Welcome to the world of climate change “science,” Jason, which is hopelessly politicized. There’s a great example today, as protestors are demanding the resignation of the Director of the National Hurricane Center for not accepting their version of reality. They are saying that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration “is actively covering up the strong and growing scientific link between more powerful hurricanes and global warming.” That is codswallop, to use an old English expression. Kevin Vranes, a colleague of Roger Pielke Jr, and certainly no climate skeptic, has the following verdict:
I am arguing that despite strong words from the various scientific camps, no scientific consensus has yet become apparent (and won’t for a few years). To protest stating otherwise is a gross misunderstanding of how science works and, worse, is stretching science toward a political goal. If there is a Republican War on Science, this must be the Democrats getting revenge.
This is the level to which we have descended, and scientific activists who want their preferred policy solution imposed without further debate are directly to blame. Now that the public accepts that global warming is a fact, that man has something to do with it and that it could be a problem in the future, but still refuses to place it particularly high up their list of priorities, as all polls suggest is the case, catastrophic alarmism is their only weapon. Anyone who suggests all-consuming alarm is not warranted by the science has to be labeled a “denier,” utterly beyond the pale. That includes responsible scientists like those at NOAA.By the way, CEI has posted a further rebuttal of criticism about the ice sheet issue. Taking all the recent science into account, there is demonstrably no case for alarm about the ice sheets contributing to massive sea level rise any time soon. Of course, anyone who read your article with an open mind would already know this.