We have seen an astonishing 40 years of scaremongering triggered by a few irresponsible scientists whose computer models became so vividly real for them that they abandoned basic adult responsibilities in their consequent public agitations. After a brief dalliance with the possibility of the onset of the next glaciation, their efforts turned to warming, encouraged no doubt by the remarkable annual increases of CO2 recorded at Mona Loa. They devised models to give CO2 a more important role in climate than observations and properly conducted historical reconstructions support. The models do this by means of an hypothesised positive feedback involving water vapour, a feedback which is implausible from our knowledge of atmospheric history, and unconfirmed by recent observations, not least of air temperatures which fail to show the tropospheric ‘hotspot’ predicted by the models. The ‘settled science’ of CO2 applies merely to its radiative properties, since the impact of these on the climate system is far from settled, with expert estimates ranging from an overall slight cooling, to a slight warming from projected increases in ambient CO2 over the next hundred years or so. The apocalyptic stuff requires those computer models and their novel feedbacks. Models which are mere toys in the face of the immense complexity of the system they refer to. Models fit only to illustrate some aspects of speculations about the climate amongst relevant professionals, and not nearly good enough to warrant the widespread alarm they have been used to support.
It seems to me that adults, and in particular professionals, have a moral responsibility to avoid such scaremongering, and in particular to protect school-age children from it. The temptations to pursue it for financial and political gain, or even for the pursuit of publicity and public attention as ends in themselves, are obvious and in part explain the enthusiastic adoption of climate scares by powerful individuals and organisations keen to grow in power and influence. That they have dramatically succeeded in this is one of the most interesting features of the current scare, and one which is surely worthy of deep study in many disciplines if we are to have any hope of reducing our vulnerability to such exploitation.
http://climatelessons.blogspot.com/
h/t to Marc Morano
It’s nice to see this coming from Marc. I’m hoping awareness of this issue is growing among the GOP. I became interested in this one issue (warming), only to find the enviro-wacko tentacles extending into so many aspects of American culture.
This happened to my daughter, she told me I didn’t understand how the planet worked!! She watched “Inconvenient Truth” 5 times, I asked her why Al G bought a mansion on the coast then? response was, the ocean is NOT going to rise there WOW, sadly she won’t even discuss this with me
That’s an appalling story! How old was your daughter when she watched the nonsense?
It seems that Joseph Goebbels did not commit suicide but was the technical adviser for Al’s producers – probably hired by Maurice Strong ….
And we have this stuff promoted at taxpayers’ expense in Australia ….
Propaganda gets a mention here and there as part of this little slide show I’ve been working on – http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RDL5V4MX. And, yes! There is a trifle on sea level rise.