Global warming e-mails prompt Republican letter to EPA
GOP members of Congress ask the administration to put climate-change measures on hold because messages from scientists in Britain appear to cast doubt on the idea of man-made warming.
By Jim Tankersley and Alexander C. Hart — December 3, 2009 — Reporting from Washington
Citing e-mails that critics say cast doubt on global warming, congressional Republicans called on the Obama administration Wednesday to suspend efforts to combat climate change until the controversy is resolved.
In a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency, the lawmakers requested that a pending move to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act be halted, along with plans to limit emissions from vehicles, power plants and other sources, "until the agency can demonstrate the science underlying these regulatory decisions has not been compromised."
At issue are more than 1,000 electronic messages that were apparently obtained and released by a computer hacker. Most involve scientists at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit in Britain, one of the few institutions in the world that collect the historical temperature data relied on by climate researchers.
At the heart of the controversy is whether human activity causes climate change. Skeptics argue that global temperatures may be warming naturally. They say that the e-mails suggest that scientists may have manipulated evidence to bolster their claims. The scientists dispute that and say that their words have been taken out of context.
Republicans used otherwise unrelated hearings Wednesday in the House and Senate to demand congressional investigations, but Obama administration officials and congressional Democrats pushed back.
"The e-mails do nothing to undermine the very strong scientific consensus . . . that tells us the Earth is warming, that warming is largely a result of human activity," Jane Lubchenco, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told a House committee. She said that the e-mails don't cover data from NOAA and NASA, whose independent climate records show dramatic warming.
The controversy flared up just before a summit in Copenhagen next week at which President Obama and other world leaders will attempt to make progress on an international climate-change treaty.
In some e-mails, a prominent climate scientist urges colleagues to destroy records rather than release them under public disclosure laws. In others, scientists appear to discuss how to discredit research they disagree with.
One of the leading figures in the scandal, East Anglia climate scientist Phil Jones, stepped down temporarily this week amid an investigation into his work and e-mails.
In a 1999 e-mail, Jones wrote of using a "trick" to hide an apparent decline in recent temperatures on a chart being prepared for a meteorological organization. Warming skeptics seized on the line, which Jones said was "taken completely out of context" because he was simply looking for a clearer way to chart global warming.
Critics have also focused on an e-mail from Penn State University scientist Michael Mann as evidence that climate researchers have sought to downplay findings indicating that the Earth warmed naturally 1,000 years ago.
In a 2003 e-mail, Mann said that "it would be nice to 'contain' the putative" Medieval Warm Period.
Mann said in an interview last month that the e-mail reflected his desire to identify exactly when the period began — not to downplay it. He also said that he had declined to act on Jones' request to destroy e-mails sought under freedom of information laws.
Republicans who have long questioned global-warming science say that the e-mails show a pattern that undermines the theory of man-made global warming.
"One cannot deny that the e-mails raised fundamental questions concerning . . . transparency and openness in science," Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) said at a hearing Wednesday.
Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), one of the authors of the letter to the EPA, said in a news release Wednesday that the e-mails "read more like scientific fascism than the scientific process. . . . It's time to take back the notion that the 'science is settled.' "
Some climate scientists have expressed alarm at the contents of the e-mails. But many scientists and environmental groups have aggressively challenged the notion that the messages undermine climate science.
"The body of evidence that human activity is a prominent agent in global warming is overwhelming," James McCarthy, chairman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in a letter Wednesday.
"People write ridiculous e-mails when they're in the middle of a fight," Boxer said. "To me, what's important is, e-mails aside, is there global warming? Is it being affected by human activity? And there's nothing out there that says otherwise."
First, I rejected long ago, membership in that Union...it is and always has been, heavily slanted LEFT. Second, Sen. Boxer proves herself an endless idiot. Those emails, using terms like 'travesty', or threats to destroy naysayers, or how to treat data not supportive of a preconceived notion, speak for themselves. Dummying data, adding data, using a 'trick' and on it goes, all to suppress the real working of the data and all to support what has become a religion among some, that of climate change, nee, global warming. If you remove the 'trick', you see as the emailers acknowledged, a decline in global temps since the 60's. That is why the 'trick' was used: add in data and by doing so, block the real data. Oh, what a true travesty and not a 'travesty' because damn it, temps are supposed to be increasing, not decreasing. And for those who think a few angered researchers in England tapped out emails they didn't mean to, the 'trick' is courtesy of a Penn State researcher, suggesting this hoax, this grand scale breakdown in solid science and ethical integrity, is well spread.
Global warming e-mails prompt Republican letter to EPA
GOP members of Congress ask the administration to put climate-change measures on hold because messages from scientists in Britain appear to cast doubt on the idea of man-made warming.
By Jim Tankersley and Alexander C. Hart — December 3, 2009 — Reporting from Washington
Citing e-mails that critics say cast doubt on global warming, congressional Republicans called on the Obama administration Wednesday to suspend efforts to combat climate change until the controversy is resolved.
In a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency, the lawmakers requested that a pending move to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act be halted, along with plans to limit emissions from vehicles, power plants and other sources, "until the agency can demonstrate the science underlying these regulatory decisions has not been compromised."
At issue are more than 1,000 electronic messages that were apparently obtained and released by a computer hacker. Most involve scientists at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit in Britain, one of the few institutions in the world that collect the historical temperature data relied on by climate researchers.
At the heart of the controversy is whether human activity causes climate change. Skeptics argue that global temperatures may be warming naturally. They say that the e-mails suggest that scientists may have manipulated evidence to bolster their claims. The scientists dispute that and say that their words have been taken out of context.
Republicans used otherwise unrelated hearings Wednesday in the House and Senate to demand congressional investigations, but Obama administration officials and congressional Democrats pushed back.
"The e-mails do nothing to undermine the very strong scientific consensus . . . that tells us the Earth is warming, that warming is largely a result of human activity," Jane Lubchenco, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told a House committee. She said that the e-mails don't cover data from NOAA and NASA, whose independent climate records show dramatic warming.
The controversy flared up just before a summit in Copenhagen next week at which President Obama and other world leaders will attempt to make progress on an international climate-change treaty.
In some e-mails, a prominent climate scientist urges colleagues to destroy records rather than release them under public disclosure laws. In others, scientists appear to discuss how to discredit research they disagree with.
One of the leading figures in the scandal, East Anglia climate scientist Phil Jones, stepped down temporarily this week amid an investigation into his work and e-mails.
In a 1999 e-mail, Jones wrote of using a "trick" to hide an apparent decline in recent temperatures on a chart being prepared for a meteorological organization. Warming skeptics seized on the line, which Jones said was "taken completely out of context" because he was simply looking for a clearer way to chart global warming.
Critics have also focused on an e-mail from Penn State University scientist Michael Mann as evidence that climate researchers have sought to downplay findings indicating that the Earth warmed naturally 1,000 years ago.
In a 2003 e-mail, Mann said that "it would be nice to 'contain' the putative" Medieval Warm Period.
Mann said in an interview last month that the e-mail reflected his desire to identify exactly when the period began — not to downplay it. He also said that he had declined to act on Jones' request to destroy e-mails sought under freedom of information laws.
Republicans who have long questioned global-warming science say that the e-mails show a pattern that undermines the theory of man-made global warming.
"One cannot deny that the e-mails raised fundamental questions concerning . . . transparency and openness in science," Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) said at a hearing Wednesday.
Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), one of the authors of the letter to the EPA, said in a news release Wednesday that the e-mails "read more like scientific fascism than the scientific process. . . . It's time to take back the notion that the 'science is settled.' "
Some climate scientists have expressed alarm at the contents of the e-mails. But many scientists and environmental groups have aggressively challenged the notion that the messages undermine climate science.
"The body of evidence that human activity is a prominent agent in global warming is overwhelming," James McCarthy, chairman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in a letter Wednesday.
"People write ridiculous e-mails when they're in the middle of a fight," Boxer said. "To me, what's important is, e-mails aside, is there global warming? Is it being affected by human activity? And there's nothing out there that says otherwise."
The black mark earned by alarmists during the 1970s, for predicting continued global cooling, may be replicated for global-warming alarmists. The real tragedy, however, may be that - one day - scientists will cry wolf to a public that has learned to ignore them.
M, here's a scientist I believe wrote most of chapter 7 in the IPCC report. He reportedly agrees with some 90% of the info, however the 10% he disagrees with is apparently enough to get him labeled a contrarian.
Where does he get the number 11 in the expression (0.5)11 or (0.2)11?
What he's referring to is probability of independent events all occurring - for example, 8 heads in 8 coin tosses, or a sequence 1,2,7,2,3 in 5 tosses of a die. To calculate that, you multiply the probabilities of each event.
I count 11 little squares in the slide, so that has to be where he gets the 11. So he's saying that for global warming to be credible requires all 11 squares to be events that occur, each with probability of 0.5 or 0.2. The first is "emissions". Well, the probability of increased emissions in past years sure as hell isn't 0.5, it's 1.
That's inaccuracy number one - he's playing some games with probability theory. What makes more sense is if he's saying that there has to be all these events happening for global warming to be a problem:
increased emissions produce high atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases, and high atmospheric levels lead to high radiative forcing, and high radiative forcing leads to global response, and global response leads to regional wind, and humidity, and temperature, and rainfall, and cloudiness, and there are other factors influencing impact.
I think he needs some or's in there after the "global response" block. You don't need to have all the problems with wind, humidity, temperature, rainfall, and cloudiness for global warming to have a harmful effect. In fact, rise of ocean levels would be the worst effect of all. The "other factors" influencing impact doesn't have to be part of the chain at all. Plus, the first item, increased emissions produce high levels of greenhouse gases, has to have a probability of more than 0.5
It's games like this that reduce my confidence in this man - who berates the public for scientific illiteracy - radically.
He also engages in emotional scare tactics himself, presenting a slide which implies that we'll become like North Korea if we cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80%.
He mentions a couple pieces of work that differ from the global warming scenario, then use them as proof that the whole thing is absurd, and how could people be so stupid as to believe such absurdity? Oh, it must be because they're whipped into a frenzy by the politicians and the liberal media.
Polar bears thriving compared to 50 years ago? I thought they were hunted to near-extinction 50 years ago, so of course their numbers will be higher than 50 years ago. It turns out that it wasn't until 1973 that international efforts to curb intensive polar bear hunting were made. It turns out that their numbers are now stable, but are projected to decline by >30%. Five of 19 subpopulations are in decline, which hardly seems thriving. The US Department of the Interior has classified them as a threatened species, but that's the government and they're in on the conspiracy, aren't they?
More Right wing Corporate fear mongering from the Carbon Industry. I get all my electricity from wind farms and I pay only 10% more for it. In Germany they offer Solar Power panels for customers subsidized by the govermnment and the EXCESS YOU CAN SELL BACK to the utility.
I love how you see that everything is always a right wing sponsored hoax. The right is always at the bottom with everything wrong with this country. The solution should be easy, a left wing dictatorship, that will fix everything wrong with the world.
OBTW: here in Ohio, we have been able to sell excess energy back to the suppliers for years, be it in the form of electricity or natural gas. Many people in NEO (that's North East Ohio) have gas wells on their properties. Maybe you should lobby your state to allow electric meters to run backwards and sell back your excess energy to the provider as we do in Ohio. We can't be the only state. You infer that selling back excess energy is not allowed in the US. Maybe that is another right wing hoax. You should dig a little deeper and consider that there is more than one source of information.
More Right wing Corporate fear mongering from the Carbon Industry. I get all my electricity from wind farms and I pay only 10% more for it. In Germany they offer Solar Power panels for customers subsidized by the govermnment and the EXCESS YOU CAN SELL BACK to the utility.
fuh, feel free to read the material and objectively rebut.
There is justified cynicism, and then also woefully misplaced cynicism.
M, here's a scientist I believe wrote most of chapter 7 in the IPCC report. He reportedly agrees with some 90% of the info, however the 10% he disagrees with is apparently enough to get him labeled a contrarian.
More Right wing Corporate fear mongering from the Carbon Industry. I get all my electricity from wind farms and I pay only 10% more for it. In Germany they offer Solar Power panels for customers subsidized by the govermnment and the EXCESS YOU CAN SELL BACK to the utility.
as far as I was aware this is not rocket science- many countries operate a system whereby you can sell power back to the grid.
My concern about this thread is how everyone talks about the science not being proven and tries to bring their own scientific theories to play. There's nothing wrong with exploring and understanding the evidence of course but there seems to be a constant theme of "I won't believe the science until I personally have done my own independent research".
Now, of course some of the climate scientists are tainted by the UEA email scandal but why do we seem to need an amatuer scientist to prove every point now? This strikes me as a little like some of the comments about the swine flu vaccination. The science is there and it's good science- you can opt out if you personally wish but let the rest of the world and especially the governments get on with tackling this problem and stop putting up road blocks.
I don't deny that there is a major problem with pollution and climate change, I'm just questioning the legitimacy of the data, how much is due to man, and why they're going to tax the pants off of us.
Listen, any time corrupt government(s) get involved and wants to help us take care of an issue by taxing us, I get worried. Their track record speaks for itself.
If climate change is such a big deal, why don't they stop the wars, stop the bailouts for their "too big" to fail buddies and focus on taking care of a real issue?
Isn't it obvious government's priority is taxing, borrowing and spending?
I'm just asking....
I have a feeling we're about to take it in the a$$, and somehow the government/corporatists are about to ca$h in again.
Peace
More Right wing Corporate fear mongering from the Carbon Industry. I get all my electricity from wind farms and I pay only 10% more for it. In Germany they offer Solar Power panels for customers subsidized by the govermnment and the EXCESS YOU CAN SELL BACK to the utility.
I don't deny that there is a major problem with pollution and climate change, I'm just questioning the legitimacy of the data, how much is due to man, and why they're going to tax the pants off of us.
Listen, any time corrupt government(s) get involved and wants to help us take care of an issue by taxing us, I get worried. Their track record speaks for itself.
If climate change is such a big deal, why don't they stop the wars, stop the bailouts for their "too big" to fail buddies and focus on taking care of a real issue?
Isn't it obvious government's priority is taxing, borrowing and spending?
I'm just asking....
I have a feeling we're about to take it in the a$$, and somehow the government/corporatists are about to ca$h in again.
Peace
There is justified cynicism, and then also woefully misplaced cynicism.
And the email "scandal"—proves nothing. Zilch. Does nothing to invalidate science being done all over the world, not just in one small organization. There is no smoking gun, not one than can clean up all the smoking chimneys. This is a venial sin next to the mortal one of climate change denial. Look past this well-intentioned error to the much bigger error beyond it.
The hard choices do have to be made. That's why there is a denial movement, to delay (because it cannot be prevented, ultimately) the hard political and economic decisions. Denial is in the short-term interests of a few who are heavily invested in the present carbon economy. The carbon tax and cap-and-trade will benefit us all, in the long run. We have to see that short-term inconvenience is necessary for long-term welfare and, well, survival. For the natural world as well as us.
M, how can you say that this obvious corruption means nothing? I must respectfully disagree.
I don't deny that there is a major problem with pollution and climate change, I'm just questioning the legitimacy of the data, how much is due to man, and why they're going to tax the pants off of us.
Listen, any time corrupt government(s) get involved and wants to help us take care of an issue by taxing us, I get worried. Their track record speaks for itself.
If climate change is such a big deal, why don't they stop the wars, stop the bailouts for their "too big" to fail buddies and focus on taking care of a real issue?
Isn't it obvious government's priority is taxing, borrowing and spending?
I'm just asking....
I have a feeling we're about to take it in the a$$, and somehow the government/corporatists are about to ca$h in again.
You don't have to respond to every crazy pet conspiracy theory out there. You're already right. You don't have to give Immanuel Velikovsky, Madame Blavatsky and Erich von Däniken the time of day. Let crank scholarship eat itself.
Is that chariots of the gods bloke? Jeez I haven't thought about him since I read that book when I was 15.
M, I was referring to the hapless screw ups/CRU you speak of, here is a list with some of their emails with some parts bolded. I just can't look past this type of thing, especially when there is so much riding on it.(a worldwide tax of mythic proportion)
I'm very concerned they're going to use something like this (obviously manipulated data/evidence) to ram this "carbon tax" through and "f" us royally.
Regards
What do you prefer, a carbon tax that could be used to create millions of green industry jobs (like putting solar on every roof in America), or runaway global warming? Now THAT is when we will be truly royally f'ed.
————————————————————————————-
Runaway Global Warming- A Climate Catastrophe in the Making
What is runaway global warming, or "runaway heating"?
Runaway global warming is the accelerating (and soon to be unstoppable) chain reaction caused by release of the Arctic's vast stores of the very potent greenhouse gas (GHG), methane. The Arctic methane is released as the result of global warming heating the Arctic. That is called a positive carbon feedback.
This is as close as we've come to a literal End of the World Doomsday scenario. It is the single most catastrophically dangerous effect of global warming to all life on Earth.
The Arctic is already warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet. Regions in Siberia (where most of the carbon is) are warming even faster.
Sorry, I don't know Portuguese. 
When I was young and stupid. Now that I am old and stupid, I recognize their fatuity.