In a new post featured on Judith Curry's blog, a colleague, Marcia Wyatt, rehashes their tired and debunked theories, chalking climate change up to "natural variability" and saying there is too much scientific uncertainty.
Wyatt (who originated the debunked "stadium wave" theory holding that there's a multi-decadal climate signal responsible for some observed changes in the Northern Hemisphere) states in the post that, "intertwined and multiple 'parts' of the climate system render its evaluation stymied by the endless unknown unknowns." She goes on to say that when scientists are demanded to stop equivocating, "politics enters the stage, followed closely by celebrities and media." In sum, Wyatt says the climate is too complex to say anything with certainty, and those who speak with certainty have a political agenda or are looking for a juicy story. These arguments may sound familiar. For years, Curry's climate change mantra has been "we just don't know."
To which we say, speak for yourselves. The connections between climate disruption and impacts are numerous, strong and well documented. Authoritative science institutions including NASA, NOAA, the US National Climate Assessment, and the US National Academy of Sciences have each assessed and validated these changes. And the rising cost of these impacts has been clearly tied to climate change.
Curry and Wyatt's theories are just some of many skeptic arguments that aim to explain away increasing surface temperatures with various natural cycles. Ultimately, these arguments focus on short-term wiggles in the data and neglect the long-term human-caused warming trend.
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