Following the Pope's climate change Encyclical by about two months, last week one of the world's most respected climate researchers, former NASA scientist James Hansen, laid down the gauntlet with 16 other scientists and released his latest climate change findings. As should be expected by now, the news is that climate change continues to accelerate unabated.
I’m once again changing the set-up of this blog so that instead of posting once a month, or twice a month, or as I most recently did, once a week, I’m switching over to a non-scheduled routine. I’m much too slow and shoddy of a writer to be posting every week (I generally have to go through at least five drafts in order to get something half-decent), this then taking too much out of me to simultaneously allow for the necessary focus towards my manuscript and other activities.
New posts will thus be appearing on a random basis, sometimes in response to a current event, sometimes not. Probably two or three posts a month I’d say. If you don’t want to visit the site at random intervals to see if I’ve got anything new up, you can obviously sign up for the email list or you can sign up via RSS and receive notice when I put up something new.
Back in Hansen’s “respected” days, he predicted that a complete cessation of CO2 emitting on the part of humans would result in a temperature rise of X. Humans continued emitting at every higher rates every after, and temperature nudged up something less than 1/4X, and this was back before the current nearly multi-decade pause.
In the real world, people are fired for screwing the pooch that badly, so please forgive those of us who live there, and can’t afford to be distracted by those who substitute “respected” for results.
Hansen is also the "respected’ guy that decided to change the entire profile of the US from one of neutral to one of warming by “fixing” the temperature data until warming profile emerged (in about 1999 or 2000 I believe). Statistical manipulation, be it by Hansen or Mann, is statistical manipulation, and while it might be “respected” by some for its cleverness, even blog owners probably understand you can achieve any number you wish from another by simply multiplying the first by whatever factor is necessary.
I recommend more investigation on the part of everyone prior to falling for something hook, line and sinker because it comes from “scientist”.
I can’t really comment on the validity or invalidity of what you mention as, like I said, I haven’t paid too much attention to the whole climate change thing. But if Hansen was able to not only manipulate statistics, but to also manipulate the changing weather patterns noticeable upon walking out my front door, then that guy truly is one awesome dude.