Climate Science

It is not worthwhile for RealClimate to post a response to each misinformed newspaper commentary on climate change that we come across. However, George Will’s recent article in the Washington post (in which he praises Michael Crichton’s State of Fear) perhaps deserves special attention because Will is so widely read and respected. We find it disappointing that Will appears not to have bothered looking up the most basic facts before writing his article. See also our earlier post on the George Will article.

We have already posted detailed responses to State of Fear. Here, we respond briefly to the points Will tries to make. The italics are direct quotes from his article.

[Read more…] about Will-full ignorance

In a Washington Post Opinion article on December 22, 2004, commentator George Will applauds Michael Crichton’s new book, State of Fear. We have already pointed out some of the more egregious scientific errors in Crichton’s novel (see Michael Crichton’s State of Confusion ). Mr. Will compounds those errors and fails his own standards by making statements that are truly “innocent of information but overflowing with certitudes”.

[Read more…] about George Will-misled and misleading

In a December 17th Fox News story (See full report here) Steven Milloy comments on a lecture by Lonnie Thompson at the Annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. He uses a common ploy of truncating what Thompson said, to ensure that a quotation fits with his message. According to Milloy, Thompson said, “Any prudent person would agree that we don’t yet understand the complexities with the climate system.” But what he actually said was “Any prudent person would agree that we don’t yet understand the complexities with the climate system and, since we don’t, we should be extremely cautious in how much we ‘tweak’ the system.” (see full press release here). Such manipulations are designed so that Milloy can’t be accused of misquoting, but clearly, he completely contorts Thompson’s point. Milloy also misunderstands the science.

[Read more…] about Fox News gets it wrong

Par Eric Steig (traduit par Pierre Allemand)

Y a-t-il réellement “consensus” dans la communauté scientifique sur la réalité du changement climatique anthropogénique ? Comme N. Oreskes le fait remarquer dans un récent article de Science, c’est une question qui peut être elle-même traitée scientifiquement. Oreskes a pris un échantillon de 928 articles sur le changement climatique , objectivement choisis (utilisation de la phrase clé “changement climatique”) dans la littérature scientifique relue par des pairs. Oreskes en a conclu que parmi les articles (environ 75 % du total) qui traitent de la question 100 % (tous) partagent la vue consensuelle selon laquelle une part significative du changement climatique récent est due à l’activité humaine.

(suite…)

by Michael Mann and Gavin Schmidt
As highlighted in the introduction to the site, we seek to clarify the findings of scientists who study the earth’s climate, and have an informed view on the science of climate change. Additionally we will speak out where we feel that the public discourse surrounding the science is being detrimentally impacted by the shrill voices and disinformation campaigns of the “partisan think-tanks or other interested parties”.

[Read more…] about Climate Change Disinformation