Why do people believe strange things?

Many readers who keep up with the blogs will be aware of the recent post at RealClimate concerning a recent review by Alan Carlin and John Davidson on the EPA Endangerment Finding. A certain blog, by one Thomas Fuller, discusses why the EPA should have listened to Carlin. Apparently the science in Carlin and Davison’s report is considered by Fuller and commenters to be “new evidence” that needs to be considered. Chris, feeling argumentive, decided to have a shot at the comments to see how this was so… I learned many new things in my visit, and I plan to document it in the best of scientific sources, a cutting edge research-database…

Tradeoffs and the next greenhouse gas

A fundamental issue with changes in atmospheric chemistry is that there may be multiple, and potentially competing effects in terms of problems caused to ecosystems or human welfare.    For instance, aerosol declines in developed nations since the middle of the century result in less health and pollution issues, but also lead to global brightening which makes the more of the greenhouse gas influence show up.

Inaction is Inexcusable

First off, I apologize for my lack of posts recently… I’ve been busy and haven’t had much interesting to talk about. A hot topic this week has been the release of the Synthesis report from the discussions at the Copenhagen conference earlier this year. This report, in part, is to take off where the IPCC AR4 left off in discussing key developments that occurred after the deadline for AR4 references.