Category Archives: ClimateBall

How to Do Things with Claims

Posted on December 18, 2021 by Willard

A recent paper introduced the idea of contrarian claim. Expectedly, contrarians raised concerns about it. A recurring one is: what if the claims were true? This note shows how this may lead to a head fake {1}. Let’s look at … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, how-to | 19 Comments

Classification of contrarian claims about climate change

Posted on December 11, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

The latest controversy in the climate debate is the publication of a paper on [c]omputer-assisted classification of contrarian claims about climate change. The authors are Travis Coan, Constantine Boussalis, John Cook, and Mirjam Nanko. You may recognise John Cook as … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, Philosophy for Bloggers, Research | Tagged , , , , , | 203 Comments

The Hack That Changed the World

Posted on November 12, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

After airing the movie, The Trick, the BBC has also broadcast a series of podcasts on Climategate called the Hack That Changed the World (H/T Dikran Marsupial). I’m not sure if all can listen to them, but I thought they … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthony Watts, Climate change, ClimateBall, Global warming, Steven McIntyre | Tagged , , , , | 121 Comments

How to Reason by Analogy

Posted on June 16, 2021 by Willard

Issues echo one another. Unimaginativeness alone prevents us from connecting any two of them. It shouldn’t surprise anyone if the usual Climateball ™ suspects voice Covidball (tm pending) concerns that sound familiar. While similarities may be infinite, tropes converge. Take … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, Philosophy for Bloggers | 25 Comments

The Bingo Core

Posted on May 23, 2021 by Willard

A few months ago I posted a Bingo Card. Thanks to feedback, more Climateball exchanges, with contrarians, and some vacation days, a clearer image has emerged. Here is the current version (1.1): The up-to-date version will be found on the … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, ClimateBall Bingo | 37 Comments

Mind Your Units

Posted on April 25, 2021 by Willard

With both sadness and joy I must report that the Sky Dragons {1} invaded Roy’s. Joy, because I’m having fun. As an editor friend observed (pers. corr.): this place looks like the perfect Thunderdome for you. She’s not wrong. To … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, Pseudoscience, Roy Spencer, SpeedoScience | Tagged , | 551 Comments

Plausible emission scenarios

Posted on April 12, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

A paper by Roger Pielke Jr, Matthew Burgess and Justin Ritchie has been submitted that suggests that the most plausible 2005-2040 emission scenarios project less than 2.5oC of warming by 2100. It’s generated a bit of debate on social media, … Continue reading →

Posted in Global warming, ClimateBall, Roger Pielke Jr, Policy | Tagged , , , , , | 67 Comments

‘Net zero’

Posted on March 3, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

There’s been some recent debate about the term ‘net-zero’. Just to give some basic background, given that the zero emission commitment is close to zero (i.e., when we get anthropogenic emissions to zero, global surface temperatures should soon stabilise) means … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, Environmental change, Policy | Tagged , , , , | 23 Comments

Anti-Virus

Posted on January 30, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

There’s a new site called Anti-Virus: The Covid-19 FAQ. It’s a little like Skeptical Science, with articles that respond to common arguments made by Covid Sceptics (what Skeptical Science would call Climate Myths). On a related note, I have been … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, Pseudoscience, Science | Tagged , , , , | 536 Comments

2020: A year in review

Posted on December 31, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

It’s been quite a year. The blog certainly hasn’t been as active as it has been in previous years. This is partly because it is simply getting more and more difficult to motivate myself to write posts, but is also … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, ClimateBall Bingo, Philosophy for Bloggers | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments