Posted on 04/23/2012 10:48:49 AM PDT by Olog-hai
James Lovelock, the maverick scientist who became a guru to the environmental movement with his “Gaia” theory of the Earth as a single organism, has admitted to being “alarmist” about climate change and says other environmental commentators, such as Al Gore, were too.
Lovelock, 92, is writing a new book in which he will say climate change is still happening, but not as quickly as he once feared.
He previously painted some of the direst visions of the effects of climate change. In 2006, in an article in the U.K.’s Independent newspaper, he wrote that “before this century is over billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable.”
However, the professor admitted in a telephone interview with msnbc.com that he now thinks he had been “extrapolating too far." …
The new book will discuss how humanity can change the way it acts in order to help regulate the Earth’s natural systems, performing a role similar to the harmonious one played by plants when they absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.
It will also reflect his new opinion that global warming has not occurred as he had expected.
“The problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books—mine included—because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn’t happened,” Lovelock said.
“The climate is doing its usual tricks. There’s nothing much really happening yet. We were supposed to be halfway toward a frying world now,” he said. … “The world has not warmed up very much since the millennium. …”
He pointed to Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” and Tim Flannery’s “The Weather Makers” as other examples of “alarmist” forecasts of the future. …
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnews.msnbc.msn.com ...
I think Michael Crichton answered that question, and so will I:
government research grants.
So... How much did he pay for those degrees? Sure, he’s 92, but he may want to see about a refund; even if it’s prorated.
Still lying for the cause. No one with half a brain thought that atmospheric dynamics were well known 20 years ago.
A few horribly bad models, a bunch of falsified data and a huge political agenda to redistribute enormous amounts of wealth from industrial nations to the turd world.”
As for climate change, there are *no* *good* *models*.
We simply do not know just what is going to happen. That is enough for the doomsayers to claim knowledge and to demand control of all the rest of us forever.
A bit of intellectual honesty for a change. I expect he will be drawn and quartered by the true believers for his heritical statement.
As an Earth Scientist, I am here to tell you that there is no known cause and effect between the concentrations of CO2, or CO in the atmosphere and the temperature change in the atmosphere.
The average concentrations of atmospheric CO2 are usually < 400 parts/million, or < 0.04 PERCENT. This extremely tiny amount of CO2 is the primary source for ALL of the Carbon for ALL of the life on Earth.
Thus, CO2 is an essential, environmentally FRIENDLY gas in low concentrations.
CH4 also supplies carbon to all life, and also has no known cause and effect on temperature change in the atmosphere, in low concentrations.
BTW, the greenhouse gas that has the largest atmospheric concentration, has been proven to have a VERY large effect on the the temperature of air, sea and land.
Many humans, throughout history, have met horrible deaths when exposed to high concentrations of the effects of this gas.
This gas is ubiquitous, as every square millimeter on the Earth has been exposed to it for millions of years.
It has be proven to also be essential for all known life on Earth.
The present concentration of this giant of green house gasses, is presently 2.5 % of the Earth’s atmosphere.
IOW, it is two orders of magnitude greater in atmospheric concentration than CO2. It is 25, 000 parts per million vs CO2’s < 400 parts per million.
Fortunately, no fear-mongering politician has yet to win an Oscar, or a Nobel Prize for trying to reduce the atmospheric concentration of this always problematic, but essential greenhouse gas.
Final clue: Santa Claus speaks the chemical formula of this gas in his famous laugh.
The guy's 92. What are they going to do; revoke his grant?
"ALL RIGHT, I MADE A MISTAKE!"
Time to SCRAP the EPA and the Energy Department.
That's what happens when you live long enough to fall afoul of your predictions Mr. Lovelock.
Humans are too stupid to prevent climate change from radically impacting on our lives over the coming decades. This is the stark conclusion of James Lovelock, the globally respected environmental thinker and independent scientist who developed the Gaia theory. …Um, did he also discover that neither the USA nor UK became totalitarian during WWII?
"I don't think we're yet evolved to the point where we're clever enough to handle a complex a situation as climate change," said Lovelock in his first in-depth interview since the theft of the UEA emails last November. "The inertia of humans is so huge that you can't really do anything meaningful."
One of the main obstructions to meaningful action is "modern democracy", he added. "Even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while." …
The planet has feedback mechanisms that are not accounted for in their stupid computer models.
You’d think Lovelock would have realized this - it is the core concept of his Gaia theory!
I was so stupid, I actually thought I was smart.
Actually this shows the truth of President Eisenhower’s warning against the development of a governmental-academic complex where in universities and academic begin to feed off of government grants to fund their research projects. And the government fostering academics to apply for grants for government instituted ideas.
This warning was in the same speech as his often quoted military-industrial complex.
Bingo.
They don't have a clue what's happening, but they write a proscription that will cost trillions of dollars and send all but the favored few back to an 18th century lifestyle.
That nasty, deadly Dihydrogen Monoxide?
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