But we should also accept that current policies are costly and have little upside. We should accept that there is global warming. Maybe we should try to alter this scenario. Indeed, though the IPCC, according to its own principles, is a policy-neutral organization, its head, Rajendra Pachauri, will explicitly feed the frenzy by insisting that “humanity has pushed the world’s climate system to the brink,” and that we need to complete a “transition away from fossil fuels,” maybe with some kind of “price of carbon.”Īs a result, the likely outcome of the report’s release will be more of the same: a welter of scary scenarios, followed by politicians promising huge carbon cuts and expensive policies that have virtually no impact on climate change. As the IPCC emphasizes, climate change is a problem but the report contains none of the media’s typical apocalyptic scenarios, no alarmism, and no demands from natural scientists to cut emissions by X% or to lavish subsidies on solar panels.Īll of this is almost certain to be lost in the hullabaloo from lobbyists clamoring for action and media organizations hungry for bad news. To be clear, this slowdown does not mean that there is no global warming – there is but it does call into question how much….the IPCC has always claimed only that more than half of the temperature rise is due to humans, although in public discussion it has usually been interpreted as all. “The bigger problem for the IPCC is that global temperature has risen little or not at all in the last 10-20 years. I think Mike Hosking has just disqualified himself as a credible journalist.Įxpanding on my earlier comment, Lomborg says: However much slack you want to cut Seven Sharp (and in particular, that closing segment of the show) for its edginess and provocativeness, I think this crosses the line into something that no longer even resembles journalism. TVNZ is presenting Hosking as a journalist and a credible commentator. ![]() ![]() What I can’t get past is that he and TVNZ would think it appropriate to broadcast a comment so inane on a matter of such importance on a prime-time show that TVNZ touts, however euphemistically, as current events. He’s allowed to have moronic and galactically egotistical views. Let’s even put aside that it’s staggeringly arrogant. Let’s put aside the fact that Hosking’s view is deeply anti-scientific. He accuses the scientists of trying to “freak people out” in order to “get buy-in”.ĭon’t let it ruin your night? This is the overwhelming majority of the world’s climate scientists warning us about what is probably the biggest issue facing the planet. He proffers the failure of Kyoto as evidence that climate change isn’t happening. The IPCC presents overwhelming evidence that climate change is happening right now. There comes a point during a scientific debate when things aren’t a matter of belief any more. ![]() It’s as if he just pooh-poohed the theory of evolution. It’s as if he said: Almost all the world’s scientists say smoking causes lung disease. Does he disagree with their evidence or their analysis? He doesn’t challenge any of it. Has he even read their report? It doesn’t look like it. What expertise does he have to make that call? None, as far as I can tell. If you believe them? Is he really suggesting that hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists have conspired to make this up? Let’s be charitable to Hosking then: he’s merely suggesting that the overwhelming majority of the world’s climate scientists are incompetent. So my advice: don’t let it ruin your night. I mean if the met service struggles with the accuracy of a five-day forecast, I’m thinking the accuracy of a long-range prediction that takes in 86 years might be a bit dodgy. The lesson they have not learned is that freaking people out doesn’t get buy-in. The Kyoto Protocol was a last-ditch attempt to save us all. Twenty years ago they said we had 20 years to turn things around. The seas are rising, the storms are coming, the locusts are close, we are going to climatic hell in a handcart. ![]() It’s 2,600 pages long and spans 32 volumes. I’m afraid the IPCC – the International Panel on Climate Change – has issued its latest report. I was watching Seven Sharp on Tuesday, and caught Mike Hosking’s closing monologue:īad news. Budget leak: Nats’ behaviour “entirely appropriate”?.When free speech creates disorder or hate.NZME admits it misled listeners by buying into Trump’s ridiculous election fraud claims – but BSA somehow finds broadcasting standards not breached.
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