August 31, 2007
Anthropogenic Climate Change
The main knock against anthropogenic climate change — more or less unchanged since the 1980s — is that a cabal of cunning computer modelers have managed to dupe, co-opt, bamboozle, or intimidate climate scientists into believing fantastic, yet unsubstantiated, allegations. Recently put forward by the redoubtable Freeman Dyson, this critique also, unfortunately, picks up a certain amount of support in the progressive community. To help dispel these arguments and the confusion they still cause I turned to Dr. Chris Rapley, who knows as much as anybody about actually measuring climate change. It was a great pleasure to hear the facts from a primary source, and I'm very grateful to Dr. Rapley for talking with me on this and a range of other important topics. Please listen carefully and redistribute widely. Total runtime an hour and fourteen minutes.
Comments
FINALLY...a discussion that takes into consideration the population problem. He understands all the connections between global warming, energy consumption, economics, sociology (social order vs.social disorder), Peak Oil AND the population problem. Thanks George for a great interview.
Posted by: Judy Truett | August 31, 2007 5:56 PM
It's such a shame that all those people who say climate change isn't happening would listen to a scientist like Dr. Chris Rapley.
Easily understood, thoughtful and compelling. We [the people of the earth] need more like him. Can we trade-in some used contrarians / deniers for another like him?
I had in-mind the likes of Fred Singer, Fred Seitz, Pat Michaels, Bjorn Lomborg, Tim Ball, John Christy and the rest of the usual suspects. Oh! I forgot — that bunch are all completely & totally worthless!
Posted by: ScaredAmoeba | September 1, 2007 5:46 AM
Freeman Dyson, whose career in physics was entirely dependent upon government and military industrial spending, published a book a few years back entitled "Weapons and Hope" in which he made the claim that the theory of nuclear deterrence was tested and proven. This claim clashes with the official US military doctrine, expressed by General Brent Scowcroft prior to the appearance of the book, that there was no evidence nuclear deterrence worked, and that testing the theory was too dangerous. Scowcroft was merely expressing the rules of logic which clearly pointed out that the absence of nuclear conflict could not be taken as evidence that stockpiles of nuclear weapons prevented their use. Dyson, in another of his books, "Infinite in All Directions", slammed logic and the philosophy of science, saying REAL SCIENTISTS have no idea what philosophers of science and logicians are talking about. Dyson is a pathetic shill for the establishment, and his obfuscations about the existence of anthropogenic causes for global warming are to be expected. The guy doesn't know jack, but is convinced his academic position carries authority on matters about which he knows nothing.
Posted by: Gregorio | September 1, 2007 2:48 PM
Another very informative and important interview. Thank you. It is most refreshing to hear such clear headed reasoning. I too was pleased that you touched on the inter-related topics of peak oil, population, and even diet.
Posted by: Isis | September 2, 2007 11:37 PM
Excellent interview, George. Thanks. I've referred my (mostly American) friends who have been sitting on the fence.
An interesting development — BBC canceled a day long special on the topic as reported in The Independent.
So many things coming to a head these days, it makes one's head spin, and makes me appreciate the information you provide on this site all the more.
Posted by: Pandabonium | September 6, 2007 5:18 AM