Note to President Obama: The Science is Not Settled
Posted by jennifer, March 31st, 2009 - under Opinion.
Tags: Climate & Climate Change
“Few challenges facing America and the world are more urgent than combating climate change.The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear.” President-elect Barack Obama, November 19, 2008
With all due respect Mr. President, that is not true.
We, the undersigned scientists, maintain that the case for alarm regarding climate change is grossly overstated. Surface temperature changes over the past century have been episodic and modest and there has been no net global warming for over a decade now.1,2 After controlling for population growth and property values, there has been no increase in damages from severe weather-related events.3 The computer models forecasting rapid temperature change abjectly fail to explain recent climate behavior.4 Mr. President, your characterization of the scientific facts regarding climate change and the degree of certainty informing the scientific debate is simply incorrect.
• Yun Akusofu, Ph.D University Of Alaska
• Arthur G. Anderson, Ph.D, Director Of Research, IBM (retired)
• Charles R. Anderson, Ph.D Anderson Materials Evaluation
• J. Scott Armstrong, Ph.D, University Of Pennsylvania
• Robert Ashworth, Clearstack LLC
• Ismail Baht, Ph.D, University Of Kashmir
• Colin Barton Csiro (retired)
• David J. Bellamy, OBE, The British Natural Association
• John Blaylock, Los Alamos National Laboratory (retired)
• Edward F. Blick, Ph.D, University Of Oklahoma (emeritus)
• Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen, Ph.D, University Of Hull
• Bob Breck Ams, Broadcaster Of The Year 2008
• John Brignell, University Of Southampton (emeritus)
• Mark Campbell, Ph.D, U.S. Naval Academy
• Robert M. Carter, Ph.D, James Cook University
• Ian Clark, Ph.D, Professor, Earth Sciences University Of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
• Roger Cohen, Ph.D Fellow, American Physical Society
• Paul Copper, Ph.D, Laurentian University (emeritus)
• Piers Corbyn, MS, Weather Action
• Richard S. Courtney, Ph.D, Reviewer, Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change
• Uberto Crescenti, Ph.D Past-President, Italian Geological Society
• Susan Crockford, Ph.D University Of Victoria
• Joseph S. D’aleo, Fellow, American Meteorological Society
• James Demeo, Ph.D, University Of Kansas (retired)
• David Deming, Ph.D, University Of Oklahoma
• Diane Douglas, Ph.D, Paleoclimatologist
• David Douglass, Ph.D, University Of Rochester
• Robert H. Essenhigh, E.G. Bailey Emeritus, Professor Of Energy Conversion The Ohio State University
• Christopher Essex, Ph.D, University Of Western Ontario
• John Ferguson, Ph.D, University Of Newcastle
• Upon Tyne (retired)
• Eduardo Ferreyra, Argentinian Foundation For A Scientific Ecology
• Michael Fox, Ph.D, American Nuclear Society
• Gordon Fulks, Ph.D, Gordon Fulks And Associates
• Lee Gerhard, Ph.D, State Geologist, Kansas (retired)
• Gerhard Gerlich, Ph.D, Technische Universitat Braunschweig
• Ivar Giaever, Ph.D, Nobel Laureate, Physics
• Albrecht Glatzle, Ph.D, Scientific Director, Inttas (Paraguay)
• Wayne Goodfellow, Ph.D, University Of Ottawa
• James Goodridge, California State Climatologist (retired)
• Laurence Gould, Ph.D, University Of Hartford
• Vincent Gray, Ph.D, New Zealand=2 0Climate Coalition
• William M. Gray, Ph.D, Colorado State University
• Kenneth E. Green, D.Env., American Enterprise Institute
• Kesten Green, Ph.D, Monash University
• Will Happer, Ph.D, Princeton University
• Howard C. Hayden, Ph.D, University Of Connecticut (emeritus)
• Ben Herman, Ph.D, University Of Arizona (emeritus)
• Martin Hertzberg, Ph.D, U.S. Navy (retired)
• Doug Hoffman, Ph.D, Author, The Resilient Earth
• Bernd Huettner, Ph.D
• Ole Humlum, Ph.D, University Of Oslo
• A. Neil Hutton, Past President, Canadian Society Of Petroleum Geologists
• Craig D. Idso, Ph.D, Center For The Study Of Carbon Dioxide And Global Change
• Sherwood B. Idso, Ph.D, U.S. Department Of Agriculture (retired)
• Kiminori Itoh, Ph.D, Yokohama National University
• Steve Japar, Ph.D, Reviewer, Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change
• Sten Kaijser, Ph.D, Uppsala University (emeritus)
• Wibjorn Karlen, Ph.D, University Of Stockholm20(emeritus)
• Joel Kauffman, Ph.D, University Of The Sciences, Philadelphia (emeritus)
• David Kear, Ph.D, Former Director-General, Nz Dept. Scientific And Industrial Research
• Richard Keen, Ph.D, University Of Colorado
• Dr. Kelvin Kemm, Ph.D, Lifetime Achievers Award, National ScienceTechnology Forum, South Africa
• Madhav Khandekar, Ph.D, Former Editor, Climate Research
• Robert S. Knox, Ph.D, University Of Rochester (emeritus)
• James P. Koermer, Ph.D, Plymouth State University
• Gerhard Kramm, Ph.D, University Of Alaska Fairbanks
• Wayne Kraus, Ph.D, Kraus Consulting
• Olav M. Kvalheim, Ph.D, Univ. Of Bergen
• Roar Larson, Ph.D, Norwegia n University Of Science And Technology
• James F. Lea, Ph.D
• Douglas Leahy, Ph.D, Meteorologist
• Peter R. Leavitt, Certified Consulting Meteorologist
• David R. Legates, Ph.D, University of Delaware
• Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D, Massachusetts Institute Of Technology
• Harry F. Lins, Ph.D. Co-Chair, IPCC Hydrology and Water Resources Working Group
• Anthony R. Lupo, Ph.D, University Of Missouri
• Howard Maccabee, Ph.D, MD Clinical Faculty, Stanford Medical School
• Horst Malberg, Ph.D, Free University of Berlin
• Bjorn Malmgren, Ph.D, Goteburg University (emeritus)
• Jennifer Marohasy, Ph.D, Australian Environment Foundation
• James A Marusek, U.S. Navy (retired)
• Ross Mckitrick, Ph.D, University Of Guelph
• Patrick J. Michaels, Ph.D, University Of Virginia
• Timmothy R. Minnich, MS, Minnich And Scotto, Inc.
• Asmunn Moene, Ph.D, Former Head, Forecasting Center, Meteorological Institute, Norway
• Michael Monce, Ph.D, Connecticut College
• Dick Morgan, Ph.D, Exeter University (emeritus)
• Nils-axel Morner, Ph.D, Stockholm University (emeritus)
• David Nowell, D.I.C., Former Chairman, Nato Meteorology Canada
• Cliff Ollier, D.Sc., University Of Western Australia
• Garth W. Paltridge, Ph.D, University Of Tasmania
• Alfred Peckare k, Ph.D, St. Cloud State University
• Dr. Robert A. Perkins, P.E. University Of Alaska
• Ian Pilmer, Ph.D, University Of Melbourne (emeritus)
• Brian R. Pratt, Ph.D, University Of Saskatchewan
• John Reinhard, Ph.D, Ore Pharmaceuticals
• Peter Ridd, Ph.D, James Cook University
• Curt Rose, Ph.D, Bishop’s University (emeritus)
• Peter Salonius, M.Sc., Canadian Forest Service
• Gary Sharp, Ph.D, Center For Climate/Ocean Resources Study
• Thomas P. Sheahan, Ph.D, Western Technologies, Inc.
• Alan Simmons, Author, The Resilient Earth
• Roy N. Spencer, Ph.D, University Of Alabama-Huntsville
• Arlin Super, Ph.D, Retired Research Meteorologist, U.S. Dept. Of Reclamation
• George H. Taylor,MS, Applied Climate Services
• Eduardo P. Tonni, Ph.D, Museo De La Plata (Argentina)
• Ralf D. Tscheuschner, Ph.D
• Dr. Anton Uriarte,Ph.D, Universidad Del Pais Vasco
• Brian Valentine, Ph.D, U.S. Department Of Energy
• Gosta Walin, Ph.D, University Of Gothenburg (emeritus)
• Gerd-Rainer Weber,Ph.D, Reviewer, Intergovernmenal Panel On Climate Change
• Forese-Carlo Wezel, Ph.D, Urbino University
• Edward T. Wimberley, Ph.D, Florida Gulf Coast University
• Miklos Zagoni,Ph.D Reviewer, Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change
• Antonio Zichichi,Ph.D President, World Federation Of Scientists
Footnotes
1. Swanson, K.L., and A. A. Tsonis. Geophysical Research Letters, in press: DOI:10.1029/2008GL037022.
2. Brohan, P., et al. Journal of Geophysical Research, 2006: DOI: 10.1029/2005JD006548.
3. Pielke, R. A. Jr., et al. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 2005: DOI: 10.1175/BAMS-86-10-1481.
4. Douglass, D. H., et al. International Journal of Climatology, 2007: DOI: 10.1002/joc.1651.
SJT – the drip is only .1C/decade – that’s 1C by 2100
same as the last century.
The science may not be settled but the AGW religion sure is.
Witness Kevin at St. Pauls Cathedral where ex Aussie bishop George Browning just proclaimed AGW accompanied by a choir of angels.
It sounded like God was telling us straight.
So that’s it then.
Might as well pack up, go home and become a muslim.
Luke wails:
“…the current stasis in temperature is completely unremarkable and predicted by individual GCM runs. When the temperature inevitably begins to rise again you’ll find yourself cut off behind enemy lines I’m afraid.”
Another action packed comment by Luke!
First, he nods to the creationist concept of a climate stasis, an oxymoron of logic encouraged by the tautological Orwellian newspeak of “climate change.” Obviously, if you want to stop “climate change” you have to believe that a climate stasis is possible, which it is not. This is anti-evolutionary thinking at its most profound.
Second, he reveals his faith in computer modeling over fundamental causal science and empirical evidence.
Third, he reveals the only way to even get the GCMs to support observational, objective T-data is to lie. The GCMs did not predict the global temperature “stasis”, or cooling of the last decade, quite the contrary. We should be well on our way to the apocalypse by now.
http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/slides/large/05.24.jpg
Fourthly, Luke, the evangelist, prophesizes that temperature will begin to rise again. No evidence is required. This is an act of faith.
Fifthly, he reveals that he regards anyone who reasonably differs from his own (faulty) evaluation of the data as the “enemy.” This isn’t a remotely rational worldview. Welcome to the Inquisition.
Rare is the commenter that can pack so vast a variety of pre-Enlightenment values into so few words. I’m impressed.
(1) nope and yep
(2) yep of course
(3) sorry they did – apocalypse by now – do wank on
(4) yep and nope
(5) no just fuckwits like you mate
cohenite – woodfortrees only gives us CO2 data since direct measurements began in 1958, but this is enough to show us that the correlation between CO2 and temperature since then is in fact excellent.
http://www.woodfortrees.org/plot/hadcrut3vgl/mean:60/plot/esrl-co2/scale:0.01/offset:-3.4/mean:60
Another way of looking at the correlation is to plot annual temperature anomaly against CO2 concentration:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KfE5s-4q1s4/ScLVic4P0hI/AAAAAAAAAB0/IWBy3fClff8/s1600-h/fig4.jpg
You can plot your own graphs to find out that extending the data back 130 years using ice cores does not alter this conclusion.
What data, exactly, are you using to claim that there is no correlation?
Everyone seems to forget that even NASA is predicting many years of cooling temperatures. Cooling has been predicted for the next 6 to 25 years. This pattern is nicely documented in the land temperature record from 1940 to 1975. When you minus out the UHI, it gets even colder. Where will this cooling place the predictive power of the present GCM’s? My guess is that we will all be laughing about this “phase” in human stupidity in a few years. (If it weren’t so costly/tragic, I’d be laughing now.)
“the correlation between CO2 and temperature since then is in fact excellent.”
ROTFL.
……..
Oh, and for Luke (my new grlfrnd):
1. Sure?
2. Uh huh
3. OK
4. Kiss this
5. bend over
thnx, mate. we’ll do it again sometime.
Last week during the height of the floods in the Fargo area of ND. Obama made the ridiculous statement….”This is a wake up call to the damage that global warming can cause.” This howler even embarrassed his minders who made sure that he modified the statement, after it caused outrage among the Dakota citizenry.
They were enduring the worst floods in 117 years, caused by the coldest, and most prolonged winter in 80 odd years, with the heaviest snow/ice pack in that time.
It was the spring melt of that pack that was causing the Red River to flood so badly, and the problem was made worse by yet another blizzard/freeze snap in late March, dumping even more snow, and clogging the river with even more ice. The National Guard and emergency authorities had to revert to blasting the banked up ice in the river to stop it rising higher.
And Obama had the temerity to blame it on “Global Warming”.
“In a blaze of dazzling light from above, disciples witness the First Coming of Obama”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/G20/article6012472.ece
Sid Reynolds, I’ve not been able to verify that comment by Mr. Obama re or in Fargo. Can you provide a source by any chance, please? Thanks.
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/235048
Obama says flooding serves as warning
By: Janell Cole, INFORUM
WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Barack Obama acknowledged the current flood emergency in the Red River Valley on Monday, and warned that global warming could lead to similar disasters in the future.
Considering how bad the flooding is now in North Dakota, imagine what it could be if global warming exacerbates the issue, Obama said.
“I actually think the science around climate change is real. It is potentially devastating,” said Obama, who sat down Monday afternoon for a sit-down interview with six hand-picked journalists from around the country.
“If you look at the flooding that’s going on right now in North Dakota and you say to yourself, ‘If you see an increase of 2 degrees, what does that do, in terms of the situation there?’ that indicates the degree to which we have to take this seriously,” he said.
Hello Richard Ong,
My sister and her husband farm in South Dakota, and emailed several news items on the flooding around Fargo, ND. Apparently President Obama in a TV News grab on the floods made the offending statement I referred to. In a later ‘armchair interview’ with five journalists, he modified the comment on the floods, reportedly on the advice of minders, as the floods had nothing to do with “global warming”, but in fact the opposite. They were caused by a very cold winter, with much heavier then usual snow a nd ice cover.
This fact still made his modified commnet look silly, as with a 2deg. temp rise he mentioned, one would assume there would be a much milder winter with less snow and ice to flood the Red River. http://islandturtle.blogspot.com/2009/03/red-river-floods-global-warming-or.html.
Thank you kindly Wes and Sid. I had searched diligently, i.e., between 3 and 5 minutes, but just couldn’t find anything.