Upton Sinclair wrote on Sep 6
th, 2012 at 8:06pm:
rules_of_the_game wrote on Sep 6
th, 2012 at 7:58pm:
<<One of the loudest contrarian voices in Australia is Ian Plimer, a geologist who has not published a single peer-reviewed paper on climate change. Nevertheless, he is the go-to guy for public voices such as Gina Rinehart, Cardinal George Pell and Tony Abbott.>>
and the two loudest voices for the climate change crowd are an ECONOMIST and a PALEONTOLOGIST. At least Pilmer is in a climate field. the others arent.
Do you even know how many REAL climate scientists there are in the world? almost none. There are thousands working in very narrow fields of climate and sometimes it feels like we are hearing the views of that mythical group of blind men describing and elephant by feel. none were totally wrong, but none were anywhere near to right.
A 'climate scientist' is any scientist who actively conducts research that relates to the climate - climate science is a field, not a discipline.
The only thing that matters in the climate 'debate' is published research, which can be tested and allowed to stand or fall on its merits. Apart from a very small handful of exceptions the 'experts' touted by the denier movement do not, nor ever have, published anything related to the field. People like Plimer are expressing opinions, which are meaningless, the only thing that matters is the evidence. And the vast body of evidence pertain to the climate supports or accepts the notion of AGW as a fact. No amount of opinion can change that, no matter how well qualified the opinion-holder may happen to be.
As a fellow gentleman who deals in facts I thought this would have been self-evident?
You define 'fact' far too loosely. Plimer is not some crackpot. You may not agree with him and
some have criticised his work, but the mere fact that credentialed experts like Plimer (and dont degrade yourself by rejecting his credentials in such a cavalier manner) find fault with the concensus position should beg some thought.
Logically speaking, is it really credible that the only real climate scientists and the only ones we can trust are those that support the orthodoxy? Is it anything more than medieval catholic rejection of science to dismiss scientists and their views soley on the basis of the side of a global debat on which the align themselves? There are a LOT of scientists who question the orthodoxy including several astronauts (real scientists) and many in the various fields within climate science.
Why dont you ask the question of why, if the science is settled and the outcomes so undeniable that real scientist question them and in some cases, reject it entirely?
And the polarisation of the debat by the climate evangelists is a disgrace. Any scientist that questions one fact, one word in the IPCC is pillored - just as you have done - even if they support tha basic tnor of the hypothesis. This kind of merciless persecution of some is idiotic and the blind acceptance of any study that supprts the orthodoxy is likewise a disgrace to science. The perfect example of this is the hockey-stick graph. One MIT professor commented that if M Mann had brought this to him as part of his PhD work he would have failed him. It is a statistical embarrassment of high order and the underlying science of temperatur by proxy so unreliable and grossly discredited that it was terrible work. But it is now part of the gold-standard in climate change gospel. Thats what happens when you laud those who agree with you and punish those who dont with little reflection on their actual work.
No - none have criticised his work - because has not published any papers on the subject to be criticised.
As far as I can tell, he has only published a non-peer reviewed book of silly made-up nonsense about volcanos and CO2
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/04/climate-sceptics-public-opinion