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Settled Science

We’re not there yet, says an MIT professor of meteorology.

Suppose that I leave a box on the floor, and my wife trips on it, falling against my son, who is carrying a carton of eggs, which then fall and break. Our present approach to emissions would be analogous to deciding that the best way to prevent the breakage of eggs would be to outlaw leaving boxes on the floor. The chief difference is that in the case of atmospheric CO2 and climate catastrophe, the chain of inference is longer and less plausible than in my example.

I wonder whether those leaked emails from the CRU will enable others to speak against the “consensus”, that might once have feared censure?

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9 comments to Settled Science

  • Joe in N. Calif

    Typical denier, believing what a meteorologist says. We all know that meteorolgists aren’t REAL scientists. You know, like economists, and former vice presidents, or even important people like Babs “Don’t call me Ma’am, I have an important title” Boxer.

    For more on the political side: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/peter-roff/2009/11/30/global-warming-e-mails-scandal-show-scientists-may-have-cooked-the-facts.html

  • G-man

    As one with a Masters in Physical Oceanography/Engineering I’ve had my share of metoc. And having studied the blanching of coral reefs 30+ years ago, studied the coastal morphology of SC where the coast line was 65 miles inland from Charleston, and studied giant fossilized oyster shells on the high Egyptian desert (the hinge lines will tell you a lot about climate – like tree growth rings), the big news is – IT CHANGES! Most times when there ain’t nary a humanoid in sight. Sun spot activity, solar flare incidence, volcanic eruptions all do more to change the climate than man has ever done. Yet who is gonna go ask for trillions of dollars to stop volcanoes or sunspots? That is not a good business plan – you need a fall guy, and that is us. This is nothing short of global climate Y2K pandemonium. Go check out the emissions spewed out from Pinatubo or the one at Rabaul in 94. We will spend trillions only to find that oops, the climate is still changing. Good thing no one is predicting a magnetic pole reversal any time soon. I’m sure we’d spend more to stop that as well. Now there is an idea – all we need is some “leaked” emails detailing the “research”.

    Sigh-eence.

    • SCOTTtheBADGER

      COAST TO COAST AM saya that the Earth’s magnetic field will reverse poles in December 2012, because the Mayans said so. If you can’t trust COAST TO COAST, who can you trust

  • Marianne Matthews

    Joe in N. Calif…The phrase “settled science” is an oxymoron anyway. And good scientists know it. I remember a few years ago one of the docs at a medical convention stood up and stated that ulcers were not caused by stress, but rather by a viral infection. All the attendees fell about laughing and pointing their fingers. It turned out that he was right, as the medical community had to admit a year or so later.

    Protect your wallets, friends, any time folks claim a scientific consensus. There ain’t no such thing.

    Marianne

    • Joe in N. Calif

      LOL, just like we know there is no gravity, everything sucks ;-)

    • steveH

      Helicobacter pylori. About half the population has it in their innards, and nobody knows why it causes ulcers in some people, and not in most everyone else.

      And it seems that certain bismuth compounds suppress it pretty well; a famous pink nostrum actually worked.

      Current treatments tend toward various H2 blockers and proton-pump inhibitors (and antibiotics), but while you’re waiting for your prescriptions to be filled, it can help you feel better.

    • David Curp

      What is striking about “settled science” is how it too often functions as code for “don’t you dare raise questions, peasant.” When I encounter a holocaust-denying student (not too frequently but it does happen) who is simply misinformed (as opposed to those who are straight-up anti-Semitic – it doesn’t take that long to figure it out) I just start laying out the evidence. A good scholar in the sciences or the humanities doesn’t just appeal to authority (though that can be part of the mix) – the few real locked-down-issues have enough data behind them that if one is not dealing with the invincibly ignorant you just show the proofs.

  • Bill K.

    A fascinating thing happened in our private university science department today. Despite this being all over the net, three faculty members next door to me didn’t even know what I was referring to when a friend and I started talking about the Hadley CRU.
    Need I mention who they all voted for? If even PhDs (a chemist, botanist, & geologist) who claim interest in current events are ignorant of this, doesn’t it say something scary about how news is spread and how it’s filtered?
    It doesn’t think anything we don’t want it to think… Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

  • dumm

    Yeah! outlaw the pich!!

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