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It is a measure of the absurd politicization of climate science that someone as measured and careful as Roger Pielke Jr. is regarded as a dangerous "denier" who should be cancelled and reviled. His major sin is his detailed work on costs due to extreme weather events such as hurricanes. While the dollar value of damage from hurricanes has increased, the average number of major storms has not increased. Whereas developed real estate values and population size of cities affected by such storms continue to grow, accounting for the increased damage cost. Therefore, it is unwarranted to claim that the increased damage cost is proof of climate change. Heresy! Even noticing that the number and intensity of hurricanes have not increased is heretical. (As I recall, when George Bush refused to sign the Kyoto Treaty, it was supposed that we would have storms the size of Hurricane Katrina every other Thursday.)
Climatistas have a kind of Brezhnev Doctrine--once they claim some aspect, region or feature of the planet will soon be adversely affected, they can never go back to the facts. We will always be ten years away from irreversible damage, as we have been for forty years. The Arctic will melt completely in the summertime, even if 20 years late and still showing no signs of accelerating. The seas will rise at a greater rate even if they don't. And there are more hurricanes even if there aren't.
Pielke is a social scientist and number cruncher. He was invited to join Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight group as an analyst but the offer was withdrawn because of the outrage by the climate jihadi.
Pielke's interest in climate is likely due to his father being a climate scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder. I used to read his father's blog, which was particularly focused on land use as a climate change factor. It was also where I first learned that warming did not mean that the daily maximum and daily temperature minimum would be equally affected. Climate change would be more about warmer nights in Siberia than hotter daytimes in Phoenix.
In another sinful context, Pielke was a member of the Hartwell Group. A mix of professionals in different disciplines opposed to "climate porn" and calling for a return to objective science. None of them doubted the influence of human activities on climate but had concerns about predictions and attributions that had nowhere near the level of certainty claimed. They believed that this sort of abuse puts public trust in science at risk.
Die, heretics, die!
An excellent presentation on the topic that is very much in his wheelhouse is available here and worth your time.
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I have wondered since the beginning of climate alarmism, which was, of course, cooling, then warming, then just plain ol' "change", if we wish to alter the temperature of our planet, what temperature is the perfect temperature? And, considering the multitude of climates throughout our planet, how could we ever achieve perfection?
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A partial list, gathered from Watts Up With That back in the day:
It goes on for a while.
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One of the most amusing aspects of Global Warming media coverage over the years has been ...
Link: https://gript.ie/climate-change-everywhere-heating-faster-than-everywhere-else/
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The con requires us to believe that we lived in a climactic Eden before EXXON introduced sin. In fact we are in a less than ideal state. CO2 was clearly too low in the last ice age because grasses would die, the land in the Asia land mass would become dust bowls, the dust blow around onto the ice changing its albedo thus warming the planet then releasing more CO2, then cooling, rinse, repeat. A nice boost of CO2 keeps us out of that cycle.
I was born in Florida and still find winters in mild Maryland annoying decades later. I am pro-warming and pro-CO2.
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It is critical that everyone believe in the truth of Climate Change and act on their belief. It is the only way I will be able to afford oceanfront property.
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