What 'Climate Emergency'?

Bumped from February 6 due to the addition of information from Dr. Cliff Mass at the bottom.

Friday, I wrote about Dr. Jennifer Francis' ridiculous assertion that we are experiencing "super-extreme weather events" as a result of global warming. My piece has raised a number of eyebrows at LinkedIn and elsewhere. As a result, I wish to provide more information on this vital topic. 

Because there are those (such as the insurance industry which uses this frenzy as cover for unjustified rate increases) who believe we are experiencing super-duper-bad storms as a result of changes in the jet stream (as Francis contends in the article linked in brown at the top), In green is a link to just one of a number of papers that refute Francis' hypothesis. Science is considered the world's premier scientific journal. 

But, what if these allegedly incredible unprecedented storms are in fact occurring for some reason different than Francis' refuted speculation? 

The answer? They aren't. Storms are no worse these days than they have been historically. In fact, the recent winter storms and frigid temperatures over the past ten days are not nearly as bad as during the cold decades of the 1960's and 70's. In general, winters of the 2000's are much milder than 50 years ago due to global warming. 

Here is a peer-reviewed paper, published Friday, on this specific topic:

Its conclusion:

On the basis of observational data, the climate crisis that, according to many sources, we are experiencing today, is not evident yet. 

And, since we discussed attempts to raise insurance rates due to allegedly increased hurricanes, from Dr. Roger Pielke, Jr.,

In other words, based on the peer-reviewed research, if you believe we are experiencing unprecedented storms of all types or that hurricanes in particular have been made worse by global warming, you are the "science denier." Not only that, you've fallen for an environmental scam that has been going on for more than 50 years. 

Last week, an environment reporter for the Texas Tribune tweeted the following:

This "training" is usually held at a very nice hotel or resort and is sponsored by Big Climate organizations. In some cases, the sponsors even pay most of the reporters' expenses. The speakers (some of whom are not scientists) tell them the world is coming to an end and, since journalists generally have little scientific background and since atmospheric science and climate are complex, they generally believe the speakers. There is also some noble cause corruption at work at these conferences. The result is articles like the one that is the topic of this essay. 

I'm confident it never occurred to Ben Adler, Yahoo!'s "senior climate editor" and the author of the piece in question to look up and see if Francis' hypothesis has any credibility. His bio lists no scientific training whatsoever. His bibliography is one gloom-and-doom article after another. 

These attempts to hype global warming cause a lot of harm: unjustifiable increases in insurance rates on low-income people, climate change anxiety, distortions of public policy, and doubts about the credibility of science to name a few. 

Freedom of the press is one of the most cherished rights we have as Americans. But that freedom needs to be balanced with responsibility. And, we scientists -- more than ever -- need to stop hyping global warming. 

There are many good reasons for decarbonizing electricity production. The world, and America in particular, can solve the CO2 problem with an expedited program to build nuclear energy plants and, where possible, hydroelectric power. We certainly do not need to overturn our society. 

-- Additional Information --

Dr. Cliff Mass, a well-respected meteorologist at the University of Washington, posted an item about climate hype on his blog yesterday. He, too, cites the harm this is doing to our society.

Cliff's entire piece is here. 

Fact: No genuine climate scientist believes this hype. You shouldn't either.