Climate alarmists are notoriously bad at
making predictions. … there’s the UN’s
2005 prediction that fifty million climate refugees would inundate the
world by 2011, an estimate that fell short by about fifty million.
Benny Huang is back and in as good shape as ever.
The doomsday clock struck midnight this May 4th as the United Nations’ predicted point-of-no-return for action on climate change passed.
… Eight years ago, the much-maligned Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an artifact of the UN, declared that mankind had only eight years to drastically reduce carbon emissions if it wanted to hold global temperature change to less than two degrees Celsius.
… Dire predictions are the bread and butter of the climate alarmist
community. In January of 2009, NASA scientist and climate zealot Dr.
James Hansen predicted eco-doom just a little sooner. “We cannot afford
to put off change any longer,” said Hansen. “We have to get on a new
path within this new administration. We have only four years left for
Obama to set an example to the rest of the world. America must take the
lead.”
Which hasn’t happened. As an odd twist of fate, America has
reduced its carbon emissions, though only as an inadvertent byproduct of
economic decline and stagnation, something President Obama would rather
not take credit for. Actual legislation to combat climate change
appears to be way down the list of his priorities, ranking behind
healthcare and repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. President Obama has
failed to shepherd a carbon tax plan through Congress, mostly because he
hasn’t tried very hard.
… The greatest contribution James Hansen
could possibly make toward saving the earth would be to retire from the
lecture circuit.
Could it be that Dr. Hansen et al. are engaging in a tried and true
sales technique? It’s called “creating a sense of urgency” and it can be
found with astonishing regularity in automobile showrooms. The unctuous
salesman tries to convince you that he’s really trying to get the best
deal for you and then pressures you jump on this amazing limited time
offer. If you take the weekend to consider such a large purchase the
promotion will be over and you’ll miss out. So don’t think, just buy.
You must act now! Time is running out!
But James Hansen is no mere salesman, is he? In a manner of speaking,
he is. He’s selling an idea, and one that comes with an enormous price
tag. What the climate alarmists are suggesting goes beyond carpooling
and recycling. They’re basically asking us to cripple our economy based
on some pretty outlandish prophesies that never come to pass.
… In science, predictions are really
where the rubber meets the road. To have any value, theories must have
predictive capability. For example, when a twenty kilogram cannonball is
dropped from a height of one hundred meters, scientists can accurately
predict its velocity just before hitting the ground (44.27 m/s) and,
knowing a little about the hardness of the surface, how much force it
will exert upon impact.
That’s the way science works. Or at least that’s how it worked until a
group of political activists masquerading as scientists changed the
rules of the game.
When predictions miss the mark over and over again, prudent
science-loving people recheck their calculations and revisit their
assumptions to see what went wrong. But climate dogmatists have too
often declared the science settled to admit any gaps in the theory.
Consequently, the theory of global warming, or climate change, or
whatever we’re calling it this week, need not provide any valid
predictions. It can churn out one overblown horror story after another
for nearly three decades and we’re all supposed to believe that the
science is sound.
And settled.
