When we see records being broken and unprecedented events such as this, the onus is on those who deny any connection to climate change to prove their case. Global warming has fundamentally altered the background conditions that give rise to all weather. In the strictest sense, all weather is now connected to climate change. Kevin Trenberth HIT THE PAGE DOWN KEY TO SEE THE POSTS Now at 8,800+ articles. HIT THE PAGE DOWN KEY TO SEE THE POSTS
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Richard Muller's Berkeley lecture on climate change full of denier memes and talking points -- he must really like that Koch money
I have been watching Professor Muller’s lecture on climate change given yesterday at U.C. Berkeley. I have not finished it yet but 20 minutes into it Professor Muller has:
1. Implied that since Chinese CO2 emissions have risen dramatically it is pointless for the U.S to do anything.
2. Claimed that Antarctica is gaining ice.
3 Minimized the temperature rise of the past couple of decades.
4. Said that the past thirteen years have seen no rise in temperatures.
5. Claimed that increased cloud cover will mitigate temperature increase.
6. Implied in a brief mention that Polar Bears are not in any present danger.
7. Mentioned Al Gore at least a half dozen times.
Lecture can be seen here:
http://scienceatcal.berkeley.edu/lectures/2011/03
even …
close.
People who cherry pick the 1998 El Niño always forget they have to *carefully* cherry pick the 1998 El Niño even.
Muller is clearly nutty, but my old friend Dr. Barasch from Berkeley told me that he has too much self respect to fudge the data, at least in a written report (as opposed to the spin in his speech at Berkeley). Muller succeeded in working Koch and his friends, and getting a nice chunk of money out of them. He doesn’t earn any respect from me for doing so, since the stakes are a lot bigger than putting more money in the bank.
Muller, along with Lindzen, is an example of why scientists often suffer from the same human frailties that the rest of us do. We need to defeat the deniers on all levels, including more subtle areas of understanding. But Muller does deserve a nod for at least not making up numbers here.