Obama undersecretary for science: climate ‘crisis’ is based on fallacy

Humans have had no detectable impact on hurricanes over the past century. Greenland’s ice sheet isn’t shrinking any more rapidly today than it was 80 years ago. The global area burned by wildfires has declined more than 25 percent since 2003…

~ Dr. Steven E. Koonin, he undersecretary for science at the U.S. Department of Energy in the Obama administration.

“Humans have broken the earth’s climate. Temperatures are rising, sea level is surging, ice is disappearing, and heatwaves, storms, droughts, floods, and wildfires are an ever-worsening scourge on the world. Greenhouse gas emissions are causing all of this. And unless they’re eliminated promptly by radical changes to society and its energy systems, “The Science” says Earth is doomed.

“Yes, it’s true that the globe is warming, and that humans are exerting a warming influence upon it.

Beyond that, Dr. Koonin says, he doesn’t think the science says what you think it says.

“For example, both research literature and government report state clearly that heatwaves in the US are now no more common than they were in 1900, and that the warmest temperatures in the US have not risen in the past fifty years. When I tell people this, most are incredulous. Some gasp. And some get downright hostile. ”

Three other facts you haven’t heard drawn from recently published research or assessments of climate science published by the US government and the UN:

•  Humans have had no detectable impact on hurricanes over the past century.
• Greenland’s ice sheet isn’t shrinking any more rapidly today than it was 80 years ago.
• The global area burned by wildfires has declined more than 25 percent since 2003 and 2020 was one of the lowest years on record.

He explains that the reason you haven’t heard this is that the science is put through many filters by people with various narratives and agendas. Media is one filter and it’s not surprising they would get it wrong. The facts are nearly impenetrable to the non-scientists.

Under Obama, he worked with the administration to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the agreed-upon imperative that would “save the planet.”

At a 2013 workshop at the American Physical Society, he discovered how undeveloped the science is. His findings:

Humans exert a growing, but physically small, warming influence on the climate. The results from many different climate models disagree with, or even contradict, each other and many kinds of observations. In short, the science is insufficient to make useful predictions about how the climate will change over the coming decades, much less what effect our actions will have on it. 

In the past seven years, he watched the climate discussions become increasingly distant from science. Phrases like “climate emergency,” “climate crisis,” “existential threat,” and “climate disaster” are now routinely bandied about to support sweeping policy proposals to “fight climate change” with government interventions and subsidies.

Biden is infusing it throughout the government with John Kerry as climate csar and trillions in spending.

“…the constant repetition of these and many other climate fallacies are turned into accepted truths known as “The Science.”

At the 1974 Caltech commencement, he gave a now-famous address titled “Cargo Cult Science” about the rigor scientists must adopt to avoid fooling not only themselves. “Give all of the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgment in one particular direction or another,” he implored.

~ Richard Feynman, Nobel-Prize winner, one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century.

This article is an adapted excerpt from Dr. Koonin’s book, “Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters” (BenBella Books), out May 4, as reported by the NY Post.

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