Bishop Hill Diary dates, look back in anger edition
Mar 2, 2015 BBC Diary dates Readers are no doubt looking forward to tonight's Climate Change by Numbers on BBC4, which promises to be the talking point on the climate blogs for a couple of days at least. It turns out, however, that there is another BBC show on climate this week:
Today, the topic of climate change is a major part of daily life, yet 40 years ago it was virtually unheard of. Since then, Horizon and the BBC have followed scientists as they have tried to unpick how the climate works and whether it is changing. Dr Helen Czerski delves into this unique archive to chart the transformation of a little-known theory into one of the greatest scientific undertakings in history. It has been a constantly surprising journey of discovery that has revolutionised our understanding of climate, and seen scientists face unprecedented controversy and criticism.
Czerski, you may recall, won plaudits for her intelligent coverage of the Antarctic sea ice issue a few weeks ago.
There is a trailer for the show here.
Reader Comments (23)
If it clashes with 10000BC, I'm watching channel 5 - the new documentary on "Britain after the BBC/Green party take power". No power, no food, no consumer goods. Everyone starving.
More blurb here. It looks like it will acknowledge the 1970s ice age scare ["These have covered things such as an imminent ice age (all the rage around 1970) " ].
But Renouf is involved again, so the formula will be his usual one - a caricature of a sceptical argument will be presented and then knocked down. As the blurb says, "although the sceptics get their moment in the spotlight, there’s no doubt about the conclusion."
The same tactic he employed in "climate wars" and in this climategate email.
Typical BBC hype.
Its not who is in that makes the difference , but who is producing it. Czerski may be the face , but they are not the brains .
Once again its worth remembering that the infamous meeting of the '28' did not set the BBC policy in favour alarmist it merely reinforced it .
Its not who is in that makes the difference , but who is producing it. Czerski may be the face , but they are not the brains .
Once again its worth remembering that the infamous meeting of the '28' did not set the BBC policy in favour alarmist it merely reinforced it .
Getting two falsehoods into the first sentence is quite an achievement, even by the standards of the BBC.
"Today, the topic of climate change is a major part of daily life"
What? A major part of everyday life? Surveys repeatedly show that despite the efforts of the climate activists in the BBC and elsewhere, most people rank climate change near the bottom of priorities.
"40 years ago it was virtually unheard of" is equally untrue. There was a lot of hype about the ice age scare, as anyone who was around at the time and interested in science knows (this does not include Ms Czerski who apparently is 36).
"one of the greatest scientific undertakings in history."
Ha ha.
This is a full-blown, psychotic detachment from contingent reality:
Nothing even slightly surprising, interesting or worthy of the noun "discovery" has come out of climate so-called science in years.Even its paid practitioners can't complete my dead-trivial sentence: thanks to the work of climate scientists, we now know (about the climate) that ___________________, which we didn't know 5 years ago.
Climate Science! The Really Expensive Science That Never Adds To Human Knowledge.
Interesting to note that the programme preceding it is about 'the annual melting of Arctic sea ice', so the Beeb will have set the mood music that it's getting warmer up there.
Perhaps worth pointing out that the show is also from the Jonathan Renouf stable.
Fell asleep watching a movie. Had the loveliest of evenings after a roast dinner with my son!
Daily Mail this am: (EU ban on Halogen bulbs)
Other advocates of the 2016 deadline argue that the energy savings for Britain as a whole could be so large that it would eliminate the risk of black-outs caused by the closure of old and run-down power stations.
Rid us of halogen bulbs and bingo...no power blackouts even with shut down fossil friers. Amazing stuff?
Get to Screwfix PDQ
"one of the greatest scientific take overs in history."
Today, the topic of latte cake is a major part of daily life, yet 40 years ago it was virtually unheard of. Since then, bake-off at the BBC has followed celebrities as they have tried to unpick how an oven works and whether it is changing. Dr Helen Czerski delves into this unique archive to chart the transformation of a little-known recipe into one of the greatest culinary revolutions in history. It has been a constantly surprising journey of discovery that has revolutionised our understanding of baking, and seen celebrities face unprecedented controversy and criticism.
I went to set my TV recorder for this 'Climate Change by Numbers' and accidentally set it to record a programme immediately after called: "1.7 Billion Dollar Fraud".
Coincidence?
The timing of the fraud programme was probably a freudian slip by the programme controller at the BBC.
one of the greatest scientific undertakers in history?
Martyn, IDAU - my hollow laugh is at the use of the adjective "scientific". Replace it with "propaganda" and at least they'd have a proposition that could be in the running for consideration.
As Bradley points out above, test the claim that this branch of science has "revolutionised our understanding of climate" by asking "How?" and the silence is deafening.
I would say that we understand the climate less than we did forty years ago, because most of what we knew forty years ago has been consigned to the memory hole.
Mar 2, 2015 at 11:03 AM | Bradley Keyes
+100
... one of the greatest scientific
undertakingsfailures in history ...- akin to transmutation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy
Been watching and any hopes for a balanced prog were of course misplaced.
The BBC 4 programme was much as expected, ie., it towed the party line with no critical analysis. Very disappointing.
Did anyone notice that at 9:48pmm, the BBC were pushing the troposphere hotspot suggesting that this hotspot had been measured and it was the fingerprint of CO2 warming and not consistent with natural warminfg causedd by solar forcing.
No eveidence was produced showing that the troposphere hotspot had indeed been measured.
I noticed it Richard. The hotspot was presented, with nothing to describe it as a modelled prediction or observation. The presenter just described this as a distinctive "fingerprint" response to CO2, and I assume most viewers would have taken this to be an observation.
You could fill your boots with poor arguments on this show. It was claimed that statistics had supported a Grand Prix winning decision. On further explanation, the pit stop became congested (the decisions of competitor teams). This sounded like a simple case of damned good luck to me There was no suggestion the statistical model was seeking to predict competitor behaviour (decisions to send their drivers to the pits), or that the statistical model estimated the likelihood of congestion in the pit lane.