Bishop Hill Hulme slams 97% paper
Jul 25, 2013 Climate: Hulme Climate: Sceptics The prominent climatologist Mike Hulme has slammed the Cook et al 97% "nonsensus" paper in a comment at the Nottingham University Making Science Public blog.
The “97% consensus” article is poorly conceived, poorly designed and poorly executed. It obscures the complexities of the climate issue and it is a sign of the desperately poor level of public and policy debate in this country that the energy minister should cite it. It offers a similar depiction of the world into categories of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ to that adopted in Anderegg et al.’s 2010 equally poor study in PNAS: dividing publishing climate scientists into ‘believers’ and ‘non-believers’. It seems to me that these people are still living (or wishing to live) in the pre-2009 world of climate change discourse. Haven’t they noticed that public understanding of the climate issue has moved on?
This is an interesting development since nobody is going to finger Hulme as any kind of a sceptic.
Reader Comments (102)
The survey is an exercise in propaganda. These things happen. What is really interesting (to me at least) is that people like Ed Davey (or those that advise him) cannot see propaganda for what it is. Davey, a minister of state, is allowed to make a fool of himself on national television by quoting a bogus survey. Now that fact alone demonstrates the paucity of intellectual horse-power within DECC.
If DECC can be taken in by something so obviously meaningless what are the chances that they can actually deal with the complexities of climate and energy policy as required by the citizens of this country?
I have written to my MP, one Nick Clegg, to ask if he thinks it is acceptable for a minister of state to spout activist propaganda on national TV. I do not expect a response. Perhaps others may be inclined to ask their MP's if this is acceptable. The quote from Hulme is very helpful whatever we may think of him, as he is part of the establishment.
Hulme is a fence sitter. He climbed on the fence a few years back. Let the warmist zealots & cannon fodder go down with the sinking ship, like Baghdad's Comical Ali, but Hulme is too smart for thst.