Monthly Archives: May 2019

J R Oppenheimer Asks: Can Science Provide Better Models for Democracy?

Posted on May 31, 2019 by mt

I came across a collection of 1950’s vintage essays by Robert Oppenheimer that’s been lurking quietly unattended in my book collection for who knows how long. Reading essays by scientifically accomplished people from long ago is always an eye-opener. Bits … Continue reading →

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Posted in physicists, Policy, Politics, Uncategorized | 50 Comments

Models are failed hypotheses!

Posted on May 25, 2019 by ...and Then There's Physics

John Christy has written a report for the Global Warming Policy Foundation called climate models have been predicting too much warming. The basic conclusion of the report is that climate models predict far more warming in the tropical troposphere than … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Climate sensitivity, ClimateBall, Global warming, Greenhouse effect | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 61 Comments

The Carbon Cycle

Posted on May 24, 2019 by ...and Then There's Physics

Robert Rohde, who is lead scientist for Berkeley Earth, has created a really nice illustration of the carbon cycle. It shows how the CO2 cycles between the different carbon reservoirs, and how our emissions have perturbed the carbon cycle so … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Research, Science | Tagged , , , , , | 40 Comments

The impact of 4C of global warming

Posted on May 20, 2019 by ...and Then There's Physics

On a number of occasions I’ve highlighted Kevin Anderson saying At 4oC most of the scientists I talk to about this, and the social scientists as well, would say it’s incompatible with organised global community. I don’t know if this … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Environmental change, Global warming | Tagged , , , , | 65 Comments

The Guardian’s new style guide

Posted on May 19, 2019 by ...and Then There's Physics

It seems that the Guardian is changing the language it uses about the environment. It’s updated it’s preferred terms to include climate emergency, crisis or breakdown, instead of climate change and global heating, instead of global warming. Maybe most controversially, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, Environmental change | Tagged , , , | 66 Comments

Shifting the Overton window

Posted on May 15, 2019 by ...and Then There's Physics

Stoat has a new post about there being two sorts of people in the world in which he says the GND is not just stupid but would in the unlikely event of it being imposed be actively harmful; and at … Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon tax, Climate change, Environmental change, Global warming, Policy, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | 100 Comments

If it seems obvious, it probably isn’t

Posted on May 13, 2019 by ...and Then There's Physics

There’s an interesting paper that someone (I forget who) highlighted on Twitter. It’a about when science becomes too easy. The basic idea is that there are pitfalls to popularising scientific information. Compared to experts, laypeople have not undergone any specialized … Continue reading →

Posted in Pseudoscience, Research, Science, Scientists, Sound Science (tm), The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , | 44 Comments

The debate has changed

Posted on May 4, 2019 by ...and Then There's Physics

I’ve been finding it quite difficult to think of things to post about. One reason is that I’ve been rather busy. Another, though, is that I think the debate has changed. It seems that there is more and more discussion … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, economics, Environmental change, Policy, Science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , | 117 Comments