Stephen H. Schneider

Stanford University climate scientist Stephen H. Schneider talks about his new book, "Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth's Climate" (National Geographic Books, Nov. 2009, U.S.$28), and explains how anyone can find reliable information about climate change. Schneider, a National Geographic Fellow, also shares ideas of what anyone can do to help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions warming our planet.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• climate
• warming
• science
• atmosphere
• COP15

[irivlin]

I'd like to complain about the intemperate language used by "aerobique". This is a discussion forum, not a place to vent one's spleen and be offensive to differing opinions. Whether climate sceptics are correct or not isn't the issue. We (ie sceptics) haven't been given proven facts - we've been given scientific opinion, and we have every right to reject this. It is unhelpful to your own cause if you bad mouth or insult other persons' valid concerns. Please be more thoughtful in future.

[aerobique]

@irivlin

"The world needs skeptics...."

These Scientists ARE sceptics by nature. The "climate sceptics" are not sceptic at all. I ts a bunch of fossil fuel funded or ideological missleaded deniers pushing the most dangerous PR campaign to confuse the public- to block political action.

[werecow2003]

@irivlin The world needs skeptics, but they need to be applying actual skepticism, not just doubt mongering. Unfortunately that's what you see from many of the prominent self-described "climate skeptics" (and by that I don't mean you, I mean people like Anthony Watts or Tim Ball). There's plenty of room for legitimate debate about the finer points (clouds, aerosols), but the people who are now still claiming that it's the sun or that there hasn't been any warming are not wearing a skeptical hat.

[ekirchnerism]

Beware All Absolutists.

[irivlin]

At the moment, I'd have to say I'm not convinced by the scientists. There have been so many "concensus of opinions" in the past which proved to be false. Scientists shouldn't have their views accepted by all as universal truth. The best way to keep these people honest is for people like me to constantly see that everything is proven. The world needs skeptics..... (Going to bed now - it's 11.30pm in Oz). Ian

[digitised]

@irivlin Well you dont need to read them, id say take a look at potholers videos since he really makes a brilliant job of explaining it.

This issue is so mired with politics that its sometimes hard for people to hear the real science behind what is going on, there is simply no longer any debate in the scientific community over global warming. Some scientists still have other ideas, but all admit that the earth is getting hotter and they have no good natural explanation for that.

[digitised]

@irivlin Climate science is not really that new, even the greeks wrote on meterology to some extent after all it was integral to farming and crop cycles. And many people studied sun spots and took temperature data after thermometers and telescopes were invented about 250 years ago. That makes it at last 100 years older than evolution and microbiology,200 years older than particle physics, deep space cosmology, genetics and other fields. And CO2s warming potential was noticed even in 1859.

[irivlin]

Thanks. It'll take me quite some time to get through that wealth of literature but I'll give it a good attempt. Ian

[digitised]

@irivlin Schneider does, and i explained that. Maybe you need to actually look at what plasma physics is, and look at the body of work which Schneiders papers all relate too. He wrote 450 papers on climate science and worked with experts, debated with experts, challenged experts. If he didnt learn about his field thoroughly at uni (since its almost impossible...) he cut his teeth with the community when he went into research.

Maybe you dont really understand science i dont know.

[digitised]

skepticalscience. com / solar-activity-sunspots-global­-warming. htm

This page is really helpful, it shows the solar activity and temperature graphs as well as listing about 15 peer review journal quotes which conclude that there has been no trend in solar activity and temperature for the times of the studies back to the early 1970s. They each link too, so you can read the papers and check the studies if you feel they are bogus or misquoted.

Really the sun is out of the argument here.