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Posts tagged skeptic
The environmental movement in retreat
Sep 5th
by George Will
The Washington Post
September 5, 2010
The collapsing crusade for legislation to combat climate change raises a question: Has ever a political movement made so little of so many advantages? Its implosion has continued since “the Cluster of Copenhagen, when world leaders assembled for the single most unproductive and chaotic global gathering ever held.” So says Walter Russell Mead, who has an explanation: Bambi became Godzilla.
That is, a small band of skeptics became the dogmatic establishment. In his Via Meadia blog, Mead, a professor of politics at Bard College and Yale, notes that “the greenest president in American history had the largest congressional majority of any president since Lyndon Johnson,” but the environmentalists’ legislation foundered because they got “on the wrong side of doubt.”
Environmentalists, Mead argues, have forgotten their origins, which were in skeptical “reaction against Big Science, Big Government and Experts.” Environmentalists once were intellectual cousins of economic libertarians who heed the arguments of Friedrich Hayek and other students of spontaneous order — in society or nature. Such libertarians caution against trying to impose big, simple plans on complex systems. They warn that governmental interventions in such systems inevitably have large unintended, because unforeseeable, consequences.
Cherry Picking is Easy
Aug 26th
via WattsUpWithThat
by Steve Goddard
August 26, 2010
Tamino has named me “Mr. Cherry” for picking start dates of graphs which are different from the ones he chooses to cherry pick. For instance, he considers 1975 to be the start of “the modern global warming era.”
Living up to his high standards, I declare August 16, 2010 to be the start of “the 2010 La Niña cool down”. Since August 16, UAH channel 5 global temperatures have been dropping at a rate of 1,554 degrees per century.
See below how that plots out.
If the trend continues, the earth will reach absolute zero in about 15 years.
That’s ridiculous, of course.
But the demonstration above is based on a similar logic of picking a start date of 1975 for measuring the global temperature record.
Why pick 1975? It makes the best pie.
The Climate Scientists’ Register
Jun 19th
via International Climate Science Coalition
WHY DO WE NEED THE CLIMATE SCIENTISTS’ REGISTER?
A common misunderstanding amongst the general public, mainstream media and politicians is that only a small proportion of experts in the climate science community have serious problems with the concept of a carbon dioxide-driven climate crisis. In reality, thousands of climate experts are highly skeptical of this hypothesis.
This fact has been repeatedly demonstrated through open letters, petitions and other declarations. However, these documents have not had sufficient impact on government policy largely because mainstream media have generally ignored them and so only a minority of the public is aware of their existence. Consequently, ICSC have incorporated the following characteristics into The Climate Scientists’ Register to address this problem:
• The Register statement is apolitical, non-commercial and deals with one physical science topic only. Many scientists have been reluctant to endorse past declarations because they did not want to become involved in something they regarded as outside of their professional field of knowledge. Similarly, many potential supports in the general public, mass media and government have not often cited past open letters for fear of appearing to support their ideological opponents.
• Scientist endorsers from all countries are welcome, thus negating the perception that national interests of any specific nation dominate.
• The Register will include full professional identification of each endorser along with areas of specialization. For endorsers who are willing and able to speak with media, politicians and the public, ICSC will also include detailed contact coordinates.
• ICSC will carefully vet any and all endorsers, allowing only the most qualified climate scientists to be included.
• Unless they have previously endorsed public documents asserting the same message as The Register, then no scientist will be listed without their specific approval and any wishing to have their names removed in the future will be accommodated immediately.
• The coordinating organization, ICSC, is a single-issue entity that is, and is widely seen to be, neutral politically, philosophically and financially. ICSC carefully avoids all ad hominem attacks and other logical fallacies. We also maintain strict confidentiality with regards to funders’ identities and critique the comments of those involved in the debate based solely on the scientific accuracy of what they say and our perception of the effectiveness of their strategies.
Click here to read more about the Climate Scientists Register
Click here to see who has signed the Register so far
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