Carl Brady: Climate change extremists attack those who don’t conform
I am encouraged by more contributors to the Times-Call forum being
willing to take the time to speak out against the “climate crisis”
mania. I especially appreciate the listing of facts and truths related
to the science of climate change. This is important because a favorite
tactic of climate change alarmists is the “straw man” argument. They
accuse those skeptical of a climate change catastrophe of denying such
things as the basic science of the greenhouse effect or of the warming
that has occurred since the Little Ice Age. Just for questioning the use
of climate model temperature projections as proof of future extreme
warming, I was charged with essentially being against all science.
Having spent 40-plus years in the applied science of engineering, this
was a particularly nonsensical charge.
The climate change alarmists make special efforts to destroy anyone prominent in the climate science profession if they deviate one iota from the anthropogenic catastrophic warming party line. There are many examples of this, but Dr. Judith Curry is one of the most notable. Dr. Curry holds a Ph.D. in geophysical sciences from the University of Chicago and has more than 30 years of teaching experience in the climate science field including 12 years as the head of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has written three books and more than 190 peer-reviewed papers in the field of climate science. Professor Curry was esteemed by the climate activists until she began to take issue with some of their more extreme assertions, then they turned on her, harassing and badgering her until she resigned from Georgia Tech.
Fortunately, Dr. Curry remains active in climate science and has recently authored a short informative discourse titled “Climate models for the layman.” In it, she provides a good discussion of just what climate models are and their fitness for the purposes for which they are currently being used. She concludes that while climate models are useful tools for scientific research, they are not fit for the purpose of attributing the causes of recent warming nor for predicting future climate change with a high level of confidence. Therefore, they are not fit for the purpose of justifying political policies to fundamentally alter world social, economic and energy systems.
Another extreme climate alarmist attack against a well-credentialed academic involved University of Colorado professor Dr. Roger Pielke Jr. Dr. Pielke, a well-respected researcher of extreme weather-related events, incurred the ire of the climate extremists by his finding that climate change was not leading to higher rates of weather-related damages, once you corrected for increasing population and wealth. He also helped convene major academic panels to survey the evidence and communicate the near-unanimous scientific consensus on this topic to policymakers. For his efforts, Dr. Pielke was subjected to a vicious, well-funded smear campaign backed by, among others, the Obama White House and leading Democratic congressmen, culminating in his decision to quit the field back in 2015. But, he has recently begun writing a series of columns for Forbes magazine that are well worth a read.
I suppose the ferocity of the climate activists’ attack against Dr. Pielke’s findings, while quite regrettable, is also somewhat understandable since it discredits what could be considered the second leg of their case against fossil fuel use. I have noted previously that their primary case rests on the climate model projections but once that is shown to be inappropriate as Dr, Curry concluded, they immediately fall back on mostly anecdotal claims of increased damages from weather-related events. When Dr. Pielke’s findings refuted most of that argument they felt they had to attack him personally as they did Dr. Curry and as they do anyone that doesn’t completely conform to their extremist views.
Carl Brady is a retired engineer who has been a resident of Frederick almost 15 years.
Source: https://www.timescall.com/2019/12/21/carl-brady-climate-change-extremists-attack-those-who-challenge-them/
The climate change alarmists make special efforts to destroy anyone prominent in the climate science profession if they deviate one iota from the anthropogenic catastrophic warming party line. There are many examples of this, but Dr. Judith Curry is one of the most notable. Dr. Curry holds a Ph.D. in geophysical sciences from the University of Chicago and has more than 30 years of teaching experience in the climate science field including 12 years as the head of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has written three books and more than 190 peer-reviewed papers in the field of climate science. Professor Curry was esteemed by the climate activists until she began to take issue with some of their more extreme assertions, then they turned on her, harassing and badgering her until she resigned from Georgia Tech.
Fortunately, Dr. Curry remains active in climate science and has recently authored a short informative discourse titled “Climate models for the layman.” In it, she provides a good discussion of just what climate models are and their fitness for the purposes for which they are currently being used. She concludes that while climate models are useful tools for scientific research, they are not fit for the purpose of attributing the causes of recent warming nor for predicting future climate change with a high level of confidence. Therefore, they are not fit for the purpose of justifying political policies to fundamentally alter world social, economic and energy systems.
Another extreme climate alarmist attack against a well-credentialed academic involved University of Colorado professor Dr. Roger Pielke Jr. Dr. Pielke, a well-respected researcher of extreme weather-related events, incurred the ire of the climate extremists by his finding that climate change was not leading to higher rates of weather-related damages, once you corrected for increasing population and wealth. He also helped convene major academic panels to survey the evidence and communicate the near-unanimous scientific consensus on this topic to policymakers. For his efforts, Dr. Pielke was subjected to a vicious, well-funded smear campaign backed by, among others, the Obama White House and leading Democratic congressmen, culminating in his decision to quit the field back in 2015. But, he has recently begun writing a series of columns for Forbes magazine that are well worth a read.
I suppose the ferocity of the climate activists’ attack against Dr. Pielke’s findings, while quite regrettable, is also somewhat understandable since it discredits what could be considered the second leg of their case against fossil fuel use. I have noted previously that their primary case rests on the climate model projections but once that is shown to be inappropriate as Dr, Curry concluded, they immediately fall back on mostly anecdotal claims of increased damages from weather-related events. When Dr. Pielke’s findings refuted most of that argument they felt they had to attack him personally as they did Dr. Curry and as they do anyone that doesn’t completely conform to their extremist views.
Carl Brady is a retired engineer who has been a resident of Frederick almost 15 years.
Source: https://www.timescall.com/2019/12/21/carl-brady-climate-change-extremists-attack-those-who-challenge-them/
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