# Has the world actually been cooling since 2002?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [February 19, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728 "2014-02-19T19:32:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 643

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**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2014, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/643 "2014-03-08T18:03:06Z")

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Sam Stone is a content rich contributor, and I appreciate the thought and logic and reason evident in what ic clearly a well thought out and understandable post.

> [@Sam\_Stone](#):
>
> They certainly do when the trend is going up. Then we’re treated to non-stop dissertations on the proof before our very eyes that global warming is happening.

of course, and you would have to be deaf dumb and blind not to know this. My ironic thread (which was started in IMO

> [@I'm sick of this Global Warming!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sick-of-this-global-warming/666440/1):
>
> [Atlanta breaks a century-old temperature record](http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/23151205/atlanta-breaks-a-century-old-temperature-record)
> 
> ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) -
> 
> Atlanta’s high temperature on Thursday was only 73 degrees which is the coolest high temperature on record for August 15.
> 
> The previous record was a high of only 77 degrees from 1908.
> 
> The average high temperature for this time of year is 88 degrees, putting Thursday’s high 15 degrees below average.

If it had been a record high, most people wouldn’t have been surprised at all.

> [@Sam\_Stone](#):
>
> But when it comes to climate science, the validity of the models are assumed to be a settled issue, and the uncertainties of the estimates are downplayed. And anyone who questions them is deemed a ‘denier’ and treated like a heretic.

you got that right. And flat out showing they have been wrong, really wrong, about a key prediction, that won’t earn you any friends at all.

> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> The entire premise of the OP is a misdirection

You can’t even state the four conclusion thsat are in the OP, much less know if they are correct.

> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> Please provide your views on AGW in several paragraphs in your own words, so that we know exactly where you stand. By “AGW” I mean the role of human activities in post-industrial warming. This shouldn’t be hard. I’ve done it in dozens of posts.

You didn’t define AGW at all. The theory of the enhanced greenhouse effect seems to be unknown to you, and every last person who keeps trying to claim everything they dislike is wrong. It’s quite amazing.

If it is indeed true that there is an extreme negative feedback from CO2, which is one of the theories we are discussing, that is huge. The models and theory will be changed.

The political problem is that the consequences as well as events predicted by the theory may be completely wrong. This places the cocksure prophets of doom in a terrible situation. Any admittance of fallibility, of being wrong, would seem an utter disaster to them.

Even discussing it is seen as defeat. So as each year goes by, with the winter trend getting more negative, makes the farther and farther away from having any credibility. Their hope of some huge disaster, or at least a big El Nino to cause a warming spike, is apparent.

And years back, when it was already obvious, somebody came up with “it has to be 17 years to be meaningful”, which now is the reality.

Meanwhile the denier sticks his fingers in his ears and repeats “it’s warmer than ever”.

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