One of the more laughable aspects of global warming alarmism is the constant claim that the debate about the hysterics’ claims is over. In fact, the Earth’s climate is so poorly understood that it is more accurate to say that the debate has barely begun.
But there are some things we know. For example: the increase in Earth’s temperature resulting from a doubling of CO2, based on any recognized energy calculation, is less than one degree Centigrade. Almost everyone agrees that this slight increase would be good. So how do the alarmists try to scare us? They posit various positive feedbacks that turn one degree into three to six degrees.
Are these feedbacks proven? Of course not. They are simply assumed. In fact, some are clearly false. As far as we know, the net feedbacks will be negative, not positive.
If you want to get a sense of how vigorous the scientific debate over feedbacks is, check out this post at Watts Up With That, as well as the comments. Many engineers weigh in, with arguments about electrical engineering that I can’t begin to referee. The only clunker is a lefty who jumped in with the first comment‚Äìbased on a post at Think Progress!‚Äìand was then routed.
Is the debate over catastrophic anthropogenic global warming over? In one sense, it is. One thing we know for sure is that the models that are the sole support for alarmism are wrong. The substantial heating they projected has failed to materialize. Having been falsified by observation, we know that they are no good. The alarmists will have to come up with something better than these discredited models if they want to convince the rest of us. Meanwhile, any comprehensive understanding of the Earth’s climate is very far off.
