On this week’s show: The most important news in the history of the universe, The simple reason why we should deal with environmental degradation, How CO2 controls the planet’s temperature, A denier distraction, Micheal Mann fights Anti-science, the University of Virginia fights The Cuccinelli witch hunt, and the skeptic debunk of the week.
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Hal Lewis
Climate change ‘fraud’ letter: a Martin Luther moment in science history
A Physicist’s Climate Complaints
Hal Lewis: Incontrovertibly Emeritus
APS Comments on Harold Lewis’ Resignation of his Society Membership
There is no truth to Dr. Lewis’ assertion that APS policy statements are driven by financial gain. To the contrary, as a membership organization of more than 48,000 physicists, APS adheres to rigorous ethical standards in developing its statements. The Society is open to review of its statements if members petition the APS Council – the Society’s democratically elected governing body – to do so.
Dr. Lewis’ specific charge that APS as an organization is benefitting financially from climate change funding is equally false. Neither the operating officers nor the elected leaders of the Society have a monetary stake in such funding. Moreover, relatively few APS members conduct climate change research, and therefore the vast majority of the Society’s members derive no personal benefit from such research support…
In light of the significant settled aspects of the science, APS totally rejects Dr. Lewis’ claim that global warming is a “scam” and a “pseudoscientific fraud.”
Why we should deal with environmental degradation
Report puts price tag on environment
CO2 controls the earths temperature
Carbon dioxide controls Earth’s temperature
CO2: The Thermostat that Controls Earth’s Temperature
How Carbon Dioxide Controls Earth’s Temperature
Atmospheric CO2: Principal control knob governing Earth’s temperature
Ample physical evidence shows that carbon dioxide (CO2) is the single most important climate-relevant greenhouse gas in Earth’s atmosphere. This is because CO2, like ozone, N2O, CH4, and chlorofluorocarbons, does not condense and precipitate from the atmosphere at current climate temperatures, whereas water vapor can, and does. Non-condensing greenhouse gases, which account for 25% of the total terrestrial greenhouse effect, thus serve to provide the stable temperature structure that sustains the current levels of atmospheric water vapor and clouds via feedback processes that account for the remaining 75% of the greenhouse effect. Without the radiative forcing supplied by CO2 and the other non-condensing greenhouse gases, the terrestrial greenhouse would collapse, plunging the global climate into an icebound Earth state.
The attribution of the present-day total greenhouse effect
The relative contributions of atmospheric long-wave absorbers to the present-day global greenhouse effect are among the most misquoted statistics in public discussions of climate change. Much of the interest in these values is however due to an implicit assumption that these contributions are directly relevant for the question of climate sensitivity. Motivated by the need for a clear reference for this issue, we review the existing literature and use the Goddard Institute for Space Studies ModelE radiation module to provide an overview of the role of each absorber at the present-day and under doubled CO2. With a straightforward scheme for allocating overlaps, we find that water vapour is the dominant contributor (~50% of the effect), followed by clouds (~25%) and then CO2 with ~20%. All other absorbers play only minor roles. In a doubled CO2 scenario, this allocation is essentially unchanged, even though the magnitude of the total greenhouse effect is significantly larger than the initial radiative forcing, underscoring the importance of feedbacks from water vapour and clouds to climate sensitivity.
Denier Distraction
Mann fights Back
Get the anti-science bent out of politics, By Michael Mann
The right to question Michael Mann’s climate research by Joe Barton
EXCLUSIVE: Michael Mann responds to Rep. Barton
Science committee responds to Rep. Joe Barton
The Cuccinelli witch hunt continues
UVA Defends Against Ken Cuccinelli Attacks On Climate Science and Academic Freedom
The Skeptic Debunk of the week
The Climate’s changed before by John Cook
Natural climate change in the past proves that climate is sensitive to an energy imbalance. If the planet accumulates heat, global temperatures will go up. Currently, CO2 is imposing an energy imbalance due to the enhanced greenhouse effect. Past climate change actually provides evidence for our climate’s sensitivity to CO2.