Partisanship and silencing science

Posted on August 29, 2014 by | 461 comments

by Judith Curry

 The implications of dogmatic groupthink and intimidation for the pursuit of sound science — and sound policy — are chilling. – Christopher Snowden

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461 Comments

Posted in Ethics, Sociology of science

Atlantic vs Pacific vs AGW

Posted on August 28, 2014 by | 390 comments

by Judith Curry

I hope this will lead to a broader discussion about the contribution of natural variability to local climate trends and to the statistics of extreme events. – John Michael Wallace

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390 Comments

Posted in Attribution

The 50-50 argument

Posted on August 24, 2014 by | 833 comments

by Judith Curry

Pick one:

a)  Warming since 1950 is predominantly (more than 50%)  caused by humans.

b)  Warming since 1950 is predominantly caused by natural processes.

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833 Comments

Posted in Attribution, Uncategorized

JC interview with oilprice.com

Posted on August 22, 2014 by | 299 comments

by Judith Curry

As the global warming debate increases in its intensity we find both sides deeply entrenched, hurling accusations and lies at one another in an attempt to gain the upper hand. This divide within the scientific community has left the public wondering who can be trusted to provide them with accurate information and answers. – James Stafford

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299 Comments

Posted in Communication

Cause of hiatus found deep in the Atlantic Ocean

Posted on August 21, 2014 by | 421 comments

by Judith Curry

Rapid warming in the last three decades of the 20th century, they found, was roughly half due to global warming and half to the natural Atlantic Ocean cycle that kept more heat near the surface. When observations show the ocean cycle flipped, the current began to draw heat deeper into the ocean, working to counteract human-driven warming. – Chen and Tung

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421 Comments

Posted in Attribution

No bodies

Posted on August 20, 2014 by | 192 comments

by Rud Istvan

One of the firmer catastrophic anthropogenic global warming (CAGW) predictions made by IPCC AR4 WG2 was an alarming increase in species extinctions.

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192 Comments

Posted in Climate change impacts

Institutionalizing Dissent

Posted on August 19, 2014 by | 225 comments

by Judith Curry

As many have argued, rigorous scientific research requires dissent, or what Robert Merton called “organized skepticism”. Yet it is increasingly the case that some forms of dissent in pharmaceutical research are either absent or unheard. – Justin Biddle

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225 Comments

Posted in Skeptics

Mann vs Steyn et al. discussion thread

Posted on August 14, 2014 by | 549 comments

by Judith Curry

Some interesting developments during the past week.

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549 Comments

Posted in Ethics

Appeals to the climate consensus can give the wrong impression

Posted on August 13, 2014 by | 456 comments

by Will Howard

“Consensus” means different things to different people — and herein lies the problem.

 

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456 Comments

Posted in Consensus

A precautionary tale: more sorry than safe(?)

Posted on August 10, 2014 by | 475 comments

by Judith Curry

The unfortunate reality is that efforts to regulate one risk can create other, often more dangerous risks. – Jonathan Adler

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475 Comments

Posted in Ethics, Policy

Engagement vs communication vs PR vs propaganda

Posted on August 8, 2014 by | 313 comments

by Judith Curry

So, exactly what are we trying to communicate, and how and why?

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313 Comments

Posted in Communication

Importance of intellectual and political diversity in science

Posted on August 6, 2014 by | 590 comments

by Judith Curry

“He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that.”  – John Stuart Mill

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590 Comments

Posted in Climate change impacts, Sociology of science

Role of Atlantic warming(?) in recent climate shifts

Posted on August 5, 2014 by | 180 comments

by Judith Curry

Record breaking trade winds may have led to hiatus in global surface average temperatures.

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180 Comments

Posted in Attribution

Is the road to scientific hell paved with good moral intentions?

Posted on August 4, 2014 by | 656 comments

by Judith Curry

We find ourselves in scientific hell when we discover that our powers of persuasion are limited to those who were already predisposed to agree with us. – Philip Tetlock

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656 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Kardashian Index

Posted on August 3, 2014 by | 257 comments

by Judith Curry

I am concerned that phenomena similar to that of Kim Kardashian may also exist in the scientific community. I think it is possible that there are individuals who are famous for being famous.  – Neil Hall

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257 Comments

Posted in Communication, Sociology of science

Montgomery’s Senate testimony: economics of climate adaptation

Posted on August 1, 2014 by | 154 comments

by Judith Curry

If we really want to help globally, there is clear evidence that most can be accomplished through effective support at a community level for locally-designed and implemented adaptation measures in Africa and poor Asian countries where the real vulnerability exists, not nugatory mitigation that helps no one. – W. David Montgomery

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154 Comments

Posted in Adaptation

Lomborg’s Senate testimony

Posted on July 30, 2014 by | 496 comments

by Judith Curry

Because   there   is   no   good, cheap   green   energy,   the   almost   universal  political  choices   have   been   expensive   policies   that   do   very   little. There   is   much   greater   scope   for   climate   policies to   make   the   total   climate   cost   greater   through  the   21st   century. – Bjorn Lomborg

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496 Comments

Posted in Economics, Energy

Politicizing the IPCC report

Posted on July 29, 2014 by | 242 comments

by Judith Curry

UK Energy and Climate Change Committee report on IPCC AR5 – another pointless exercise in circular reasoning, confirmation bias and division? – Paul Matthews

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242 Comments

Posted in IPCC

The 97% feud

Posted on July 27, 2014 by | 620 comments

by Judith Curry

An academic feud swirls around how best or even whether to express the scientific consensus around climate change.  

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620 Comments

Posted in Consensus, Sociology of science

Towards a pragmatic ethics of climate change

Posted on July 24, 2014 by | 420 comments

by Judith Curry

The global climate change debate has gone badly wrong. Many mainstream environmentalists are arguing for the wrong actions and for the wrong reasons, and so long as they continue to do so they put all our futures in jeopardy. – Thomas Wells

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420 Comments

Posted in Ethics

The raw politics of science

Posted on July 23, 2014 by | 170 comments

by Judith Curry

 The myth that there is no politics of science is dangerous as it prevents the important and urgently needed institution of some democratic control of the existing system of politics within the commonwealth of learning. – Joseph Agassi

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170 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Are the deep oceans cooling?

Posted on July 22, 2014 by | 242 comments

by Judith Curry

Direct determination of changes in oceanic heat content over the last 20 years are not in conflict with estimates of the radiative forcing, but the uncertainties remain too large to rationalize e.g., the apparent “pause” in warming. – Wunsch and Heimbach

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242 Comments

Posted in Data and observations

Pentagon’s war against climate change

Posted on July 20, 2014 by | 316 comments

by Judith Curry

The military frames those efforts in terms of saving money and reducing its dependence on vulnerable supply lines, not dealing with climate change, but the result is the same.

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316 Comments

Posted in Policy

Open thread

Posted on July 19, 2014 by | 239 comments

by Judith Curry

It’s your turn to introduce topics for discussion.

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239 Comments

Posted in Open thread

On academic bullying

Posted on July 18, 2014 by | 465 comments

by Judith Curry

So Prof. Enoch is basically seeking to harm Prof. Bell’s reputation, without providing literally ANY documentation that Prof. Bell is wrong, much less so egregiously wrong that his work should be considered “pseudo-scholarship” and his reputation should suffer. 

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465 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science