Global Cooling Deniers

From the UK Guardian: 2008 will be coolest year of the decade

The subhead reads:

Global average for 2008 should come in close to 14.3C, but cooler temperature is not evidence that global warming is slowing, say climate scientists

The people whose reputations and financial well-being depend on the myth of global warming are desperately trying to convince you that the fact that this has been the coolest year in a decade does not affect their hypothesis. Their pronouncements are sort of funny, in a pathetic way.

This year is set to be the coolest since 2000, according to a preliminary estimate of global average temperature that is due to be released next week by the Met Office. The global average for 2008 should come in close to 14.3C, which is 0.14C below the average temperature for 2001-07.

The relatively chilly temperatures compared with recent years are not evidence that global warming is slowing however, say climate scientists at the Met Office. "Absolutely not," said Dr Peter Stott, the manager of understanding and attributing climate change at the Met Office's Hadley Centre. "If we are going to understand climate change we need to look at long-term trends."

I purchased a book a few years ago entitled "How to lie with statistics". The graph shown in the article is a perfect example.

Give me the right to choose the beginning and the end point of a statistical series and I can prove anything. I am reminded of the old accountant joke that goes like this:

There once was a business owner who was interviewing people for a division manager position. He decided to select the individual that could answer the question "how much is 2+2?"

The engineer pulled out his slide rule and shuffled it back and forth, and finally announced, "It lies between 3.98 and 4.02".

The mathematician said, "In two hours I can demonstrate it equals 4 with the following short proof."

The physicist declared, "It's in the magnitude of 1x101."

The logician paused for a long while and then said, "This problem is solvable."

The social worker said, "I don't know the answer, but I a glad that we discussed this important question.

The attorney stated, "In the case of Svenson vs. the State, 2+2 was declared to be 4."

The trader asked, "Are you buying or selling?"

The accountant looked at the business owner, then got out of his chair, went to see if anyone was listening at the door and pulled the drapes. Then he returned to the business owner, leaned across the desk and said in a low voice, "What would you like it to be?"

Do you want to see statistics that see the world getting warmer ... or colder? I can show you both with computer generated graphs and charts.

But lately I have been intrigued with the question: what is the “proper” temperature for the earth, and why? For some reason the answer from the global warming hoaxers is a nostalgic yearning for the 1940s or 1960s. Why? Is that when they grew up? Is that where the earth’s temperature should be stabilized for all time? What do we do about other sources of warming or cooling like sunspots or volcanoes? What happens if we reduce carbon dioxide emissions and find that other factors we are unaware of are causing a new ice age which could have been prevented by a man-made increase in greenhouse gasses?

The obsessive focus on man’s impact on climate reminds me of another old joke about the drunk looking for the car keys he dropped. He was looking for them under a street lamp not because he dropped them there, but because it was night and it’s the only place illuminated.