UPDATE: It’s a double feature, Mann will be there too, see below
From the University of Bristol: Dogma vs. consensus: Letting the evidence speak on climate change
19 September 2014, 6 pm Victoria Rooms, Queens Road, Bristol, BS8 1SA
In this Cabot Institute public lecture, we are pleased to present John Cook, Global Change Institute, University of Queensland and owner of the Skeptical Science blog, in what promises to be a fascinating talk.
In 2013, John Cook lead the Consensus Project, a crowd-sourced effort to complete the most comprehensive analysis of climate research ever made. They found that among relevant climate papers, 97% endorsed the consensus that humans were causing global warming. When this research was published, it was tweeted by President Obama and received media coverage all over the world, with the paper being awarded the best article published by the journal Environmental Research Letters in 2013. However, the paper has also been relentlessly attacked by climate deniers who reject the scientific consensus. Hundreds of blog posts have criticised the results while newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal and Boston Globe have published negative op-eds. Climate denial organisations such as the Global Warming Policy Foundation and Heartland Institute have published critical reports and the Republican Party organised congressional testimony against the consensus research on Capitol Hill. This sustained campaign is merely the latest episode in over 20 years of attacks on the scientific consensus on human-caused global warming. John Cook will discuss his research both on the 97% consensus and on the cognitive psychology of consensus. He will also look at the broader issue of scientific consensus and why it generates such intense focus from climate deniers.
Registration
You must register for this event. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dogma-vs-consensus-letting-the-evidence-speak-on-climate-change-tickets-12288231431?ref=ebtnebregn
This event is free to attend and open to all. Please contact cabot-enquiries@bristol.ac.uk if you have any accessibility requirements.
The event will run from 6 pm – 7.30 pm. Please ensure you are seated by 6 pm.
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Note: I registered since I’ve always wanted to come to England anyway, and this was as good as an excuse as any…plus I have many questions to ask. Note also that while the event is free, there are a limited number of tickets available.
All that is required is an email address and name. The ticket was delivered by email as a printable PDF – Anthony
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UPDATE: Guess I’ll be staying longer. I just registered for this one too:
Cabot Institute Lecture: The Hockey Stick and the climate wars – the battle continues
23 September 2014, 6 pm The Victoria Rooms, Queen’s Rd, Bristol, BS8 1SA
In this special Cabot Institute lecture, in association with Bristol Festival of Ideas, Michael E Mann will discuss the science, politics, and ethical dimensions of global warming in the context of his own ongoing experiences as a figure in the centre of the debate over human-caused climate change.
Dr. Michael E Mann is Distinguished Professor of Meteorology at Penn State University, with joint appointments in the Department of Geosciences and the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute. He is also director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center. He is author of more than 160 peer-reviewed and edited publications, and has published books include Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming in 2008 and The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines in 2012. He is also a co-founder and avid contributor to the award-winning science website RealClimate.org.
Registration
This event is free to attend and open to all but you must register to attend. We expect this event to be very popular so we encourage you to register as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. If you can no longer attend this event, please email cabot-enquiries@bristol.ac.uk so that we may reallocate your ticket.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/custombutton?eid=12014388359
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Was that, then, 97.1% of 4,014 abstracts? BTW, who decided which were the relevant papers that made up the 11,900+ set? And, based on yesterdays post, how many of the papers were just rewrites of the same paper, over and over again, by the same authors? Note that Professor Mann has published over 160 papers. Were they all in the 11,900+ set?
Anthony – first, thank you for all the work involved in running this site, and all the other effort you apply.
Second, while in Bristol make sure to go to Harvey’s fro dinner, and tour their museum. You’ll also have plenty of time between the two lectures to visit God’s Own Country, which is just across the Severn. You’ll also be able to visit Somerset (the Levels are no longer flooded), Devon and Cornwall. Maybe even visit the Cotswolds.
I look forward to your reports form the field.
Alas, I’ll be in Australia that month. But I’ll try to make sure someone gets in and asks the right questions.
19 September 2014
23 September 2014
Any chance for snow in Bristol in September?
“The event will run from 6 pm – 7.30 pm. Please ensure you are seated by 6 pm.”
1½ hrs is not much time. Though I wish all the skeptics my best, my guess is that the event will be so closely scripted that no one will lay a glove on either Mann or Cook. Questions will probably be by writing only and chosen at (cough) “random.”
Traveling to Bristol just to hear Cook (and/or Mann) speak to a fawning, compliant Green audience would be a pity. You NEED to contact a local TV station to tape the Q&A after the talks (otherwise these fellows will just slip away from tough questions like a pair of slippery eels in the Avon River).
Do take the time to explore Bristol’s rich history, from early port days to the pirates of R.L. Stevenson to the engineering brilliance of Brunel. And do some serious pub-hopping with your sceptic friends! For the w/e, drive to Devon & Cornwall and/or to Wales (some very serious history on coal mining and smelting N. of Cardiff).
Kurt in Switzerland
I think that if a lot of climate realists are coming to this event, we should also try to have a meeting independent of the Cabot talks; I live in Bristol not far from this venue and have booked my tickets for both talks. What do others think? Could we book a church hall or something between the two talks just for a catch-up or something? I shall be in Australia from next Monday till end of Aug, but would like to hear what others think of this idea.
Anthony-do you or anyone here have connections in the area that would allow YOU to speak while you are there.? Perhaps provide a venue for you to hold a “rebuttal” seminar after theirs? I can’t imagine them fighting against a chance for the good people of Bristol to hear both sides of the issue and decide for themselves. 🙂
Heavens above, Bristol used to be one of Britain’s top quality universities – first Lewandowsky and now the anti science fascists! What are they thinking?
Relics of the Roman Warm Period can be visited in the nearby Bath
“The magnificent bath-house attracted visitors from across the Roman Empire.”
Does anyone know if there will be live streaming or a recording (clandestine needed if nothing official).
Anyone that mann may recognise should sit as near to the front as possible so mann can see you laughing.
I don’t know; will Al Gore be in attendance?
Excellent news you’re coming to blighty, Mr. Watts
Someone should start a ‘climate camp’ (one for ‘climate realists’) near Bristol. Could be interesting. You could be a keynote speaker. In any event I’m sure you’ll find you have many friend this side of the pond.
richardscourtney says:
July 16, 2014 at 9:03 am
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Sorry to hear that you are not well.
I wish you all the best for a speedy recovery.
“Dr. Michael E Mann is Distinguished Professor of Meteorology at Penn State University,:
Michael Mann is “distinguished” all right, just not in the way they think.
Yeah, I wouldn’t shout it from the rooftops, Anthony. The UK National Domestic Extremism Unit considers Climate Change sceptics as fair game:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/8453117.stm
This article was from the good ol’ pre Snowden days when the police could make impressive statements, safe in the knowledge that their sources were keeping it zipped; loose lipped statements like “[we have] a good background knowledge of climate change issues in relation to criminal investigations.”
So sceptics are considered a threat to national security in the UK, not because of Climategate or any perceived criminal behaviour but evidenced by the data trawling that (I presume) was being done before it broke.
“Climate denial organisations such as the Global Warming Policy Foundation …”
Would be good if Lord Lawson and Dr Benny Peiser could request attendance to respond to that charge. If the GWPF requested an opportunity to take the podium, the (inevitable) refusal would be symbolic.
Like that Stossel interview mentioned above …. great tip one that one Mickey Reno as I had not seen it – thanks
@ur momisugly Caroline,
Having a separate venue at which to meet fellow skeptics is a nice idea. Not sure of my own plans yet, but this would give an extra incentive for me to detour to Bristol en route to my conference.
Hoping Algore is not planning to come to either Bristol or Norway this September 🙂
Anthony, I would strongly suggest that you start with “softer” questions – perhaps something even a lukewarmist might ask – such as:
“With such strong (almost unanimous) current agreement on the subject of climate change, how much should we all be concerned with the matter of confirmation bias, as science continues to progress in this arena? Will scientists only find what they’re looking for? What if some evidence presents itself that flies in the face of the current theory/hypothesis? Do you worry about any of this? ”
I think the way he answers questions such as these will be very telling, and will likely open the door for more aggressive questioning.
Traveling thousands of miles by a petroleum fueled aircraft to talk for an hour and a half about a pseudo-psychology paper intended to convert more humans into green zombies is not hypocritical at all! Ask why it wasn’t a 100% consensus and where are the papers that found that humans have no influence on climate.
This will be a Soviet-Vyshinsky style show trial. I would advise extreme caution from Anthony and any other high profile skeptics. Some nasty ambushes will no doubt be prepared. I would nonetheless like to attend of it was possible since Bristol was the last University that I graduated from.
Mr. Watts for what it is worth, my advice is go and have a good holiday in England. But don’t go to the events at U of B. Yo will be eaten alive by pretentious and pompous Brits.
Dogma yields consensus…
@John Cook: Some practical advice for your field research:
Be sure to swap in your PzVDs for PzIIIJs. The 3Js, unlike the 4Ds, can at least sort of stand up to the T-34s and KVs, and are quite adequate to clean up the soviet infantry. Then, after you have conquered Russia, upgrade to PzVGs — and include at least a couple of KonigsTigers to crack the M26s you will encounter when invading America.
Forget about air superiority. The Amis will shoot holes in you down the line when you most need strength. So include only a couple of FW190a units for defensive purposes and back them up with mobile AAs, and keep them upgraded. Use this to protect your artillery (though you will lose some).
And don’t invest in Jagdpanzers; you will find pure armor to be a better investment.
Hope this helps.
Good luck, Watts. You are one of a kind, that’s for sure.