Science just dismantled a favorite climate change denialist talking point.
Over the last couple of years, the conservative movement, which loves science, has had a completely scientific-based reason for skepticism about climate change. The Earth’s temperature seemed to be rising at a slower rate than scientists had predicted. The global warming “pause,†as it was inaccurately called — it was actually “getting warmer at a slower-than-expected rate,†rather than an actual pause — served as grist for a massive flow of coverage expressing skepticism about scientific models and climate change. …
… The importance of the global-warming pause, conservatives explained, was that we needed to get the science right. “One lesson of the IPCC report is that now is the time for policy caution. Let’s see if the nonwarming trend continues, in which case the climate models will need remodeling,†explained the Journal’s editors.
But fortunately we now have an answer. A new paper released today by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration finds that the apparent slowdown in warming was an artifact of mis-measurement. The Earth is not warming at a slower rate. It’s warming at the same fast pace as it did the previous decade. …
Not really a surprise, considering the last few summers have broken heat records.
Conservatives placed so much weight on the apparent existence of this pause that there’s no way they would just immediately switch over to some other justification for their same skepticism, like some kind of reflexive ideologues.
Ahem. And how does the Right respond to getting the science right?
NOAA Fiddles With Climate Data To Erase The 15-Year Global Warming ‘Hiatus’
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists have found a solution to the 15-year “pause†in global warming: They “adjusted†the hiatus in warming out of the temperature record.
To avoid dealing with the actual science, the Daily Caller went to the go-to science denial team of Bob Tisdale and Anthony Watts, who have been occupying the apparently lucrative niche of pretending to be experts on earth temperature and writing a lot of pseudo-scientific papers denying climate change. Tisdale is a man with no known scientific background who calls himself an ““independent climate researcher.†Watts is a former broadcast weatherman who doesn’t have a college degree, although he did take some undergraduate meteorology classes, which puts him ahead of Tisdale.
A sampling of rightie blogs reveals that this is the story they’re going with — evil scientists “fiddled” with the data. Can’t trust those scientists with, you know, science. Anyway, here’s an article in the Washington Post that, in brief, explains that the old data showing a “hiatus” was flawed mostly because of issues with data reporting.
Update: Some pretentious whackjob calling himself Christopher Monckton of Brenchley today published a “report” saying there has been no global warming at all since December 1966. And he has charts to prove it! And rightie bloggers are quoting him as an expert! Lord Monckton is a certifiable looney tune. According to Sourcewatch,
Monckton has made various false claims in the past such as that he is a member of the British House of Lords.[2], a Nobel Prize winner, inventor of a cure for HIV, winner of a defamation case against George Monbiot and writer of a peer-reviewed article. He was deputy leader of the far right United Kingdom Independence Party(UKIP) before being sacked from the party in 2013.
It appears that “he has TWICE been asked by Republicans to testify about climate change before committees of the U.S. Congress,” according to this blogger.
“Not really a surprise, considering the last few summers have broken heat records”
Parsing the data that way is playing the same game the wing-nuts do. Climate change is not the same as weather forcasting, warm summers or cold winters do not tell the whole story. When you use those metrics we end up with Nimrods bringing snowballs onto the floor of the Senate. Climate Change is complicated, that’s why the wingers are able to whistle past the rubes, we shouldn’t try the same thing. If people need a simple sign all they need to do is look at the polar ice caps and the rising sea levels.
I didn’t say it did, but it certainly reveals a pattern. And I’m saying it’s not surprising the old data showing a slowdown in heating might have been off, considering the world is getting hotter. See also —
Research Links Extreme Summer Heat Events to Global Warming
Do keep up.
Yes, the “TEH STOOOOOOOOOOOOOPID”, it burns with the heat of the Sun!!!!!
But, for our Reich-Wingers, it sheds no light.
Facts, and science is based on verifiable ones, are known to have a well known liberal bias.
And that’s why they can’t be trusted.
Only a conservatives gut can be trusted!
Especially if the facts have dictated and new/different way to look at something.
Why, they were changed to fit the Libtards agenda!
This, boys and girls, is what Freud called “Projection.”
They change things to fit their agenda, so they believe we do to.
They cheat and lie, because if they don’t, they believe we will.
It doesn’t occur to them that we think completely differently from the way they “think.”
Life is fine in their bubble of conservative epistemic closure.
And if the seas do rise, conservatives don’t care – because bubbles float, you see!
They’ll be fine.
We Godless Heathen Libtards will drown, while they float merrily away…
“I didn’t say it did”
I presumed that was not your intention just pointing out that we shouldn’t get caught in the same language trap as the wing-nuts, poorly worded perhaps?
Just look to gardeners. They’ve seen the vegetation bands move north over the decades. Not as flashy or urgent as the picture of a stranded polar bear, but no less real. It’s a game to most of the conservative/denialist horde – make the outlandish claim, and have the other side refute it, then make another claim. Facts are not what they want, they want to rouse the rabble who trust their pronouncements as being ‘truth’. They create their own reality, and we have to deal with the effects.
Christopher Monckton of Brenchley
Who is only necessary because Dr. Jack T. Ripper is dead!
Indeed, look to we gardeners. We’re having a bumper crop of Bananas and mangoes in Orlando, the winter season was very short. My bamboo is loving it. ( no pun intended)
erinyes – keep that bamboo in check, or you’re gonna get pandas!
I couldn’t bear that, Joan. 🙂
erinyes,
Joan hates it when people panda to her jokes!
Sigh.
Joan…what do you mean, sigh. I thought it was pretty good. Totally lame can be an effective form of humor also.. It got me laughing.
Totally lame, is my entire schtick!
If I didn’t have that, I’d have nothin’!!!
Yes, I larfed as well! Panda puns, how can you lose, really?
Glad to see y’all are in a good mood this bright day. Lightens up my life too. For me, I wouldn’t mind if I saw a panda or two in my bamboo. I love animals and I hear they are very gentle, and awfully cute. I even like squirrels, they are amazing. I try to have a bird feeder that they can’t get into but they are so resourceful they get to it every time. I have seen a squirrel running across the yard with a whole apple in its mouth. And they are definitely nature’s acrobats, running across the power lines with perfect balance. Of course, Mr. Spock (my dog) has a different attitude toward them. Yes, God/Goddess was very smart when he/she created all the critters.
Off-topic: I just read a good article on Hillary for President that I would like to share with every one. It is by woman writer I have a high regard for:
http://www.thenation.com/article/209017/why-im-ready-and-excited-hillary#
Bonnie… Interesting article. There was one sentence in the article that kinda touched remotely on a feeling I have about Hillary.
Even Bernie Sanders recognizes that, which is why, after making stirring speeches that will push her to talk more about inequality, poverty, and campaign-finance reform, he will endorse her.
I think the word “push” identifies that feeling that prevents me from getting excited about Hillary. It seems to me that if Sanders has to push her to the left than maybe that’s not where her heart is. And as she veers to the left I question her sincerity. Not that I wouldn’t support her if and when she gets the nomination, but my feelings toward Hillary over the past 20 years has been such a roller coaster ride that it precludes any possibility of excitement. One thing I can say with clarity is that she has earned my respect for withstanding the full fury of the GOP slime machine for an incredible length of time. She’s battle hardened and competent.
And when I look at all the occupants in the GOP clown car there is nobody who comes close to earning the level of respect I have for Hillary. The bar is so low for qualification as a GOP Presidential candidate that I’m considering announcing a run under the Repug banner in 2016.
You GO, Swami!
You’re WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY smarter and more competent than any of the bozo’s running for the GOP!
1 Swami, trumps 20+ bozo’s!
Yes, good article. However, is being excited about a president a good sign? Maybe, it will get out the vote but the bottom line is: Will HRC be a good, competent president and will she be able to make the changes we want and so desperately need? I am not excited about Hillary but I’m not excited about any of the candidates on either side. Being a woman, a feminist or a liberal is not a good reason to vote for her. I was excited about JFK and look what happened. I was excited about Obama and now am disappointed. I think it’s a good symbol to have a black president and it means a lot to the black population, probably more than we know. But he didn’t work miracles and neither would Hillary. I admire her for how she has lived her life and how she has endured being in the public eye and gotten through all the scandal, etc. She is a strong woman. But. that is not enough to be president. Frankly, I think anyone who would want that job must be a little nuts. I suppose it’s that “leader of the free world” that appeals to their ego. But that’s a myth. The American people need to get their heads out of the clouds and get their feet firmly planted in the earth. This country is in trouble, as is the whole world. We are again (still?) on the brink of destroying ourselves. We cannot learn from history because we cling to the idea we are an “exceptional nation”. We need to wake up! Doug did a very brave thing trying to wake people up and we have yet to see how that will turn out. He risked a lot, more than most of us would be willing to do.
I could go on, but I’m hungry. It’s still early in this process and the bottom line for me is: I will make my decision based on who the candidates are at the time of voting. I am not excited about making that decision because at this point, I am jaded and not optimistic about the outcome. There are too many unknowns in this process.
He was a member of the House of Lords once, and would be still if not for those meddling socialists. Who just happen to believe in global warming too. Coincidence? I think not.
On the pushing of Hillary, I don’t know where her heart is, but I know we used to think of her as part of the radical faction of the Big Dog White House, from the 1993 health care proposal (left of the PPACA) to the infamous Mrs. Arafat hug and the reaction that scared her rightwards. I don’t see why she wouldn’t be comfortable going back there, even if she does need a nooge. It’s worth being hopeful, anyway.
yastreblyansky – No, Lord M was never a member of the House of Lords, ever. He inherited his title in 2006, several years after the House of Lords Act. And I can’t see on what basis you think her 1993 health care proposal was “left” of the ACA. As I remember, it would have left the private health care industry pretty much in place, as does the ACA, but maybe my memory is faulty.
She will competently manage imperial decline.