Feb
BBC’s Roger Harrabin questions Professor Phil Jones
We thought we’d get away from Climategate and enjoy this sunny California Saturday for a change. But we had to quickly post up a link to an article of the BBC’s Roger Harrabin doing a Q&A with the University of East Anglia’s Phil Jones, who is at the center of the Climategate scandal.
It looks terrific, but admittedly we have not even read it before writing this post. So obviously, no time for any clever analysis. Please read it and let us know your comments below, what stands out to you, anything you find interesting.
We did skim it quickly though, and thought this Q&A was interesting:
E – How confident are you that warming has taken place and that humans are mainly responsible?
I’m 100% confident that the climate has warmed. As to the second question, I would go along with IPCC Chapter 9 – there’s evidence that most of the warming since the 1950s is due to human activity.
“100% confident” means it’s a fact to him. That means his theory fact holds true will ALL data, for ANY time in history. If that were the case, why the “tricks?” Not much of a scientist is he?
Full Story: BBC
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Question and reply taken from the interview: ‘If you agree that there were similar periods of warming since 1850 to the current period, and that the MWP is under debate, what factors convince you that recent warming has been largely man-made?’
‘The fact that we can’t explain the warming from the 1950s by solar and volcanic forcing – see my answer to your question D.’
Even if, as he says, solar and volcanic forcing are not responsible (and even assuming there is recent warming), just because he can’t explain the reason for the warming, it doesn’t mean that by default it must be caused by man.
Doesn’t Dr Jones answer put the onus on those who don’t accept AGW to prove that something else did it, which is not a scientific approach? This false ‘what-else-could-it-be’ argument is one of those that first caused me to doubt the validity of the science behind AGW.
Solar activity doesn’t explain it. Volcanic activity doesn’t explain it. Must be CO2. Let’s shut it down and go have a drink. That’s the settled science Phil? That’s all you’ve got? You wouldn’t accept that thinking from a failing feshman.
Just imagine a researcher trying to float similiar ?logic? in Cancer Research. What ‘DC’ points out above is the only fact I found.
Wait a minute. We are in an inter-glacial warming period. Of course the earth is warming. It always has. So what is the big foofoorah? Oh, yes, it gives the politicians another excuse to increase their power and, by the way, make themselves oodles of MUNNY! (vide Pachauri and Gore).
Are your servers ok? getting a RAR file download instead of site…
I had a strange thing happen before but thought it was taken care of. Any particular page this is happening on? What browser?
Prof Jones is quite correct.
The reason CO2 (and other green house gasses) are responsible for the current warming trend is because there is no other known explanation. While longterm trends match Milankovitches predictions time wise, orbital variations are too minor to cause the temperature variations experienced. Therefore there has to be another cause. CO2 levels are rising, mankind’s activities are producing more CO2 than ever before, ergo man is responsible for global warming. We just need to invent a feedback mechanism which magnifies the effect of CO2 (and ignore any natural sources of CO2) and the science is settled.
BTW, if tree ring data is too inaccurate to use post 1960, how can it possibly be used with any accuracy pre 1960?
Dear Rotom, Aren’t you just repeating the same argument as Phil Jones? ie if we can’t say what else it is, it must be CO2. This is not a scientific argument. It doesn’t allow for the possibility of an unknown cause.
Then you say that a correlation between CO2 levels and man’s activities (which for argument’s sake we will accept here), means that one must cause the other. Again, this is not a scientific argument – my understanding is that correlation does not automatically justify the conclusion of cause and effect.
No other explanation….my how scientific can it get?
“That’s all you’ve got?” – Tom Roe, 2010
Poetry. Pure poetry. Thanks for boiling it down the the bare essence, Tom. I’m serious, not sarcastic.
Thanks Joe.
Jones heavily hedged mea culpa-sort-of-on-somethings is getting good play in the UK media. Just the fact that he admits to no warming in 10-15 years and expresses any doubt at all is creating shockwaves among believer journalists. You can see why the Caveman refuses to admit another error in AR4. This should send him looking for a cave in Waziristan to hide in.
Why should Phil Jones be the fall guy? He knows he is out of a job as a scientist, so he might as well pull the rug out from under his cohorts. But, he has to be rather coy about it or he will be occupying a cell. Just re-read his admissions, and consider the effect that it will have on the house of cards!
A flood of new papers will soon be published scoffing at AGW.
Can’t think of any other cause, Phil? How about normal weather cycles? Or, maybe underwater volcanoes in the Arctic Ocean? I understand that various volcanoes ring the Atlantic as well as the Pacific Oceans. Maybe GW is even caused by the bad karma given off by the pseudo scientists!
Also, Phil, please explain the palm tree fossils found at the arctic and antarctic. Was there an older race of humans that formerly occupied the planet Earth and left via space ships, because they burned too much fossil fuels?
Breaking News: Climategate U-turn as scientist at centre of row admits: There has been no global warming since 1995
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1250872/Climategate-U-turn-Astonishment-scientist-centre-global-warming-email-row-admits-data-organised.html
* Data for vital ‘hockey stick graph’ has gone missing
* There has been no global warming since 1995
* Warming periods have happened before – but NOT due to man-made changes
Wow, Phil Jones becomes second whistleblower at University of East Anglia. Massive overhaul required at UK universities. Lots of climate related courses will have to be cancelled and current & recent graduates will have to be compensated. The University of East Anglia had a fair opportunity to bring about a truly independent investigation at the beginning. The media, including skeptics, supported such an initiative.
Instead they chose to try and sweep the falsified climate science under the carpet with a whitewash inquiry by climate alarmists and continue business as normal. The University of East Anglia is now a disgrace and it’s head should resign. Muir Rusell should also resign immediately.
Obama administration through the EPA Intends to Increase Global Starvation
http://www.appinsys.com/GlobalWarming/EPA_Biofuels.htm
“The 107 million tons of grain that went to U.S. ethanol distilleries in 2009 was enough to feed 330 million people for one year at average world consumption levels. More than a quarter of the total U.S. grain crop was turned into ethanol to fuel cars last year.”
“even if the entire U.S. grain crop were converted to ethanol (leaving no domestic crop to make bread, rice, pasta, or feed the animals from which we get meat, milk, and eggs), it would satisfy at most 18 percent of U.S. automotive fuel needs”
Does Obama strongly believe in a world of over-consumption and over-population and through the biofuels scandal found a way to decrease world population? No matter your views, this is genocide, food costs have doubled in the past few years.