[ale] Disappointed in the recent climate research hack

Jeff Lightner jlightner at water.com
Wed Dec 2 10:20:24 EST 2009


Of course since it is a "global" rather than "local" issue one of the
few things I agreed with the Bush administration about was making sure
so called "developing" countries that have more people than we do (e.g..
China and India) be held to the same standards for emission control in
their factories and cars.   I'd also get rid of so called "carbon
credits" which are a joke of the worst sort.

 

________________________________

From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Jim
Kinney
Sent: Wednesday, December 02, 2009 9:31 AM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux!
Subject: Re: [ale] Disappointed in the recent climate research hack

 

 

On Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 8:50 AM, david w. millians <millia at panix.com>
wrote:


Jim Kinney wrote:
> As far as I can tell the only consensus in the field is that CO2 and
> methane are "greenhouse gasses" and that an accumulation of them will
> cause a change in global average temperature. What is under hot
debate,
> often with political and economic overtones and undercurrents, is how
> much change and how fast. It is well understood from analysis of Venus
> that a high CO2 atmosphere will act like a thermal blanket.

Seems obvious, but is it? I don't know. And that's the best way to
approach science. I am concerned with some of the lockstep behavior in
all of this; I *think* maybe we have started to affect things- goodness
knows we don't get weather like we used to in Athens, but that could
just be part of a cycle. There's just not enough data...


Actually there is enough data to support a very generalized conclusion
that anthropogenic CO2 will have a impact on a global, not local,
climate with an effect of raising the average surface temperature over
time. Due to politics and economics, the tremendous amounts of data
needed to reasonable accurately predict the rate of change in that
surface temperature is not currently being collected. To do so will
require a global effort scaled up from something similar to the
Manhattan Project but scaled for global deployment. Most developed
countries don't want the data at the political level. Knowledge of the
impact to their economic system of what they will have to do to mitigate
their impact is too great of a change from business as usual.

Weather changes noticeable at the local level are in the normal
fluctuation zones for short-scale observations. A warmer or colder
winter in a particular region is neither proof nor refutation of global
climate change. "My marble is red therefore all marbles are red" is a
logical fallacy and similar to the arguments espoused by proponents and
opponents alike when using a local data set to justify their particular
viewpoint.

	
	> Professor Lindzen is a very reasonable voice of opposition in
some of
	> the conclusions presented by committees of climate science
paper
	> reviewers.

	And we need more voices like his...

	
	> He also is an opponent of  linking smoking to lung cancer
	> (he's a smoker).

	...except for the fact that he's a gold-plated idiot. Sheesh.
You want
	to be an idiot, that's fine*, but please don't muddy the waters
for
	people who aren't smart enough to know better. Correlation is
causation
	here. Not everybody who gets lung cancer smokes- but it's a 4:1
ratio.
	
	*not near me, please.

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-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III
Actively in pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness
 
Proud partner. Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
 
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