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Just to provide some context, Roy Spencer (one of the experts quoted in the WashPo article) doesn't 'believe' in Anthropogenic climate change, and is in fact an

by Sebguer 10y ago

Just to provide some context, Roy Spencer (one of the experts quoted in the WashPo article) doesn't 'believe' in Anthropogenic climate change, and is in fact an ardent denier who compared those who do believe that climate change is a serious threat 'nazis'. He also favors intelligent design to evolution. I hope all of the author's other sources were equally distinguished.

mcguire 10y ago
He's also been heard (by myself) describing other climate scientists as "politicians and scientists who want to be politicians." He gave a talk to the Huntsville L5 Society (http://chapters.nss.org/al/HAL5/ http://chapters.nss.org/al/HAL5/), started out with that, and managed to set off my kook-detector hard. I haven't been back to any of the HAL5 events since.
greenyoda 10y ago
The article cites the opinion of several other scientists. For example: "To be clear, the hypothesis that global warming is destabilizing the polar jet stream is a legitimate idea that has been published in peer-reviewed journals, though it remains controversial. But even the scientist who developed the hypothesis, Jennifer Francis, a professor of meteorology at Rutgers University, suggested it had been misapplied by Scribbler and Beckwith. “I’d say cross-equator flow cannot be unprecedented, maybe not even all that unusual,” she said." Francis hardly sounds like someone who doesn't believe in climate change (since her research is about how global warming destabilizes the jet stream). Also, neither of the two people who made the claims are established climate scientists - they're a writer and a PhD student: "The two bloggers who have perpetuated this misinformation are Robert Scribbler, who describes himself as ” a progressive novelist, non-fiction writer and emerging threats expert,” and Paul Beckwith, who is working on a PhD with “a focus on abrupt climate system change” at the University of Ottawa." If this was really an unprecedented event that signified a threat, why didn't any of the thousands of climate scientists notice it? If it was really a significant result, wouldn't the PhD student (and his advisor) have tried to get it published in the peer reviewed literature before going public with it on a blog (a publication medium which has no value to an academic researcher's career)?
powertower 10y ago
> ...and is in fact an ardent denier who compared those who do believe that climate change is a serious threat 'nazis'. http://www.drroyspencer.com/2014/02/time-to-push-back-against-the-global-warming-nazis/ http://www.drroyspencer.com/2014/02/time-to-push-back-agains... You're putting a spin on what he believes, and how the nazis thing got started.
vixen99 10y ago
Further context: Spencer partly runs the satellite-based temperature monitoring system at Huntsville. Given his stance favoring intelligent design to evolution, would you therefore have some doubt about the values reported for the troposphere or might that perhaps be using totally fallacious logic? Newton believed in alchemy and according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton's_occult_studies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton's_occult_studies "Newton considered himself to be one of a select group of individuals who were specially chosen by God for the task of understanding Biblical scripture". What does this mean for calculus and the Newtonian laws? Precisely nothing.
- CamperBob2 10y ago
  Newton didn't know any better. Spencer doesn't have that excuse.
  - baddox 10y ago
    How is that true?
dbingham 10y ago
Spencer, it appears, has also received payments of some kind from at least one coal company, in direct contradiction to claims he's made. > One such creditor is Roy Spencer, who teaches at the University of Alabama, Huntsville. Spencer, a vocal denier of climate change science who writes a popular blog, has a Ph.D. in meteorology from University of Wisconsin-Madison and was once employed by NASA, according to his website. The Senate often asks him to testify about climate science. > Spencer’s website claims he “has never been asked by any oil company to perform any kind of service. Not even Exxon-Mobil.” > Yet, Peabody Energy’s bankruptcy documents show that Spencer is a creditor. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/roy-spencer-peabody-energy_us_57601e12e4b053d43306535e http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/roy-spencer-peabody-ener...

by Sebguer 10y ago

mcguire 10y ago

He's also been heard (by myself) describing other climate scientists as "politicians and scientists who want to be politicians." He gave a talk to the Huntsville L5 Society (http://chapters.nss.org/al/HAL5/ http://chapters.nss.org/al/HAL5/), started out with that, and managed to set off my kook-detector hard. I haven't been back to any of the HAL5 events since.

greenyoda 10y ago

The article cites the opinion of several other scientists. For example: "To be clear, the hypothesis that global warming is destabilizing the polar jet stream is a legitimate idea that has been published in peer-reviewed journals, though it remains controversial. But even the scientist who developed the hypothesis, Jennifer Francis, a professor of meteorology at Rutgers University, suggested it had been misapplied by Scribbler and Beckwith. “I’d say cross-equator flow cannot be unprecedented, maybe not even all that unusual,” she said." Francis hardly sounds like someone who doesn't believe in climate change (since her research is about how global warming destabilizes the jet stream). Also, neither of the two people who made the claims are established climate scientists - they're a writer and a PhD student: "The two bloggers who have perpetuated this misinformation are Robert Scribbler, who describes himself as ” a progressive novelist, non-fiction writer and emerging threats expert,” and Paul Beckwith, who is working on a PhD with “a focus on abrupt climate system change” at the University of Ottawa." If this was really an unprecedented event that signified a threat, why didn't any of the thousands of climate scientists notice it? If it was really a significant result, wouldn't the PhD student (and his advisor) have tried to get it published in the peer reviewed literature before going public with it on a blog (a publication medium which has no value to an academic researcher's career)?

powertower 10y ago

> ...and is in fact an ardent denier who compared those who do believe that climate change is a serious threat 'nazis'. http://www.drroyspencer.com/2014/02/time-to-push-back-against-the-global-warming-nazis/ http://www.drroyspencer.com/2014/02/time-to-push-back-agains... You're putting a spin on what he believes, and how the nazis thing got started.

vixen99 10y ago

Further context: Spencer partly runs the satellite-based temperature monitoring system at Huntsville. Given his stance favoring intelligent design to evolution, would you therefore have some doubt about the values reported for the troposphere or might that perhaps be using totally fallacious logic? Newton believed in alchemy and according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton's_occult_studies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton's_occult_studies "Newton considered himself to be one of a select group of individuals who were specially chosen by God for the task of understanding Biblical scripture". What does this mean for calculus and the Newtonian laws? Precisely nothing.

CamperBob2 10y ago
Newton didn't know any better. Spencer doesn't have that excuse.
- baddox 10y ago
  How is that true?

dbingham 10y ago

Spencer, it appears, has also received payments of some kind from at least one coal company, in direct contradiction to claims he's made. > One such creditor is Roy Spencer, who teaches at the University of Alabama, Huntsville. Spencer, a vocal denier of climate change science who writes a popular blog, has a Ph.D. in meteorology from University of Wisconsin-Madison and was once employed by NASA, according to his website. The Senate often asks him to testify about climate science. > Spencer’s website claims he “has never been asked by any oil company to perform any kind of service. Not even Exxon-Mobil.” > Yet, Peabody Energy’s bankruptcy documents show that Spencer is a creditor. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/roy-spencer-peabody-energy_us_57601e12e4b053d43306535e http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/roy-spencer-peabody-ener...