That would have been a much stronger article if he had provided references deomonstrating that Lord Monckton actually said those things.
Somehow I don't think the people of Australia would agree with them. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-03/2013-was-the-hottest-year-on-record-for-australia/5183040
Weather is not the same thing as global temperature. Much like the jet stream brought surface melt to the Greenland Ice Sheet in 2013, this year is a different story.
The earth does not shed enormous amounts of energy into space in a few months, and then reabsorb it as fast. What happens is that heat gets moved around. The global average temperature moves extremely slowly, and does so for some reason.
You have to start simple, with these people who seem to think that the entire honking planet gets 80 degress colder in the winter (their winter), yet cannot somehow imagine for the life of them the entire planet warming by 2 degrees over a century. So one good place to start is by pointing out that a planet is a huge heat sink, to the point where warming 2 degrees in a century is regarded as a Big Deal, because that much warming usually takes hundreds of thousands of years. And if we can get that far, the NEXT step is to understand that if it's very cold in one place, it must be warmer somewhere else, because the heat didn't leave the planet. Quite a few graphs have been put up showing that NET warming is very slow. And once we can get that far, the NEXT step is to figure out what forces might warm or cool the entire planet. The main force of course is the sun's output. The secondary sources are (a) planetary albedo, and (2) changes in atmospheric composition. Both of these things do change, generally very slowly and not particularly directionally. So understanding of global climate comes in a sequence of small steps. Without this understanding, we are reduced to chanting slogans and pointing fingers. We're good at that, of course.
Well yes, people often do use weather to push one side or the other like when the warming alarmist wanted to pick a hot day to make a presentation in Congress. The 2 degrees in a century is not a fact but the prediction. The last Century's warming is only about 0.6 degrees and there is evidence that it has been globally warmer than that previously, mainly the Medieval Warming Period and that our warming is a result of recovery from the Little Ice Age and is not unusual. There are other factors, still not understood that affect the Climate.
When I looked up these things, I found that the Medieval Warming Period and the Little Ice Age applied to Europe, and certainly not the entire world. There were no data collected about the whole world, but there are some indications that these periods reflected a shifting of heat between northern and southern hemispheres. Looking at deeper time, there certainly have been warmer and colder periods worldwide, for various reasons. Interestingly, available evidence suggests that high CO2 concentrations correlate with warmer eras. But this might not be the major factor, or even a causative factor.
Global data from those days is highly indirect at best. But nonetheless global average temperature changes wouldn't surprise me. Our sun is a mildly variable star, but even mild variation makes a big difference to us.
Arent conservatives those people who think that people and dinosaurs once co existed? Of course they deny AGW! If they accepted science in one area, they might find its a slippery slope
Oh! Dear! American (non) thinker quoting FOS which everyone knows stands for………. But let us look at the "evidence" ( almost assured there will be none in an article that starts "The main pillar of the warmest argument", Sorry but does ANYONE on this board expect an article that starts with a blatant political slant like that to contain factual information? But it quotes research that is 10 years old then then sets out to "debunk" that research with a study that used different methodology, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Peiser You know this is almost as big an epic fail as claiming that the Arctic is gaining ice from a 2 year survey
Aside from 2 years not being quite enough data points, the dummies, I mean seriously dumb, look at what they know is seasonal ice (its right there on the map, last year's ice / next year's ice) and treat it as if it were the same thing as the 10 ft thick pack ice that took multiple years to form and cannot melt in a single season. Good flipping grief. Can I move to Oz? I will give up being a pistol packin' momma is I can trade it for living where there are none of these brainless religi-cons.
You might have religious nuts but WE have Boguns, sorry. When you think of Boguns think of rednecks with less intelligence and sophistication but more beer. The biggest misfortune is that we actually managed to vote a whole group into parliament last time. But you are welcome to come to Oz - we think a bit different from you on some things but you will find that we have a lot in common
That is the liberal meme. Doesn't have to be true but since you all are so hungry to validate your own beliefs, you believe anything. - - - Updated - - - Which just means they are not progressive utopian idiots.
I'm just going to point out that if liberals really cared about climate change, they would change their own lifestyles, not just point the finger at others.
I'm just going to point out science isn't political...I may have nodded off in science class or two but I'm quite sure there was never mention of political leanings associated with any particular branch of science...that you believe it is political suggests to me you never attended a science class past grade school...
The IPCC was created for political reasons by politicians to advise politicians. Politicians pour tons money into the study of global warming, specifically modeling instead of actual field work. Field work is the basis for good science. So yes, it is very political in nature. Any science that threatens to cut off the money will not be at the forefront. Also, those scientists that have spent decades promoting one thing are hardly going to change mid stream, throwing away all that they have worked on, after all, they are just human.
