Is the media waking up? Global warming: time to rein back on doom and gloom?

JoNova ^ | April 8th, 2013 | joanne

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Tic, tic, tic. The sleeping MSM is stirring. Headlines no one could imagine seeing a few years ago are popping up on a regular basis. The backdown is beginning.

For those who have not gone-over-the-falls and chained their reputation to a big-Green-rock, there is time to backtrack. This is a good moment to start mentioning that “things have changed.” It’s five years too late, but that’s better than being ten-years-too-late, and it still has a tiny bit of kudos for being ahead of stampede that is coming.

The term du jour is “new evidence”. It’s the ticket back to reality, even though strong evidence has been there for a decade, and the lack of warming is just one more clue that the models are wrong.

As far as I can tell, Geoffrey Lean is one of the commentators who’s been very much on the side of the global warming drive, but not a zealot. He allowed the odd caveat, he spoke of skeptics, but not of deniers. When the ClimateGate II emails were released, mostly he wrote about how they didn’t matter, were misrepresented, and the science was settled. Even then, there was a small caveat that “disturbing questions” remain, but largely he defended Phil Jones. Right now, he is still saying we need to reduce CO2, but it’s not as urgent as we thought. This is not a U-turn, but a fork in a better direction (with a nice headline).

What caused the shift? Lean noted in late December that the UK Met Bureau reduced its forecasts, that there has been a long pause in warming, and he points out here that there are now, increasingly, new lower estimates of climate sensitivity. I would argue that there have been plenty of lower estimates in the past, and that environmental journalists ought to have looked at the skeptical position years ago and interviewed a few key players, or looked at the data directly themselves.

The other thing that has changed is that this is the fifth cold winter for the UK, and a few authoritative groups have finally succumbed, acknowledged the “pause” and trimmed their hyperbole. An investigative journalist would have been hunting for the signs this was coming long before it did, rather than waiting for official announcements. But don’t be too hard on Lean, he’s doing a better job than many compatriots.

The meme that skeptics do have a point has made it through to a new circle of journalists.

Presumably this will only make the religious followers more apoplectic.

 

The Telegraph, UK

Global warming: time to rein back on doom and gloom?

Climate change scientists acknowledge that the decline in rapid temperature increases is a positive sign

… there are important, and possibly hopeful, developments in the complex, contentious world of climate science that might finally give us all a sense of spring. For some recent research suggests that climate change might not be as catastrophic as the gloomiest predictions suggest.

…

The resulting increase has long been put at between 1.5C and 4.5C (the threefold range itself gives some idea of how little is known): the best guess has been 3C, which would be likely to have devastating effects on the climate. But the latest findings – which stretch over several papers from different, well-established scientists – suggest that the rise may be towards the lower end of that big range, possibly less than the 2C danger level.

…

So while governments must urgently adopt measures to cut emissions of black carbon – mainly from diesel engines and inefficient Third World cooking stoves – they will also have to do much more to control carbon dioxide.

The new research might just give the world a much-needed breathing space. But it would be foolhardy to breathe out for long.

 

Only in December did Geoffrey Lean say in: “Wildfires across Australia and the US’s hottest year on record: the heat that’s making history”

…the only honest thing to do is to look at long-term trends.

But these suggest that something is indeed afoot. Days above 37.8C are now five times more common than between 1911 and 1930 and extremely hot summers are 10 times more widespread globally than between 1951 and 1980.

There is no doubt that the world has warmed, and that this will continue.

But he acknowledged that both sides of the polarized debate were exaggerating.

Last November he was holding his breath for a new agreement in Doha.

A new agreement forcing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is crucial

Here we go again. This weekend, as in every year for the past 18, thousands of negotiators, lobbyists, activists, journalists and assorted hangers-on are converging on a cavernous conference centre to haggle over one of the most complex, frustrating and urgent tasks of our times – the prevention of catastrophic climate change.

This time, the travelling circus is pitching up in Doha…

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PS: The site was down today due to maintenance beyond my control. In future, if you can’t see the site, please check my twitter account @JoanneNova. I always post information about site there (it’s my backup method to reach readers when the site can’t).  Join my new public facebook page as well.  It will help us reach a new crowd. Thanks – Jo

The short killer summary: The Skeptics Handbook. The most deadly point: The Missing Hot Spot.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[2banana]

Two feet of snow in Colorado today.

In mid April.

[Shadow44]

People are realizing the hucksters for what they are.

Of course, now that they’ve already made their millions selling “carbon credits” and the like.

[Deagle]

Please don’t tell me they are actually listening to Science instead of the blowhard leftists! Something is going terribly wrong here...

[muawiyah]

When those researchers a few years back found the first air conditioning unit blowing across the thermometer in one of those standard model weather stations I knew that ALL the data obtained from older technology was TOTAL GARBAGE. It wasn't just a case of 'heat islands' it was 'heat pumps'!

Even NASA backed South America and Africa out of its climate models ~ particularly when it was revealed that in some places it wasn't possible to actually get data from the stations since, lo and behold, the locals were holding quite violent wars with barbaric practices and NO ONE WOULD TAKE THE JOB.

[skeeter]

Is the media finally waking up

No. The propaganda arm of the State was never asleep.

[Vince Ferrer]

Two feet of snow in Colorado today. In mid April.

That's not that uncommon in Colorado.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

It's north of Denver out on the paraire ,up inot Wyoming and western Nebraska.....

Got a thread on it:

Blizzard Aims for Denver, Rapid City, Casper and Scottsbluff---Global Warming?

**************************************MAP*********************************

[353FMG]

Is the media waking up?

You have to be kidding.

The MSM are all part and author of the socialist/communist hoax all designed to bring down America’s productivity.

[The_Media_never_lie]

I have some non-technical friends who believe all this bs. They are first and foremost Democrats.

[353FMG]

I know what you’re going through.

I got rid of all my RAT friends and family members — I truly have no need of them. They are a pain in the *$$ and they are a disturbing influence on my peace of mind. They are not welcome in my house and even the dog distrusts them.

[Marine_Uncle]

Thanks Ernest.

[Rocky]

The CAGW crowd is in panic mode. There have been several recent attempts to assert that global warming is in fact still occurring.

This, in spite of the fact that Phil Jones admitted months ago that warming seemed to have stopped, and the UK Met Office has pointed out the same more recently, and even some publications such as The Economist, which were previously dependable propagandists for CAGW, have pointed out that CO2 has continued to increase, but warming has stopped, and that the projections by the models are being shown to be incorrect.

So, first the CAGW crowd hung their hat on the Marcott paper a month or so ago. Then McIntyre quickly put a pin in that balloon. (http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/03/16/mcintyre-finds-the-marcott-trick-how-long-before-science-has-to-retract-marcott-et-al/)

Then, the CAGW alarmist web site SkepticalScience.com came out with a video, Global Warming Over the Last 16 Years. Bob Tisdale has since published a video which counters this, which can be viewed at: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/04/07/the-blatant-errors-in-the-skepticalscience-video-global-warming-over-the-last-16-years/#more-83651

Then another paper by Compo, et al, purports to show that there has been global warming in recent years by using a computer model which they say can calculate land temperatures by other measurements such as air pressure and sea temperature, without actually using any land temperature readings. Tisdale points out that their model doesn’t work: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/04/08/a-preliminary-look-at-compo-et-al-2013/#more-83737

They will keep throwing these papers out there because they have no choice. If politicians start reading in their favorite liberal publications that warming is not linked to CO2, the research grants will stop coming. Especially in today’s economic climate. CAGW scammers are about to experience a climate change of their own. Another year of no warming and they are through.

Look for them to grasp at any high temperature or freak weather episodes this year and scream louder than they have ever done that this is because of human-caused pollution.

[gusopol3]

Calling Al Roker! Calling Al Roker! A so-called journo-lister is joining the 37% skeptics. Better remind him of Super Storm Sandy! Throw in the Galveston Hurricane while you’re at it.

[listenhillary]

Many that I’ve attempted to discuss the issue with have gotten their information from TV shows like PBS nature, animal planet and similar shows with a serious sounding narrator describing the plight of the poor animals harmed by man’s thoughtless energy usage.

These are legitimate sources of information on climate change in their minds.

[The_Media_never_lie]

I have a variety of interests, travel frequently and always try my best to strike up a conversation with a complete stranger. It is not possible to apply a litmus test on strangers.

It seems recently my friends who were formerly content to visit and not talk politics. They now are even more polarized, thanks to Obama. I can no longer stand to lunch with them because they insist on saying the stupidest political crap. One, sadly, has a wife with cancer. I’m quite sure he is blaming repubs for shutting cancer clinics. He buys the propaganda without question.