"...[Besides the gradual decline in crop yields from climate change,] more frequent and extreme weather events will compound things further, creating shortages, destabilizing markets and precipitating price spikes, which will be felt on top of the structural price rises predicted by the models. One need not rely on imagination to understand how this could play out for the world’s poorest people. Looking at the toll extreme weather events are taking on global food security since 2010 alone paints an alarming picture."
"We will be judged by those who come after us, both by what we did do...and what we didn't do...in the time given to us." (link)
So help them listen - set them up with this article from Frum while you're busy in the kitchen.
(Frum's Republican creds: "been a Republican all my adult life...worked on the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, at Forbes magazine, at the Manhattan and American Enterprise Institutes, as a speechwriter in the George W. Bush administration. ... believe in free markets, low taxes, reasonable regulation, and limited government. ... voted for John McCain in 2008)
"This isn’t conservatism; it’s a going-out-of-business sale for the baby-boom generation."
Latest (Sat.&Sun.&Mon.) update: After a quick check, it looks like Barry Bickmore best summed up this batch: Contrarians File for Intellectual Bankruptcy. (First batch best post was by Peter Watts.) Mr. Steele didn't reply to my email note (from the "Wed. update" below), and didn't print my comment, but did provide a list someone had compiled of links to "bombshell" excerpts - I looked at the first 3 ("you don't have to drink the whole carton of milk to tell that it's sour" ), and 2 of them could be rebutted just by looking at the email they were excerpted from, printed right below the excerpt. I put out a couple calls to check on the third; see all three at end of this post (and in comment). The "'Going out of business' sale" is hoppin', over on the right.
Wed. update: RealClimate contextualized the excerpts, in post & in comments. Also, I submitted a comment (3 times; though as of Sat., it hadn't appeared. I also emailed.) at local emeritus denier Russ Steele's blog asking him to provide 3-5 excerpts he considered egregious, offering to look into them.
Excerpts & findings have been appended to this post.
Utah geophysicist and former doubter Barry Bickmore had doubted human-caused climate change, since his understanding was that:
There was lots of scientific controversy about human contributions;
Climate projections were based solely on complex computer models of physical systems, which (having worked on them, he knows) are easy to screw up;
There’s always uncertainty involved in science.
In this recorded presentation, Barry says, "I briefly talked about how I had made the transition from being a climate change “skeptic” to being an outspoken advocate of mainstream climate science. I then discussed how it is that people like me can so effectively avoid the truth about climate change."
The talk is well worth watching for anyone who still harbors doubts; its conclusion, which is quite strong, also serves as a guide to what's covered:
These contrarian objections almost always have a kernel of truth:
* Liberals do sometimes spin environmental issues; * There are some legitimate climate scientists who object to the consensus; * There might be a climate Galileo on the horizon; * Non-experts should try to figure out climate science as much as we can;
There’s always room for doubt, especially in science. But when we are:
* turning veterinarians & metallurgists into climate experts; * pointing to articles in dog astrology journals; * putting forward potential Galileos who can’t put together any decent evidence; * and relying on a fake member of parliament who claims to have developed a miracle cure-all;
- then we’re trying too hard to avoid the truth.
(It's 40 minutes long, so if you're short on time, you can read the notes.)
This is hot -- it starts from (presumably) the earliest weather stations for which we have recordings, then marches onward through time, extending to the present day:
Which local blogs, newspapers, radio and TV show hosts are run by people want to know if they've made an error, so they can correct it? Would you like to know? One way to find out is to suggest that they join the Report an Error Alliance.
(Update: and no, global warming hasn't stopped.) Read Seth Borenstein's story - Biggest Jump Ever in Global Warming Gases from 2009 to 2010; we're speeding up in the wrong direction, dumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere faster than ever. If we continue on this trajectory, we're aiming to cook your kids, metaphorically speaking.
Think, folks, please; that head on your shoulders isn't just decorative.
This is for the teacher I met yesterday (who, not surprisingly - and, for reasonable people, not controversially - favors investing in the future, via education; & who hadn't yet seen the article): The Case for $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers
