When The Media Covers the People Are Informed

[Annie]

People can make informed decisions. European papers have not only covered Climategate, they've been investigating and reporting. Here's what happens when the people are given information:

BBC News - Climate scepticism 'on the rise', BBC poll shows

Climate scepticism 'on the rise'
The number of British people who are sceptical about climate change is rising, a poll for BBC News suggests.

The Populus poll of 1,001 adults found 25% did not think global warming was happening, a rise of 8% since a similar poll was conducted in November.

The percentage of respondents who said climate change was a reality had fallen from 83% in November to 75% this month.

And only 26% of those asked believed climate change was happening and "now established as largely man-made".

The findings are based on interviews carried out on 3-4 February.

In November 2009, a similar poll by Populus - commissioned by the Times newspaper - showed that 41% agreed that climate change was happening and it was largely the result of human activities.

"It is very unusual indeed to see such a dramatic shift in opinion in such a short period," Populus managing director Michael Simmonds told BBC News....

Seems to be happening in China now also, (BTW, her previous pro-global warming writings are linked):

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/climat...g-is-on-the-wall-and-it’s-in-chinese/?print=1

Climategate: For IPCC, Writing Is on the Wall … and It’s in Chinese
Posted By James V. DeLong On February 5, 2010 @ 3:10 am In Asia, China, Column 2, Science, Science & Technology, US News, World News | 28 Comments

In a China Daily column (“Do three errors mean breaking point for IPCC? [1]”), author Li Xing describes her experience at the Copenhagen conference, when she went to a forum of skeptics. Li, “an ardent environmentalist [2],” found many of the speakers “too emotional and politically charged to be considered objective.” But she was impressed — rightly — with Fred Singer [3]. Li was disturbed when she brought Singer’s concerns to some IPCC supporters … only to have them dismissed out of hand.

The column walks her views back a bit, as she worries about the lack of climate data from China, and adds:

Several Chinese scientists who have gone over the IPCC report believe that the IPCC may have overstated the link between global temperature and CO2 in the atmosphere.

In a paper published in the December issue of the Chinese-language Earth Science magazine, Ding Zhongli — an established environmental scientist — stated that the current temperatures on Earth look normal if global climate changes over the past 10,000 years are considered.

Ding’s paper highlighted the fact that in its policy suggestions, the IPCC offered solutions that would give people in rich countries the right to emit a much higher level of greenhouse gas per capita than people in developing countries. It in effect set limits on the economic growth of developing countries, which will result in furthering the gap between rich and poor countries.​

Li adds references to Climategate, the Himalayan glaciers episode, and the recent revelation that the supposed links between AGW and extreme weather are also illusory, and concludes:

I am particularly troubled by the fact that top IPCC officials do not seem to take these revelations seriously. … Ancient Chinese considered three a breaking point. They could forgive two errors, but not a third. Now that the IPCC has admitted three “human” errors, isn’t it time scientists gave its work a serious review?​

...

 

[Old Rocks]

There has been a serious scientific review of the prediction in the IPCC report. It is called the Copenhagen Diagnosis.

The Copenhagen Diagnosis

The most significant recent climate change findings are:

Surging greenhouse gas emissions: Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels in 2008 were 40% higher than those in 1990. Even if global emission rates are stabilized at present-day levels, just 20 more years of emissions would give a 25% probability that warming exceeds 2°C, even with zero emissions after 2030. Every year of delayed action increases the chances of exceeding 2°C warming.

Recent global temperatures demonstrate human-induced warming: Over the past 25 years temperatures have increased at a rate of 0.19°C per decade, in very good agreement with predictions based on greenhouse gas increases. Even over the past ten years, despite a decrease in solar forcing, the trend continues to be one of warming. Natural, short-term fluctuations are occurring as usual, but there have been no significant changes in the underlying warming trend.

Acceleration of melting of ice-sheets, glaciers and ice-caps: A wide array of satellite and ice measurements now demonstrate beyond doubt that both the Greenland and Antarctic ice-sheets are losing mass at an increasing rate. Melting of glaciers and ice-caps in other parts of the world has also accelerated since 1990.

Rapid Arctic sea-ice decline: Summer-time melting of Arctic sea-ice has accelerated far beyond the expectations of climate models. The area of summertime sea-ice melt during 2007-2009 was about 40% less than the average prediction from IPCC AR4 climate models.

Current sea-level rise underestimated: Satellites show recent global average sea-level rise (3.4 mm/yr over the past 15 years) to be ~80% above past IPCC predictions. This acceleration in sea-level rise is consistent with a doubling in contribution from
melting of glaciers, ice caps, and the Greenland and West-Antarctic ice-sheets.
Sea-level predictions revised: By 2100, global sea-level is likely to rise at least twice as much as projected by Working Group 1 of the IPCC AR4; for unmitigated emissions it may well exceed 1 meter. The upper limit has been estimated as ~ 2 meters sea level rise by 2100. Sea level will continue to rise for centuries after global temperatures have been stabilized, and several meters of sea level rise must be expected over the next few centuries.

Delay in action risks irreversible damage: Several vulnerable elements in the climate system (e.g. continental ice-sheets, Amazon rainforest, West African monsoon and others) could be pushed towards abrupt or irreversible change if warming continues in a business-as-usual way throughout this century. The risk of transgressing critical thresholds (“tipping points&#8221 increases strongly with ongoing climate change. Thus waiting for higher levels of scientific certainty could mean that some tipping points will be crossed before they are recognized.

 

[Old Rocks]

Hmmm....

http://na.unep.net/publications/Himalayas.pdf

The IPCC cites the World Wildlife Fund (WWF 2005) as its
source. The WWF report states that “glaciers in the Himalayas
are receding faster than in any other part of the world and, if
the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing
by the year 2035 is very high”. The report makes no mention
of the 500 000 and 100 000 km2 areas that appear in the
IPPC statement. The WWF credits the 2035 prediction to a
1999 report by the Working Group on Himalayan Glaciology
(WGHG) of the International Commission for Snow and
Ice (ICSI).
The ICSI stated that “Glaciers in the Himalaya are receding
faster than in any other part of the world and, if the present rate
continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035
is very high” (Down to Earth 1999). In the following paragraph,
the same article went on to say “The glacier will be decaying
at rapid, catastrophic rates. Its total area will shrink from the
present 500 0001 to 100 000 km2 by the year 2035.” There was
no reference to the Himalaya Mountains in this particular
paragraph although, as shown above, they were mentioned
in the previous one. The ICSI credits a United Nations
Educational, Scientifi c and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
report edited by V.M. Kotlyakov (1996) as its source.
In that 1996 report, Kotlyakov wrote “The degradation of
the extrapolar glaciation of the Earth will be apparent in rising
ocean levels already by the year 2050, and there will be a drastic
rise of the ocean thereafter caused by the deglaciation-derived
runoff . This period will last from 200 to 300 years. The extrapolar
glaciation of the Earth will be decaying at rapid, catastrophic
rates—its total area will shrink from 500,000 to 100,000 km2
by the year 2350. Glaciers will survive only in the mountains of
inner Alaska, on some Arctic archipelagos, within Patagonian
ice sheets, in the Karakoram Mountains, in the Himalayas, in
some regions of Tibet and on the highest mountain peaks in the
temperature latitudes”. In his statement, both the 500 000 and
100 000 km2 areas applied to mountain glaciers world-wide,
not just the Himalayas, and the prediction was for the year
2350, not 2035.