Summary: Two voices on the Right illustrate vital aspects of our largely dysfunctional political system, bad news and good news about the climate wars (and the Pope). We can learn from the former and gain inspiration from the latter. {2nd of 2 posts today.}
“It is extremely likely (95 – 100% certain) that human activities caused more than half of the observed increase in global mean surface temperature from 1951 to 2010.”
— From the IPCC’s AR5 Working Group I report.
Author Marc A. Cirigliano (see his books) tweeted today about two interesting articles by conservatives. Rush shows us why climate change has become yet another example of dysfunctional US public policy, locked in a futile debate — and religion so often just a prop used by both sides. I am no fan of Jeb Bush, but yesterday he said some sensible things about climate change and the Pope. If we put aside our ideological blinders, both Left and Right can learn from these two men.
Rush shows us the problem
Transcript of the Rush Limbaugh show: “The Pope’s Leaked Marxist Climate Rant“, 16 June.
“Meanwhile, we’re in a ten-year cooling period! There hasn’t been any warming. The whole thing is a hoax, and we’ve got this leak of a papal encyclica on the “fact” that global warming is man-made. It’s man-caused and we have almost a religious commandment here to deal with it. I mean, it’s just right out of the Democrat Party.”
Years ago I asked Michael Cohen if there were people on the stage of America who didn’t believe in global warming. Rush proves Cohen correct and me wrong about this (again). But if we listen closely, he makes some valid points.
First, he makes the obvious point about the hypocrisy of the Left suddenly believing the Pope is a guide to the good and the true. Are they going to follow his teachings on homosexuality, the role of women, the use of birth control and abortion? Probably not.
Second, later in the program Rush points to actual science — and demonstrates how it is often lost in the political conflict that’s rendered US public policy so dysfunctional (except in matters of direct interest to the 1% or the Deep State).
“Here is it is from The Daily Caller today: “Data from America’s most advanced climate monitoring system shows the US has undergone a cooling trend over the last decade, despite recent claims by government scientists that warming has accelerated worldwide during that time”
He’s pointing to a Daily Caller article by Michael Michael Bastasch: “America’s Most Advanced Climate Station Data Shows US In A 10-Year Cooling Trend“.
Data from America’s most advanced climate monitoring system shows the U.S. has undergone a cooling trend over the last decade, despite recent claims by government scientists that warming has accelerated worldwide during that time.
The U.S. Climate Reference Network was developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to provide “high-quality” climate data. The network consists of 114 stations across the U.S. in areas NOAA expects no development for the next 50 to 100 years.
The climate stations use three independent measurements of temperature and precipitation to provide “continuity of record and maintenance of well-calibrated and highly accurate observations,” NOAA states on its website. “The stations are placed in pristine environments expected to be free of development for many decades.” In essence, NOAA chose locations so they don’t need to be adjusted for “biases” in the temperature record.
Data compiled from these stations shows a slight cooling trend over the U.S. for the past decade. ”Clearly, a ‘pause’ or ‘hiatus’ exists in this most pristine climate data,” writes Anthony Watts, a veteran meteorologist and publisher of the science blog Watts Up With That. “In fact, a very slight cooling trend appears.”
By “very slight” Watts means statistically insignificant from zero, and well within the error bars of the data. He continues the tradition of both sides of the public debate exaggerating insignificant variations in the data. The graph cited from the NOAA website (for greater clarity I extended the time from 2005 to 1998)…
But facts are just chaff for activists on both sides of the climate wars. The Left used that spike up in the 12 months ending Spring 2012 as evidence that the long-awaiting global baking was here (much as they declared a new era of hurricanes after the 2005 spike in US landfalls). Now the Right uses the equally meaningless flat temperatures in the US (and the even less significant cooling) as evidence that global warming is a “hoax”.
Rush’s “analysis” is absurd. First, ten year variations in regional temperatures are largely noise. Second, global warming does not occur equally across the global. This graph shows the average temperature anomaly for 2014 (lower troposphere, per UAH). Note the warming concentrated in the north (“arctic amplification” in action).
Jeb Bush shows us a path to slow progress, through the deadlock
Bush spoke in Derry NH about climate change (partial video here)…
“I hope I’m not going to get castigated for saying this by my priest back home, but I don’t get economic policy from bishops or my cardinals or my pope. I’d like to see what he has to say before passing judgement … But I think religion ought to be about making us better as people and less about things that end up getting into the political realm. So I’m a little skeptical about this. … the climate is changing, whether men are doing it or not”.
Bush is a 25-year converted Catholic, so he listens to the Pope. I’m not, and don’t. But his words are just good sense, both about religion and science.
As I’ve said so many times, we’re not prepared for the inevitable repeat of past climate — let alone for future change. Climate has always been changing. The world warmed for a century before our CO2 kicked in. Recognition of this provides a basis for immediate action — probably more than the GOP wants, but less than the Democrats want, but better than the nothing we have today.
For More Information
To learn more about the state of climate change see The Rightful Place of Science: Disasters and Climate Change
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. For more information see The keys to understanding climate change and My posts about climate change. Also, see these posts about the pause …
- Scientists explore causes of the pause in warming, perhaps the most important research of the decade., with abstracts and links to 37 articles describing 12 theories about causes of the pause.
- One of the most important questions we face: when will the pause in global warming end? with abstracts and links to 15 articles giving predictions from very soon to several decades from now.
- The Pause in global warming has ended. Now see the rest of the story.
- About the imminent spike in global warming!
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The pope has shown a leaning to the globalist agenda which if you look at it is not in our best interests. Satellite data is the most accurate but is either skewed or not put at the top of the list by the warming crowd. Solar cycles of which there are numerous different ones have and always will be the biggest driving force for climate change.
I would guess that any solar cycle affecting weather on the scale of a few decades would be pretty well known by now. At any event, there is no evidence of anything happening with the sun in any way correlated with the current and recent dynamic. Are you of the opinion that the scientists haven’t noticed it, or that they are wilfully hiding it?
The big unknowns currently are hiding in the water cycles of the earth, with all sorts of positive and negative feedback loops which are not constant; i.e. as the water cycle affects the climate, the climate affects the evaporation in terrains from ocean surface to desert, which in turn goes on to affect the climate. etc.; and, possibly related for all I know, the Pacific oscillation between the El Nino and La Nina which has enormous effect on the west coast of the Americas.
(I trust FM will keep me honest if I venture out too far from the known.)
gzuckier,
In fact the sun’s effect on earth’s climate is a hot area of climate research, and has been for years. It finally got a favorable mention in the IPCC’s AR5.
There is evidence of solar effects in the paleoclimate data, although that might change radically with the revision of the sunspot data.
There is little consensus — not even strong theories — on the mechanism by which the sun affects Earth’s climate.
Gary,
You might find this of interest: What happened to NASA’s missing weather satellites & their vital data about global warming?
I may be a bit jaded and cynical, but I’m guessing that a factor in Jeb’s measured comment is his hope to gain some traction among the conservative Catholic Hispanic voters, who are most likely less enamored of some of his Republican competitors, despite their attempting to draw a line between legal Hispanic immigrants and illegal Hispanic immigrants. To quote one such, “When Mexico sends its people, they are not sending their best. They are not sending you. They are sending people that have lots of problems, and they are bringing those problems to us. They are bringing drugs and they are bringing crime, and they’re rapists.
Some, I assume are good people. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we are getting. They are not sending us the right people.” Words to gladden the hearts of Rubio and Cruz, and Bush’s Hispanicity by marriage is at least as authentic as Cruz’s Hispanicity by way of Calgary.
gzuckier,
I agree 100%. I’ll go further — what the candidates say is purely marketing driven. With nil connection to what they intend to do — let alone what they actually do — in office.
Obama demonstrated this on a difficult to beat scale.
The national logo should be Charlie Brown flying into the air after Lucy again removes the football. We seem unable to learn.
And you people call yourselves ‘analyists’ …oh my. This was nothing to do with ‘environmentalism’ it was simply a coded message (tea leaf reading stuff) to attack trangender people. Following on with ‘transgender people are worse than nuclear weapons stuff” in Feb. Simply a poltical statement to try and neutralise possible transgender supporters in the environment movement. Fortunately, for us, many of us can parse the ‘tea leafs’ and work out what is really going on:
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/06/19/the-popes-advice-to-trans-people-accept-the-body-god-gave-you/#.VYPn6mx8bSo.facebook
This is a yet another ‘call to arms’ against trans people and a, which will be accepepted, ploy at throwing a bone at the environment movement.
‘We are worse than nuclear weapons’ which from a Catholic (and the Protestent wannebes) we are.