Talk:Global warming

Rather surprised to find no comments on such a potentially controversial topic. I've edited this fairly aggressively and welcome any comments. There are some broken links still, and some updates would be appropriate.Gareth Leng 13:52, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

I don't get to follow this debate much, but do I understand correctly that the terminology is turning toward Global climate change rather than Global warming so as to not confuse those who don't understand why they might be getting colder. D. Matt Innis 14:27, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

I've made a redirect, but they may be two different things, so feel free to correct me. The question is whether we would want to move this article to Global climate change instead. D. Matt Innis 14:30, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

I think that 'climate change' is a vague term which most often pops up to appease global warming deniers. It shouldn't be used unless the article is about all forms of change in the climate - natural or unnatural, cooling or warming, pressure patterns for whatever reason, etc. John Stephenson 19:26, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

Climategate?

Why is there no mention of this controversy? [1]. Sandy Harris 05:03, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Not sure whether or how to handle it. This refers to a Wikileaks release of leaked e-mails from staff of the Climate Research Unit in East Anglia between academics involved in climate research, They included e-mails that were extremely disparaging about skeptical scientists, e-mails that favoored resisting calls to make all data and analyses openly available, and e-mails that discussed ways of presenting data to most effectively highlight the climate changes - these e- mails used words like "trick" to describe presentational techniques. After the relevations there were several inquiries into the CRU that endorsed the science and the conclusions but criticised the lack of openness. It's an issue about the politics/sociology of science, but I guess I thought it really doesn't cast any light on global warming - unless you're a conspiracy theorist.Gareth Leng 09:35, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

It depends whether this article is about the science of global warming and whether it's happening (clue: yes) or whether it is really about the way the debate over global warming has occurred. I think the former for the reason Gareth points out above. The UEA 'controversy' could be covered elsewhere in an article about the political responses to global warming. John Stephenson 19:23, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

The scientists in question above were investigated and their data was found to be sound. Unfortunately, scientists and mathematicians use the word "trick" to mean something different than lay persons. For example, for very small angles, sin(theta) ~= theta, a valid true "trick" that physicists use very often when the fourth or fifth decimal place does not matter. It was this type of trick that they were referring to. As scientists, they did try to present their findings in the most favorable terms, but did so in a mathematically and scientifically reliable fashion. As to withholding some data, that is also valid as they are working on long-term projects, and the collection of that data was expensive and will be used in the future. It is true that they used less than flattering terms to describe some of their adversaries, but whose email is completely PC these days? That is merely unprofessional behavior brought into the light. David E. Volk 19:37, 21 February 2011 (UTC)