Joe WagnerJune 23, 2014 at 12:14 PM
I think Ben Davidson of Suspicious observers already disproved AGW: http://youtu.be/5c4XPVPJwBY
Response:
So, I actually sat through the whole video and I could not see anywhere that he is even trying to disprove global warming. Let's recap some of the pertinent points.
He admits the temperature is going up.
He admits there is a correlation between temperature and CO2.
He admits the CO2 comes from human emissions.
So, what is the deal here? What is he claiming?
Well, the most noticeable thing he is claiming is the Sun is cooling. In fact, he states, "I would place my money on global cooling."
Let's review. One of the things I have repeated many times on this blog in many challenges is that we are in a natural cooling cycle and part of that natural cooling cycle is that the solar activity has been decreasing. So, what Mr. Davidson really said was the same thing I have been saying, just in a lot (A LOT) more sensational manner. I am reluctant to say we are in global cooling and a new mini-ice age is on the way when we are in the midst of the hottest years ever recorded. And, for the those that keep saying we are no longer warming, 9 of the 10 hottest years and the three hottest have all occurred since the year 2000. This year is well on track to breaking the record if things don't change (a cold winter in mid-America doesn't mean the rest of the world was the same).
I know its a big crowd pleaser, but much of his talk was unsubstantiated sensationalism. He made claims about things that he never demonstrated were true or were relevant. He made several claims that I know are not true and others where he conveniently only mentioned the part that supported his claim. Many of the people he cited as 'experts' are well-known tools of the fossil fuel industry and receive tens of thousands of dollars in funding (and more!) from that source. Some of the people he mentioned have been caught falsifying their research and data.
And, ultimately, he acknowledged that man made greenhouse gas emissions acted to warm the planet. He just claimed it is irrelevant because the Sun will cool more than the greenhouse gases will keep it warm. That is the gist of his talk.
So, I have to say that this video did not produce any evidence that man made global warming is not real. In fact, I think he provided a great deal of evidence against the 'climate goes in cycles' argument.
And, he might be right about the Sun. It is too early to know for sure (and we have a poor understanding of the Sun's interior activity), but there really is data to support his general thesis of a cooling Sun. We'll have to wait and see.
