clair031

Summary .   Richard A. Muller, professor of physics at the University of California , Berkeley , has long been a skeptic concerning the validity of the temperature trends that characterize recent global warming.   His doubts related to the accuracy and statistical significance of the temperature records used, and to the methods of statistical analysis employed, in support of global warming.   Now, he and a team of researchers have reanalyzed the data, extended the size of the database of temperature records, and developed improved statistical methods to analyze the data.   Their results confirm that   global warming is real, having warmed by just under 1.0 ºC (1.8ºF) since the mid 1950’s. Introduction .   Richard A. Muller, a respected professor of physics, but not a climate scientist, at the University of California , Berkeley has been a long-standing skeptic concerning the reality of global warming.   Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times ...

Summary .     Elisabeth Rosenthal in the New York Times on Oct. 15, 2011 has documented the decreased attention that the issue of global warming is receiving in the U. S. , in contrast to the rest of the world.   The portion of Americans who believe the earth is warming fell from 79% in 2006 to 59% in 2010.   This issue breaks out along lines that follow differences between the Democratic (liberal) and Republican (conservative) parties.   This reduction in importance is so even though the U. S. is a major world emitter of greenhouse gases.   According to the article, many aspects of individual and corporate attitudes reinforce America ’s reluctance to embrace global warming as an important issue.   In contrast, nations of the remainder of the world, including Europe , China , and other developing countries, accept that global warming is an important issue facing the world, and are implementing policies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Climate...

Summary .   The scientific method dictates that research be carried out in an open, unbiased way.   Desired results may not be determined ahead of time.   Peer review by anonymous reviewers ensures that published reports are objectively presented and that their conclusions are supported by the data.   This post presents six examples of important scientific and technological advances that have improved human life over the past 150 years, and two examples in which useful technologies carried with them unintended, harmful side effects.   Scientific research helped identify the causes of the harms, and provided ways to overcome them. Recognition of global warming did not occur by predetermining this result and seeking data to support the concept.   Rather it was characterized by open scientific inquiry conducted by myriad scientists around the globe for the last several decades.   Global warming and its harms to human life and to the ecology of the earth a...

Summary .   The U. S. Energy Information Agency issued its International Energy Outlook 2011 on Sept. 19, 2011 .   The report forecasts worldwide energy usage from 2008 through 2035 assuming no regulatory limits on burning of fossil fuels.   The report envisions an increase in overall energy usage that grows year by year, and is 53% higher in 2035 than in 2008.   Much of that increase arises in China , India and other developing countries.   In 2035 80% of energy needs are furnished by burning fossil fuels.   The development of renewable energy grows to about 14% of the total in 2035.   Because of the pronounced increase in use of fossil fuels, the annual rate of emission of carbon dioxide also grows dramatically during this period. This post concludes that the high rate of emissions of carbon dioxide envisioned by the report in the absence of regulations has to be minimized in order to limit the worsening of global warming and its attendant harms to ...