Jennifer Marohasy

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Lovelock: Damned If We Do, Damned If We Don’t

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Professor James Lovelock gave a public lecture hosted by the UK Royal Society on Monday 29th October.

Lovelock said, “Any economic downturn or planned cut back in fossil fuel use, which lessened the aerosol density, would intensify the heating. If there were a 100 per cent cut in fossil fuel combustion it might get hotter not cooler….We live in a fool’s climate. We are damned if we continue to burn fuel and damned if we stop too suddenly.”

The Royal Society Press Release from which the above extract was taken is here.

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Comments

  2. The AGW belief system is evolving so rapidly. There are so many counter-intuitive and contradictory things to believe in now. Poor old Lovelock knows that the only way he will get any attention is if he out-bizarres himself. Imagine being Luke and waking up almost every morning to find that a new bit of whacko thinking has been added to what he believes in.

  3. Thanks Paul for the comic relief.

    Now to do a Luke, and refer readers to the appropriate commenatary on Lovelock’s concerns.

    Philip Stott’s “All Fools Climate” post at “A Hot Topic Blog”.

    Good one with the morning coffee.

    The address is http://web.mac.com/sinfonia1/iWeb/Global%20Warming%20Politics/A%20Hot%20Topic%20Blog/9009B7CB-C0C7-4F08-A811-9CF0CD685B5F.html

    Sorry it won’t paste as a direct link.

    By the way, in which academic field is Professor Lovelock qualified?

  4. Yes, Helen, it’s all just a lark, and ridiculing science is a practice that makes me long for the good old days of burning witches and heretics.

    “But more fundamentally, you wouldn’t believe, would you, that climate is driven by thousands of factors, most of which lie way out of human management and control? A fool’s climate is one that we think we can dictate to predictably. So let’s add treacle and ink, sand and wool to the tea(tin)pot models, and ‘The Global Warming Tea Party’ can morph into The Rocky Horror Show:”

    Utter nonsense, but it’s comforting, so just go on believing it.

  5. Yes SJT, the kinds of opinions that Lovelock parades are a lark. They are not science.

    What are Professor Lovelock’s academic qualifications?

  6. Hang on, the link you provided was just an anonymous blogger raving on.

    The issue of global dimming hiding part of the warming effect is a serious one. You should read up about it some time.

  8. Philip Stott uses his real name. He is emeritus professor of Biogeography at a London Institution. So his qualifications would at least put him on an authoritive par with Professor James Lovelock in matters hypothetical and climatical. (Apologies to G&S).

  9. Incidentally doesn’t the 4AR say: “Global dimming” is neither global in
    extent nor has it continued after 1990 ?

    Imagine waking up as David Archibald – a 5 station correlation kook and not knowing that you are.

  10. Continuing Professor Stott’s Alice in Wonderland theme, Luke is like the Queen who could believe in ten impossible things before breakfast. Luke goes to bed each night in anticipation of some further whacko twist in the AGW voodoo.

  11. David Archibald – the only Aussie denialist to have an entire RC post dedicated to his shonkery.

  12. Wow, Luke, RC eh? We have numerous entire posts on this blog dedicated to your own shonkery. Now run along, punk, your ad homs are getting tedious.

  13. Luke, I am very proud of that. RealClimate would have only written me up if I had pressed some buttons that they were very afraid of. Let’s add up the score now:
    2 published papers
    2 speeches
    1 written up by RealClimate
    1 climate documentary in pre-production for French National TV, in which I play Audrey Tatou’s older, but very wise, love interest. As I don’t speak French, we communicate mostly by touch. It will by very French, very sensual.
    What has Luke produced by comparison? Nada, nothing, no original contribution. How can you face yourself in the mirror? I know there is some good in you. Leave the Dark Side, come on over to the Sun worshippers. The days continue without a sunspot from Solar Cycle 24 and we grow in numbers.

    And Luke, thankyou again. Yes, I am the only Australian to be written up by RealClimate. All I wanted was to be on De Smog Blog’s list, but I have leapfrogged that and now I am at a higher level. Oh frabdous day!

  14. Yes I know you’d be puffed by it. That’s OK. Most ego maniacs never know. Don’t forget whenever we need a paper to illustrate what’s so patently wrong and absurd with contrarian science we use yours. I encourage you to keep going – the free kicks are fantastic.