Media Tipping Point! Houston Chronicle Reporter Reconsiders Science is ‘Settled’ Claims! ‘I am confused. 4 years ago this all seemed like a fait accompli’

[Marc Morano of Climate Depot Sept. 6, 2009 Statement: “I have been researching and reporting on the environmental movement since 1992 and specifically on man-made global warming science over the past decade. (see: here, here, and here.) The past few weeks have — without a doubt — seen the most dramatic acceleration of developments against the claims of a so-called ‘consensus.’ The Houston Chronicle science reporter Eric Berger’s latest admission merely reflects an inescapable reality: Man-made global warming fears are quickly descending into the ash heap of history. Even top UN IPCC scientists are now openly questioning these claims.” Berger joins other reporters and media outlets in recent times who are being swayed by latest science. See “Related Links” below. – End Morano statement.]

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Houston Chronicle Science Reporter Eric Berger – September 6, 2009 (Also see the reader comments here.)

Key Berger Excerpts: For a long time now, science reporters have been confidently told the science is settled. That the planet is warming and humans are unquestionably the primary cause. We’ve been told to trust the computer models — the models which show a markedly upward trend in temperatures as carbon dioxide concentrations increase. And I’ve trusted the scientists telling me this. […]

It seems pretty clear that the models forecast a steady upward trend in global temperatures as long as carbon dioxide levels rise. (Which they have). Yet according to satellite and surface temperature measurements the global average temperature has essentially remained flat for the last 12 years. This strikes me as somewhat curious. When An Inconvenient Truth came out I believed the movie to be scientifically accurate. Carbon dioxide levels were rising and so were temperatures. And hurricane activity, especially after the disastrous 2005 season, was out of control. But a funny thing happened on the way to the end of the world: hurricane activity on the global scale is near historical lows. And the Earth seems to have, at least temporarily, stopped warming. […]

If we can’t have confidence in the short-term prognosis for climate change, how can we have full confidence in the long-term prognosis? […]

Do not misunderstand me. I am not a climate change skeptic. I do not deny that the planet warmed 0.6°C in the 20th century. I do not deny that humans played some part in that significant warming. But I am confused. Four years ago this all seemed like a fait accompli. Humans were unquestionably warming the climate and changing the planet forever through their emissions of carbon dioxide. The problem is that some climate scientists and environmentalists have been so determined to see something done about carbon dioxide emissions — now — that they have glossed over the uncertainties. Uncertainties like: maybe there isn’t a linear relationship between carbon dioxide and temperature, and maybe the planet will cool for a couple of decades even as carbon dioxide emissions accelerate. For the last few years some scientists and environmentalists have been telling us a lot about what “will” happen in the future if carbon dioxide emissions continue unabated. It perhaps would have been a lot better if they talked about what “may” happen.
Full Text of Berger’s Article here:

Related Links:

BBC’s Richard Black Sees The Light — Asks ‘Does climate cloud the bigger picture?’- July 5, 2009

BBC’s Richard Black is asking the right questions! ‘Has climate change hijacked the wider environmental agenda?’ – August 27, 2009

CNN’s Lou Dobbs Becomes More Skeptical – Reconsiders Climate Views

CBS Newsman Charles Osgood A Climate Skeptic? Questions Whether Quiet Sun May ‘Counteract’ Global Warming – April 21, 2009

NYT’s Moment of Clarity: ‘Nobel Halo Fades Fast for UN IPCC Climate Change Panel’ — ‘It could quickly lose relevance’ – August 4, 2009

BBC’s Moment of Clarity on Climate! ‘4000 years ago, Earth was significantly warmer than it is now’ – July 26, 2009

Moment of Clarity: BBC Wakes Up To Benefits Of Warming — And To Climate Skepticism! – July 30, 2009

National Geographic’s Moment of Clarity: ‘Emerging evidence’ reveals ‘rising temps could benefit millions of Africans in the driest parts of the continent’ – July 31, 2009

Shock from NYT: Missing Its Spots: ‘Sun may be on verge of falling into an extended slumber’ — could cause ‘extended chilly period’ – July 20, 2009

Wash. Post reporting makes progress! Article concedes sea level computer model ‘predictions could be flawed or flat wrong’ – June 9, 2009

Wash. Post’s Moment of Clarity: ‘Carbon emissions will not be reduced by international bureaucrats sitting in a room and signing a piece of paper’ – July 14, 2009 – Excerpt: ‘They will not be reduced by public relations campaigns or by Oscar-winning documentaries…or by a complex treaty that neither the UN nor anyone else can possibly supervise’

Wash. Post’s Moment of Clarity: In Poorer Nations, Energy Needs Trump Climate Issues — ‘Dearth of power hinders prosperity’ – September 9, 2009 – Excerpt: ‘Millions of people are eager to buy their first washing machines, refrigerators and air conditioners’

Sen. McCain’s Moment of Clarity: Climate bill is a ‘Farce’ — ‘I would not only not vote for it. I am opposed to it entirely’ – August 4, 2009

GOP Gov. Pawlenty’s Moment of Clarity: ‘Shifts on Climate…used to make soaring speeches…now he’s making jokes’- August 24, 2009

Moment of Clarity: Florida Gov. Crist tables climate summit to avert GOP heat: ‘He won’t be touting the work he did with Sheryl Crow’ – August 12, 2009

Moment of Clarity for ‘GOP’s Al Gore’! Gov. Charlie Crist may cancel summit on climate…backing away from cap-and-trade: ‘It may be a tax’ – August 7, 2009