Science, belief and rational debate

In the meantime, the belief in the greenhouse has hypothesis is such that legitimate criticism based on contradictory evidence – the lack of predicted warming of the upper troposphere, the measured cooling of Antarctica, the lack of change in the rate of sea level rise or the failure of the models to explain or predict recent temperature trends, for example – are dismissed as the propaganda of paid lobbyists or cranks. All societies will gain if we make sure we understand the problem before taking corrective action rather than jump on the currently fashionable bandwagon. Addressing critics' questions seriously is a necessary first step.

Whatever the result, a better understanding of our climate will ensure that we take appropriate action rather than invest so much in one particular preferred "solution" which shows little chance of success. Whatever the result, science will be the stronger for it. But, if things continue as they are and the catastrophists' view of climate change turns out to be wrong, it would hardly be surprising if the average person fails to place much faith in science.

David Friedman: Arctic Sea Ice Briefly Continued

I concluded that he, unlike the gentleman at NASA, understood my question, and that his real answer was that it was all right to lie to people about the evidence as long as you were telling them what you thought was the truth about the conclusion. I sent him off a reference to the Orwell piece that discusses the dangers of suppressing the truth for fear that it would "play into the hands of" the opposition.

And I now know that nothing said by NASA/JPL ought to be trusted. Readers of this blog may want to check the JPL claim against the data for themselves before deciding whether or not they agree with that conclusion. I have provided the links above.

I Love CO2: Record low June temperatures around the world, again

Record low temperatures in 18 states - 6 Jun 09
Record low temperatures in 15 states - 5 Jun 09
Record low max temperatures in 24 states - 5 Jun 09
Record low temperatures in 11 states – 4 Jun 09
Record low max temperatures in 20 states - 4 Jun 09
Record low temperatures in seven states - 3 Jun 09
Record low max temperatures in 10 states - 3 Jun 09