Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach
In discussing President Obama’s latest boondoggle, the one billion (with a “b) dollar Climate Resilience Plan, The US Under-Assistant Minister of Scientific Silly Walks, John Holdren, wandered way off of the party line. The party line in question, of course, is …
“Although we can’t ascribe any given weather event to climate change, we still insist that blah blah blah …”
Perhaps Holdren’s teleprompter was broken, but anyhow, here’s what he said (emphasis mine):
During a call with reporters on Thursday evening, the assistant to the president on science and technology, John Holdren, said, without any doubt, the severe drought plaguing California and a number of other states across the country is tied to climate change.
Now, that quote was bad enough, since everyone from the IPCC to my cat agrees that
• There is no link between historical post-Little-Ice-Age warming and extreme weather, and
• Droughts are more common in colder times than in warmer times, and
• For the last decade and a half there’s been no statistically significant warming, certainly not enough to cause increased extreme weather.
• We have neither the understanding nor the information necessary to ascribe ANY single weather event to climate change, and we’re a long ways from having either one.
But despite Holdren going way off piste in his comment, it wasn’t truly of the quality needed for a quote of the week. It wasn’t concise enough for an epigram … or for an epitaph, for that matter.
However, just when it all looked hopeless, Holdren rallied, came back and captured the gold by uttering the deathless words that will ring forever in the halls of climate academe:
Weather practically everywhere is being caused by climate change.
There you have it, folks, Holdren’s Law of Climate Causation, all you need to know about droughts and such … weather practically everywhere is being caused by climate change.
…
… and people wonder why the alarmists are having trouble these days peddling their nostrums? Well, mostly it’s not a communications failure. Mostly, it’s because we’ve been lied to before by these same folks (including Holdren), and Holdren’s current pathetic shilling for the Obamaclimate program is just more of the same.
The issue is not how the science is being communicated, as Judith Curry and many others seem to think.
The issue is that what is being communicated is so obviously not science, but merely poorly framed and scientifically absurd scare tactics, that as in this case, the communication just makes people point and laugh …
Regards to all,
w.
Well, he is right. Climate does cause weather. Without a climate, there would be no weather.
And without an atmosphere, there would be no climate. And without a planet there would be no atmosphere. And without a solar system there would be no planet.
I guess the problem can be traced back to the Big Bang! Damn that thing! It caused all our problems!
didn’t we just recently have a Government study conclude that droughts we not getting stronger, longer or more widespread?
The same propaganda is being preached here in the UK
What’s that old line? ‘I’ll have what s/he’s having?’ That dude has spent too much time in the old Large Holdren Collider.
Somebody needs to market a whole line of shirts and bumper stickers that say “Climate Change est 4.5 billion years BCE”, or “‘Climate Change…happening on Earth for 4.5 billion years” or “Climate Changes…always has….always will.”
Did he say whether humans caused the climate change? I suppose that is considered an accepted fact. It will be amusing if they are going to try and deny that they ever believed or stated that humans caused the climate to change.
We need to PASS climate change bills to see what is IN climate change bills. It will work out just dandy!
Sadly, it does not make enough people point and laugh. — John M Reynolds
Since all weather is caused by (human caused) climate change, it means that no weather event or events can falsify it.
Its a religious statement masquerading as science.
For those who have religious backgrounds, human-caused climate change is the equivalent of the doctrine of original sin and just as immune to disproof.
Climate is the integral of weather over, say, 30 years. So, the derivative of climate or climate change would be weather. Yep, looks like he discovered sliced bread. Good one, Willis
These are the very same folks who told sceptics a few years back that the weather is not the same as the climate. Since the hiatus can no longer be ignored they are now desperately clutching as straws in the windy weather.
In 1971 Holdren believed that a new ice age was likely and blamed man
Dr. Roy Spencer chips in on Holdren and explains what the weather actually is.
Most readers probably already know this, but WUWT runs considerable documentation on the history of weather, and in particular extreme weather. It’s linked above at “Reference Pages”/”Climatic Phenomena”. It’s quite helpful if you’re involved in a discussion and want to scan historical trends quickly. Thanks, Anthony.
You can’t argue with stupid.
I thought it was common knowledge that La Nina-like conditions result in the Western/South Western US being very dry…
“Weather practically everywhere is being caused by climate change.”
So, in other words, there is no such thing as natural climate change and natural weather variability any more, right? When did God shut off the natural weather and climate change switch?
If he thinks I’m stupid enough to believe that statement, he’s more stupid than I am…..and I’m not even a scientist. What REALLY bugs me though is that there are probably plenty of people out there who are naïve and gullible enough to actually believe him……including many in the mainstream media.
There ought to be a law that forbids idiots like him from taking advantage of people’s scientific illiteracy this way. These last three years of the Obama presidency are going to be increasing difficult for me to tolerate, and it isn’t just because of his climate change policy. Obviously though, I don’t have much choice but to tolerate it anyway.
Please excuse me now while I go outside and scream.
President Obama can propose a Climate Resilience Plan but he can’t fund it. I could be wrong but I don’t think congress will fund the program.
Another $1,000,000,000 slush fund, to be wasted on crony socialism by the psyentifically illiterate….. Perfect. Just Perfect.
If You Like Your Climate, You can Keep Your Climate. Period.
“The issue is that what is being communicated is so obviously not science, but merely poorly framed and scientifically absurd scare tactics ….”
And that, my good man, is the playbook for all issues. Successful politicians know damn well that so many people in the U.S. spend very little time on things that really matter. They only need to imply a problem and tell them that as long as you vote for me I will make sure the government is on top of it. Sadly too many people are more than happy to defer to the government without a thought, just like the Eloi.
Wait, I thought climate was the average weather over time. Either the definition of climate has changed, or Holdren’s logic is circular.
The Youtube was about Wraysbury. I found out that 58% of the land is in the flood plain. The UK is not the same land it was 10,000 years ago. It has been scraped, tilled, smothered in road and other urbanisation.
“For the last decade and a half there’s been no statistically significant warming, certainly not enough to cause increased extreme weather.”
Warming is warming. Its effect is totally unrelated to statistical significance.
No Nick, the statistics is used to see if there IS warming or if it is just natural variation. 2 years are not identical. To proclaim there is cooling because 2013 was not as warm as 2012 is false. Just as is your proclamation.
No warming is no warming.
Marcos says:
February 14, 2014 at 12:44 pm
“I thought it was common knowledge that La Nina-like conditions result in the Western/South Western US being very dry…”
This is the potential drought pattern based off the Ocean Oscillations
http://sparkleberrysprings.com/v-web/b2/images/climate07/04mcabefig4lg.png
“Climate change is so destructive it is causing snow, rain, wind, drought, hot weather, cold weather, ice, dead fish, acid oceans, hurricanes, typhoons, melting glaciers, starving Polar Bears, male pattern baldness, and it even looks like the sun, may succumb to climate change”, he says as he wipes the foam from the edge of his mouth.
“Weather practically everywhere is being caused by climate change.”
Okay. Whatever. Who knows. Maybe they’re right and we’re wrong, but would I be too much of a pedant if I asked what it was that caused weather practically everywhere before climate change? Perhaps it’s just idle curiosity on my part …