"Lindzen in Newsweek"

Mirza · Apr 19, 2007

A fascinating read...

As part of a much larger discussion on Learning to live with Global Warming in Newsweek recently, the editors gave some space for Richard Lindzen to give his standard 'it's no big deal' opinion. While we disagree, we have no beef with serious discussions of the costs and benefits of various courses of action and on the need for adaption to the climate change that is already locked in.[/b]
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However, Lindzen's piece is not a serious discussion.

Instead, it is a series of strawman arguments, red-herrings and out and out errors.[/b]
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Lindzen claims that the known amount of 'forcing' on the system proves that CO2 will only have a small effect, yet makes plain in the subsequent paragraph that the total forcing (and hence what the planet should be reacting to) is quite uncertain (particularly before the satellite era). If the total forcing is uncertain, how can he say that he knows that the sensitivity is small? This issue has been dealt with much more seriously than Lindzen alludes to (as he well knows) and it's clear that this calculation is simply too uncertain to constrain sensitivity on it's own.

Among the more egregious of Lindzen's assertions is this one:

Ten years ago climate modelers also couldn't account for the warming that occurred from about 1050 to 1300. They tried to expunge the medieval warm period from the observational recordâ€”an effort that is now generally discredited.[/b]
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etc:

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archi...sweek/#more-435

For a time, Lindzen set himself apart from this latter sort of contrarian; his scientific challenges were often thoughtful and his hypotheses interesting, if one-sided - he never met a negative feedback he didn't like. Sadly, it has become clear that those days are gone.[/b]
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MegansPrius · Apr 19, 2007

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mirza @ Apr 19 2007, 07:25 AM) [snapback]425930[/snapback]</div>

A fascinating read...
etc:

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archi...sweek/#more-435
[/b]
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Thanks for posting. A very interesting read.

"Lindzen in Newsweek"

Mirza New Member

MegansPrius GoogleMeister, AKA bongokitty

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"Lindzen in Newsweek"

Mirza New Member

MegansPrius GoogleMeister, AKA bongokitty