Monday, November 07, 2011

Koch brother funded scientist, and climate change skeptic, finds that the science supporting global warming is valid. Oops!

From the Anniston Star:

Those who deny that the Earth is getting warmer claim that studies showing climate change have been funded by environmental groups and governments pushing a liberal political agenda. 

Thus, when research funded by one of those skeptical groups finds that temperatures are rising — and rising rapidly — such a conclusion should strengthen the case for climate change and global warming. 

That scenario has finally happened. 

Money for the research came from the Charles Koch Foundation, which gets its money from oil and other industries that create the greenhouse gases most scientists say are responsible for global warming. With this funding, physicist and skeptic Richard Muller spent two years addressing the criticisms that have been leveled against climate studies that show the steady warming of our planet. 

He found that the criticisms were wrong. The Earth is indeed getting hotter. 

Upset by the lack of scientific skepticism that first greeted the claims of climate change, Muller re-examined the evidence and concluded that what mainstream scientists have been saying for decades is fundamentally correct. 

Equally important, he added that as a result of his work, “we have confidence that the temperature rise that had been previously reported had been done without bias.” 

In other words, scientists can be trusted.

This is essentially WHY the Republicans hate science so much, it simply REFUSES to conform to their biases, or desire to protect their corporate overlords.

Personally my favorite part of this story is that the Koch brothers paid for the research. You just know they are poring over the findings hoping to discover a mistake in the Muller's research.

Perhaps next we can convince the Evangelicals to fund an actual scientific exploration into the veracity of Evolution.

P.S. you can learn a little more about Muller's findings by clicking here.

32 comments:

  1. HA-ha! I love when that happens. Thanks. Made my day. I am really pissed that one of our local Occupy camps was raided at 4am this morning, with arrests, threats of tear gas, and a dump truck that the cops used to throw away everybody's personal property. This post at least made me smile.

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  2. Anonymous7:15 AM

    I'm pretty sure the argument isn't that the temperatures are changing. OF COURSE THEY ARE. We live in a fragile world that could blow at any moment.

    Those with sense say that NOTHING can prove how things change and function since that level of science doesn't exist yet.

    The idea that humans cause climate change is funnier than people who believe socialism will one day be America's foundation. Didn't and won't happen.

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  3. Anonymous7:17 AM

    It's kind of difficult to prove something when one day in the future today's findings could and probably will be refuted. Nothing is certain and this ongoing battle between snakeoil scientists who settle on their theories and people who keep their minds open while not making judgments based on no actual evidence is FUTILE.

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  4. Anonymous7:48 AM

    Paul Krugman's "Here Comes the Sun" column today contains this quote:

    "Let’s face it: a large part of our political class, including essentially the entire G.O.P., is deeply invested in an energy sector dominated by fossil fuels, and actively hostile to alternatives. This political class will do everything it can to ensure subsidies for the extraction and use of fossil fuels, directly with taxpayers’ money and indirectly by letting the industry off the hook for environmental costs, while ridiculing technologies like solar.

    So what you need to know is that nothing you hear from these people is true. Fracking is not a dream come true; solar is now cost-effective. Here comes the sun, if we’re willing to let it in."

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  5. Anonymous7:56 AM

    Yes, there's just no question that the Kochs and their pals are working overtime to "mold" public opinion to suit their aims.

    That's why I'm afraid of the coming election campaign: unlimited, unaccountable funds to do a massive PR blast on people who do not otherwise read or get info from legitimate sources -- like 99.99% of scientists in this case.

    This will be our challenge in the next election: how to combat that effectively.

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  6. Anonymous8:08 AM

    His idiotic expression says it all.

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  7. hedgewytch8:08 AM

    And yet, this will receive very little news attention and those who are fervent global warming deniers will not believe this report. After all, those fundies are very well trained in living a life of faith-based belief, that depends upon a suspension of critical thinking skills. This is a mental path habit that will be virtually impossible to reroute.

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  8. hedgewytch8:09 AM

    @7:15 - you flunked out of science in high school didn't you?

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  9. Anonymous8:17 AM

    7:15am & 7:17am you sound deranged as usual. Just to correct your lies: Yes there is evidence. Yes you can prove how things change and function using science. No one believes "socialism will one day be America's foundation". There is no "battle between snakeoil scientists and people who keep their minds open".

    Thanks for the laughs as usual. Trying to decipher your lunatic rantings has become a fun hobby of mine. Stay crazy.

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  10. Olivia9:14 AM

    My right wing nut nephew is moving away from "global warming is a myth" to "yes, the earth is warming but it is a natural cycle, nothing man does can affect it." So apparently, for the brainless masses who have to parrot the talking points that they are given by the Koch family, the meme is shifting to reflect new information they have been allowed to recognize.

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  11. Olivia9:16 AM

    @7:15 Who believes socialism will become America's foundation? Is this something you read on World Nut News?

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  12. 7:15/7:17 is that you Sarah? Good God, woman, you're just upset that Herb has stolen your headlines.

    Socialism will not be Americas foundation because we are not a true democracy, we are a corptocracy. Corporations and their lobbyists influence legislation, regulations, they tell us what to buy, and who to vote for , and its gotten worse ever since our Koch backed Supreme Court unleashed Citizens United. The GOP has masterfully adopted the "pro life" fundies and fooled them into voting against their own economic self interests with their God, guns, and gays agenda . The GOP suckers the low intelligence, low information voter by bringing up wedge
    issues every election cycle.

    Over the weekend, I went out to dinner with a friend and her mom and stepfather. Stepdad is a retired VP of public relations for a major supermarket chain here in the area. Knows everyone and anyone on the Hill and in the FDA. He opened his own lobbying firm with some partners and he's making more part time just introducing food and drug manufacturers around town that he ever did in PR. He claims it really doesn't matter who the President is, these companies throw money at lobbyists to get them to Congress and regulatory agencies.

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  13. Anonymous9:41 AM

    Seriously, WTF did he THINK was going to happen?

    Did he REALLY think it was going to turn out that climate change was a massive conspiracy of SCIENTISTS LYING???

    I just don't understand the right's desperate need for people who actually know things to be revealed as being wrong about them.

    Is it really all projection? Is it really that these right wingers are so full of fraud and deception that they absolutely cannot believe that isn't what drives everyone else too?

    "I know *I'm* an empty fraud, so surely those scientists aren't any better..."

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  14. Anonymous9:48 AM

    very OT but very important...

    In The Massey Brothers on Bristol Palin video posted at paw nation (see SARAH PALIN HAS A SERPENT'S HEART for a link) at 1:12 into the video Kyle makes the statement how when they get together for the reality show in L.A. Bristol "brings out Tripp AND the baby". So... Kyle knows about a baby born after Tripp. Is this baby supposed to be the DWTS baby we all watched form before our eyes for weeks? Watch the video... did Kyle just out Bristol's secret?!?

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  15. We live in a fragile world that could blow at any moment? lol. You must be watching those "worst case scenario" shows on the History channel. The earth is not fragile. It has been here a really long time. What can be fragile is a specific set of physical and chemical characteristics that make the planet livable for certain species.

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  16. And yeah, I'm a scientist. Go figure.

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  17. Anonymous10:22 AM

    7:15 and 7:17 are an excellent example of the Dunning–Kruger effect. They know not what they do not know.

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  18. Anonymous10:34 AM

    Herman Cain appears to like white meat... and Sarah loves dark meat.

    They should be a perfect match for Thanksgiving.

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  19. Too late, the damage is done.

    Too many will continue to believe the crap he spewed for years. The fact that he's changed his mind now will not deter them.

    Too many years have gone by without any significant change and too many more will continue until it is too late.

    I don't care that he's seen the light now. The damage is done and he takes a lot of the blame.

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  20. Anonymous said...
    I'm pretty sure the argument isn't that the temperatures are changing. OF COURSE THEY ARE. We live in a fragile world that could blow at any moment.

    Those with sense say that NOTHING can prove how things change and function since that level of science doesn't exist yet.

    The idea that humans cause climate change is funnier than people who believe socialism will one day be America's foundation. Didn't and won't happen.
    7:15 AM
    ----------------------------
    What you say demonstrates a total and complete ignorance of science, the scientific method, critical thinking skills, and any understanding whatsoever of the drastic effect 7 billion mechanically and technologically inclined humans can have on this planet.

    The only thing you said with any truth to it is that this planet is fragile.

    You demonstrate your bias and unwillingness to deal with facts by conflating beliefs about climate change with beliefs in one particular economics system vs another.

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  21. Anonymous said...
    It's kind of difficult to prove something when one day in the future today's findings could and probably will be refuted. Nothing is certain and this ongoing battle between snakeoil scientists who settle on their theories and people who keep their minds open while not making judgments based on no actual evidence is FUTILE.
    7:17 AM
    -------------------------
    Nice try. Note, the scientist in this article went into this study fully expecting to show evidence that the research supporting climate change was flawed. Instead, because he is a scientist, he was able to accept the evidence before him, and true to his scientific calling, he did not alter or manipulate his results to please the corporatists that hired him.

    That is unbiased work. Climate change deniers refuse to admit that evidence for change and its causes exists. Climate change deniers are the closed minded people.

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  22. Anonymous said...
    His idiotic expression says it all.
    8:08 AM
    -----------------------
    And yet he probably has ten times the intelligence and education you do.

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  23. I have noticed a shift in the climate change deniers. (I don't call them skeptics because I don't think they are really open to evidence.) Now they are acknowledging that the earth is getting warmer.

    Here is a question for all the climate change deniers:

    What are the odds that we would have a natural warming cycle at pretty much the exact same time that we are putting a lot of compounds into the environment? (Some of these are artificial, and some are natural, but are in much greater quantities than would be in the environment due due natural causes and cycles.)

    Besides, would using less really be a bad thing? That would make finite resources last longer.

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  24. Anonymous11:51 AM

    "Those with sense say that NOTHING can prove how things change and function since that level of science doesn't exist yet."

    Translation: "Ignorant TV bobblehads that you would mock me if I actually quoted told me (between commercials for Goldline and disaster seeds) that Scientists are basically really smart liars who are trying to trick me.

    Since I don't personally know about the level of science that proves I'm a moron, that means it simply doesn't exist. Anyway, it's probably just some kind of socialist conspiracy."

    There, all fixed. :)

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  25. Will they now back doing something about it with their wealth and expertise? We need to be doing things now, and are unable to because Congress will not pass the necessary laws. In fact the Republicans are trying to kill the EPA.

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  26. Kimosabe1:07 PM

    12,000 year ago, the climate warmed and the great glaciers REALLY melted, sea level rose 200 feet (flooding the land bridge between Asia and Alaska) ... cave men with campfires, I figure ...

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  27. Anonymous1:10 PM

    Gryphen, this recent troll - and it is clearly the same person, day after day - is something else. Why is someone so concerned with your posts?

    Really, just annoying. Continually trying to bait people. And they post comments so quickly, like they are watching your every move, Gryphen.

    It's giving me the creeps, but also making me think someone is very threatened by you.

    It sounds a bit like Brooklyn, from Regina's old blog. Someone who for some reason doesn't hang out with like-minded individuals but instead would rather spar continually with perceived opponents and get attention by doing so. We had all pretty much decided to ignore her. I suppose that's the way to go here too, though I have a very hard time resisting.

    Being Gryphen's minder isn't going to affect him one bit, troll. Go away.

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  28. Anonymous1:38 PM

    I've had a couple discussions with people who agree that our climate is changing but who also believe that it's a natural phenomenon and man has nothing to do with it. They are all hardcore Christians who believe that only god can change our climate. Therefore, man can not be responsible for climate change. You can't educate people like that.

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  29. The time-integral of sunspot numbers, properly reduced by earth IR radiation by using conservation of energy, accurately (R2=0.88) correlates with average global temperatures since 1895 (such as those verified by Muller) as shown in the pdf made public 3/10/11 at http://climaterealists.com/index.php?tid=145&linkbox=true

    The pdf made public 9/24/11 shows the equation that accurately predicted agt since 1990.

    Change to the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide had no significant influence.

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  30. Anonymous5:41 PM

    The climate change denier have taken the marhmallows off their pitchforks and stuck them firmly in their ears. These are the people who belive the end of times is going to happen in their lifetime (Hello Sarah!!!!), so why trust science, and spend money to fund the EPA?
    And they believe man has no impact on the environment, it's God's will and science is flawed.

    What does Democracy or Socialism have to do with this issue? Love the "I don't know, I don't care, deny everything and throw everything but the kitchen sink in the mix, something's gotta stick" approach to Science.

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  31. Anonymous5:44 PM

    Dan Pangburn @3:10PM

    How old are you? Your comment makes you sound like a teenager. Do you have any idea how silly your comment is?

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  32. Anon 5:44 PM,

    Old enough . . .

    Some of us are able to evaluate the data and have discovered that the ‘consensus’ is not only wrong but clueless.

    From 2001 through September, 2011 the atmospheric CO2 increased by 23.7% of the total increase from 1800 to 2001 while the average global temperature has not increased. The 23.7% CO2 increase is the significant measurement, not the comparatively brief time period.

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