Saturday, July 31, 2010

[Fraudster Michael Mann continues his letter-writing campaign] - Skepticism in one direction is denial - Breaking News, New Brunswick, Canada
Climate change deniers object to the term, using instead "skeptic" to describe those who deny the overwhelming evidence of human-caused climate change. [What, specifically, is this evidence?] "Skepticism" is a good thing in science. But when it is applied in only one direction it is not "skepticism" at all, but indeed, denial.
Raedwald: You'd need a heart of stone ...
From the Glasgow Herald;
A report by Transport Scotland, the £2 billion organisation responsible for rail and trunk roads, found that travel-related carbon dioxide emissions by staff had increased by 3% over two years, despite its goal of an 8% decrease.

It blamed a sharp increase in flights from Edinburgh and Glasgow to London to attend meetings for reducing CO² in staff business travel in the two years to November 2008.
Long cold winter, oil spill created havoc for Kemp's ridley sea turtle breeding | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
The most likely reason for the sudden fall in nest numbers is the unusually cold weather this year. Landry said frigid Gulf water probably kept the turtles away from nesting beaches. The turtles normally begin crawling ashore about April 1 to dig nests where they lay about 100 eggs. But the first nest wasn't found until nearly three weeks into the season this year, Landry said.
...
Landry said the cold weather can affect the female hormones and their urge to breed. It can also reduce food availability and delay their migration to shallow water to feed.
Suing the skeptics « JoNova
Ten reasons why the theory has failed:

1. Previous levels of CO2 were much higher than today and correlated with temperatures higher, the same and lower than today.
2. Movements of CO2 do not correlate with movements in temperature; during the 20th Century from 1940-1976 CO2 increased but temperatures dropped; the same from 1998. Generally, throughout geologic history CO2 follows temperature movements.
3. According to the IPCC the Climate sensitivity of a doubling of CO2 will result in a temperature increase of 3.2C. Since 1900 CO2 has increased 40% which should have produced a temperature increase of 1.3C. However temperature has only increased by 0.7C. Of that 0.7C increase solar influence has been 0.1-0.4C and natural variation at least 0.3C.
4. The mechanism by which CO2 causes heating has never been adequately explained.
5. Optical depth, which is as good a measure of the ‘greenhouse’ effect as any, has not increased in 60 years of measurement.
6. The amount of radiation leaving from the top of the atmosphere has increased which means CO2 is not trapping heat.
7. Solar radiation at the surface increased during the crucial period of AGW warming from 1983-2001 and this by itself can explain the warming which took place during this period.
8. Clouds are a negative feedback which means they are a brake to any warming.
9. Water vapour has not increased as required by AGW theory.
10. The Medieval Warming Period was at least as warm as today which means that the centre-piece of AGW, the hockey-stick, is wrong.

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