This post was written long before The Donald elected to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. (That accord is officially entitled the United Nations Framework  Convention on Climate Change.  I italicized ‘framework’ to ensure y’all recognize this is but a suggestion to preserve the world in which we live- not a series of regulations governing our lives.)  Everything in the post below still applies. Except now, the warnings are probably more dire.

Ah, Frank Luntz. You know, the GOP wordsmith who obfuscates the concept so that folks will agree with things they know are wrong. He’s created the dog-whistles that enable folks to claim they are not discriminating against Blacks or Jews, because the statements are just that blurred. I don’t think, though, he is behind the newest switcheroo- the term ‘climate change’ is being obliterated in the name of ‘resilience’. Like the world could be totally resilient against the flooding of our shores that is coming soon.

Not that the scientific establishment is going to take that lying down. Consider Scott Pruitt, the attorney that has been contesting almost every regulation that the EPA has promulgated- for years,  Obviously, to The Donald and Steve Bannon, that clearly made Pruitt eminently qualified to head said agency.  Pruitt spewed some BS recently- in writing to the Senate, in relation to his confirmation hearings-  that “over the past two decades satellite data indicates there has been a leveling off of warming.”

Funny thing about that. Planet Earth wasn’t notified.

So, some eminent scientists [Drs. Benjamin D. Santer, Stephen Po-Chedley, Carl Mears, Jeffrey F. Painter and Céline Bonfils (of Lawrence Livermore); Frank J. Wentz and Carl Mears (Remote Sensing Systems); Qiang Fu (University of Washington) and Susan Solomon (MIT)] published their collection of real data about climate change in Nature.

The article, Tropospheric Warming Over the Past Two Decades, examined three different data sets. And, what a surprise! Warming has not leveled off- instead, global warming is alive and well (or is that sick?). The purpose of the article was to ensure that folks know the truth- and not “alternative facts”.

Moreover, the scientists explain how tropospheric (lower atmosphere) data should be examined. Because that data matches the data taken at the surface of the Earth, which also demonstrate global warming.

The three data sets [one is produced by Remote Sensing Systems; the other two are produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA’s Center for Satellite Applications and Research) and by the University of Alabama (Huntsville)] all describe the long-term warming effect in the middle to upper regions of the troposphere.

Yes, the stratosphere (the layer above the troposphere) is cooling, which affects the upper levels of the troposphere. But, the middle regions are rising by 0.2 C (0.36 F) per decade according to the first two data sets and by 0.14 C (0.26 F) in the Alabama data.

The scientists also considered what would happen in the atmosphere if we humans were not contributing to the change with our CO₂ (carbon dioxide) emissions.

(There is a competing theory.  Dr. John Christy (also of the University of Alabama) has a climate model that he believes predicts the satellite data should depict even larger warming.  If his model were correct, this lower observed amount of warming could discount the carbon dioxide emission effect- but not negate it.)

Recently, when The Donald notified the (shocked) world that the US was going to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, he cited “evidence” proving his (lack of a) point.    The evidence?  From a much disgraced “alternative fact” “agency” called the National Economic Research Associates.  This group, founded by Irwin Stelzer of the Hudson Institute (who receives support from Rupert Murdock of Fox- you know, fair and balanced reporting- NOT) and has been a shill for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (a lobbying group of the coal industry).

Oh, and that cited report?  It was effected for the US Chamber of Commerce and the American Council for Capital Formation (which is financed by the Koch Brothers, the Hudson Institute, and other entities that promote business at the expense of humans and the environment.

And, you wondered why the generally apolitical scientists organized their March for Science?

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