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“The Science is Settled” is an Unscientific Statement

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“The debate is settled,” asserted propagandist in chief Barack Obama in his latest State of the Union address. “Climate change is a fact.” Really? There is nothing more anti-scientific than the very idea that science is settled, static, impervious to challenge. . .

If climate science is settled, why do its predictions keep changing? And how is it that the great physicist Freeman Dyson, who did some climate research in the late 1970s, thinks today’s climate-change Cassandras are hopelessly mistaken?

They deal with the fluid dynamics of the atmosphere and oceans, argues Dyson, ignoring the effect of biology, i.e., vegetation and topsoil. Further, their predictions rest on models they fall in love with: “You sit in front of a computer screen for 10 years and you start to think of your model as being real.” Not surprisingly, these models have been “consistently and spectacularly wrong” in their predictions, write atmospheric scientists Richard McNider and John Christy — and always, amazingly, in the same direction.

Charles Krauthammer expounds on this topic here.

 

Comments
@6 sagebrush gardener Which is why I've taken to using the word conservationist. It implies that some movements should be made to protect environments, yet without the connotation of the far-left ideology.TSErik
February 21, 2014
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Its a settled fact someone saying, running, and being voted for president because of being a african or any identity is morally and maybe legally not got the right to be president anymore then a citizen not born in the country. Americans only can be President and never can be denied because of identity especially for the true americans but all citizens,. Obama being a global wamingolic fits in the equation of error.Robert Byers
February 21, 2014
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sagebrush gardener, I remember those days to! But we are to be 'good stewards' of the earth, not slaves to the atheistic delusion that we are somehow of 'cancers on the earth'. A term I recently heard mentioned by an atheist professor in the new Documentary 'The War On Humans"
The War on Humans http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWcEYYj_-rg
With that in mind, as to how far the atheistic mindset is from the theistic mindset, in that they don't think humans are 'exceptional' at all, much less made in God's image, it is interesting to point out the earth seems to be very welcoming, and forgiving, to our presence. As I already pointed out somewhat with the rapid oil spill recovery in post 1, here are a few more notes along that line:
Unexpected allies help bacteria clean uranium from groundwater - March 8, 2013 Excerpt: Since 2009, SLAC scientist John Bargar has led a team using synchrotron-based X-ray techniques to study bacteria that help clean uranium from groundwater in a process called bioremediation. Their initial goal was to discover how the bacteria do it and determine the best way to help, but during the course of their research the team made an even more important discovery: "Nature" thinks bigger than that. The researchers discovered that bacteria don't necessarily go straight for the uranium, as was often thought to be the case. The bacteria make their own, even tinier allies – nanoparticles of a common mineral called iron sulfide. Then, working together, the bacteria and the iron sulfide grab molecules of a highly soluble form of uranium known as U(VI), or hexavalent uranium, and transform them into U(IV), a less-soluble form that's much less likely to spread through the water table. According to Barger, this newly discovered partnership may be the basis of a global geochemical process that forms deposits of uranium ore.,, Discovering that bacteria work together with minerals to transform uranium was a surprise, said Bargar.,,, But as a scientist, he appreciates the glimpse he's been given into "Nature's" abilities to multitask. "Originally we wanted to see what happened to uranium and how it could help bioremediation technology to be successful," he said. "But scientifically the results are much deeper than that." And since their original hypothesis focused on bacteria alone, it's a little humbling, too. http://phys.org/news/2013-03-unexpected-allies-bacteria-uranium-groundwater.html Metal-mining bacteria are green chemists - Sept. 2010 Excerpt: Microbes could soon be used to convert metallic wastes into high-value catalysts for generating clean energy, say scientists writing in the September issue of Microbiology. http://www.physorg.com/news202618665.html Arsenic removal: research on bioremediation using arsenite-eating bacteria https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/alien-life/#comment-368346 What is Bioremediation? - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSpjRPWYJPg
Besides degrading heavy metals, bacteria are now being harnessed to by man to degrade man-made materials such as styrofoam, plastic, and nylon:
High school girl discovers Styrofoam-eating bacterium - June 2009 Excerpt: Tseng I-Ching swept the world's largest science fair in the Peoples Choice Category at the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF) for her discovery of a polystyrene-decomposing bacterium derived from mealworm beetles. I-Ching vivisected more than 500 mealworm beetles to isolate the single bacterium that allows the mealworm to digest one of the most troublesome forms of waste on the planet — Styrofoam. http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/high-school-girl-discovers-styrofoam-eating-bacterium Boy discovers microbe that eats plastic - PhDs have been searching for a solution to the plastic waste problem, and this 16-year-old finds the answer. - Jun 12, 2009 Excerpt: Plastic, one of the most indestructible of manufactured materials, does in fact eventually decompose. It takes 1,000 years but decompose it does, which means there must be microorganisms out there to do the decomposing.,,,, Could those microorganisms be bred to do the job faster? That was Daniel's question, and he put to the test with a very simple and clever process of immersing ground plastic in a yeast solution that encourages microbial growth, and then isolating the most productive organisms. The preliminary results were encouraging, so he kept at it, selecting out the most effective strains and interbreeding them. After several weeks of tweaking and optimizing temperatures Burd was achieved a 43 percent degradation of plastic in six weeks, an almost inconceivable accomplishment. NOTE: One of our readers pointed out a very interesting study in 2004 at the University of Wisconsin that isolated a fungus capable of biodegrading phenol-formaldehyde polymers previously thought to be non-biodegradable. Phenol polymers are produced at an annual rate of 2.2 million metric tons per year in the United States for many industrial and commercial applications including durable plastics. http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/boy-discovers-microbe-that-eats-plastic# Nylon-eating bacteria - Jan. 2014 Excerpt: There is scientific consensus that the capacity to synthesize nylonase most probably developed as a single-step mutation that survived because it improved the fitness of the bacteria possessing the mutation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nylon-eating_bacteria#Role_in_evolution_teaching
What should be needless to say, these findings do not suggest that we are the 'scourge to the earth', as some radical environmentalists would have us believe, but that we are meant to be here on this earth for a purpose, and that purpose includes consideration for humans slowly, but surely, learning how to use their resources properly. i.e. learning to be 'good stewards' just as the theist holds.bornagain77
February 21, 2014
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I used to consider myself an environmentalist and think it's a shame that "environmentalism" is now seen as a radical liberal cause. I grew up near Cleveland, Ohio and remember when there was actual black smoke belching from factory smokestacks -- not the backlit steam that they now try to make look as ominous as possible with photographic tricks. I remember sulfurous clouds so thick you could barely see from one side of the Cuyahoga Valley to the other. I remember the Cuyahoga River catching fire. I remember taking a cruise on Lake Erie and competing with my fellow fourth-graders to see how many dead fish we could find floating in the water. Now that some polluting industries have been cleaned up and the rest exported to China (along with their jobs), the effects of pollution are not so obvious. And like an immune system gone haywire, which has stopped attacking real enemies and has turned against its own body, the agencies originally created to fight real pollution have in order to keep their jobs been forced to invent new "pollutants" like CO2, which is produced by every breathing creature. I am hoping for "the madness of crowds" to subside and the pendulum to swing back to sanity.sagebrush gardener
February 21, 2014
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OldArmy94:
Why is it, out of curiosity, that Darwinism and climate change politics go hand-in-hand?
Liberals tend to be darwinists and environmentalists.Joe
February 21, 2014
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How often do you see a person who is a radical supporter of Darwinian evolution but opposes the view that climate change is ‘settled’? I can’t think of any prominent persons who hold to such views, which is quite telling to me in the final analysis.
Well, you don't have to look very far - there's two mentioned right there in the post you replied to: Dyson and Krauthammer.goodusername
February 21, 2014
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Why is it, out of curiosity, that Darwinism and climate change politics go hand-in-hand? How often do you see a person who is a radical supporter of Darwinian evolution but opposes the view that climate change is 'settled'? I can't think of any prominent persons who hold to such views, which is quite telling to me in the final analysis.OldArmy94
February 21, 2014
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He has since corrected himself by claiming he intended to say "the debate is settled. Climate change is a fart."lpadron
February 21, 2014
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Of humorous note:
Obama Says: “Climate Change Is a Fact” …(While It’s Snowing in Florida, Alabama & New Orleans) http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/01/obama-climate-change-is-a-fact-its-snowing-in-florida-today/
As well I was told by an alarmist that the reason why we are having the the coldest winter in over 30 years, where I live, is because global warming makes that stuff like that happen! :) Sort of like evolution I guess, it predicts everything and can be falsified by nothing. But the funniest thing this winter was,,,
Global Warming Expedition to Prove Antarctic Ice is Melting Trapped by Ice (as was the rescue ship) - Dec. 30, 2013 http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/global-warming-expedition-to-prove-antarctic-ice-is-melting-trapped-by-ice/
Here are a few facts you will not hear on the evening news:
Global Warming theory has failed all tests, so alarmists return to the ‘97% consensus’ hoax - 2013 http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/05/global-warming-theory-has-failed-all-tests-so-alarmists-return-to-the-97-consensus-hoax/
Also of note, it seems, in conjunction with the long terraforming of the earth to make it habitable for people (Hugh Ross) and also in conjunction with the privileged planet principle (Denton, Gonzalez) it seems the earth truly is 'designed' for with us 'messy' humans in mind to a certain extent:
Global Nitrogen Availability Consistent for Past 500 Years Linked to Carbon Levels - Mar. 21, 2013 Excerpt: "Our best idea is that the nitrogen and carbon cycles were linked tightly back then and they are linked tightly today," McLauchlan said. "Humans are now manipulating both nitrogen and carbon at the same time, which means that there is no net effect on the biosphere.",,, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130321105100.htm Earth's Capacity To Absorb CO2 Much Greater Than Expected: Nov. 2009 Excerpt: New data show that the balance between the airborne and the absorbed fraction of carbon dioxide has stayed approximately constant since 1850, despite emissions of carbon dioxide having risen from about 2 billion tons a year in 1850 to 35 billion tons a year now. This suggests that terrestrial ecosystems and the oceans have a much greater capacity to absorb CO2 than had been previously expected. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091110141842.htm
The biosphere, being Intelligently Designed for 'messy' humans, is far more robust to our presence than atheistic materialists presuppose as was clearly illustrated by the oil spill a few years ago!
Mighty oil-eating microbes help clean up the Gulf - July 2010 Excerpt: Where is all the oil? Nearly two weeks after BP finally capped the biggest oil spill in U.S. history, the oil slicks that once spread across thousands of miles of the Gulf of Mexico have largely disappeared. Nor has much oil washed up on the sandy beaches and marshes along the Louisiana coast.,,, The lesson from past spills is that the lion’s share of the cleanup work is done by nature in the form of oil-eating bacteria and fungi. (Thank God) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews_excl/ynews_excl_sc3270 Deepwater Oil Plume in Gulf Degraded by Microbes, Study Shows Excerpt: An intensive study by scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) found that microbial activity degrades oil much faster than anticipated. This degradation appears to take place without a significant level of oxygen depletion. - per science daily Methane Gas Concentrations in Gulf of Mexico Quickly Returned to Near-Normal Levels, Surprising Researchers - January 2011 Excerpt: Calling the results "extremely surprising", researchers report that methane gas concentrations in the Gulf of Mexico have returned to near normal levels only months after a massive release occurred following the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110106145436.htm Microbes Consumed Oil in Gulf Slick at Unexpected Rates, Study Finds - August 2011 Excerpt: "Our study shows that the dynamic microbial community of the Gulf of Mexico supported remarkable rates of oil respiration, despite a dearth of dissolved nutrients," the researchers said. Edwards added that the results suggest "that microbes had the metabolic potential to break down a large portion of hydrocarbons and keep up with the flow rate from the wellhead." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110801111752.htm
In fact, humans 'getting in the way' to try to help clean up the oil spill only made the situation worse:
Mixing Oil With Dispersant Increased Toxicity to Ecosystems - (Nov. 30, 2012) Excerpt: If the 4.9 million barrels of oil that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 Deep Water Horizon spill was a ecological disaster, the two million gallons of dispersant used to clean it up apparently made it even worse -- 52-times more toxic.,,, The study found that mixing the dispersant with oil increased toxicity of the mixture up to 52-fold over the oil alone. In toxicity tests in the lab, the mixture's effects increased mortality of rotifers, a microscopic grazing animal at the base of the Gulf's food web.,,, "Perhaps we should allow the oil to naturally disperse. It might take longer, but it would have less toxic impact on marine ecosystems." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121130110518.htm
bornagain77
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