It seems to be a monthly ritual, every time there is a severe weather event; a tornado breakout, a hurricane, typhoon, ice storm, or heat wave – some TV reporter will ask some so-called Global Warming expert if they think this has anything to do with human caused climate change. Yes, that is a loaded question, and of course the climate researcher has to say; “Absolutely!” otherwise he or she knows they won’t get funding for the following year.
On the Scientific American blog on September 19, 2013 there was an article titled; “Scientists Report Human-Induced Climate Change Influences Extreme Weather Events. Now What?” by Sheril Kirshenbaum which stated;
“Last week, a new analysis of climate change and extreme weather was released in the peer-reviewed Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The study, entitled, “Explaining Extreme Events of 2012 from a Climate Perspective,” brought together 18 different research teams from around the world to consider 12 extreme weather events-such as heat waves, storms, and droughts-on five continents during 2012,” and the report stated;
“Approximately half the analyses found some evidence that anthropogenically caused climate change was a contributing factor to the extreme event examined, though the effects of natural fluctuations of weather and climate on the evolution of many of the extreme events played key roles as well.”
An online commenter noted; “Continue ignoring it? Maybe dismiss it as a conspiracy.”
Well, that sarcastic comment just proves how well the PR machine is working for the climate change and global warming folks. Now then, as the founder of a think tank which happens to operate online, I hear these claims early and often, and yet, when looking at the Farmer’s Almanac however, I wouldn’t say “weather” in any given locality has changed all that much in the US, and the number of “extreme” weather events could more easily be explained away by Urban Heat Islands, solar flares compressing the atmosphere, than increased trace gases like CO2.
Today, climatologists tell us that there is a consensus and that nearly “All” the climate researchers believe in Global Warming (defined as; human CO2 pollution causing the ambient temperature of the planet to heat up). Unfortunately, as nice as the argument for consensus sounds, consensus does not equal fact. For instance, billions of people believe in religion, they have a consensus in many nations, but that does not make it fact. So, the consensus argument is really con-nonsense. I think the global warming brigade ought to stick to facts, evidence, and theory – not populist democracy of an idea.
Further, it is dangerous to think that we can use public voting democracy to determine the reality of science, but apparently the global warming folks are pulling out all the stops, all the PR, using every event as a publicity play, turning it all into a religion, and hijacking science. I don’t think humanity needs this power play – it’s going to cost us all in the end. Please consider all this and think on it, regardless of what side of the fence your views or opinions happen to fall with regards to climate change or AGW.