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Brian asked in EnvironmentGlobal Warming · 1 decade ago

Credible, scientific sources for AGW not happening?

If you've browsed the GW section, you'll notice tons of answers that state somewhere along the line of "man has no impact on climate," "carbon dioxide doesn't cause warming," and "this is all a scam to make money." However, I rarely see any of these answers backed up, unlike the ones supporting AGW linking to NASA, .gov websites, .edu websites, etc. If the non-global warming answers have a source, it is of questionable integrity, such as a conservative blog, and not scientific. So, sources anyone? Real sources? There's got to be some (NewsBusters, Global Climate Scam, etc. are not very scientific so they don't count). Thanks. I'd like to see the other side of the debate, but scientifically.

Update:

I'll take a stab at all of these, as some of you already have:

leap_of_faith09: I agree with you. I put much more of my trust in real scientists than JunkScience and Fox News. I don't see why NASA, NAS, major universities, the IPCC, and all the others would be lying.

Independent Thinker: Sources, please? I don't see thousands of scientists conspiring together to lie about climate change just to make a dollar; people would have come out by now out of guilt. In addition, you automatically assume that all of these scientists are liars who support communism. Know any scientists personally? They are some of the most trustworty people that I know, and hate knowing nothing but the truth about something. You cite: Richard Linzen: seems somewhat credible, but a skeptic on all issues, including the smoking-cancer link (1). Timothy Ball, somewhat credible, but his education to comment on the subject has been questioned (2.1), and has connection to oil-backed organizations (2.2). ...

Update 2:

Roger Pielke, seems credible, but has a nuetral position in the issue, not skepticism (3).

1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lindzen

2.1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_F._Ball

2.2: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tim_Bal...

3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_A._Pielke

DaveH: In science, it's hard to PROOVE anything. But there is a ton of evidence for AGW, backed up by organizations around the world. Look at some of the links provided all over this section of Yahoo! Answers (those that are credible). Anyway, shouldn't there be some sort of base for you skepticism? You site none, except that you want proof. You may not be able to be handed that (in your opinion), but the evidence is enough for me.

Update 3:

oracle2world: 1. No, it doesn't appear to. But part of the problem is this: the scale of the graph. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to see the last century and a half when humans have been contributing CO2, when the graph covers over 4,000 centuries! This graph can be confusing to the audience due to the fact that it looks like these temperature changes are happening rapidly, when they are really happening over thousands of years, very unlike the 0.7 C increase in the past ~120 years (1).

1: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming....

2. Yes, it is noisy, but over lots of time. It would be more interesting if we did it out by century, and not every 50,000 years.

3. No, because on a graph that expansive of history, we are relevant (in this discussion) for less than 1%. NOT because we aren't affecting climate.

Interesting.

Referring to your own graph, notice how CO2 correlates with temperature. You don't notice? However, this correlation is not exact.

Update 4:

pegminer: Me too. And I agree about scientists being independent - if there was a ton of evidence against AGW as many claim, there would also be a ton of papers.

jeff m: For your "summer night" example, look at Myth #8 on this page: http://greenhome.huddler.com/wiki/global-warming-m... Don't you think scientists have looked at this already?

For your "hockey stick graph" source, thank you. Looks credible, although not entirely a scientific paper going against AGW, just against the IPCC's methods. Next: I've seen this blog multiple times. Has some interesting material, but not really written by a scientist. I wasn't looking for blogs, but nonetheless, thank you. Next: An older paper, but is good; has some good references. However, the sun has been said by many to have a minimal effect on climate. See: http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/... I am not appealing to authority and I can reason: looking at the evidence, AGW is happening.

Update 5:

Halley: Interesting, but relevant?

Keith P: Excellent! Exactly what I was looking for! If skeptics actually used this kind of science, this debate would be much more enjoyable, instead of the "AGW=Al Gore's scam=money" approach.

gcnp58: Ah, the same person Independent Thinker mentioned. Another good source, and is credible. I agree with you on his neutral position.

Adam C: 1. That's what I find so crazy about a "big hoax" - thousands of scientists from around the world conspiring together, and not one has come forward.

2. Paranoia, the word I've been looking for describing all of this. How come everybody thinks the government and companies are out to get them?

3. I've thought of this before. People don't want to change their lives, and continue wasting. And I'd agree many are dodging the question.

4. Lol, my same conclusions before I read yours.

Overall, a great, well thought-out answer.

Well, those are my thoughts.

11 Answers

Relevance
  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Good luck. You won't find much.

    Madhav Khandekar has collected a list of 68 peer reviewed studies published between 1999 and 2007 that in some way (even in some minor way) challenge the consensus view of anthropogenic global warming:

    http://www.friendsofscience.org/assets/files/docum...

    During the same period, many thousands of peer-reviewed papers were published that supported the consensus view; for example, IPCC's 2007 report has over 6000 references alone, and they only cited the most important stuff.

    http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/wg1-report.html

    *********************

    NOTE to DaveH: If you are unaware of the clear evidence that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are causing climate change, then you haven't been paying attention. You can start with my answer here:

    http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsCZH...

  • Adam C
    Lv 5
    1 decade ago

    Excellent question but no one will be able to give you these sources. Why?

    1) Occam's razor would say because they don't exist - simplest explanation that doesn't require, for example, collusion amongst tens of thousands of people around the world to make things up but keep it secret from "us".

    So, no reports or links forthcoming.

    2) Paranoia: Some, like "Independent Thinker" prefer to dodge the question and use it as an excuse to rant. Basically, his argument is based on paranoia: He starts with the (non-stated) assumption that no one can be trusted and that he is being lied to all the time: The lack of reports backing up the skeptics' claims proves their existence.

    Note by using this argument he actually agrees and proves your point - there are no such reports.

    "Circular Thinker" would be a better name...

    No reports or links forthcoming.

    3) Fear (of change, or accepting responsibility): Similar to 2) in that the actual question is dodged. Dave H epitomises this but unfortunately he also epitomises "out of the frying pan, into the fire". By pushing the burden of proof onto the proponents (dodging the question) he has asked something that is easily answered - there have been many, many citations of the reports he asks for, one of the commonest being the IPCC report (http://www.ipcc.ch/) that gives "clear evidence that anthropogenic CO2 emmissions are causing climate change". Dave H and his ilk simply ignore these - hence I call this group 'The Ostriches'.

    No reports or links forthcoming.

    4) Irrelevance/confusing data: This is shown by oracle... S/he talks about cooling in the past ten years (as evidence that AGW doesn't exist) yet the linked data covers >400,000 years from one point on the planet - there is no way to use the graph to corroborate the conclusions. There is also a little bit of 'frying pan' here as well as the graph provided shows a very clear relationship between CO2 concentrarions and temperature.

    Jeff m does the same but I've refuted his claims elsewhere.

    No reports or links forthcoming.

    Finally - and here I agree with pegminer - excellent link, Keith, precisely what we need in this forum for rational and useful debate.

    Of course, this paper doesn't prove or support the more outrageous claims made by skeptics but it gives aheads up to AGW proponents as to where the weak links in the theory are, what science is still unclear, where reasonable doubt (but not prrof!) exists thus where is the space for debate and further research.

  • 1 decade ago

    I'd love to see some real sources too. I think there are a few (very few) but I haven't seen any links to them on here. Let's trot them out deniers, so that we can all see them and examine the evidence. I'd like to see papers in refereed journals--not websites, conference proceedings, blogs, biblical passages, etc.

    And don't try to claim that nobody will publish because they're worried about their funding--scientists think more independently than that. Also don't make the claim that journals won't publish something that goes against prevailing science--that's not true either, I've published papers that were much more controversial than anything to do with AGW. Let's see the evidence.

    EDIT: Keith P : Excellent links!! We need more of this sort of exchange in this forum. Some of the papers I recognized but most I didn't. I think you fairly described them. Some are definitely not about showing that AGW is not happening, but rather about showing that some interpretations of the consequences (like implications for tropical cyclones) are not correct. Others seem to go after the theory more strongly. I look forward to looking at them.

  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    I tend to use multiple sources of information to judge credibility; my experience, the source's affiliations, training, credentials and track record. Government sites are usually more impartial places to retrieve raw data and make my own determinations. I try to keep an open mind and be skeptical at the same time. A good example is the site on DHMO, the information presented is factual and accurate, but the way it is presented is twisted to present a certain view. President Reagan's "Trust but verify" is a good thumb-rule!

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  • 1 decade ago

    I have not seen any myself (and I've looked), but I have read some papers that make unusual predictions.

    I'm actually involved in an experimental study right now that, at least so far, is revealing that increased CO2 and heat benefit some tree species. This is a good thing, because these trees remove CO2 from the air and thus may serve as a negative feedback—but ONLY if precipitation remains steady or increases. (Note: This is not to say that plants will "save" us from global warming. That is impossible to predict at this point and, IMO, is highly unlikely.)

    Currently, we're looking at root mass to see if the same story holds true underground as aboveground.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    People that question whether mankind has an influence are looking at the same data as everyone else is.

    See:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Vostok-ice-core...

    1. Does the left side of the graph (towards modern day) appear significantly different from the right side (further in history).

    2. Is the data "noisy" with a whole lot of natural variance?

    3. Can mankind's influence within this graph can be discerned?

    People see patterns in random data. The conformity experiments of psychologist Asch showed people would knowingly give incorrect answers under pressure. The placebo effect in medicine is well documented ... to the point where unless the medical experiment is double-blind, it doesn't count.

    Global temps have cooled over the past ten years, and CO2 has risen over that time. That is not the type of lockstep correlation that gives anyone confidence about the link between CO2 and temperature. In fact it is not a correlation at all.

  • jeff m
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago

    Everyone should seek to understand this issue, because the consequences of a foolish decision could be ruinous. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.

    An honest scientist will not claim proof, of something which is neither provable, nor disprovable. science is proved by verifiable experiments. No experiments are possible, in this case, which will prove the hypothesis that a bit more CO2 will cause "catastrophic runaway" warming.

    Experimental proof should include description of the test methods, so that others can repeat the experiment, and check the results.

    here is an experiment ,which demonstrates how much CO2 contributes to the greenhouse effect. People should understand the difference between the fact that CO2 contributes to the greenhouse effect, and the conjecture of a "catastrophic, runaway" effect on earths climate caused by positive feedback effects. The second link below explains positive feedback well.

    The experiment: Observe that clear nights cool off rapidly, cloudy or humid nights do not. Think of nights in the desert. This is because water vapor is 95% of the greenhouse effect. CO2 is 4%, with 1/4 of that blamed on man.

    here is a link that describes how Manns "hockey stick " chart was discreditted, How he refused to describe his methods, and how the IPCCs "peer review " process was revealed to be very biased.

    http://www.climatechangeissues.com/files/PDF/conf0...

    here is a link, which describes the skeptics position very well. It is in laymans language, very readable. If you're a scientist, and want to read about the spectral absorption of the various gases, or ice core data details or such - it's all out there, do your own research, don't expect someone to hand you an answer, which you will ignore, if presented by a skeptic, for christs sake.

    http://www.climate-skeptic.com/2007/09/table-of-co...

    This one discusses the effects of solar cycles on climate. again, laymans language. but even laymen know that the sun is a variable star, and of the correspondance between high sunspot activity, and climate warming. and that a period of high activity ended recently.

    http://www-das.uwyo.edu/~geerts/cwx/notes/chap02/s...

    It's not true that ordinary people cannot understand this topic, but must just believe what AGW proponents saty that scientists say.

    I'd be fully willing to agree to a course of action that included maximum conservation of fuels. so that future generations can be left with fossil fuels, which are far more practical for vehicular use, than any alternative. reduce speed limits, tax carbon -OK. Ethanol fuels - counterproductive, political subsidy, causing great poverty - stupid. denying permits to coal fired plants, so that we rely mainly on more expensive nat gas, while exporting coal to china - even more stupid (electricity is a big cost of many industries -do we need to be less competitive?)( 1 job lost, per train car load?). Cap & Trade, instead of a carbon tax - Arrggh! why don't we just clone Joseph Stalin, and put him in charge?

    Source(s): appeals to authority, and obfuscation are not credible reasoning
  • gcnp58
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    There are no credible sites that claim anthropogenic global warming is not happening. The best you can find are sites such as Roger Pielke Sr.'s at Univ. of Colorado, that claim, in essence, that although it is happening, the effects won't be severe. The rest are no more than right-wing propaganda.

    Source(s): Pielke's website, with his conclusions regarding climate change: http://climatesci.org/main-conclusions/ Note these are fairly nuanced and he does not deny warming is occurring, nor that climate change is happening. He even acknowledges the role of humans in both.
  • 1 decade ago

    I know there are a few scientists who say that global warming isn't happening, but I have never seen a large scientific organization (like NAS, AAAS, NASA...) say that global warming isn't happening. This is why I think it is happening. I trust scientific organizations rather than a few websites that aren't very scientific.

    Truthfully, I don't think there are any credible, scientific sources that say AGW isn't happening.

  • DaveH
    Lv 5
    1 decade ago

    It is not for the skeptics to disprove global warming, but for the AGW scientists to prove it. I have not yet seen PROOF that Global Warming is caused by anthropogenic CO2 emmissions. If you are aware of such proof (not opinion) I would be very pleased to see it.

    Without clear evidence that anthropogenic CO2 emmissions are causing climate change I cannot support any political move to change the make-up of the atmosphere through taxation.

    We need to be shown clear causal linkage of anthropogenic CO2 and climate change before we rush headlong into policies that will destroy our economies and living standards.

    ========================

    NOTE to Keith P. You tell me "If you are unaware of the clear evidence that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are causing climate change, then you haven't been paying attention".

    I read all the links you provided. It took a while but the result is still the same. You cite a lot of worthy information, but none of it demonstrates, or even attempts to demonstrate a causal linkage between Anthopogenic CO2 emissions and global warming.

    I'm still waiting to be shown the proof, and so are all these (peer reviewed) people....

    http://petesplace-peter.blogspot.com/2008/04/peer-...

    This one is a good synopsis... again, peer reviewed.

    http://www.oism.org/pproject/review.pdf

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