Re: [Phys-L] "Climate science is not settled"
Exactly. There is no problem with the rest of the comments, but it would
seem that the headline is designed to say that it is completely not settled.
The problem that I see is that his comments will be taken out of context and
used against climate science. There certainly are always things you don't
know about all models in science. He points to the recent decade of more
stability in surface temperatures, but that may be coming to an end. He
also does not mention the recent evidence that the oceans are warming and
becoming more acidified. He does say that human induced climate change is
happening, but as I pointed out people only percieve the things that they
want to see. My preference for wording would have been stronger on the fact
that human induced change is happening, with a caveat that we do not have a
firm pediction of what will happen, just a range of what might happen. It
is like forecasting a hurricane disaster, people always wait, often until
there is not time to escape. The same thing happens with planning buildings
for earth quakes. After a big one there is lots of activity, but in a
fairly short time people forget and the planning comes to naught.
I remember one astronomer pooh-poohing global warming and predicting that it
was just cyclical and would go away. He may have been right in that it may
be currently moderating, but has not reduced. Actually if China does reduce
their deadly pollution, we may see a big uptick in global temperatures.
Installing more reknewable energy sources may in the short run increase the
warming because the pollution reflects the thermal energy, just as volcanos
can produce short term cooling until the particles have preciptated.
I had not read the complete article before my initial comments, and his
concerns are certainly reasonable. I would still say we should plan for the
worst case scenarios and be happy if they don't come to pass. We are in the
position that we can influence the global climate. We are experimenting
with the whole Earth.
John M. Clement
Houston, TX
>
> I don't have a problem with much of what was said in the
> letter. He writes that certain aspects of climate science
> are settled. The Earth is warming and it is due in large part
> to humans. Other parts of climate science are not settled,
> like exactly how the climate will change for given conditions
> (necessary for determining the proper policy going onward).
> The fact that the latter is not settled necessitates the need
> for more research (and funding for that research, I suppose).
> I suspect most climate scientists would not argue with this
> (or with the need for more funding).
>
> Am I mistaken?
>
> Robert Cohen Department of Physics
> East Stroudsburg University
> 570.422.3428 http://www.esu.edu/~bbq
> East Stroudsburg, PA 18301
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Phys-l [mailto:phys-l-bounces@www.phys-l.org] On Behalf
> Of Ze'ev Wurman
> Sent: Monday, September 29, 2014 6:40 PM
> To: Phys-L@Phys-L.org
> Subject: Re: [Phys-L] "Climate science is not settled"
>
> Here is a link to the commentary on the author's web site
> rather than behind the WSJ pay wall:
>
> http://cusp.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Climate-article
> -annotated1.pdf
>
> Ze'ev
>
> BTW ... Antti, you did open a Pandora box. Look at the
> tortured responses.
>
> On 9/29/2014 2:06 PM, David Marx wrote:
> > Here is a link to the WSJ commentary.
> >
> http://online.wsj.com/articles/climate-science-is-not-settled-14111435
> > 65
> >
> >
> >> Brian,
> >>
> >> Your response is to not trust the messenger. However, I
> believe the
> >> article makes valid scientific points based on available data.
> >> Perhaps, you could address that instead.
> >>
> >> David Marx
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> Sad to tell, WSJ is now in the same class as FOX News which (a
> >>> Florida court confirmed ten years ago) is not bound by the FCC
> >>> guideline to avoid fabricating false news: the Journal's owner is
> >>> now under investigation by the British for bribing
> police, tapping
> >>> cell phone of celebrities etc.
> >>>
> >>> Brian Whatcott
> >>>
> >>> On 9/29/2014 12:12 PM, Savinainen Antti wrote:
> >>>> Hi,
> >>>>
> >>>> I hope that I do not open a Pandora's box with this:
> >>>>
> <http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/magazine/physicstoday/news/10
> >>>> .1063/PT.5.8071>
> >>>>
> >>>> Physics Today cites a WSJ commentary by Dr. Steve
> Koonin: ""Climate
> >>>> science is not settled." It is interesting to read what the
> >>>> readers of PT have to say.
> >>>>
> >>>> Regards,
> >>>>
> >>>> Antti
> >>>>
> >>>>
>
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