conclusion. I say, let’s wait for the IPCC report to come out and see what the vast bulk of scientists who have been involved in gathering this information will tell us.
See those data sets here.
Like I say, a complete know-nothing, citing false claims:
STEWART FRANKS: In an opinion piece last week you wrote that the Great Barrier Reef was threatened by the increasing frequency of cyclones. Everyone watching and listening can onto the Bureau of Meteorology’s website and see that there is no increase. In fact there has been a decline over the last 40 years and no increase in the severity. Are you not, by exaggerating…
DAVID SUZUKI: That I have to admit…
STEWART FRANKS: …or even just getting wrong, are you not actually vulnerable of actually undermining your very own aim in that, you know, the Great Barrier Reef does have environmental threat, but cyclones ain’t one of them?
DAVID SUZUKI: All right. That was one, I have to admit, that that was suggested to me by an Australian, and it is true, I mean, it may be a mistake. I don’t know.
Nor does David Suzuki know what the hell he’s on about when he’s fear-mongering about genetically modified crops:
DAVID SUZUKI: Well, I mean, that is always the argument that’s made. GMOs are very, very expensive. Now, the people that need this food are not going to be able to afford it. Are we going to just create these new crops and then give them away? I simply don’t believe that’s what’s going to happen. I don’t think it is a generosity for the rest of humanity that is driving this activity.
RICK ROUSH: Actually, we are. I mean, Bt corn technology has been given away to the Kenyan State Government research people for use for subsistence farmers. Monsanto gave away insect resistant potatoes in Mexico over 20 years ago. James is working on lots of similar cases. In cases where there is no economic return, it is, in fact, being given away and they’re not so difficult to develop. When I was at Cornell, we got a gene that was a gift from Monsanto for experimental purposes. We made broccoli plants that were resistant to attacks of Dimebag Moths. A student – one of our students made about 50 transformants in about six months. The great cost of these things are no longer the actual creation of the plant. It’s the regulatory challenges to take sure that you can take them to market, to do all that safety testing.
TONY JONES: Okay, Rick, well we’ll get a response to that and we’ll move on?
DAVID SUZUKI: Well, I don’t have any response. It sounds great. I don’t know.
How in God’s name could people take this man seriously?
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Kudos to Bill Koutalianos for asking a simple question. Simon at Australian Climate Madness has put the ABC video on YouTube:
Bolt has insulted pigs everywhere! I know pigs. Pigs are really smart animals.
The money quote for me was:
I’m sure John Christy is either laughing or crying about the reference to the UAH dataset …
w.
Well I am not a fan of the religion question in that type forum. We need to hit them with facts they cannot get away from. I thought the second set of questions was much better about the 17 years of no warming. That was far more powerful. It is one thing to rant about the religion of zealots in the warming camp in this forum, but not in a formal forum like that. Of course, just my opinion.
Maroon is an appropriate background color for Suzuki.
What a maroon!
Doesn’t the IPCC say basically the same thing as Suzuki said in his initial reply in the draft SPM you posted yesterday?
“Everyone is entitled to my opinion.
It’s OK if you disagree with me. I cannot force you to be right.”
As a Canadian it shames me to say that he regularly polls up here as the most trusted Canadian.
This doesn’t say much for the people here.
Well, I don’t have any response. It sounds great. I don’t know.
Sad.
Well done, Bill!
I like the part where he wants to jail anyone who challenges the dogma, visions of the old USSR…
Suzuki was caught out of his depth swimming in the deep end. No longer will he be able to just ‘shout forth’ his opinion and expect people to just nod as if what he says is canon. This is now a matter of global record…
I was actually glad this was on Q&A – it will do so much good for the science to see someone of Suzuki’s supposed standing being put straight on multiple issues. it demonstrates what true science is all about and that there is a lot more to this whole debate than meets the eye.
The real wizard of Oz is finally being revealed to the whole public… Amazed it got out in the form it did given its an ABC production.
“…and everybody is anticipating some kind of revelation”
He even uses religious language, like the IPCC is his oracle. Pull back the curtain, stoner, we’re not in Kansas anymore.
DAVID SUZUKI “:… I’m not a climatologist. I wait for the climatologists to tell us what they’re thinking.”
What he really means is:
“… I’m not a climatologist. I wait for the climatologists to tell us what we are supposed to be thinking.”
Absolutely stunned. I had no idea such an ardent proponent of AGW has so little knowledge of the subject. Why would he appear and speak on it?
The UAH quote is priceless.
What seems to be going on is that the alarmists are getting pushed out of the climate science community. At one time they were a good thing, they raised awareness and got the politicians to put more money into the field. Those days are gone, now they’re a disservice to climate science and the climate scientists are letting them twist in the wind. Letting them publicly show themselves to be as stupid as a scarecrow is most of how this is done.
“Willful blindness” should be jailed Be careful what you wish for David Suzuki. .
I also liked the part were at one point he said we need to go with the authority on the subject, the IPCC, then later claims the IPCC will be too “conservative”. Clearly the True Believers are having a hard time of it. Dont expect to see Suzuki ever do one of these again.
‘DAVID SUZUKI: No, well, there may be a climate sceptic down in Huntsville, Alabama, who has taken the data and come to that conclusion.’
Sure, go ahead and slam little ol’ Huntsville, Alabama. But, perhaps, it’s still the land of von Braun, et al., where people still operate via the scientific method.
What a schmuck…
Dr. Suzuki is being misleading in his altered perspective retorts in order to evade the questions as those are asked.
Suzuki’s retorts pertain to decadal averages, not yearly averages nor day-by-day nor hour-by-hour averages.
Yes, Decadal average, “hide the decline” and force it “in” the public.
This, I gather, is what the IPCC will vomit in a few days and much worse.
I’m happy that Pachauri has written his desire to leave the organization, though I would say not soon enough and his troubles could be multiplying on departure from several governmental agencies for his activities as Chair (simultaneous with his other governmental and non-governmental agencies payed (simultaneous) duties). Ah, a good job for a squadron of accountants with ties to the Legal Affairs Department. [Remember, Al Capone was convicted on “Income Tax” evasion.]
In order for the future IPCC to avoid international fraud and embezzlement charges [and convictions] the organization need to avoid hires like Pachauri or Suzuki.
The “Rest In Peace” do want to but I see “Hell To Pay.”
🙂
“How in God’s name could people take this man seriously?”
Because sheeple and LIVs like living in a cult,with a cult figure. As a Canuk,I apologize to the rest of the world for this fool. He is from the leftard coast though(BC),which explains much of his followers problems with reality. I disappointed that it wasn’t asked how he figures his four mansions are helping climate change.
David was checkmated on GMO discussion. Need that kind of expertise to challenge him on the climate discussion.
Dr. Suzuki is simply taking the word of the IPCC and Climatologists that global warming is a serious problem. He is a zoologist and not a climatologist. Regardless, because he is a scientist and has a lot of respect as a scientist, and is well known and influential, when he suggests that global warming is a serious problem, people listen. This is how life is. People are gullible and accept those in authority at their word. It is easier to do that, than do the research yourself.
Andrew Bolt’s “pig ignorant” insult was uncalled for.
I served with pigs. I knew pigs. Pigs were friends of mine. Mr. Suzuki, you are no pig.
WAY TO GO, BILL!
You do Australia proud.
I prefer the other D T Suzuki. That one is actually knowledgable in his field.
Does any one else find it strange that a champion of CAGW is clueless about the major temperature series compilations?
The “I’m and idiot and I dont know what I am championing” came through loud and clear.
as I posted on Jo Nova’s site….please keep him…we don’t want him back…
We have been force-fed a diet of fruit fly here in Canuckistan for forty-plus years. His show, “The Nature of Things”, started off as an interesting look into the natural world, with Suzuki acting as affable host. The affability had cracks, through which seeped a simmering dross of nascent environmental alarmism. Uncle Dave’s misanthropy seeped through as well, diluted somewhat by his sciency facade. Years hence, his full-on hate of humanity is on display, with his public drubbing of everything. The scientific content vanished, replaced by emotional; outbursts in front of frightened school kids and cozying up to the bizarre self-designation of “Elder” bestowed upon him by his ‘charitable’ foundation, which to this day dodges the rule from the Canada Revenue Agency about remaining politically neutral. My personal experience was to be doused with a fusillade of potty mouth from Dave after I nearly ran him over while he jaywalked across 4th Ave in Vancouver. Had to tell that story. Through it all, he became lazy, and has become a legend in his own mind. He is a relative has-been in Canada now, people are sick of his foolishness. So now, riding on that lofty reputation, he runs into a brick wall of facts in an Australia newly distancing itself from the climate kooks.
Just like Tim Flannery, I might add, who is scheduled to give a lecture on green things in Calgary in a few weeks. I wish I could attend, to help strip off the flab of his free ride.
Notice that both today and yesterday we had the same argument given about the temperature. It’s the one that says that we have had the hottest ten years on record in this century. Yesterday Gore used it. Today Suzuki used it. It was provided for them by James Hansen, and it is the fallback position for every warmer that is asked about the flat spell. And they pretend that the statement proves that the temperature is still rising. But it is clearly a case of false logic. If I climb a set of stairs and reach the top floor, then every step that I take on the top floor will be higher than any step that I took coming up the stairs. But it does not mean that I am still going up.
Such an anti-scientific attitude…belief over knowledge! He used to be a decent (not great, but ok) geneticist. Then he got into the business of “shaping” the beliefs of several generations of kids through his science shows. But this interview exposes a basic lack of curiosity that should disqualify him from espousing on any topic without being fully vetted in advance.
My attitude about trying to understand the AGW arguments is nicely summed up by the following from “The Notebooks of Lazarus Long” section of Robert Heinlein’s Time Enough for Love:
“What are the facts? Again and again and again — what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what “the stars foretell,” avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable “verdict of history” — what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!”
Obviously not always that easy to find the facts in the face of temperature smoothing and adjustments, but it’s necessary to understand the arguments from their basic underpinnings to have any hope of comprehending the topic. Dr. Suzuki apparently fails to understand the very foundational data. Amazingly, he swallows the talking points (hottest decade ever!) without question. Science=skepticism, or as Feynman famously put it, “belief in the ignorance of experts.”
“Bolt has insulted pigs everywhere! I know pigs. Pigs are really smart animals.”
Love it, Brian.
I am starting to feel sorry for the warmists. Is there no one who can speak intelligently for the group? David Suzuki just made Al Gore look smart!
(Ha, ha, ha . . . just kidding.)
Dr. Burns, I’m glad you quoted Brian, for it elicited this:
IN DEFENSE OF THE SELF-RESPECT OF PIGS EVERYWHERE:
What an embarrassment this fool is to Canada, but I too think that the Bolter has been a little hard on pigs.
But Suzuki’s mind boggling stupidity is indeed difficult to understand. His lack of interest in the data sets and lack of knowledge of them is almost beyond belief.
My friends and I have little formal education but try and keep up by reading the better blogs and regularly look at the temp records.
Reuters Point Carbon provides the news:
“Private donors relaunch Australian climate body govt had closed 24 Sep 2013 10:28 BANGKOK, Sept 24 (Reuters Point Carbon) – A climate science advisory body shut down by the Australian government last week has been relaunched, relying on private donations, former climate commissioner Tim Flannery told ABC television on Tuesday.”
Private donations… the scam cannot die and now the private interests that were conveniently hidden behind the climate bureaucracy are forced to come out of the closet… The same happened in Canada after Vivian Krause exposed the forces behind the Vancouver Mayor Greg Robertson and Suzuki…
“David Suzuki just made Al Gore look smart!” (Jim Clarke) — lol
Here they are, the Climate Buddies are on their way….
Oh man Suzuki! This is the guy that said that because there’s carbon in windshields, that’s why your car gets hot inside when the sun is out. I can’t even make that up.
Let him talk, I say. Just not where he or his handlers control the “edit button”.
I have to suppress the nausea of having this man and his foundation do all they can to marginalize my father for all these years. No wonder they fear my dad. As suspected, Suzuki is absolutely clueless, and not just in one field.
On top of that, my parents are the most eco-friendly people of anyone I know. Take that, Suzuki you carbon Sasquatch!!
@ David Ball — sounds like you have a hero for a dad. Tell him, thank you, please.
Have fun snowboarding with your kids (don’t tell me you guys ski?!). “At least my kids will know what snow looks like,” (you the other day) — lol.
DAVID SUZUKI: Well, I don’t have any response. It sounds great. I don’t know.
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actually, this response seems quite reasonable.
I’m tempted to comment… in fact, hey, I am commenting…
But Suzuki, one of the dimmest bulbs in Canada, is just too easy. So I don’t even need to.
Like Suzuki, Patchauri also just claimed that because “x of the warmest years were since 2000,” warming must be continuing apace. Idiots don’t know the difference between level and trend.
And Suzuki finished talking about traditional cultures and how a river has rights and that is the reason the company is fixing it. The river does not need rights to sue or charge a company with environmental vandalism. Traditional societies are the most unscientific of all – they are at the opposite end of the spectrum of science through to complete bullshit. Suzuki did not put up a good show on QandA, and he was shown up to be an ignorant idealistic bullshitter himself. It is a pity, because he does know stuff, but clearly not climate stuff (or GM stuff for which he should know given he did genetics). He is now old, idealistic and out of touch with science, having been sucked into the idealistic hype of how traditional societies had it right. Sorry, we cannot go back there ever again and we never will. Or let’s go back there and rape and steal women from neighboring tribes; leave one of twins to die, kill of babies born to young Mother’s; suffer from malnutrition when drought etc affects their ability to gather and hunt.
I avoid watching Q&A on communist ABC – it is bad for my mental well-being. Instead, I follow CatallaxyFiles blog (administered by Sinclair Davidson) which has a thread devoted to each show. Far more entertaining. For the Suzuki episode: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2013/09/23/qa-tonight/
Please note: thread usually contains foul language.
Rattus Norvegicus says:
Doesn’t the IPCC say basically the same thing as Suzuki said in his initial reply in the draft SPM you posted yesterday?
Yes. Same dishonest “talking point” response to the inconvenience of the truth. Recently repeated by the IPCC’s romance novelist in chief, in direct contradiction of his earlier admission that reaility isn’t complying with the party line.
I think Koutalianos did a good jub, but I have one niggle: he said “So those data sets suggest a 17-year flat trend,…” Why not use the verb “demonstrate” or “show”.
The weasel word “suggest” is used more and more to avoid refutation of the warmists’ predictions.
Newton did not “suggest” that F=ma; he made an outright claim. If wrong, F=ma would have been demolished binned and disposed of as all bad science must be.
What an astonishing piece of television. Has to go down as one of the strangest things I have seen. I watched it live and nearly fell off my chair at Suzuki’s response to the first question. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who knew less about the subject.
The future’s looking brighter–science advances one funeral at a time.
Some just take waaaay too long.
Do you think Suzuki will give it some thought now? Do you think he might go home and… oh, I don’t know, maybe look some stuff up? Do you think he might begin to wonder if he has gone down the right road on all this…?
I know. Not likely. But if he’s worth his salt, he’ll do exactly that and then he’ll have the other side of the coin to be really passionate about. He might even think it A Good Thing to jail the con-artists.
His $30,000 fees are going to dry up fast unless he gets his act together. This is out of the bag now.
The ten hottest years on record, as I understand it, have been in this century.
I just a bit agocommented on this warmest decade meme, in that instance courtesy of Mr. Pachauri. Rather than go through the whole exercise again, here’s the climax. Token alarmist, circa 1950:
Each of the last three decades has been warmer than all preceding decades since 1850 and the decade of 1940 to 1950 has been the warmest on record.
As long as they keep regurgitating the warmist “warmest decade” talking point, I shall counter it, so long as I am allowed of course. The simple fact though is they just can’t let it go. As Mr. Koutalianos noted skillfully under the guise of a question, it is a new religion. That’s no revelation to those throughout these threads but this sad exchange could certainly open the eyes of many a fence-sitter. Then again, Mr. Suzuki tried to deflect the blow with an epic hand wave as he retreated to his ivory tower of cards:
So where are you getting your information? I’m not a climatologist. I wait for the climatologists to tell us what they’re thinking.
He cedes his own authority on the matter, but chastises the blasphemer with an appeal to authority that does prove utterly, religiously dogmatic. Pathetic.
I just watched a Sun News Media News provocateur, Ezra Levant shred Suzuki,,,OUCH
Suzuki is such a has-been and a creep and a corporate lobbyist all the things he says he hates..
what a f’n hypocrite.
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/2688685375001
Oldie from the Goldie says:
Bob Tisdale says;
Maroon is an appropriate background color for Suzuki.
What a maroon!
Hang about there Bob, the “Mighty Maroons” are the Queensland Ruby League team and they are pretty good having beaten the New South Wales “Blues” for eight series in a row.
However, the only Suzuki they would know is the one they drive.
Good for you to defend the Mighty Maroons, Mr. Balderson,
but, here’s Bugs Bunny talking about Suzuki (not the motorcycle, heh)
Look, the discussions about GMOs is primarily about the dangers of a small number of MNCs gaining entire control over the world’s seeds. Every GMO is sterile, so you are dependent on the supplier if they wipe out biodiversity for short-term capitalist gain.
Any numpty knows that in-breeding leads to disaster and biodiversity is the key to long term health of life on earth.
As for ‘improvements’, well if they really do improve things then the trials will be designed, conducted and audited by independent bodies, not the Monsantos of this world. Any numpty knows that Pharma companies, GM crop companies etc etc distort trial data in their own favour. It’s happened for years and it gives them a bad name. So outsourcing the key trials is the way to bring the right things to market.
GM shouldn’t come to market unless it solves a human need safely. The shareholders’ avarice is not a human need. They get rewarded if, and only if, their company solves a human need safely.
In many cases conventional breeding programmes are more suitable. It’s not saying GM has no future, it’s saying that Monsanto doesn’t control the global debate, nor the global research. If you say it should, you’re declaring Monsanto to be the IPCC of the GM World, which I’m sure you would all laugh out of court.
Won’t you???
Token alarmist, circa 1950:
What a fantastic find !! Thanks for putting that out for all to see here galileonardo. And two decades later the same alarmist ‘climatologists’ were chanting a small ice-age is upon us, fear… dread… they are unbelievable.
Next we will be hearing something like….
Can’t we all just get along together… lets give peace a chance….
GM shouldn’t come to market unless it solves a human need safely. The shareholders’ avarice is not a human need. They get rewarded if, and only if, their company solves a human need safely.
So you’re saying they are sterile and not safe. Their very sterility is what makes them safe.
“Biodiversity” is a con in the case of our cropped species. Every species of maize on the planet was made by us. Every single one. There is no “natural” maize to drive out.
Wild rice resembles the rice we eat in only the most superficial way. The same goes for all cropped species. Any biodiversity with crops is entirely man-made in the first place.
In many cases conventional breeding programmes are more suitable.
Where they bombard them with radiation and see what happens? How in heck is that safer?
Idiot.
Have a look at this Canadian website. Very informative on the usual suspects. Check down the right sidebar.
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com. Oh by the way true to warmers form, Suzuki has a very expensive house just a few feet above sea level.
Someone should have briefed him before he went on the show. For example, he could have said we have found Trenberth’s missing heat in Australia.
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/ahead/temps_ahead.shtml
There’s one thing I’ll say for him. He obviously knows nothing about the climate, so maybe he’s better at making motorbikes! I own a Suzuki Vitara but am seriously thinking of selling it, because of the stigma attached to the name1
fear-mongering has proved to be a very ‘worthwhile ‘ gig for Suzuki, both for his ego , which like most climate ‘scientists’ seems to be vast , and for his wallet .
Why should he stop now , especially given no matter how wrong he is his followers are always willing to howl in support ?
Suzuki is not rational, and neither are we apparently. An economist weighs in.
Bob Tisdale says: September 24, 2013 at 7:23 pm
A maroon was also the rocket that called out the (volunteer) RNLI (life boat) crew (frowned on nowadays because of elfin safety and only used if the pager system fails). This one seems to be on a downward trajectory with all force spent.
Jimbo says:
September 25, 2013 at 12:39 am
Suzuki is not rational, and neither are we apparently. An economist weighs in.
Leading climate change economist brands sceptics ‘irrational’
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/24/lord-stern-climate-change-sceptics-irrational
*
Oh, good. I think the whole world is beginning to see who is rational and who is not. The more they object to questioning of their ways, and data and anything else that gets in their way, the more obvious they become.
The reference to “sceptics down in Alabama” is ironic (and oft repeated).
The reality is that UAH are the only dataset showing any warming at all in the last 10 years.
http://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/global-temperature-reportjuly-2013/
On a more serious note, the problem we have is that so few people would know where to find the numbers, or what they are.
Only last week, the Sunday Telegraph referred to “warming slowing down since 1998”.
We need to keep doing all we can to get the real story out there, sending letters, leaving comments, telling friends etc etc.
According to the IPCC, a 15 year period with no warming means nothing… BUT 10 years that averages the warmest ‘since “records” began’ means, well, everything.
IPCC = Intergovernmental Pickers of Cherries Conspiracy.
This interview never happened. Claims to the contrary are contrarian.
It is reassuring to know that the big guns on the other side fire blanks.
Perhaps what is extraordinary about this exchange is the fact that Suzuki put himself up for questioning.
Julian In Wales says:
September 25, 2013 at 2:01 am
If Suzuki is a ‘big gun’ – then I suggest he be decommisioned asap! Maybe CO2 and global warming has increased senility? (uh oh – yet another AGW memed paper could be in the offing….)
Jimbo says:
September 25, 2013 at 12:39 am
Ha ha – but WTF is a climate change economist? (I’m guessing it’s someone who just wants to stick their face in the AGW feeding trough too?)
So, how much was Master Suzuki paid for this appearance?
Okay, just so I can understand the thinking of the writer of this article a little better on the issue of gmo’s…..a nascent industry of the near past 30 years, maybe 40 (?)……….why is it bad to remain skeptical?
Dont feed me the climate change crap BUT do feed me the GMO’s…….is that what I am supposed to get out of “when he is fear-mongering”?
So the gmo industry, as infantile and unknowing of long term anything as climate science, is not to be questioned?
The GMO industry is as old as agriculture.
The modern GMO industry relies on empirical testing, not computer models. There is zero evidence of GMO food harming anyone, ever.
No comparison with climate “science” in any way, shape or form.
rtj1211 says:
September 24, 2013 at 10:54 pm
“GM shouldn’t come to market unless it solves a human need safely. The shareholders’ avarice is not a human need. They get rewarded if, and only if, their company solves a human need safely.”
So you are in favor of Golden Rice.
Nice to see at least one anti GMO person who makes rational compromises.
I think he is just pretending not to know much about Climate Science. He is referring to his old friends as “they” rather than “we.” This creates distance between himself and certain people he is well aware are facing an increasingly outraged and angry public.
Next will be his suggestion, “I was misled; I trusted “them” and “they” were dishonest with me.” Then he will blink and look very surprised and sad. He likely will also purchase a cane and attempt to dodder and to look frail and helpless. There is no way on earth he wants to face what he deserves. However he has enjoyed his treasure on earth, and Lord knows what he’s got coming to him in heaven.
Years ago when he was in his “prime”, he was a complete douchebag to my uncle who was a biologist, head of environmental research for a very large company. Suzuki edited an interview to remove everything but the one single question my uncle had trouble answering because of the language, not the subject. My uncle is French, questions were in English.
My point is that I’ve known for decades that David Susuki is not a scientist. He is a politician pushing an agenda and has no problem being a douchebag and a liar to make anyone who disagrees with him look bad.
It is a shame what he’s become, I liked him back in that first Karate Kid movie.
I am just gobsmacked at the ignorance of some of the alarmists! They have no clue on the difference between “warming” and “warmest”. And his utterance here is sheer stupidity based upon his ignorance of the difference! The first decade was the WARMEST in recorded history (after adjustments, no explanation given), but that does not mean that they were the 10 HOTTEST years (indeed, 1998 still reigns supreme).
Mike Bromley the Kurd says:
September 24, 2013 at 8:30 pm …………….
Mike, that is a perfect summary. Thanks.
For more on Suzuki….
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2011/06/03/david-suzuki-is-a-drama-queen/
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2012/03/21/canadas-senate-david-suzuki-the-delinquent-teenager/
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2012/04/18/david-suzukis-smoke-mirrors/
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2013/01/31/suzuki-money-doesnt-matter-heres-my-30k-invoice/
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2013/01/30/david-suzuki-dirty-old-man/
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2013/02/27/david-suzuki-ejects-tv-crew/
He has lost all respect from many/most Canadians.
Interesting that the ABC broadcast this at all (without heavy editing). Perhaps very early signs of a subtle shift in the Australian media?
They are getting more hysterical in the lead-up to IPCC:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/r/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2013/09/23/National-Politics/Graphics/CEOkxl.pdf
After yet another year of record temperatures, terrible drought, dangerous wildfires and
worsening storms,
Suzuki’s “Quirks and Quarks” show on CBC Radio was once pretty good, but by the mid-Eighties I would stride across the room to turn it off before he could say something ridiculously unscientific on almost any subject he touched. I suspect that as the stature of the show initially grew so did his, so that he was eventually able to dispense with the editors and producers who worked to conceal the defects of a third-rate scientist turned passable radio presenter. Suzuki-the-National-Treasure was an invention of the CBC. Suzuki-the-Man turns out to be much less than brilliant; just an ordinary activist. The kind with more eagerness than clues.
You don’t have to be a climatologist to read a thermometer or its printed data sets. Any grade school student can do this if they have access to a computer.
Johanna:
The GMO industry is as old as agriculture.
GMO IS agriculture. Those wheat plants and wheat fields are not natural, bur developed over millennia. Modern GMO is simply making the process better, less hit and miss. Let’s here it for Mendel.
JJB MKI says:
September 25, 2013 at 5:18 am
Interesting that the ABC broadcast this at all (without heavy editing). Perhaps very early signs of a subtle shift in the Australian media?
———————————————————-
No chance. He was interviewed across multiple ABC radio stations and television programs, by friendly interviewers who asked him questions like “well, what do you think about the state of the world, and what should we do about it?”
It was only when (non-“journalists”) got to ask him questions that the bare bottom of the Emperor was exposed.
The ABC, the best resourced media outfit in Australia, are so blinded by ideology that not one of them realised what would happen if anyone who was not an acolyte asked him anything.
one of the biggest names in global warming…
..and he can’t even pick up basic information through osmosis
I think his testosterone levels are still too high.
I’m astonished at Suzuki’s lack of knowledge regarding gene modification. He was a genetics professor at UBC for 40 years!
This guy has 28 honorary doctorates. 28!
Well, as a Canadian, I’m not as upset that Suzuki is one two. Only because I can mentally balance his entire knowledge of climate with any single post written by Steven McIntyre. Or Dr. Ball.
I have caught him [in] several emotive lies (had letters to the editor in the papers where his article ran) about GE crops over the years. He no longer publishes much on that subject. “Keep his feet to the fire” folks.
Suzuki epitomizes the sorry state of media driven fear mongering pseudo-science. He isn’t the root of the problem – if not Suzuki the media would have found another “voice” for their propaganda. As Ezra Levant on Sun News points out – the problem is that nobody is allowed to challenge these talking heads to expose them for what they are (at least not publicly on TV). Suzuki is worshiped in Canada and anything he says goes unquestioned.
Amazing that this interview was captured in Australia?
Amazing that Sun News (Fox equivalent in Canada) is the ONLY news station in Canada that dares to challenge the eco-alarmist narrative.
The lame stream media is at the root of the problem – they do not present balanced rational views and they do not challenge viewpoints that match their predisposed agendas of scary sensationalism (worse the media goes out of the way to promote pseudo-science nonsense by giving these fear mongering priests a pulpit to preach from). The media are no better than ambulance-chasing lawyers – there is no interest in justice just grab all the money you can.
Even in Canada Suzuki’s lustre is tarnished as he has been shown up for being intolerant of criticism here (refusing to speak in meetings if certain journalists are present).
I am quite truly saddened by his demise – as a geneticist I had a lot of respect for him doing my undergrad and PhD work in the 80’s. Then he got some kind of god-complex and started spouting off on things he knew little about and refusing to be corrected by people who knew better. After this came the fame and fortune and he couldn’t afford to go back on anything (even if he wanted to) as his funding would disappear in an instant.
It is hard even to use his original genetics textbooks any more (which were standard texts in most english-speaking universities) as he is so thoroughly discredited in academia.
Well, I for one would like to kick start a Suzuki.
Interesting. I’ll add him to the list of know nothing frauds protecting their money bags at the expense of science and good public policy.
So the 17 year hiatus of warming is simply the result of some hicks in Alabama falsifying data?
“Conspiracy-Ideation” anyone?
Also Suzuki dismisses the 17 year trend as data “cherry picking” then seconds later backs up his postion with the infamous “10 hottest years” meme. So 10 hottest years (in 140) is scary and edifying while a pause in warming is cherry picking, riiiigggghhhhttt.
Keep up the good work WUWT
Paul Homewood
I agree with your thoughts about the continuing need to get the basic climate data out to the public by any mean possible .The unforunate part with the Suzuki situation is that he was the anchor man and science messenger for science news in Canada and CBC. It is clear now why all attempts in Canada to get CBC to report climate news in an unbiased and fair way giving both sides of the debate have failed . He seemed to be misinformed and biased and he passed this bias on to CBC and ultimately to all Canadians . To this day many Canadians have not heard the real facts about what has been happening to our climate . The National Post and the Toronto SUN are perhaps two of the major media outlets that report climate news in an unbiased way in Canada. So in a way I am pleased to see his misunderstanding and bias exposed for others to see so that corrections can come about .
Rhetoric may seem immediately gratifying to someone in a live argument, with adrenalin flowing and all, but it convinces very few and will not provide a lasting conclusion to any debate. Logic will, and logic requires facts.
The winning format should be: “You have said X, but the measurements show Y. Why are your claims incompatible with the measurements?”
“I don’t know what the datasets say. I just wait for a Climatologist to tell me what to think.”
Yes, yes you do… exactly why was he being interviewed then if he simply regurgitates talking points and knows nothing?
– – – – – – –
We have, in Suzuki’s statements and in his acting, just witnessed what his alarmist fellow traveler Hansen is likely to say and act like at the AGU’s Annual Fall meeting in San Francisco this December.
Little residual value remains in their absurd alarming claims, so they are left with being exposed as supporters of fundamentally irrational thinking.
I send this observation to them both:
The bell of scientific integrity lost is not tolling for scientific skeptics, Messrs Suzuki and Hansen, it tolls for thee.
John
Rob Potter says:
“Then he got some kind of god-complex and started spouting off on things he knew little about and refusing to be corrected by people who knew better.”
Climate Alarmism in a nutshell with one modification. People who knew better often remained quiet during decades of nonsense claims and papers. The real “sheeple” in my opinion is not the public who can surely be excused for lacking expertise but the scientific community for allowing this charade to continue and blosom to the degree it has. I realise few want to rock the boat but those who remained silent can now blame themselves for their credibility being torn to shreds by Suzuki and the other bad apples.
They are not very good – these global warm-mongers. How the hell have they been winning the argument for the last 25 years?
Also sad was the fact that, even though it’s obvious to us that Suzuki is a total fraud, he had quite a lot of support in the audience.
But now both the ABC and the BBC – and much of the main stream media – are starting to air our views. Maybe we’re at Churchill’s “…end of the beginning”…
Perhaps David Suzuki should read the paper more rather than wait for the climatologists for the latest climate news
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/climates-big-pr-problem/article14491748/
Let’s just hope he doesn’t write a smutty novel.
David Suzuki is seen as an heroic figure by followers of the Canadian mainstream media. He used to address the standard environmental issues (real and imagined) on the state owned CBC, and regular newspaper and magazine columns. A nice life, but that was before the global warming cash register started ringing, and he turned his left-wing celebrity status into gold. But of course, the Canadian mainstream media would never ask him any difficult questions.
They succeed in their message because people are herd animals. That is not to denigrate the human race. Humans instinctively seek safety in numbers and will follow the lead animal right over the cliff. Far tougher to veer away. And so history repeats. And repeats. And repeats.
The three professions most apt to lead nations over the cliff are religious leaders, politicians and scientists. Dangerously, in more than one climate scientist, we have all three professions rolled into one lead animal running us all towards a cliff.
Suzuki is suffering from a case of ‘argumentum ad populum.’ Now multiply the Suzuki’s of the world around the Warmishphere and we really are in trouble (not).
I lost all respect for Suzuki when, speaking to young students at McGill University, told them to try in their lives to find ways to ensure that elected members of government who did not adhere to Kyoto could be imprisoned.
This while, on an earlier interview he somehow revealed what he called ‘his dirty little secret’. That secret was that he owned a fossil burning pleasure boat, not a sailboat.
@Jimbo
The funniest thing is that in one case he uses the ‘argumentum ad populum’ to claim the veracity of his opinions on AGW; yet in the same show he does a complete back flip and claims that the dissenting voices are being hounded out of the debate in regards to GMO. ie In the field of genetics and GMO the majority is wrong.
There is an intellectual schizophrenia being displayed that is unsettling. I think it’s all too emblematic of the ideological debate going on. He like so many people on the left believes that only ‘corporations” can get together and use their influence to produce outcomes in the scientific community.
Susuki knows more than he let on but he is smart to distance himself from a sinking ship. He is first and foremost a TV actor with no special training in climate as he stated.If you attach your fund raising to a scam its not long before your credibility is gone and so is the money.
One could say that he doesn’t seem to know his AR5 from his elbow.
Jim Clarke says:
“I am starting to feel sorry for the warmists. Is there no one who can speak intelligently for the group? David Suzuki just made Al Gore look smart!”
I think if Al were caught in a Q&A with an interviewer who was well acquainted with the real data, he would fare about as well as David. The warmistas generally avoid direct debate because they know they have no facts to support them. The “skeptics” invite debate.
Of course Al would never admit that he was wrong if he was pinned down like this. He would just sidestep the question and spew more of his rhetoric.
Disgusting way to prey on the fears of children.
http://www.wherewillsantalive.ca/
So what if Monsanto develops a GM biofuel crop? What’s a moonbat to do?
Will he burn GM rice in his Suzuki?
My brother has a PHD in chemistry. He believes in AGW simply because he knows there is peered reviewed literature, IPCC and John Stewart backing it up. He’ll vehemently defend AGW to any sceptic he runs into without ever having looked into the subject himself. I honestly believe if he took the time to delve into the subject he would change his mind but I’m not holding my breath for him to take that step.
As far as the warmest decade ever meme goes: just ask them this one question in response: the last decade of my life was my tallest decade ever, does this mean I am still growing taller?
And if they continue to sprout that idiotic meme, double down and ask em if their grandmother is growing taller.
You see, the trick is to destroy a one sentence talking point with another one of equal length and make them look like the complete morons they are at the same time. It’s rather funny how quick something like that shuts them up for a bit too.
David in Canmore says:
“Climate Alarmism in a nutshell with one modification. People who knew better often remained quiet during decades of nonsense claims and papers. The real “sheeple” in my opinion is not the public who can surely be excused for lacking expertise but the scientific community for allowing this charade to continue and blosom to the degree it has. I realise few want to rock the boat but those who remained silent can now blame themselves for their credibility being torn to shreds by Suzuki and the other bad apples.”
Spot on. As a life scientist, what alarms me is the coming blowback for all fields of science from the nonsense perpetrated by these climate clowns and related “scientists” eager to use AGW as a lever to increase funding to study their own area. Most in my sphere are ardent defenders of AGW since they see skepticism of AGW as an attack on all science (and lump it with creationism, the primary area where life scientists feel attacked). They circle the wagons and defend their fellow scientists from the “science deniers” without questioning whether they might have a point or looking at the underlying data. It’s distressing to see such typically human tribal behavior… but not unexpected.
As a Canadian who has never been a fan of Suzuki, Karma’s a Bi+ch. Love it when the alarmist’s squirm. Hopefully now he will just go away.
After our experiences with Tim Flannery and the Climate Commission, we no longer have to take people like David Suzuki seriously. The television interview revealed his ignorance for all to see.
Early onset Alzheimer’s. I would call for a doctor……
Like so many other warmists, Suzuki probably knows nothing of the science. he probably doesn’t even read IPCCs Summary for Policy Makers. He reads the summary of the summary in some warmist-friendly newspaper, and at that point we are getting pretty far away from reality.
Rob Potter says:
September 25, 2013 at 6:52 am
I am quite truly saddened by his demise – as a geneticist I had a lot of respect for him doing my undergrad and PhD work in the 80′s.
———————————————————————————-
I’ve seen a video of Suzuki as a young man in full hippie regalia spouting some misanthropic malthusian gibberish.
Silver Ralph says:
September 25, 2013 at 4:00 pm
I’m not diagnosing Alzheimer’s. That would imply that at some time in the past, Suzuki knew what the UAH, GISS or Hadley Centre & Climate Research Unit were, but has now forgotten. I doubt he ever knew.
Justa Joe says:
September 25, 2013 at 6:40 pm
Besides DTS’ carbon footprint large as all outdoors, thanks to his jet-setting lifestyle, there’s the matter of those five kids:
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2010/10/13/david-suzukis-five-kids/
Still not in the Prince Albert class of hypocrisy, however.
Ahhhh. Pot. It all makes sense.
LOL, Pamela (7:11pm).
Thanks (ugh) for the vid of a “10th level maggot,” Milodon Harlani (at 6:52pm).
Pretty pathetic, really.
He would probably never, thus, believe me if I told him that Jesus died for him, that God loves him, a mere “worm.” Sad. (well, Milodon H. — I just could not resist! Heh.)
{brrraaaaaccing myself for M.H.’s blistering retort…. I now press “Post Comment”….}
Sometime in the early 70’2 I heard DS speak, I was barely 22 years old and was impressed. But now over the years this person has become delusional, . Oh and BTW @jst(not)thinking @8.11pm, Most people in BC are not “leftards” as you said (insultingly), as a matter of fact the vast majority kicked them out in the last election and @nigelf @ 7.28, as far as DS being considered the most trusted Canadian THAT must have been a CBC TV poll!. Frankly I think Canadians made the same @#$# mistake with Trudeau , both of them peas out of the same pod (drug induced god like thoughts), And frankly how does this “green” guy get to Australia, Brazil, Mexico City, Kyoto, Stockholm, Johannesburg, London, Ottawa, Toronto etc. etc. from Vancouver in the first place? Oh right his diesel burning grand tour in his diesel burning old bus he used awhile ago to support the AGW and educate some more 14-17 year old High school kids,he is a fraud nothing more, or a canoe and/or do his 5 kids ( remember the statement the world has too many people) use kites to get him there? I am embarrassed every time those two guys are mentioned up here as pillars of Canada (CBC again). Thanks for the rant but this guy makes Canadians look bad and that is sad because we have some of the best Universities and Colleges anywhere..
While I personally think that David Suzuki is an [redacted by comment-author] and can’t be ridiculed as often as he says something worthy of ridicule (seriously, that man is a one-man science-obfuscation machine, if there ever was such a thing), I think calling someone “pig ignorant” is the type of conversion commonly referred to as “preaching to the converted”. Pardon me for writing something smug, but besides you feeling smug about something, what exactly is the point in calling someone “pig ignorant”? Don’t answer, this was a rhetorical question.
There is no excuse for Suzuki not knowing what the four data sets are, especially since three of them do still show a global temperature increase over the last 15 years, although it has slowed since the 15 years before then. So yeah, Suzuki screwed up big time and i think he’s a charlatan, but, no, the figures being `relatively flat’ doesn’t equal `flat’ and shouldn’t be treated as such, as at this stage even slight continuing rises are bad.
Well, Mr. Nguyen, re: RSS, Ben Santer’s dataset: “The least-squares linear-regression trend on the data from the RSS satellites since November 1996 shows there has been no global warming at all for 202 months (16 years 10 months).
Indeed, as “fifteen years without warming duly came and went: … Professor Jones of the University of East Anglia was the first to admit this… .”
And “taking the mean of all five principal global-temperature datasets (GISS, HadCRUt4, NCDC, RSS, and UAH), since … 1 January 2001 there has been no global warming at all for 152 months (12 years 8 months):”
[Source: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/09/11/rss-global-temperature-data-no-global-warming-at-all-for-202-months/%5D
That is, according to the main global temperature datasets, there has been no statistically significant warming trend for over a decade.
As WUWT commenter Ben Frommo has so ably pointed out this week, that this century is the warmest since the earth began to slowly warm after the last Ice Age, is MEANINGLESS v. a v. proof of causation of a warming trend. Paraphrasing Frommo: “Your dad is now the tallest he’s ever been. According to your reasoning, he’s going to keep getting taller.”
It may warm again. It may not. Denying that global temperature has plateaued for about 15 years is to deny reality.
Bottom line: CO2 UP — WARMING STOPPED.
Walter Nguyen says:
September 26, 2013 at 5:16 am
It’s going on 24 years of no significant warming in the satellite data sets, which haven’t been faked as have the surface “data”. The most recent trend in real T data is in fact down. The warming lasted roughly 20 years, so now the flat to down trend has lasted longer than the prior warming phase, just as happened in the 30 odd years prior to the recently ended warming. The previous flat to down phase of course also followed the 20 or so years of warming centered on the 1930s.
DAVID SUZUKI: “No, well, there may be a climate sceptic down in Huntsville, Alabama”
Ethnocentric much? I suppose he deserves points for not saying “redneck”, “hillbilly” or “denier”. I know there is someone he is referring to specifically but he also knows no one is going to be confused as to which Huntsville he means.
Janice, the link you site is broken, i’ve tried searching for the text you quote from watts, but it’s quoted dozens of times, and all out of context and i want to read the original (where Watts got it from). I cant find anywhere else where it’s stated that the RSS shows a flat trend except for this same quote. The rss site itself shows a low increase trend over the last couple of years to date, but doesn’t have a way of isolating the particular 16 + 10 months period mentioned. So, a little help please?
Mr. Nguyen,
I just clicked on the link (sorry for not testing it after it posted) and, yes, it doesn’t work. HOWEVER…. if you paste that link into your internet browser (using Bing, I also had to click just below the address bar on the full Bing-supplied link for watts… — that is, TWO clicks were necessary), it works and that thread will appear. ANOTHER WAY to get to that thread is to type into WUWT’s “Search” box: “datasets global temperature.”
Good for you to persevere in finding the facts!
Janice
Walter Nguyen says:
September 26, 2013 at 5:16 am
“…at this stage even slight continuing rises are bad.”
——————–
What “stage” is that.? You’re not rrying to sell me that we’re at the precipice of impending doom when there’s not a darn thing different than there ever was? What exactly am I supposed to be alarmed about on this oh so typical fall day?
I am so glad this session with Saint Suzuki aired in Australia, you would never have seen it in Canada. He only accepts pre screened questions here. He never allows followup questions. He won’t attend events where the Sun has reporters, he only allows his left wing media buddies to his events. He’s really embarrassing actually. He’s no longer a scientist but a media machine. And hearing him speak in Australia it finally shows to the world how much he really doesn’t know. You could tell by his facial expressions he was nervous. The Australian scientists made him look really bad. And do you think any of this would make the Canadian media? No, the CBC has yet to run a story on this, only the Sun has reported on this much needed coverage to out this has been. His main defence is name calling and saying people are paid by big oil. Well someone should ask him how much he got paid for supporting the US salmon industry in Alaska while saying that the Canadian one was not safe. He was called out on it and immediately the info on his web page was removed. And don’t disagree with him he will either storm out as in the interview at am 640 in Toronto or he will swear at you in public. And he wants people jailed who do not follow his lies? I thought this guy was left wing to begin with but now know he’s way out there where no one has gone before. I hope more Canadians will see this story and see him for what he is, a snake oil salesman. Let science to its thing and in the mean time I fully agree we should be good stewards of our environment and work on getting off fossil fuels all together. But there’s no magical pill as Suzuki will have you believe. Things take time. I would like to apologize to Australia on behalf of many reasonable Canadians and ask can you please keep him?
“””””……rtj1211 says:
September 24, 2013 at 10:54 pm
Look, the discussions about GMOs is primarily about the dangers of a small number of MNCs gaining entire control over the world’s seeds. Every GMO is sterile, so you are dependent on the supplier if they wipe out biodiversity for short-term capitalist gain.
Any numpty knows that in-breeding leads to disaster and biodiversity is the key to long term health of life on earth………”””””””
Well bio-diversity hasn’t been very good for life on earth of the human like kind.
There are more species of critters by far, that look like lobsters, than there are that look like humans; so evidently we are following a failed model.
And the comparison is not insignificant. Lobsters have found that it is survivally more efficient to look where you have been, than to look where you are going.
Looking back at where you once were, is where you know , a priori that there is a threat to your existence, that you need to escape from; whereas your life experience says that most of your environment is benign, and non threatening.
But human kind, having intelligence, gives the right of way to the vehicle that is going forward in the direction that they are looking, instead of giving it to the vehicle that is backing out of that parking spot, and has a very poor view of where it is going, and like the lobsters, thinks its environment is benign. Whereas in fact the intelligent human, driving forward, is silly enough to drive behind the backing out vehicle, thinking (s)he isn’t going to get hit. Common sense says the vehicle in front should have the right of way, since the following vehicle has the best visibility.
In a similar vein, human drivers when encountering a bottleneck, where three lanes squeeze down into two, slow down, and create a vehicle pileup, whereas Bernoulli’s principle says you must speed up, to maintain the non-turbulent flow. Bernoulli’s principle also says that the pressure should drop going through the bottleneck at the faster speed, so the car spacing increases, giving added safety. So we are intelligent; but just not very smart; compared to the lobsters, and their look alikes . which far outnumber us.
David Suzuki works for the Canadian broadcast corp and they give him a free pass on all matters. Not all Canucks are willfully blind to suzuki’s comments on climate change but our left leaning media in an attempt to put the liberal’s back in power have rallied behind the global warming debate to make the Harper conservatives look bad, but they now realize that they have supported a pig in a poke. They will not support the facts because they might have to admit that maybe they were wrong. They have said for years that the debate was over. Never trust anyone who will not debate a subject. Thank’s to ABC for challenging David Suzuki. Good job.
Is the Ocean warming up?