Confusion - is the earth warming or cooling?

[crazy canuck]

Hans, aside there appears to be a significant scientific consensus that the Earth has been warming and that carbon emissions have something to do with that.

But I have recently heard interviews of what appear to be respected scientists (on the CBC no less) who hold the view that while all that is true we are probably going to experience global cooling over the next few decades because of something to do with the Sun and that the warming projections are likely wrong.

What is one to make of it all?

Here is the link to the podcast of CBC interviews I was talking about - the were from a segment on the "Ideas" show called "Demon Coal"

http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/ideas-from-cbc-radio-highlights/id151485663

[derspiess]

Whatever the case, we need to make sure there is never any climate change of any sort. Everything must remain exactly as it is.  Or else the earth may explode or something.

[viper37]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling#1990s

[St Ulfsten]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQHqgdvXTxE&feature=plcp&context=C475635aVDvjVQa1PpcFNY7__pqUrM0itmSqS3pNpZIfjTKNpWhcI=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmECHrOcFlc&list=PLA4F0994AFB057BB8&index=11&feature=plpp_video

One of these two also has a video about how some scientists are saying we might see short term cooling (but long term warming) and how this had led the deniers to scream about how climate science is a hoax etc etc, but I can't find it now

[derspiess]

One of these two also has a video about how some scientists are saying we might see short term cooling (but long term warming)

That sounds like a cute way to hedge your bets.

[crazy canuck]

One of these two also has a video about how some scientists are saying we might see short term cooling (but long term warming) and how this had led the deniers to scream about how climate science is a hoax etc etc, but I can't find it now

I wonder if you are thinking about this article

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming--Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html

which says in part

She argued it is becoming evident that factors other than CO2 play an important role in rising or falling warmth, such as the 60-year water temperature cycles in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

'They have insufficiently been appreciated in terms of global climate,' said Prof Curry. When both oceans were cold in the past, such as from 1940 to 1970, the climate cooled. The Pacific cycle 'flipped' back from warm to cold mode in 2008 and the Atlantic is also thought likely to flip in the next few years .

Pal Brekke, senior adviser at the Norwegian Space Centre, said some scientists found the importance of water cycles difficult to accept, because doing so means admitting that the oceans – not CO2 – caused much of the global warming between 1970 and 1997.

The same goes for the impact of the sun – which was highly active for much of the 20th Century.
'Nature is about to carry out a very interesting experiment,' he said. 'Ten or 15 years from now, we will be able to determine much better whether the warming of the late 20th Century really was caused by man-made CO2, or by natural variability.'
Meanwhile, since the end of last year, world temperatures have fallen by more than half a degree, as the cold 'La Nina' effect has re-emerged in the South Pacific.

'We're now well into the second decade of the pause,' said Benny Peiser, director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. 'If we don't see convincing evidence of global warming by 2015, it will start to become clear whether the models are bunk. And, if they are, the implications for some scientists could be very serious.'

[garbon]

Might as well just wait with a tub of popcorn then.

[Razgovory]

One of these two also has a video about how some scientists are saying we might see short term cooling (but long term warming)

That sounds like a cute way to hedge your bets.

I wonder if you and other Republicans would be more receptive to arguments of global climate change if scientists thought there caused by public sector unions.

[Sheilbh]

One of these two also has a video about how some scientists are saying we might see short term cooling (but long term warming)

That sounds like a cute way to hedge your bets.

That makes sense.  My understanding is that the earth's temperature has been increasing.  That that's an observable fact.  But within that general warning there could be periods of cooling.

There's a dispute about what's causing it and, indeed, whether it's good or bad.  There's also a whole range of fair argument on what we do politically.

[The Minsky Moment]

One of these two also has a video about how some scientists are saying we might see short term cooling (but long term warming)

That sounds like a cute way to hedge your bets.

In science, it's called a hypothesis based on observation and inference.
I understand you may find these concepts confusing.

[Josquius]

People are still denying climate change? Pfff.....

IIRC doesn't the sun go through....12 (IIRC) year cycles?
The past two years have been in the pit of one.

If there is a greater cycle over the next few decades....then awesome. Lets us off the hook a little on warming and gives us time to make the switch over to renewables- a wise idea anyway, even without global warming.

[Tamas]

People are still denying climate change? Pfff.....

IIRC doesn't the sun go through....12 (IIRC) year cycles?
The past two years have been in the pit of one.

If there is a greater cycle over the next few decades....then awesome. Lets us off the hook a little on warming and gives us time to make the switch over to renewables- a wise idea anyway, even without global warming.

What we need is cold fusion

I don't even get this... People seriously believe that we can replace the insane amount of energy generated by various polluting power plants, with the use of giant windmills and solar panels?

[Pedrito]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQHqgdvXTxE&feature=plcp&context=C475635aVDvjVQa1PpcFNY7__pqUrM0itmSqS3pNpZIfjTKNpWhcI=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmECHrOcFlc&list=PLA4F0994AFB057BB8&index=11&feature=plpp_video

One of these two also has a video about how some scientists are saying we might see short term cooling (but long term warming) and how this had led the deniers to scream about how climate science is a hoax etc etc, but I can't find it now

But... Who the Fuck Are You?

L.

[Josquius]

What we need is cold fusion

I don't even get this... People seriously believe that we can replace the insane amount of energy generated by various polluting power plants, with the use of giant windmills and solar panels?

No

[Razgovory]

People are still denying climate change? Pfff.....

IIRC doesn't the sun go through....12 (IIRC) year cycles?
The past two years have been in the pit of one.

If there is a greater cycle over the next few decades....then awesome. Lets us off the hook a little on warming and gives us time to make the switch over to renewables- a wise idea anyway, even without global warming.

What we need is cold fusion

I don't even get this... People seriously believe that we can replace the insane amount of energy generated by various polluting power plants, with the use of giant windmills and solar panels?

You could have just said we need magic.