Aug 12, 2008

Climate Change Debunked

Posted in Science at 1:00 pm by David Bradley -- 22 Comments; add your comment

So, how’s that for a blog post title? Catchier even than last Saturday’s New Harry Potter Trailer, right? So, is it just another spurious headline designed to grab attention or is there something in it? Well, you will no doubt have read about the recent APS debacle over the paper from Lord Monckton in which he stands up the anthropogenic climate change straw man and, pardon the pun, burns it down.

If you’re in the UK, or have figured out the BBC iPlayer hack to let you use that tool outside the UK, you may have seen the recent global-warming-coming-oil-crisis-we’re-all-doomed drama Burn Up. You probably also heard about a little fella called Al Gore and his inconvenient movie and the Channel 4 documentary that attempted to shred it, perhaps a little conveniently ignoring some key facts as it did so.

Meanwhile, power companies report massive profits and price rises for gas and electricity. They simultaneously pump up prices from well to wheel as the oil price bounces like a proverbial vulcanised rubber ball and everyone is looking to save gas.

Anyway, I thought I’d post a shortlist of concerns expressed by more than a few people about the call to arms regarding climate change, seeing as I’ve published several items about alternative energy sources recently. I still stand by the didact: waste not, want not. It’s important that we cut pollution and it’s important that we reduce the amount of energy we waste. But, given that even the IPCC says there’s a 10% chance that climate change is not anthropogenic, maybe we should be looking at what we are planning for the world, especially in light of madcap schemes like adding lime to the oceans, before it’s too late.

So, how does one answer the climate skeptics when faced with the following alleged myths?

• Myth: The Earth is warmer than it was 100 years ago.
  Truth: At most it’s risen by 0.3 Celsius, less than 0.003 degrees annually and at the moment we’re apparently in a cold patch.

• Myth: Global Warming must be happening, it’s warmer here in Small Town.
  Truth: It’s global averages that matter (see above)

• Myth: Carbon dioxide levels and average global temperatures are at a record high
• Truth: Nope, they are among the lowest determined over the last few million years.
• Myth: Rising carbon dioxide levels are directly linked to rising global temperatures.
  Truth: Not necessarily, there’s a 400-4000 timelag

• Myth: Receding icesheets prove anthropogenic Global Warming is happening
• Truth: Some ice is melting, other areas are actually growing
• Myth: Carbon dioxide is the most potent greenhouse gas
• Truth: No, that’d be water vapour of which there is an abundance in the atmosphere, then there’s methane, and what about nitrogen trifluoride used in the manufacture of flatscreen TVs?
• Myth: If we accept it’s real, we can do something about it.
• Truth: There’s really no point in kidding ourselves, we cannot even control local weather, what makes us think carbon sequestration and seeding the oceans will allow us to affect the climate
• Myth: It must be true, they say so.
• Truth: What if it’s a lot of hot air?
  

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