Comments on: WashPost recycles another denier WSJ op-ed, this time from coal apologist Bjorn Lomborg. Funny how two new senior Post editors came from the WSJ.

By: Hmpf

Hmpf — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:33:44 +0000

Completely beside the point, I know, but I’m curious: why is Hans Joachim Schellnhuber so often called John Schellnhuber in the English and American media? It’s true that the English equivalent of the name ‘Hans’ is ‘John’, but other people’s names aren’t anglicized by the media, or at least I haven’t noticed…

Also: it’s not just the American media that fail to report on things like the latest British Met Office report. The German media so far seem to ignore it, too – as they have most of the other recent Really Bad News.

By: ken levenson

ken levenson — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:25:13 +0000

Bob,
In antarctica the pine island ice sheets are melting hudreds of years ahead of what was thought possible just a few years ago. It couldn’t be much worse.

By: Steve Bloom

Steve Bloom — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:06:00 +0000

Oh yeah, a denialist bot running over from Climate Fraudit to shout that the chief auditor has once again overthrown the hockey stick, only this time even worse! I’m bored.

By: mike roddy

mike roddy — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:27:01 +0000

This quote is from Deschamps, a French poet describing court life in the 14th century:

“It was composed of hypocrisy, flattery, lying, paying and betraying; it was where calumny and cupidity reigned, common sense lacked, truth dared not appear, and where to survive one had to be deaf, blind, and dumb”. (quoted by Barbara Tuchman in 1979).

Sound familiar? Just pencil in the Republican Party and their Blue Dog Democrat buddies. This, gentlemen, is what we have to deal with.

By: walt

walt — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:37:53 +0000

Hey Joe,

Speaking of garbage, what about the Briffa tree rings? Or lack thereof? And who the hell is Hanno? Don’t know? Don’t feel bad. Neither does UNEP.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:04:33 +0000

Krugman is just wrong on this point:
Partly it’s the fact that some predicted changes, like a decline in Arctic Sea ice, are happening much faster than expected.

How can the decline be happening faster than predicted when this year’s minimum extent is 500,000 sq km greater than the minimum in 2008 and that minimum was 500,000 sq km greater than 2007?

If this minor fact can be wrong, how can be sure any other fact is correct or reasonable?

[JR: Learn the science and read this blog before posting here. The decline is happening at a rate decades faster than any climate model predicted -- and the VOLUME in particular is vanishing at a stunning rate.]

By: Steve Bloom

Steve Bloom — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:14:54 +0000

Dhogaza, while it’s the methane component that does the most damage, IIRC melting permafrost emits a mix of methane and CO2, plus of course once in the atmosphere the methane oxidizes to CO2 rather quickly. In consequence we often see references to overall carbon emissions from permafrost (and note that Krugman used this term later in the very same sentence). So I think Krugman can be forgiven on this, although his fact-checker should be strung up.

By: dhogaza

dhogaza — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:17:40 +0000

but how about the great Krugman column?
feels like he is practically cribbing from this site!

If he had, he wouldn’t've confused CO2 for methane when talking of melting permafrost.

Other than that gaffe (which I’m sure the denialsphere will seize on) it was a good piece.

By: paulm

paulm — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:21:51 +0000

I am feeling not just frustrated at ‘America’, but starting to feel angry.

This emotion is starting to surface in the rest of the world.

You US duds have to sort your house out quickly.

Schellnhuber said: “Obama is aware of the problem and he personally wants to do something. The problem is: can he provide the leadership to overcome the system? Every top politician gets to do two or three unpopular things, and the right politicians choose the right things.”

By: Mike#22

Mike#22 — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:27:18 +0000

Slide shows from today’s presentations at the 4 Degrees and Beyond Climate Conference are here: http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/4degrees/programme.php