Friday, February 11, 2011

Today's Half-Baked Climate Science Ignorance Casserole

Whether it is because of simply have given little thought to it or because of desire to grasp any straws in order to believe climate change is not a human concern, people who do not accept the established science typically are highly ignorant of climate science.

I have noted before that "ignorance" is by no means necessarily an insult. There is a lot of knowledge - no one can learn about everything. The negative connotation on ignorance is when it is actively embraced by shunning accurate information and/or lapping up inaccurate information. Unfortunately there is lot of that when it comes to climate.

I read a comment today that exemplified the hodgepodge of disinformation, misinformation, misunderstanding, contradictions and such that so many people throw into the pan and bake together to support their desire to refute the science of climate change. These casseroles tend to be very similar, and I think it is worth regularly debunking and trying to enlighten on various ingredients.

The starting point was a post on The New Republic describing how many politicians have abandoned trying to dispute climate science in favor of simply declaring that any efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions will supposedly crush the economy. A comment from one "mr_rationale" tried to chop down climate science with the wet noodle of ignorance.

No one doubts that the Earth's climate changes, has changed in the past, will change in the future. Total and complete agreement on this point.

The argument is over anthropogenic global warming (AGP) :
- What is the real magnitude? Initial models have been proven wrong and most of the warming happens at night due to heat sink. And the raw climate data set has yet to be made available, ignoring FOIA requests.
- Can you use the most recent 150 year data set to predict the earths climate, a planet that is over 4 Billion years old. Hmmm
- Is AGP lasting and permanent? A few million years of recent climate data would suggest otherwise -- the earth's climate is a robust system that has always reverted to mean
- Even if true, can AGP be stopped.
- Even if true, do the costs of AGP outweight benefits?

The binding ingredient here is what I call "anything butter". (I would also call this sort of a person an "anything butter") As in, acceptance of virtually anything but having to address climate change driven by human activities. Piece by piece...

No one doubts that the Earth's climate changes, has changed in the past, will change in the future. Total and complete agreement on this point.

This is little more than an attempt to seem reasonable by expressing agreement with something that if disagreed with would basically end the conversation. Acknowledging past climate change is like acknowledging there is water in the ocean. You get no credit for that because, as this person said, no one disagrees with that.

The argument is over anthropogenic global warming (AGP) :

I have no idea why the acronym chosen is "AGP". I could think of something like it being a warping of "anthropogenic" since those letters are all at least in there, but I suspect that would be too generous.

- What is the real magnitude? Initial models have been proven wrong and most of the warming happens at night due to heat sink. And the raw climate data set has yet to be made available, ignoring FOIA requests.

This is where the nonsense begins, and it is so thick it can barely be chewed. Most of it is not even wrong. What "initial models"? What has been "proven wrong"? Again I am clueless when it comes to "most of the warming happens at night due to heat sink" - that basically points to this person having heard some things and trying to parrot them despite a near complete lack of understanding. That assessment is further supported by not realizing that copious climate data is and long has been readily available.

- Can you use the most recent 150 year data set to predict the earths climate, a planet that is over 4 Billion years old. Hmmm

The fundamental point here this person does not grasp is that climate science is not based solely on the instrumental temperature record. That initial acceptance of past climate change should have already hinted at that. There are many independent lines of evidence from theory and data and observations that all converge. That is why we know that greenhouse gas increases will warm the planet.

- Is AGP lasting and permanent? A few million years of recent climate data would suggest otherwise -- the earth's climate is a robust system that has always reverted to mean

The cluelessness is only matched by the failure to realize it. What "mean" state does the earth's climate supposedly have? The climate system does not have some sort of homing instinct - climate responds to whatever ways forcings (like greenhouse gas concentration changes) push it.

- Even if true, can AGP be stopped.
- Even if true, do the costs of AGP outweight benefits?

Here we reach the thick base layer of "anything butter". This person shows no attachment to disbelief that human activities are affecting climate. The only concern is not doing anything about it. Any excuse will work. Maybe nothing can stop it! Maybe it will actually be better!

Please do not let any of the undercooked or spoiled ideas poison your brain.

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