Jennifer Marohasy

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Roger Pielke Sr on The Political Issue of Global Warming

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Thus we have the reasoning as to why the science issues on Climate Science have been mostly ignored – the issue is not about climate science. The goal is to use the term “global warming” (with “climate change” used to make the concept cover all aspects of climate) not to ”motivate” change, but to force the public and policymakers to adopt specific policy and political actions that promotes particular agendas.

Clearly, this narrow approach is doomed to produce poor policy decisions. Unless the media starts to recognize this inappropriate use of climate science, we will continue down the road to many actions that will have unanticipated and undesirable consequences.

The above is an excerpt from Roger Pileke Sr’s Climate Science blog: ‘The Political Issue Of Global Warming’

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Comments

  1. Luke says

    Oh for heavens sake – Pielke can sure make mountains out of molehills. Do we really think that people are that undiscriminating. There have been significant investments in research, communication and decision support on ENSO over the last 20 years, with growing interest in NAO, AMO, AO, SAM, IOD, Madden-Julian oscillation etc. Use of weather forecasts by aviation, power industry and agriculture is at an all time high. Sophisticated tracking of hurricanes and tropical cyclones across the globe. El Nino is now part of the global lexicon.

    Somehow I think we might just be a tad aware of the diversity of climate science issues before we get into long term issues of greenhouse gases and land use change. How does Pielke think the aforementioned issues have risen to their current level of research and development with this supposed “cultural dilemma” as an “impediment”. Indeed one of the pressing issues in seasonal forecasting is to whether your method is “climate change” proof.

  2. Tilo Reber says

    “Do we really think that people are that undiscriminating.”

    Obviously you are. As usual you completely missed the point.

  3. gavin says

    Paul: That Pielke post is scatty and there is nothing new. Why bother?

    Following Luke’s theme, we had another 33C + day at 600m elevation and this part of the world will be short on feed again. See “Annual Stocktake” 9th March on ABC Landline. “The Outlook Conference staged by the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics, ABARE, is always a useful barometer of how things are going in the bush”

    “PRUE ADAMS: On climate change, the pendulum has swung from outright denial to grudging acceptance, and it was the overlaying theme of almost every presentation. Last December, ABARE released a report that predicted farm exports would decline by 63 per cent over the next 22 years if nothing is done to prevent the output of greenhouse gases. This week, ABARE forecast temperatures in Australia to rise by 3.5 degrees by the end of the century.

    DON GUNASEKERA, ABARE: The key message is clear, climate change is real and these challenges are real”

    http://www.abc.net.au/landline/

    Have a glance through updates from the other big biz here via “Coal News- Australia” and note the shift in their expectations.

    http://www.australiancoal.com.au/news.htm

    Here is another slant: ‘Carbon is the new oil’

    http://www.goingtomeet.com/conventions/details/24140

    Positions Vacant – Energy Sector

    http://www.energytoday.com.au/jobs/energy-job-vacancies.php

  4. SJT says

    “Last December, ABARE released a report that predicted farm exports would decline by 63 per cent over the next 22 years if nothing is done to prevent the output of greenhouse gases. This week, ABARE forecast temperatures in Australia to rise by 3.5 degrees by the end of the century.”

    Yes, ABARE has done it’s best to use it’s ‘free market’ political leanings to attack AGW. Now they seem to have given up the political war, and are looking at the science. Here down south, the drought is just getting worse and worse.

  7. DHMO says

    Thus we have the reasoning as to why the science issues on Climate Science have been mostly ignored – the issue is not about climate science. The goal is to use the term “global warming” (with “climate change” used to make the concept cover all aspects of climate) not to ”motivate” change, but to force the public and policymakers to adopt specific policy and political actions that promotes particular agendas.

    Clearly, this narrow approach is doomed to produce poor policy decisions. Unless the media starts to recognize this inappropriate use of climate science, we will continue down the road to many actions that will have unanticipated and undesirable consequences.

    It is clear to me what he is saying perhaps reading the recent book by Aynsley Kellow on this subject would be instructive. He traces the environmental movement back to Germany in the 1930’s. I doubt any of us have any idea what the result of current corruption of science will be.

  8. gavin says

    Chrisgo: My 33C + before the sudden temp drop as clouds rolled over could eventually be reflected in BoM data but I prefer to look at various stations hour by hour via other hosts.

    http://www.eldersweather.com.au/act/southern-tablelands/canberra?fc=9028

    Since I spent some hours looking up weather stations and records yesterday to compare clusters before posting thoughts about anomalies at latitude 40, I found a few other presentations.

    http://exploroz.com.au/Places/Weather.aspx?s=TAS&sid=91107

    ozforecast.com.au/cgi-bin/weatherstation.cgi?aws=95957

    http://www.weatherzone.com.au/station.jsp?lt=site&lc=91107&list=ds

  12. Tilo Reber says

    “we had another 33C + day at 600m ”

    You have weather. The global trend is cooling.

  14. chrisgo says

    There’s nothing like a heat wave somewhere in the world to put the shine back in the eyes of a true believer.

  15. chrisgo says

    Paraphrasing Tim Blair today, barely mentioned on last night’s 7.30 Report is that Hare is a veteran Greenpeace activist,
    http://news.sbs.com.au/worldnewsaustralia/greenpeace_blasts_climate_negotiators_137305

    who formerly was billed as Greenpeace International climate policy director,
    http://archive.greenpeace.org/pressreleases/climate/2001mar22.html

    and who currently holds the title Greenpeace political advisor on climate change.
    http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/greenpeace-launches-landmark-p

    As Tim Blair so laconically put it, “Greenpeace is now evidently perceived as an embarrassment”.

  16. gavin says

    Yes Tilo; we had another 33C + day at 600m and it’s a whole day’s travel from our hapless folk in Adelaide. Bit of a habit isn’t it? BTW; I’ve been on the same issue almost every month since the January 2003 fire storms.

    Chrisgo: When I posted those links to current BoM sources I expected others on here to look well beyond our immediate weather info. Trend data is deliberately not up for geeks. Those who have no idea on how to use it after a quick glance at daily max / min will be at some loss. Compiling meaningful charts over time is a specialist job, getting a feel for it likewise requires familiarity with stations and regions.

    Drought that destroys life is a lot more than the absence of rain over a season. Discussion about climate restricted to zealous interpretation of temperature will get us nowhere. Air without water behaves quite differently to that with a higher humidity. Due points and wind speeds come with BoM temperatures. Hop into those hey

  17. Sid Reynolds says

    So Gavin hails the heatwaves while dismissing the cold Feb. as ‘abnormal’.
    Well, he’s not the only one. One only has to look at his beloved ‘data adjusters’ at the BoM.
    And haven’t they been quiet about this Feb! David Jones on this Blog, in answer to a question on Feb. 2nd about how quickly they came out with the “hottest January on record caused by ‘global warming’ ” stated that the Bureau was so automated that they could press a button as soon as the month ended, and provide the data. And wasn’t he crowing about January!
    Well, we’ve waiting for him to ‘press the button’ at 1 min. past midnight on Mar. 1st., to produce the Feb. data!!.. and waiting..and waiting.. and still waiting on Mar. 13th.
    But of course February could be dismissed as “abnormal”; so why bother?
    And of course, the bitter NH winter which has smashed countless records, and produced the heaviest hemisphere-wide snow cover since 1966, is just a ‘one off abnormality.’
    Bet the ‘data adjusters will be getting to work there too..

  20. SJT says

    “Only since 1966 eh – that’s not long ago. Anyway La Nina’s all over now.”

    Is that so? The drought down here is only getting worse.

  22. Ian Gordon says

    It’s kinda funny watching people argue over whether some place is getting warmer or getting cooler. Climate science continues to defy the world’s supercomputers and still we have some bloke sitting on a fence saying “well it’s cooler here”.

    Climates go through cooler and warmer spells, periods of droughts and periods of floods. Some place might be warmer than usual while another place is cooler. You can’t examine climate data from a fence.

    What is less contentious and what should worry us all is that there’s less ice and snow in the Himalayas. That’s the water that produces food in India and China. Consider that Australia’s boom times come from China and what will happen when China’s grain regions turn into dust bowls.

    That’s the global economy for you. It will bring China’s environmental problems right to your door and your bank account. Sit on your fence looking at the sky if you want to but don’t expect problems in other parts of the world not to affect you. Yours is a primary producer economy.

  23. Ian Gordon says

    It’s kinda funny watching people argue over whether some place is getting warmer or getting cooler. Climate science continues to defy the world’s supercomputers and still we have some bloke sitting on a fence saying “well it’s cooler here”.

    Climates go through cooler and warmer spells, periods of droughts and periods of floods. Some place might be warmer than usual while another place is cooler. You can’t examine climate data from a fence.

    What is less contentious and what should worry us all is that there’s less ice and snow in the Himalayas. That’s the water that produces food in India and China. Consider that Australia’s boom times come from China and what will happen when China’s grain regions turn into dust bowls.

    That’s the global economy for you. It will bring China’s environmental problems right to your door and your bank account. Sit on your fence looking at the sky if you want to but don’t expect problems in other parts of the world not to affect you. Yours is a primary producer economy.