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Michael Barone: The Great Global-Warming Disappointment; Report undercuts alarmists’ predictions.
National Review ^ | 09/27/2013 | Michael barone

Posted on 09/27/2013 7:47:01 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Events have failed to fulfill the prophecy. Preachers have suddenly been struck dumb by uncertainty. Believers are understandably nervous and some, under their breath, are abandoning the dogma.

These sentences could have been written at the end of the day on October 22, 1844, about the Millerites, a religious sect started in upstate New York. Preachers had told their followers that Jesus would return to earth that day. He failed to show.

But the subject here is not Millerism, but another kind of religious faith: the faith of the global-warming alarmists. And while it’s not likely to have the impact of the Millerites’ Great Disappointment, we could be seeing the beginning of something similar on September 27, when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issues its fifth assessment report in Stockholm.

A preview is provided by science writer Matt Ridley in the Wall Street Journal, who has “had a glimpse of the key prediction at the heart of the document.”

“The big news,” Ridley writes, “is that, for the first time since these reports started coming out in 1990, the new one dials back the alarm. It states that the temperature rise we can expect as a result of man-made emissions of carbon dioxide is lower than the IPCC thought in 2007.”

Ridley admits that the change is small. And he does not deny that increased carbon emissions could increase global temperatures by some significant amount. They would certainly do so if carbon emissions were the only thing affecting climate.

But there may be other things, such as variations in sun activity. “The most plausible explanation of the pause,” Ridley writes, “is simply that climate sensitivity was overestimated in the models because of faulty assumptions about net amplification through water-vapor feedback.”

The pause referred to is the fact that global temperatures haven’t increased over the last 15 years. Global-warming models predicted they would. The models’ failure is not as stark as the Great Disappointment, but it’s a failure nonetheless.

The religious analogy is appropriate because belief in global warming has taken on the trappings of traditional religion. Alarmists like to say the science is settled — which is nonsense, since science is a series of theories that can be tested by observations. When Einstein presented his theory of relativity, he showed how it could be tested during astronomical events in the next decade. The theory passed. Saying the science is settled is like demanding what religions demand — that you have faith.

Religion has ritual. Global-warming alarmism has recycling and Earth Day celebrations. Some religions persecute heretics. Some global-warming alarmists identify “denialists” and liken them to Holocaust deniers. Religions build grand places of worship. Global-warming alarmists promote the construction of windmills and solar farms that uneconomically produce intermittent electricity. Global-warming alarmism even has indulgences like the ones Martin Luther protested. You can buy carbon offsets to gain forgiveness for travel on carbon-emitting private jet aircraft.

Some religions ban vulgar pleasures, as the New England Puritan sumptuary laws did in banning luxuries. Some global-warming alarmists want to force most Americans out of big-lawn suburbs and into high-rise apartments clustered around mass-transit stations. This last element seems to be dominant among many global-warming alarmists. Stop the vulgar masses from living their tacky lifestyles of driving those horrid SUVs. They must be made to repent, conform, and then be saved.

The signs that the threat of global warming has been exaggerated come after the public here and abroad have rejected alarmists’ demands for vast carbon-emission reductions. The European Union’s carbon-reduction program is in shambles, and the United States has actually reduced emissions more, thanks to cheap natural gas produced by fracking. Windmills and solar panels are not economic or dependable sources of electricity. China and India are not going to stifle the economic growth that is lifting millions out of poverty with carbon-emissions caps.

History teaches that climate can change, and it makes sense to fund research to determine how to mitigate possible harms (and capitalize on possible benefits). Unfortunately, most government and nonprofit funding has gone to global-warming alarmists. But apparently even these priests understand that their prophecies have not been fulfilled. Redemption is possible. Some Millerites formed the Seventh-day Adventist church, which has built fine medical schools and hospitals. Global-warming alarmists might consider their example.

— Michael Barone is senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: agw; agwfraud; change; climate; cooling; corruption; democrats; doom; envirofascism; environmentalism; fraud; globalwarming; globalwarminghoax; greenfraud; junkscience; thegreenlie
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1 posted on 09/27/2013 7:47:01 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

The latest global warming scam has been reduced to, “Give us a boat load of money right now, or something really, really bad, is going to happen in 150 years.”

Scientists have managed to corrupt science to the point that no one believes anything anymore, as a scientist is no more trustworthy that a politician.

Given the simple issues with the basics of scientific method, no person calling themselves a scientist should have ever treat AGW as anything more than a fringe theory. Willing to look at real evidence, but steering well clear of advocacy.


2 posted on 09/27/2013 7:55:29 AM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: SeekAndFind

IF the government had passed CAP AND TRADE, today’s cooling weather would have been shown to be “proof” that cap and trade has cooled the earth.


3 posted on 09/27/2013 7:55:41 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Sometimes you need 7+ more ammo. LOTS MORE.)
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To: SeekAndFind


4 posted on 09/27/2013 7:57:08 AM PDT by TurboZamboni (Marx smelled bad & lived with his parents most his life.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Just because the climate hasn’t changed as predicted doesn’t mean it won’t. We have to give billions of dollars to the nearest international government agency. Quickly! Hurry! Before it’s too late!


5 posted on 09/27/2013 7:58:30 AM PDT by Personal Responsibility (Government: Slimy used car salesmen writing laws forcing you to buy their cars)
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To: SeekAndFind

You oppose impoverishing the world, possibly killing billions of people to reduce the worlds temperature by 0.001 degree in a century??

You are an extremist!!

//s


6 posted on 09/27/2013 8:01:29 AM PDT by GeronL
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To: SeekAndFind
***These sentences could have been written at the end of the day on October 22, 1844, about the Millerites, a religious sect started in upstate New York.***


7 posted on 09/27/2013 8:01:45 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Sometimes you need 7+ more ammo. LOTS MORE.)
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To: SeekAndFind

They know that when they admit there is no man made global warming, the money spigot will run dry.


8 posted on 09/27/2013 8:02:36 AM PDT by GeronL
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To: GeronL

I have a theory: Anything that the Dems advocate is bad for the country as a whole.


9 posted on 09/27/2013 8:02:41 AM PDT by refermech
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To: refermech

That’s no theory...it has been proven countless times!


10 posted on 09/27/2013 8:04:53 AM PDT by halo66
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To: Personal Responsibility

Actually, I see one positive that we could spin on this. All that heat and carbon created by Congressmen and Senators attending action in DC?

Why not limit them to seventy-five days of meetings and discussions....then force them to retreat to their home state?

That would save a lot on power consumption and carbon creation.


11 posted on 09/27/2013 8:07:44 AM PDT by pepsionice
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To: SeekAndFind

“IT MIGHT, BE COULD BE, DEPENDING ON CONDITIONS, HOWEVER UNLIKELY, THAT MAN COULD, OR MIGHT NOT, BE CONTRIBUTING TO SOME WARMING. BUT NOT TOO MUCH, BUT CERTAINLY ENOUGH TO PANIC AND GIVE NEARLY ALL OF YOUR MONEY AND FREEDOM TO YOUR GOVERNMENT

REMEMBER, IT’S UP TO YOU TO URGE YOUR GOVERNMENT TO DESTROY CIVILIZATION SO THAT TEMPERATURES DON’T GO UP BY .OOOOOOO758 OVER THE NEXT 100 YEARS. WHICH IT MIGHT NOT.”

~IPCC


12 posted on 09/27/2013 8:09:16 AM PDT by PATRIOT1876
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To: SampleMan

*Scientists have managed to corrupt science to the point that no one believes anything anymore, as a scientist is no more trustworthy that a politician.*

It’s as if the Climate Alarmists have slapped a sign on the side of a honey dipper truck that says “Science” on it.


13 posted on 09/27/2013 8:10:37 AM PDT by PATRIOT1876
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To: refermech

I think you may be onto something!


14 posted on 09/27/2013 8:10:57 AM PDT by workerbee (The President of the United States is DOMESTIC ENEMY #1)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

IF the government had passed CAP AND TRADE the economy would have been decimated and we would already be a third world nation. The cap n’ trade laws and tax would cost us $700 trillion if the government ever decides to destroy civilization over this obvious hoax.

http://nation.foxnews.com/epa/2011/03/16/green-price-tag-700-trillion-drop-earths-temp-1-degree

http://conservativebyte.com/2011/03/green-price-tag-700-trillion-to-drop-earths-temp-1-degree/

http://www.hyscience.com/archives/2011/03/700_trillion.php


15 posted on 09/27/2013 8:15:40 AM PDT by PATRIOT1876
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To: SeekAndFind

If the data is problematic, they choose a timeframe that fits better. Objective truth is not important the enviro-nazis.

Climate change is not about science: it is meant to provide a pretext for imposing a global tax to empower the United Nations as a world government, to the detriment of our sovereignty. POWER and MONEY. Once again.


16 posted on 09/27/2013 8:18:43 AM PDT by SC_Pete
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To: SeekAndFind

And, just like religious zealots, the warm-ite faithful will never be convinced otherwise.


17 posted on 09/27/2013 8:18:57 AM PDT by GSWarrior
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To: refermech

I think so too


18 posted on 09/27/2013 8:32:01 AM PDT by GeronL
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To: SeekAndFind
This new report is , making other Al Gore books such as nothing but .

It is , no our obligation, is to tar and feather this charlatan.

19 posted on 09/27/2013 8:34:29 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (The Tea Party was the earthquake, and Chick Fil A the tsunami...100's of aftershocks to come.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Ah, what does the evidence know?


20 posted on 09/27/2013 8:38:40 AM PDT by TBP (Obama lies, Granny dies.)
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