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An insider’s story of the global attack on climate science

arstechnica.com

1–10 of 94 posts

Re: An insider’s story of the global attack on climate science

#2
I'm glad to see this finally being acknowledged and the funding behind these attacks being called out. In fifty years, when economies are collapsing due to rising sea levels and all the upheaval caused thereby, will we finally look back (as we did with smoking propaganda) and realize what influence malicious greed can effect over ignorance?

Re: An insider’s story of the global attack on climate science

#3
The title is a little misleading. The story is from one of the scientists targeted in the attack, not an insider from the attacking side (which would be very interesting indeed).

Decent article, but not exactly surprising given what I've already read about on some of the attacks on climate science here in the U.S.

Re: An insider’s story of the global attack on climate science

#4
The best science says that climate change is probably going to make a large fraction of the world practically uninhabitable in less than a hundred years. Climate change is quite possibly the one and only story of the 21st century. What could be more deserving of our attention? And yet I've noticed that such news stories get a rather cool reception on HN, possibly because it doesn't fit the Whiggish philosophy that tends to prevail round here.

My opinion: the future will be worse. Don't have kids.

Re: An insider’s story of the global attack on climate science

#6
post #2

I'm glad to see this finally being acknowledged and the funding behind these attacks being called out. In fifty years, when economies are collapsing due to rising sea levels and all the upheaval caused thereby, will we finally look back (as we did with smoking propaganda) and realize what influence malicious greed can effect over ignorance?

Or in 50 years when things are the same will we finally look back and realize what influence greed and stupidity can effect over people that reason things through rather than accepting everything printed?

Remember - 40 years ago it was Global Cooling.

Re: An insider’s story of the global attack on climate science

#7
post #6
post #2

I'm glad to see this finally being acknowledged and the funding behind these attacks being called out. In fifty years, when economies are collapsing due to rising sea levels and all the upheaval caused thereby, will we finally look back (as we did with smoking propaganda) and realize what influence malicious greed can effect over ignorance?

Or in 50 years when things are the same will we finally look back and realize what influence greed and stupidity can effect over people that reason things through rather than accepting everything printed? Remember - 40 years ago it was Global Cooling.

So you're saying that climate scientists are motivated by greed and stupidity?

And if you've been involved in climate debates before, you know full well that an article in Newsweek does not mean global cooling was widely accepted among climatologists. It was not.

Re: An insider’s story of the global attack on climate science

#8

This has really become more of a religious argument than a science argument. Some people will never be convinced man made climate change is real. Others will never be convinced it isn't. The rest of the people don't care.

The rest of the people don't care.

Except that they will, as the consequences become evident.

Re: An insider’s story of the global attack on climate science

#9
post #4

The best science says that climate change is probably going to make a large fraction of the world practically uninhabitable in less than a hundred years. Climate change is quite possibly the one and only story of the 21st century. What could be more deserving of our attention? And yet I've noticed that such news stories get a rather cool reception on HN, possibly because it doesn't fit the Whiggish philosophy that te…

No, it doesn't say that. The best climate science predicts a rise of 3 degrees Celsius or so, which has the potential to substantially disrupt some vulnerable societies and act as a significant drag on economic growth. It would not render large portions of the world uninhabitable, though.

Re: An insider’s story of the global attack on climate science

#10
post #4

The best science says that climate change is probably going to make a large fraction of the world practically uninhabitable in less than a hundred years. Climate change is quite possibly the one and only story of the 21st century. What could be more deserving of our attention? And yet I've noticed that such news stories get a rather cool reception on HN, possibly because it doesn't fit the Whiggish philosophy that te…

The best science says that climate change is probably going to make a large fraction of the world practically uninhabitable in less than a hundred years

The best climate science is still crap.

We can note some upward trends, but we still haven't created very good models that predict where things are going or how quickly. We still don't know how strong of an effect CO2 has to our climate vs solar activity and natural variability. It's been rather telling that IPCC has had to adjust its predictions significantly over the last decade because they haven't matched up with reality.

Let's all step away from the hype, politics, and hollywood portrayals to figure out what's really going on.

Personally, I find it very grounding to go back to Judith Curry's blog every once in a while to see what a reasonable skeptic is observing in all the political noise around the science.

http://judithcurry.com/

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