It was pretty cold this winter, at least in the UK. Lots of the anthropogenic global warming twonks (‘deniers’ or ‘sceptics’ in other places. I say call a spade an implement for moving dirt from one place to another) scoffed loudly, saying,<\/p>\n
\n“It’s bloody freezing, where is this global warming of which you speak?”<\/p>\n
\nI observed that in the event of a subsequent hot summer<\/a>, those same twonks would be silent.<\/p>\n [Washington] just endured its hottest June since records began in 1872, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. So did Miami. Atlanta suffered its second-hottest June, and Dallas had its third hottest.<\/p>\n \nIn New York, the weather was relatively pleasant: only the fourth-hottest June since 1872. Then again, New York is on pace for its hottest July on record.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n (h\/t Olive Heffernan<\/a>)<\/p>\n \nWhere are the twonks now?<\/p>\n \nIt’s natural to associate what you observe locally–temporally or spatially–with the larger picture. A friend on facebook just commented According to the met office, its showery here just now… according to the window, its a beautiful sunny day!<\/em> Even the New York Times falls into the same trap in this very article:<\/p>\n Yet when United States senators and their aides file into work on Wednesday, on yet another 90-degree day, they may be on the verge of deciding to do approximately nothing about global warming.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \nThe twonks fail to understand that ‘data’ is not the plural of ‘anecdote’ (and by not wanting to change their lifestyle for the good of the race as a whole, of course).<\/p>\n \nScience is a big picture exercise. Learning about trends, the importance of robustness, all that sort of guff, is hard<\/em>. <\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was pretty cold this winter, at least in the UK. Lots of the anthropogenic global warming twonks (‘deniers’ or ‘sceptics’ in other places. I say call a spade an implement for moving dirt from one place to another) scoffed … Continue reading