The folly of corn ethanol

Posted on November 17, 2013 by | 282 comments

by Judith Curry

“I don’t know whether I can make the environmental argument, or the economic argument” – Tom Vilsack

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282 Comments

Posted in Energy

Interpretation of UK temperatures since 1956

Posted on November 15, 2013 by | 432 comments

by Euan Mearns and Clive Best

In this post we present evidence that suggests 88% of temperature variance and one-third of net warming observed in the UK since 1956 can be explained by cyclical change in UK cloud cover.

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432 Comments

Posted in Attribution, Data and observations

Uncertainty in SST measurements and data sets

Posted on November 13, 2013 by | 803 comments

by Judith Curry

Two new papers that discuss uncertainty in surface temperature measurements.

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803 Comments

Posted in Data and observations, Uncertainty

How to earn trust in climate change debates

Posted on November 12, 2013 by | 478 comments

by Judith Curry

Where trust is most needed, it is least likely to be gained by relying on the source factors identified in empirical scholarship on persuasion.

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478 Comments

Posted in Communication

Denial

Posted on November 11, 2013 by | 755 comments

by Judith Curry

The extension of the “denier” tag to group after group is a development that should alarm all liberal-minded people. One of the great achievements of the Enlightenment—the liberation of historical and scientific enquiry from dogma—is quietly being reversed. – Edward Skidelsky

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755 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

The 52% ‘consensus’

Posted on November 10, 2013 by | 373 comments

by Judith Curry

A comprehensive survey has been conducted of the American Meteorological Society membership to elicit their views on global warming.

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373 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Impacts of China’s hydropower boom

Posted on November 9, 2013 by | 247 comments

by Judith Curry

China is engaged in a push to build hydroelectric dams on a scale unprecedented in human history. While being touted for producing lower-emission electricity, these massive dam projects are wreaking havoc on river systems across China and Southeast Asia. – Charlton Lewis

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247 Comments

Posted in Energy

Open thread weekend

Posted on November 8, 2013 by | 444 comments

by Judith Curry

It’s your turn to introduce topics for discussion.

444 Comments

Posted in Open thread

Practice-relevant climate adaptation science

Posted on November 8, 2013 by | 154 comments

by Judith Curry

Informing the extensive preparations needed to manage climate risks, avoid damages, and realize emerging opportunities is a grand challenge for climate change science.

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154 Comments

Posted in Policy

John Howard: One Religion is Enough

Posted on November 7, 2013 by | 391 comments

by Judith Curry

“I chose the…title largely in reaction to the sanctimonious tone employed by so many of those who advocate substantial and and costly responses to what they see as irrefutable evidence that the world’s climate faces catastrophe…To them the cause has become a substitute religion.” – John Howard

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391 Comments

Posted in Policy

A subterranean war on science?

Posted on November 6, 2013 by | 498 comments

by Judith Curry

[T]here is a routine confusion between science as a process (the scientific method), and science as an institution. – Ben Pile

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498 Comments

Posted in Scientific method

Mutually Assured Delusion (MAD)

Posted on November 5, 2013 by | 302 comments

by Judith Curry

Groupthink:   A pattern of thought charaterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics.

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302 Comments

Posted in IPCC, Scientific method

Chemistry’s climate of skepticism

Posted on November 4, 2013 by | 330 comments

by Judith Curry

‘While climate change is occurring, the drivers of change are less clear.’

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330 Comments

Posted in Skeptics

Pragmatic leverage points to tackle climate change

Posted on November 3, 2013 by | 293 comments

by Judith Curry

It’s time to move beyond the old debates and endless gridlock, and find pragmatic, new leverage points to tackle climate change. – Jon Foley

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293 Comments

Posted in Policy

Open thread weekend

Posted on November 2, 2013 by | 291 comments

by Judith Curry

It’s your turn to introduce topics for discussion.

291 Comments

Posted in Open thread

Pacific Ocean Heat Content for the Past 10,000 years

Posted on November 1, 2013 by | 535 comments

by Judith Curry

A paper published Science finds reconstructed Pacific Ocean heat content has been significantly higher throughout the vast majority of the past ~10,000 years in comparison to the latter 20th century.

“The findings support the view that the Holocene Thermal Maximum, the Medieval Warm Period, and the Little Ice Age were global events, and they provide a long-term perspective for evaluating the role of ocean heat content in various warming scenarios for the future.”

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535 Comments

Posted in Data and observations

CAGW memeplex

Posted on November 1, 2013 by | 412 comments

by Andy West

The hypothesis for a single, simple, scientific explanation underlying the entire complex social phenomenon of CAGW.

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412 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Workshop on the Roles of Climate Models

Posted on October 31, 2013 by | 327 comments

by Judith Curry

I am in the Netherlands, attending a Workshop on The Roles of Climate Models: Epistemic, Ethical, and  Socio-political Perspectives.

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327 Comments

Posted in climate models

Implications for climate models of their disagreement with observations

Posted on October 30, 2013 by | 489 comments

by Judith Curry

How should we interpret the growing disagreement between observations and climate model projections in the first decades of the 21st century?  What does this disagreement imply for the epistemology of climate models?

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489 Comments

Posted in climate models

Unprecedented(?) Arctic warming. Part II

Posted on October 29, 2013 by | 392 comments

by Marcia Wyatt

UPDATE:  Addendum from Marcia Wyatt

UPDATE:  Giff Miller responds

Miller et al.’s 2013 paper – Unprecedented recent summer warmth in Arctic Canada – splashed into the public eye last week with the declaration that current average summer temperatures in the Eastern Canadian Arctic are warmer now than in any century in the past 44,000 years, and perhaps in the past 120,000 years.

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392 Comments

Posted in Polar regions

Open thread weekend

Posted on October 26, 2013 by | 523 comments

by Judith Curry

It’s your turn to introduce topics for discussion.

523 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Unprecedented (?) Arctic warming

Posted on October 25, 2013 by | 444 comments

by Judith Curry

Arctic temperatures highest in at least 44,000 years.

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444 Comments

Posted in Polar regions

Misinformation, disinformation and conflict

Posted on October 25, 2013 by | 296 comments

by Judith Curry

On the other hand, serial climate disinformer Judith Curry (Georgia Tech) announced “Consensus distorts the climate picture.”  – Michael Mann

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296 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Liberal denial on climate change and energy

Posted on October 24, 2013 by | 366 comments

by Judith Curry

Well, this is an interesting twist on climate denialism.

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366 Comments

Posted in Skeptics

Interpreting the fire weather in New South Wales

Posted on October 23, 2013 by | 341 comments

by Mark Goldstone

On October 21st UN climate chief Christiana Figueres made the unusual statement that the bushfire crisis in NSW is “absolutely” linked to climate change.

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341 Comments

Posted in Climate change impacts