Beck, Hannity falsely suggested Latif’s presentation damages case for action against climate change
Beck: “[O]ne of the leading guys for the IPCC” has "just backed out and said, ‘I was wrong.’ " On his radio show, Beck falsely asserted that “the biggest guy they had to the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] has just backed out and said, ‘I was wrong.’ … This is the leading climate modeling guy for the IPCC.” Beck further claimed that Latif "has backed out now and said, ‘We were wrong. We’re going into 30 years of cooling right now.’ " Contributing editor Pat Gray added: “[H]e says that he’s conceded that the Earth has not warmed for nearly a decade and that we are likely entering one or even two decades or more during which temperatures cool. I mean – and then you couple that with the sunspot report that you were just talking about, and it’s madness what they’re trying to shove down our throats.” Gray concluded: “And so, they know there’s very little time and they’ve got this Copenhagen thing coming up, and they thought they’d have it all wrapped up by now.” [Premiere Radio Networks’ The Glenn Beck Program, 9/22/09]
Hannity: Ally in “global warming hysterical movement” “pulled the rug out.” On his radio program, Hannity stated that “one of Al Gore’s most prominent allies in this global warming hysterical movement has just pulled off – pulled the rug out from the former vice president and now says the world more likely faces decades of global cooling.” Citing Latif’s World Climate Conference presentation, Hannity said Latif “argued that the Earth has not warmed for nearly a decade, and that we are likely entering one or even two decades during which temperatures actually cool.” Hannity later added: “The science is not unchallenged; it is challenged. And even leading environmental extremists that have been, you know – you know, sending out these dire warnings, they’re now contradicting themselves.” [Premiere Radio Networks’ and ABC Radio Networks’ The Sean Hannity Show, 9/22/09]
Latif: There are “fluctuations” within years and decades, but clear “long-term warming trend” is “manmade”
Presentation addressed “decadal variability,” noting “we all believe that this long-term warming trend … is manmade.” Latif opened his presentation by stating: “What you see here is just the globally averaged temperature during the 20th century. And you can clearly identify the long-term warming trend, and we all believe that this long-term warming trend is anthropogenic in nature, is manmade. However, you see also a lot of fluctuations superimposed on this trend, interannual, as Tim has pointed out, but also decadal scale variations.” Latif went on to discuss the “mechanisms” of decadal variability and the potential for predicting climate at the decadal timescale. [UN World Climate Conference – 3, 8/31/09]
Latif chart suggests temperatures are “cooling” in the short term, but that these temperatures are still indicative of a long-term warming trend. Additionally, the chart, shows the “cooling” period as coming following the hottest decade on record last century.
From Latif’s World Climate Conference PowerPoint presentation:
Latif: “It may well happen that you enter a decade, or maybe even two … when the temperature cools … relative to the present level.” Latif stated that due to natural climate variability over the decade-long timescale, “it may well happen that you enter a decade, or maybe even two, you know, when the temperature cools, all right, relative to the present level.” Latif added: “And then, you know, I know what’s going to happen. You know, I will get, you know, millions of phone calls, you know – ‘What’s going on?’ ‘So is global warming disappearing, you know?’ ‘Have you lied on us, you know?’ So, and, therefore, this is the reason why we need to address this decadal prediction issue.” [UN World Climate Conference – 3, 8/31/09]
Latif: Media mistakenly think of global warming as “a monotonic process,” in which “each year is warmer than the preceding year.” During his presentation, Latif stated: “All right, so, first point: Why decadal prediction? Now, people who know me, at least my German colleagues, know that I do a lot of media work, OK. There is almost no day in the year when I’m not called by some media person, OK. And so, they basically think about global warming as a kind of slowly evolving process and a monotonic process, OK – so each year is warmer than the preceding year.” He added: “However, we all know there is variability.” [UN World Climate Conference – 3, 8/31/09]
