{"id":576363,"date":"2010-05-24T07:35:52","date_gmt":"2010-05-24T11:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prisonplanet.com\/?p=43827"},"modified":"2010-05-24T07:35:52","modified_gmt":"2010-05-24T11:35:52","slug":"cause-for-alarm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/576363","title":{"rendered":"Cause for alarm?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Via Prison Planet.com \u00bb Sci Tech<\/p>\n

Watts Up With That?<\/a>
\nMay 24, 2010<\/p>\n

Guest post By Paul Driessen, Willie Soon, and David R. Legates<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re often asked, What really causes all these alarms about global warming disasters?<\/p>\n

As scientists and policy analysts who\u2019ve studied our ever-changing climate for a combined 65 years and attribute the changes primarily to natural forces, we\u2019ve wondered that ourselves and also asked: Why is warming always framed as bad news? Why does so much \u201cresearch\u201d claim a warmer planet \u201cmay\u201d lead to more diarrhea, acne and childhood insomnia, more juvenile delinquency, war, violent crime and prostitution, death of the Loch Ness Monster \u2013 and even more Mongolian cows dying from cold weather?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not making this up. In fact, this is just the tip of the proverbial melting iceberg of climate scare stories chronicled at http:\/\/www.numberwatch.co.uk\/warmlist.htm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Clearly, too much money is being spent on one-sided global warming advocacy cloaked as \u201cresearch,\u201d not enough on natural causes and adaptation. Despite the best of intentions, too much money can corrupt, or at least skew the science.<\/p>\n

As they say, follow the money. Remember Indiana Jones\u2019 immortal words: \u201cFortune and glory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Too many people in government, wealthy foundations and activist groups have decided they know what\u2019s best for us, what kind of energy and economic future we should have, and who should be in charge. They intend to implement those policies \u2013 and global warming scare stories are key to achieving that objective. They\u2019re pouring tens of billions of dollars into the effort.<\/p>\n

A good example of how research money politicizes science is this May 4 headline: \u201cCarbon dioxide effects on plants increase global warming.\u201d The story enthusiastically reported the results of a science journal paper by Long Cao and Ken Caldeira from the Carnegie Institution. Carbon dioxide is not just making the atmosphere trap more heat, they say. It also enables plants to absorb CO2 more efficiently, so they don\u2019t have to open stomata (pores) in their leaves as much, and they evaporate less water.<\/p>\n

That should be good news, as it enables plants to survive better under dry conditions, even in desert areas where they couldn\u2019t before. Any botanist or visitor to CO2science.org knows this. Indeed, hundreds of experiments show how growth, water efficiency and drought resistance of crop and wild plants are enhanced by higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. So more CO2 and better plant growth should be celebrated \u2013 not serve as another \u201cclimate crisis\u201d to further the political goal of ending hydrocarbon use and controlling our factories, jobs, cars, lives and living standards.<\/p>\n

\"Cause<\/a><\/p>\n

But the Carnegie folks turned this good news into bad, ominously saying the reduced evapotranspiration means plants don\u2019t cool down as much, and that supposedly raises global temperatures slightly.<\/p>\n

Equally interesting, the researchers based their findings not on actual experiments, but on yet another computer model that allegedly predicts future temperatures. When they tweaked various assumptions about the physiological effects of CO2, global air temperature over land increased 0.7 degrees F (0.4 deg C) above what supposedly would occur just from doubled CO2 levels directly increasing the greenhouse effect. But just six months earlier, the same authors tweaked the same model differently \u2013 and got only 0.2F (0.1 deg C) of additional warming. The authors now say this earlier result is \u201cunrealistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, what guarantee do we have that the new assumptions are \u201crealistic\u201d? Maybe they are but, face it, there\u2019s far less \u201cfortune and glory,\u201d far less headline grabbing, in a mere 0.2 degrees. It\u2019s also far less \u201crealistic\u201d to expect another research grant, if the first one could only come up with 0.2 degrees of crisis. That\u2019s not even 9:00 versus 9:30 on an average summer morning.<\/p>\n

Besides fortune and glory, and more research grants and publications in prestigious journals, there\u2019s also the matter of reputation. Dr. Caldeira, besides being a reputable scientist, is also an advisor to billionaire Bill Gates on renewable energy, and in charge of the $4.5 million in geo-engineering research funding that the Gates Foundation has provided over the past 3 years.<\/p>\n

How many climate scientists can rub elbows with Bill Gates? Glory indeed. So 0.7 degrees it is.<\/p>\n

Of course, this does not mean more robust plant growth can never be harmful. But does it really take five researchers and six funding sources (including the National Environmental Trust, NSF, NASA and NOAA) to model ragweed under doubled CO2 computer scenarios and conclude, \u201cthere may be increases in exposure to allergenic pollen under the present scenarios of global warming\u201d?<\/p>\n

All this makes us wonder: Why is it a bad thing that more CO2 helps plants tolerate droughts better and revegetate deserts? Should we cut down more forests, to generate even more cooling than the planet has experienced since 2005? Why do \u201cerror corrections\u201d always seem to result in more warming than originally predicted, instead of less? And why do taxpayers have to shell out Big Bucks on this stuff?<\/p>\n

The United States alone has been spending some $7 billion a year on \u201cclimate change research.\u201d That\u2019s a lot of money. But a majority of Americans now say climate change is due to natural forces, not to human CO2 emissions. To alarmists that means more \u201cresearch\u201d and \u201ceducation\u201d on the \u201cclimate crisis\u201d is clearly needed \u2013 but not more on better oversight of questionable research or studying natural causes.<\/p>\n

During a March 2009 closed-door meeting, Department of Energy senior advisor Matthew Rogers outlined his \u201cdilemma\u201d over how to comply with his new mandate to quickly spend $36.7 billion<\/em> in grants and loan guarantees from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka, the Stimulus Act) on renewable energy and climate change. Today, with only $300 million of our taxpayer money and children\u2019s inheritance left to spend, poor Matt says his \u201cpopularity continues to decline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly $2.4 million dollars of that Stimulus loot may be funding the latest research by Penn State University Professor Michael Mann, father of Mann-made global warming, the debunked hockey stick temperature graph and many infamous Climategate e-mails. In one new project where Mike is the principal instigator, over a half-million dollars in grant money generated only \u201c0.53\u201d jobs in Pennsylvania. We must have missed the headline \u201cStimulus Creates Millionaire.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not suggesting fraud or corruption by Caldeira or anyone else. But we do find it curious that the vast bulk of the money goes to research that consistently discovers more \u201cglobal warming crises.\u201d We find several other phenomena equally curious.<\/p>\n

* In an era when ExxonMobil posts all its grants on its website, and we have the \u201cmost transparent government in history,\u201d government agencies, liberal foundations and activist groups jealously guard information on who\u2019s getting how much money from whom, to finance all this crisis-oriented research.<\/p>\n

* Universities are fighting attorney-general investigations, and insisting that any investigations into alleged misconduct must be conducted in-house and behind closed doors. Yet they are happy to give Greenpeace fishing-expedition access to emails and work product by climate crisis skeptics.<\/p>\n

* Despite insisting that their research and findings are completely honest and above-board, climate alarmists still refuse to share their data, computer codes and methodologies, or discuss and debate their tax-funded work with scientists who might \u201ctry and find something wrong with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

If we didn\u2019t know better, we\u2019d think the operative rules were: Never seek logical or alternative answers, if you can blame a phenomenon or problem (like decreasing frog populations) on global warming. Do whatever it takes and fund whatever research is needed, to advance the goals of ending hydrocarbon use, increasing government control and \u201ctransforming\u201d society. And always include the terms \u201cglobal warming\u201d or \u201cclimate change\u201d in any grant application.<\/p>\n

It may not be corruption. But it sure skews the research, conclusions and policy recommendations.<\/p>\n

Paul Driessen is senior policy advisor for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org). Willie Soon is <\/em>an independent\u00a0scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.<\/em> <\/em>David Legates is a climatologist at the University of Delaware. <\/em><\/p>\n

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