CJJ
July 30, 2012, 3:29pm
1
Alicublog …Those of you who follow the “debate” regarding global climate change are probably familiar with Steven Hayward, the political commentator and fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who has stauchly denied AGW and hyped the phony “climategate” scandal.
Here he is on Powerline in March of 2011 , highlighting a talk by Berkley physicist Richard Mueller that questions much of the science behind AGW. Hayward’s analysis:
But in the aftermath of Climategate, Muller is “going big” you might say. Watch this and you’ll see what I mean, especially his summary phrase, “You’re not allowed to do this in science.” Muller is not just tenured, but is late in his career, so feels free to speak out, unlike younger academics who don’t dare cross the Climate McCarthyism of the universities. More importantly, Muller is heading up the new Berkeley Earth Temperature Study, which will review and analyze all of the data on this subject starting from scratch. Unlike the Climategate cabal in Britain and in our NASA, the Berkeley group will share its data with all comers. Keep your eye on this; it will take time–years more than months probably–but may prove to be the thread that unravels the main prop of the climate campaign.
Mueller’s final review and analysis was featured this weekend in the New York Times . Mueller’s conclusion:
CALL me a converted skeptic. Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I’m now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause.
Heyward’s reaction (again, at Powerline; first parenthesis mine, second is Heyward’s):
But just how much of a “skeptic” was Muller?..(His previous comments in a 2008 interview sound) pretty close to the “consensus” party line to me, and as such today’s Times op-ed does not represent a fundamentally new position for Muller at all. (I’m wondering whether a Times editor pressured him to use the “total turnaround” language.) Actually, Muller has always been among the group of folks known as “lukewarmers"…
Not sure if MPSIMS is the right place to continue this - I’d just created a GD thread on Muller’s Damascus Road moment