Monday
Dec272010
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill Climate solution? More PR
Dec 27, 2010 Climate: IPCC The IPCC is looking for a new communications bod - a position that Nature describes as "the toughest job in the world". Time for Bob Ward to move on from the Grantham Institute?
Reader Comments (43)
Just found an excellent bit of communication, at Climate Etc..
reference the simple physics argument, that sceptics ' deny'
An excellent response..
"In Reality my feather blew up into a tree"
"Physicists seem to love the basic argument, which is that since CO2 is a GHG it follows that increasing CO2 must increase the temperature (of something). No matter how many times we say that the climate is a system with complex non-linear feedbacks they still love this simple principle of physics. This is because physics works by isolating simple situations from reality. That was the great discovery of physics, that if you simplified reality you could find simple laws. So far so good.
But as every engineer knows, these simple laws often do not work when reality gets messy, as it usually is. Simple physics says that if I drop a ball and a feather they will fall at the same rate.
In reality my feather blew up into a tree.
It is not that the simple law is false, just that there are a number of other simple laws opposing it. In the case of climate we don’t even know what some of these other laws are, so we can’t explain what we see. That is where we should be looking."
http://judithcurry.com/2010/12/20/understanding-conservative-religious-resistance-to-climate-science/#comment-25348
It wouldn't be "the toughtst job in the world" if it wasn't all such a load of b**ll*cks.
There are only 2 letter "o's" in that word Jimmy Haigh. One of them is in the first syllable and one in the 2nd syllable.
Peter Walsh
Well done, Peter, now all the little kiddies will know what word Jimmy was trying to hide >: |
Barry, yes, read that thread too. Falls into the category of disappointing but not very surprising. Judith is still trying to '[understand] conservative religious resistance to climate science'. In short, she has still not grasped that there is a difference between climate science and AGW, and she has not grasped that there is no need to invoke religion or other irrational motivations to understand why people are skeptical about AGW. This is lamentable stuff.
It is a bit like if the New Statesman published an editorial called 'understanding right wing opposition to Parliament', in the run up to an election, which confused Parliament with the political party which is currently holding a majority, and suggested that what we needed to do was understand the deep psycholgical reasons for this supposed opposition to Parliament.
Prof Curry needs to see, but probably never will, that you can be quite well disposed towards climate science, skeptical about the AGW hypothesis, and not in need of having your motives or sanity questioned because you don't think the values of the feedback parameter are what the IPCC asserts them to be.
Bob Ward would be an excellent candidate for the job; knowledgeable, articulate, persuasive and empathetic. It grieves me to see his talents limited to the confines of The Grantham Institute and I sincerely hope he realises that he's outgrown his current role, and puts himself forward as an actor on the global stage.
Peter, you are making the assumption that the word used was obviously the rude one. Without the necessary letters visible, you could just be in error...
...he could have meant "brollacks", or "boolicks", you cannot be certain.
Isn't that situation very similar to the warmists' climate change assumptions we all have in mind? Food for thought.
How much are they paying? If its enough I'll sever my ties with Koch Industries and Big Oil.
The subject of the basic physics regarding the warming effect of co2 having been proven in the laboratory lead me to seek out this.
http://dcdc.asu.edu/K-12Education/greenhouselab.pdf
It is a guide for science educators on the design of an experiment to demonstrate the effect. I find it regrettable that the description of how to do the experiment comes with a large side order of AGW propaganda. My thoughts when reading about the experiment were similar to those expressed in the post by Barry Woods. Presumably if research scientists were carrying out the experiment they would use rather more sophisticated methods than those but the basic principle would be the same. To then extrapolate these findings onto the complex biosphere of an entire planet and to expect to be able to make meaningful predictions is absurdly simplistic surely. I think that this is demonstrated by the, now famous, 2000 article from the Independant quoting Dr. Davin Viner as he predicted progressively milder winters in the UK.
Just sent an email to Joe Isuzu and Baghdad Bob that the IPCC is looking for them. Hope to get a 5% rebate off my carbon tax as a finders fee.
I prefer RP doing the PR; wysiwyg is more informative than prspin.
What a job. Sugar coating a succession of turds and attempting to pass them off as attractive desserts.
Pleas please please let it be Bob !!!!!!!
Amabo and Natsman.
Desired result obtained. A little humour after the Christmas break.
Peter
You do it, Bish.
Is Josh busy right now? Surely a shoo-in!
Isn't it strange how experiments to demonstrate the greenhouse effect only take measurements during heating? Of course the results will have nothing to do with CO2 having lower thermal conductivity and lower specific heat capacity than air.
"the toughest job in the world" ... on a rolling weekly contact maybe? Will pay be on a results only basis?
The authority of the IPCC comes from its scientists. The skeptics run the blogosphere and the internet cares for no authority. The IPCC plans to challenge the skeptics by diluting its own authority by substituting PR in the place of science?
The IPCC lost control over its message, when Pachauri started shooting his mouth off. With the media and PR now - the IPCC will now be another blinkering dishonest organization that interacts with the world through sanitized press releases and approved messages.
Maibach, Leiserowitz, Mooney and Bowman have carried the day. They will bore into your skulls and plant the climate message seed. You will not resist. :)
Is there anything quite as disgusting as what we see in climate science? Here in front of us, is a discipline, that wont listen listen to the climate sceptics, people who have been giving it free advice for years now, but will turn to Communicator professionals, because they will tell them what they want to hear. Heh.
Stonyground Dec 27, 2010 at 10:57 AM
The BBC two bottles job eh? There's plenty of material on the WWW examining it. WUWT went over it a time back.
What would be interesting is if one of the bottles contained water vapour and CO2 at 290ppm and the other water vapour and CO2 at 400ppm, which is actually what we are talking about.
It reminds me of one of those vacuum cleaner demonstrations comparing the new Super Suktion 5000 with your old brand X machine. The demonstrator sprinkles salt on your carpet and your old machine struggles. The Super Suktion 5000 has no problems.
Is the Super Suktion 5000 a better vacuum cleaner? Maybe. However your old machine will almost certainly have a partly full bag and the demonstrator will put a new bag in the Super Suktion 5000 for each demonstration. The demonstration doesn't show what most people assume it does.
b**ll*cks is obviously beelocks. Secure your bees now!
As for climate PR and school science, I don't find this statement very inspiring from the experimental pdf
Partially because of the early frustration and partially because of our own uncertainly about the mechanisms at work, we have used open tanks ever since.
Better than the usual closed bottle though I guess. My parents bought me a radiative heater recently which uses halogen tubes and mostly IR heating. It's nice if it's heating me, but less effective as a room heater, which given the higher than background amount of CO2 in a room is surely wrong. Which lead me to wondering how I could experiment with this, either by starting a microbrewery to elevate CO2 levels, or use it in an experiment.
So had been thinking of a variation on the pdf experiment but with a more representative environment. So steep sided tank with overhead heat source and half grass, half water at the bottom. Start with CO2 at 270ppm, slowly increase to 350, then 400ppm and observe the results. But suspect the results would be difficult to detect with cheap sensors, hence why these experiments cheat and use unrealistic CO2 levels. This time of year, could even freeze the water and add snow to simulate albedo changes. More realistic, but doesn't help exagerate the cause/effect feedbacks that generate research funding and profits.
But as for the PR job, it's a job for Bob as cosmic points out. Few people are as qualified to present a balanced and impartial view as the Bob. Failing that, we should apply as a collective.
cosmic/Atomic Hairdryer
Are you sure Bob is qualified?
http://www.freeindex.co.uk/profile%28bob-ward-window-cleaning%29_69119.htm
Atomic Hairdryer
Beelocks very good.
Game set and match.
Peter
I have a lad with ALL of the Qualifications: He is Professor Sweeney of the awesome Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units at NUI Maynooth.
In case you never heard of it, Maynooth is really a repurposed seminary (several of my relatives went there), St Patrick's College, Maynooth, itself founded in 1795, that was created by the Celtic Tiger in 1997. So it is green in that regard, and it is right up there with UEA with regard to academic excellence.
And as an eternal optimist (or alarmist) Sweeney refuses to flinch even when faced with:
Why he didn't flinch:
Yes, this man is a realist!, already preparing for next winter's snow storms.
read about him here.
However, for meself, I think I will go down to Donegal and have a pint with Michael Gallagher. At least he has an honest day job delivering the mail.
Michel,
I like your remarks re: Judith. She seems frustrated that her "message" is not getting out and is now assuming it is being occluded by the messages the acolytes of other faiths are munching on.
Eventually, she may realize that the problem is that she thinks she has a message. If she would get over that and confine herself to sharing "where we are with this stuff" she might be less frustrated.
And she does seem to be doing that (the sharing) on her very informative blog.
Better PR is never a substitute for having a plausible message.
Don Pablo;
Prof. Sweeney was on a morning TV programme a week or so ago and was touting Mike Lockwood's solar forced changes in the jetstream. Since then he's retreated to the usual claptrap.
Sorry, even further off-topic, while I'm reminded,
In the comments of the New Statesman 50 most influential piece on Steve McIntyre, their journalist Patrick Osgood said:
" News for all you commenters here (and I am glad to see there have been so many of you).
Stephen McIntyre graciously gave me a telephone interview this afternoon for a follow up piece to be posted soon: Watch this space!"
That's about the last thing he wrote for New Statesman :-{
Nature seems to be continuing in its new found comic vein. e.g.:
"In a world of rapid communication you cannot move at the speed of the slowest," says Nick Nuttall, Spokesperson and Head of Media with the United Nations Environment Programme...
As to the IPCC communications supremo, reporting to Nick Nuttall, its hard to pick between: Vivienne Westwood, Franny Armstrong, and Bob Ward? I guess you pays your (tax payer) money and takes your choice.
FergalR
I did notice the ambiguity in Professor Sweeney's statements, so I am not surprised.
It is getting to the point that people are wondering. No wonder now that they have to shovel out a half meter of snow just to get down to the pub for a pint, and this after being promised never having to deal with the stuff again thanks to the wonders of Global Warming.
I really, really love his "What's happening in Europe is a very small proportion of the globe". Perhaps he should ring up his relatives in New York, Boston, Minneapolis, and tomorrow, the California Sierra Mountains.
Makes you wonder whom you trust the most: 1) An Irish politician, 2) an Irish banker, 3) an Irish used car sales man, 4) an Irish big time real estate developer, 5) an Irish solicitor dealing in real estate conveyance, 6) an Irish climate scientist.
I think given his impeccable credentials, Professor Sweeney is the ideal candidate.
I would love to get back to the old sod for a pint or two, but global warming is preventing it. Have a pint for me, would you?
Don,
Interesting comment about John Sweeney from Maynooth College. I have never met the man, hope never to meet him either, but he did insult me once about 9/12 months ago.
Here is how it happened.
A Green party member and our local TD (member of Parliament) were canvassing this area of Nth County Dublin. The TD was up the other end of the street, so I got the "foot soldier" knocking on my door. I asked him what he knew about Anthropogenic Global Warming (these guys might know what GW is but they don't understand the long words) and it was obvious from his answer that all he knew was what he was told, possibly what he was told to say. I picked on some of the points with information I had obtained from this blog, WUWT, GWPF, Jo Nova and other sources and basically he had no answers. But he wrote down some of my points and said he would get back to me. I asked him, politely, to make sure that the answers were from him, at our level of understanding AGW. He agreed to this request.
We exchanged email addresses so he could email me his response.
Heard nothing for a few weeks and then an email came through.
Because he wasn't able to answer me, he had asked someone else further up the green food chain for asistance. (at this point could I say that while tidying out my inbox some months ago, I got rid of all emails from this time unfortunately).
This guy in turn had sent on the info to...yep the same Prof John Sweeney and Sweeney replied to the intermediary who then replied to my little greenie who then forwarded the reply to me.
What John Sweeney said, basically (remember, I don't have the email so this is from memory) is that..you can't expect the man in the street to understand the issues around Global Warming.
That was that then.
Last point on this. I was a "little" annoyed at my little greenie so for the next several months, until he asked me to stop as he was very busy doing green things to help the world (I added the last few words in) I emailed him as many items as I could find from the blogs mentioned above and others that I could find. All of these articles were of the simpler and easy to understand articles. He never really commented on these. Dozy sod probably didn't understand the truth as he lives surrounded by propaganda.
So Don, that was my encounter with a guy who shares a small bit of a Nobel Prize. I still think he is a Dork and an upper class, pseudo intellectual.
Peter
Well if we can't understand them, why would we expect you lesser lights?
Tyndall Working Paper 58 in 2004 said:
“To endorse policy change people must ‘believe’ that global warming will become a reality some time in the future.
Only the experience of positive temperature anomalies will be registered as indication of change if the issue is framed as global warming.
Both positive and negative temperature anomalies will be registered in experience as indication of change if the issue is framed as climate change. (Hence cold weather can be blamed on CO2).
We propose that in those countries where climate change has become the predominant popular term for the phenomenon, unseasonably cold temperatures, for example, are also interpreted to reflect climate change/global warming.”
.
Like other commenters I thing that Bob "attack chihuahua" Ward would be a natural for this. Only Joe Romm could give him a run for his money. But our Bob is the only known expert in Paleophrenology! (How's the PhD coming on Bob? Must be finished soon..........?)
RETEPHSLAW
Why am I not surprised about the good professor?
Still, given your glowing report of the man's ability, knowledge, intellectual honesty and humility, do you not agree that he would make the perfect candidate for IPCC? Of course, we could run Cowen as well, given that he is through saving the Irish economy from utter disaster with the help of the Green Party. But then you would have to get him out of the pub.
Everything wrong with climate science is examplified by the decision to use marketing efforts to 'sell' their work.
As a wise man in a robe once said, there is another.. Step forward, John Prescott, honorary professor of climate change from Xiamen University, Lord, EU rapporteur and currently doing stand-up on cruise ships. Might be better than the Bob?
Not a lot of people know that there is a company, established 2001, in Grantham called "Bob Ward Window Cleaning"
From what little I could find out about this company, they seem to have an excellent reputation in their locality.
On the other hand we have a Bob Ward from the Grantham Institute who would be well advised to drop the sham and take up the chamois.
Here are the very words I have just used to my slightly weepy ten-year-old, while giving him a good beelocking for fibbing to me:
"The easiest thing in the world is to lie. the hardest is to maintain that lie."
Seems apt on this post.
Don Pablo,
Street sweeping might be above his talents as far as I am concerned.
But that might be offensive to street sweepers.
It is the arrogance, the I'm right, do as I say attitude that gets me.
One day, it will bite him on the bum.
Maybe ......when the peasants are revolting.
I still have that invite to a pint with you in Kerry outstanding.
Peter
hunter: "Everything wrong with climate science is examplified by the decision to use marketing efforts to 'sell' their work."
Spot on.
A good number of contributors to the iac review felt that 'communication' was the problem
Not only is it snowing heavily in Europe and North America but it has been snowing here in Australia - in our summer! Extremely unusual.
Charlie,
I am almost apologetic now for starting the comments on B**ll*cks.
It hasn't quite gone viral. But you never "beelocking" know, do you?
Peter Walsh
Peter
I still have that invite to a pint with you in Kerry outstanding
While I am sure that the professor couldn't clean up after a dog out for walkies, I am sure he will do wonders (for us) as chief lie-teller for IPCC, which I why I suggest him for the post.
Various issues keep me in California, but I hang out in Cahersiveen when in Kerry. It is right on the Ring of Kerry, with several decent pubs, two petrol stations, and two food shops. Nice enough for a pint, however. Or I could wander down to Tralee for a pint, where I go shopping every couple weeks at Aldi, Lidl and Superquinn's. Let you know when I get back to the nice side of the pond. But not until the snow melts, for sure!