Climate change
This such a broad topic it will be difficult to debate, but we'll have a go at it.
It is certainly an issue that deserves attention, so it's a good topic. I agree with
the contention that global warming exists. The earth has been warming at the rate
of about 0.19 deg/decade since the end of the Little Ice Age in the early 1800s, well
before human-produced CO2 could have been the cause. Climate change is the norm. The
prior Medieval Warm Period, when Greenland was declared green, was about as warm as
the present. Before that, the Holocene Optimum, about 3-5000 years ago was not only
warmer than now, it was warmer than the dire global warming predictions forecast.
[2a] Polar bears survived. I deny the contention that human-produced CO2 is a significant
factor, although I allow that it may be a marginal contributor. The alleged scientific
consensus is not meaningful, because the the consensus is largely determined by non-scientists
and by scientists whose expertise is outside of fields relevant to climatology. The
IPCC conclusions are determined by a dozen or so political zealots who write the conclusions
and then force the scientists in charge of individual chapters to rewrite to support
the conclusion the elite has reached. Only about 30% of the IPCC are scientists, the
rest are government bureaucrats. The IPCC report is not subject to peer review and
the scientists who contribute are not allowed to vote on whether it is reflects the
consensus view or not. http://nzclimatescience.net... http://thewashingtonpest.blogspot.com...
The professional societies operate in much the same fashion. The AAAS has only a few
climate scientists, and the endorsement of climate change is done by the political elite, not by the climate scientists. Not too many years ago, the consensus of relevant mental health professionals
was that homosexuality was a form of mental illness, and the learned societies officially
endorsed that view. It was wrong. Similarly, the Steady State Theory of the universe
was once the strong consensus view; that consensus didn't last. Recently, DOE Secretary
Stephen Chu was asked by a Democrat if it was possible if global warming could possibly
be "a hoax." Of course it isn't a hoax, because the people who believe in it are sincere.
Chu himself endorses CO2 theory. Nonetheless, Chu was properly circumspect. He said
(paraphrasing), "In science we most honor the dissenters who disprove the consensus."
The highly publicized consensus in 1970 was that the earth was on the brink of a new
ice age. The best estimates of the level of consensus I've seen are from Patrick Michaels,
who worked on the IPCC reports, which can be combined with limited polling data. it's
probably about 40% pro-CO2, 30% anti, and the rest "maybe." CO2 is a greenhouse gas,
as Pro supposes. So if CO2 increases, say, 10%, then we ought to get something like 10% warming, right? No, that is not the way it works. A little bit of the CO2 in the atmosphere causes
a relatively large amount of global warming, but as more is added the relative effect
decreases dramatically. A straightforward physical model of the CO2 in the atmosphere
shows that the increases in CO2 in the twentieth century would have a negligible direct
effect on climate. To make the increases in CO2 have a significant effect, there has to be a multiplier
that somehow magnifies the effect. There are many candidates for such a multiplier.
For example, if somehow average cloud cover where reduced by a mere 2%, we would expect
as much global warming as has been observed. It's no problem for guys with computers
and hundreds of variables to tweak them to make the answer come out any way they want
it to. The test as to whether they have it right is whether the models accurately
predict what is observed. They do not. http://www.drroyspencer.com... There was a
spike in temperatures in the mid to late 1990's. The models predicted a continual
exponential rise in temperature. El Nino went away and temperatures subsided. Temperatures
for the past decade have been about stable. If anything, they have decreased. http://www.drroyspencer.com...
Atmospheric particulates were modeled to cause temperatures to decrease from 1930
to 1970, but that is no longer available to explain why temperatures are not increasing.
Perhaps most telling, CO2 theory makes a strong prediction about the relative temperature
rise in the lower, middle, and upper atmosphere and from pole to pole. The observations
show the predictions to be wrong. [1a] Past climate change was probably due to solar activity, because there was insignificant human-produced
CO2. Observations of the last few hundred years show solar effects correlate well
with climate change. Unfortunately, solar activity turns out to need a multiplier just like CO2 theory.
One explanation is that cosmic rays cause increased cloud formation, and the small
changes in cloud formation produce the climate effects. This theory is not established, but there is a major test being conducted
by CERN. Pro points to a feedback effect from CO2 being released from the ocean as
the ocean is heated. This puts more CO2 in the air, which in turn causes more heating.
The regenerative effect is such that once global warming starts, the world is guaranteed
to end. But actually, there have been many instances of warming greater than the present,
and the world did not end. The climate reversed and became colder despite the high CO2 levels. That means that whatever
the contribution of CO2 to warming, there was something far greater that controlled
climate, driving temperatures down despite CO2's best efforts to keep them up. The likely
culprit is the Sun dominating climate. CO2 levels lag the rise and fall of temperatures by about 800 years. That implies
that if multiplying effects of CO2 were significant, the earth could not have had
temperature significant temperature changes in less than 800 years. Think in terms
of an auto that has a 80 second lag in the accelerator. You floor the accelerator,
and 80 seconds later you are up to 25 mph. With that kind of car, it isn't possible
to get to 50 in just a few seconds. However, there are instances of dramatic climate change in around 50 years. The theory is therefore wrong. The Arctic Ice cap appears and
disappears in roughly 60 year cycles. http://www.drroyspencer.com... The 60 year cycles
track solar activity. Ships sailed across the Arctic Ocean in 1939, the last time
the ice disappeared. Last winter was one of the coldest Arctic winters on record,
with about a third of the ice refreezing. It appears the cycle has peaked and it heading
colder. There is no sound evidence that weather is getting more violent due to global
warming. [1c] In the last IPCC report, the executive committee demanded that the scientist
in charge of the section on hurricanes attribute increase in hurricane activity to
global warming. He refused and resigned in protest. http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu...
The scientific evidence now points to solar activity as the cause of present global
warming as well as past global warming. There are multiple solar effects, including
direct solar irradiance, cosmic ray effect induced by changes in the Sun's magnetosphere,
and long term variations in the earth tilt and orbit. There are seven or more solar
cycles that correlate well with past and present climate change. CO2 theory claims that CO2 now dominates climate, but in fact temperatures have been stable for a decade despite CO2 rise. 1. Michaels,
P. J., Shattered Consensus (a) p246-51 2. Singer, F, et al, Unstoppable Global Warming (a) p 66 (b) p 137 ff (c) p201-12