The ecological footprint of environment reporting | Adam Vaughan | Environment | guardian.co.uk

While we try to minimise the carbon impact of our reports from the frontlines of ecological battlefields, our reporters' dispatches are simply too important to ignore

- Bishop Hill blog - Trenberth et al in Remote Sensing

Kevin Trenberth has his own response to Spencer and Braswell in Remote Sensing. It's billed as a commentary rather than a proper paper.

The first thing you notice is this:

Received: 8 September 2011 / Accepted: 8 September 2011 / Published: 16 September 2011

so presumably it's fair to say that this is not a peer-reviewed contribution to the literature.

» Blinding (And Muting) Us With “Science” - Big Government

Let’s face it – there are few things more annoying than Science. We conservatives need to take a firm stand against Science in all its forms. In fact, Science sucks.

But let’s not confuse “Science” with “science.” The regular, boring, old lower-case “science” has to do with applying the scientific method to observed phenomena in order to expand our knowledge of the universe. It requires a rigorous analysis of empirical evidence and the testing of hypotheses without preconceived, concrete, politicized notions of what the truth must be. In contrast, “Science” is a ration of pseudo-plausible horseshit asserted by liberals who try to occupy the intellectual high ground and then shut you up by basically saying you are too dumb to express an opinion.

Heather Taylor-Miesle: Should Candidates Who Don't Believe in Science Be Disqualified From Serving as President?

If Representative Michele Bachman doubts the existence of climate change, she should travel to the Arctic in the company of researchers. If Governor Perry doubts that the globe is warming, he should walk the scarred plains of Texas with those who have studied the links between climate change, more frequent droughts, and intensified wildfires.

The fact that they don't journey to find the answers tells me they aren't skeptics at all: they are just closed-minded. They don't want to pursue new information or collect the facts on the ground.