Stephan Lewandowsky, that scion of psycho-psience who recently had a paper libelling climate sceptics retracted for its poor ethical standards, has given an interview which ends with this gem:
Lewdicrous
One thing that I would point out is that it’s very important for people to be skeptical and anticipate that people will be misleading to the public. Some of the misinformation that’s out there is not accidental. I think there’s quite a bit that’s put into the public discourse in order to have a political effect. It’s supposed to be wrong, but effective.
I think we need to illustrate this important point with some examples. So instead of this years climate quiz, we’ll have a barnstormer of quotes about climate that have been “put into the public discourse in order to have a political effect.” – Add your favourites, with links if possible, below.
I’ll bundle up the best and email them to Lew. Again, and again.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
“Unless we take action on climate change, future generations will be roasted, toasted, fried and grilled.” – Head of the IMF Christine Lagarde
‘Arctic ice cap in ‘death spiral’ ‘ – Jonathan Leake, Sunday Times September 2014
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/article1461908.ece
Then there’s the observations:
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2014/10/2014-melt-season-in-review/
“There is a 97% consensus that humans were causing global warming in relevant scientific papers”.
Environmental Research Letters Volume 8 Number 2
John Crook et al 2013 Environ. Res. Lies. 8 024024 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024024
Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature
John Crook, Dana Nutcase, Sarah A Greenpiss, Mark Dickheadson, Bärbel Jizzweasel, Rob Lying, Robert Wayout, Peter Jackanory and Andrew Screwup.
http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/2/024024
OB: The Death spiral meme was started by Mark Serreze around 2010 I think. Wrong then, wronger now.
Stefan Rahmstorf (PIK) attempts climate d’e’n’i’a’l “… because no one knows exactly how far rising carbon concentrations affect temperatures.” [ h/t kaltesonne.de ]
http://www.news24.com/Green/News/UN-temperature-target-is-a-poor-guide-study-20141002
“Government environmental measures may already have helped to slow down global warming, an energy minister has claimed.
Baroness Sandip Verma said the rate of warming might have decreased, which could support the effectiveness of green policies.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2809995/Government-measures-slowed-global-warming-Energy-minister-claims-policies-playing-role-curbing-rising-temperature.html
The entire suite of “We have only XXX months to save the world/the planet/humankind from extinction”.
I loved “Global Warming will cut Wheat Yields” in the Grauniad. They are up 300% in the US, alone.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/23/global-warming-cut-wheat-yields-research-shows
Hi from Oz. No quote from me, just the comment that Lew’s quote (aka piece of propaganda) was very cleverly phrased to link “skeptics” with “misleading the public”, then he links that “misinformation” with “public discourse” and “a political effect”, without of course using any facts at all. Has he studied the methods used by past masters of propaganda, or does it come to him naturally?
“Children just aren’t going to know what snow is” ~ Dr David Viner (20 March 2000)
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/snowfalls-are-now-just-a-thing-of-the-past-724017.html
“World leaders must agree a deal to tackle global warming within the next year or risk losing our way of life as we know it, Ed Davey, the energy secretary has warned ahead of major international negotiations in Lima.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/climatechange/11262835/One-year-to-save-the-planet-from-climate-change-disaster-Ed-Davey-warns.html
“Unless we announce disasters no one will listen.” – Sir John Houghton, first chairman of IPCC
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=27941
There’s a whole pile of climate quotes there.
In a speech before the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, Gro Harlem Brundtland, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Change, said:
So what is it that is new today? What is new is that doubt has been eliminated. The report of the International Panel on Climate Change is clear. And so is the Stern report. It is irresponsible, reckless and deeply immoral to question the seriousness of the situation. The time for diagnosis is over. Now it is time to act (Brundtland 2007).
Carbon Pollution: An Urgent Threat from Coal
It’s time to act now to stop carbon pollution. Carbon pollution is the main contributor to climate disruption, making extreme weather worse — including more severe floods, widespread wildfires and record drought. It is also linked to life-threatening air pollution — such as the smog that can trigger asthma attacks.
http://content.sierraclub.org/coal/burning-carbon-pollution-and-climate-disruption
“It is scary to note the limitation in our understanding of the impact of current 0.8 per cent mean global temperature increase with the sudden disappearance of the Greenland’s ice sheet in four days in July this year — a picture which some thought resulted from an error in satellite monitoring. The only conclusion one can draw from such intense events is our inability to fathom the extent and depth of climatic changes we will face in a two-degree Celsius, let alone a higher temperature increase.”
http://tribune.com.pk/story/472301/defining-success-at-doha-climate-talks/
Can anyone show that CO2 can increase the lapse rate at all? There is no absorption of IR flux with every location in the atmosphere at a temperature higher than that needed for radiative equilibrium. This higher temperature via latent heat conversion means no actual altitude for exit flux. The flux outward to space continues to “accumulate” all the way to 220 km. Increasing atmospheric CO2 can have no effect on temperature at the surface or troposphere, and can only increase exit flux from the stratosphere, cooling it. It is the purpose of the atmosphere, not the surface, to regulate, via adjustable water vapor content, the temperatures,on or about this planet.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 🙂
Roger, Since you need to moderate!
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/a-christmas-gift-from-dr-bill-gray/#more-120351
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Is where I got the idea for the question. Dr. Gray, an excellent meteorologist, does not address thermal radiation at all. I put the same question there. Got the dreaded “awaiting moderation” also! 🙂
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Can anyone show that atmospheric CO2 “can” increase the lapse rate at all? There is no absorption of IR flux with every location in the atmosphere at a temperature higher than that needed for radiative equilibrium. This higher temperature via latent heat conversion means “no” actual altitude for exit flux. The flux outward to space continues to “accumulate” all the way to 220 km. Increasing atmospheric CO2 can have no effect on temperature at the surface or troposphere, and can only increase exit flux from the stratosphere, cooling it. It is the purpose of the atmosphere, not the surface, to regulate, via adjustable water vapor content, the temperatures, on or about this planet.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 🙂
the propaganda regarding the late start to the ski season in the French Alps. Saw it on the T.V. so I do not have any links to pass on. It ended with the classic comment about how global warming means there will not be any more snow…( until Christmas!! )