PROTESTERS DEMANDING THE RESIGNATION OF SCIENTIST FOR IGNORING SCIENCE THAT DOESN'T EXIST

Kevin Vranes, 1 June 2006
 HYPERLINK "http://scienceblogs.com/nosenada/2006/06/protesters_demanding_the_resig.php" \t "linkWin" http://scienceblogs.com/nosenada/2006/06/protesters_demanding_the_resig.php

When I read this the first two times I thought it came from The Onion, but apparently it's true.

Hundreds of concerned citizens and leaders from across the nation will join
Hurricane Katrina survivors Wednesday to call for the resignation of the heads of
the National Hurricane Center (NHC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) at the NOAA Headquarters just outside of Washington, D.C.
During an 11 a.m. demonstration, advocates will demand that NOAA stop covering up  the growing scientific link between severe hurricanes and global warming while
insisting on real solutions to the problem of global warming.

The upshot is, sometimes I have to agree with Rush Dumbimbaugh. There are environmental wackos out there every bit as misguided as the far right freaks who call for assassinations of South American heads of state and protest military funerals in the name of God.

"NOAA is actively covering up the strong and growing scientific link between
more powerful hurricanes and global warming," said Mike Tidwell, who represents a
group called the U.S. Climate Emergency Council.

Hmmm...really? So two independent research groups have published a very small handful of papers in the past year supporting a link between tropical storms and AGW (e.g.). Meanwhile, a small handful of other papers, published by other independent research groups, either do not find such links (e.g.) or say that the signal of the increase is buried in the noise of societal changes (e.g.).

I said in the title "science that doesn't exist." I don't mean that science supporting a link between TS's and AGW doesn't exist. Rather, I mean that the protesters are arguing (again, based on a very small number of papers all published in the past year) that a strong scientific consensus exists (and that NOAA is conspiratorially covering it up). I am arguing that despite strong words from the various scientific camps, no scientific consensus has yet become apparent (and won't for a few years). To protest stating otherwise is a gross misunderstanding of how science works and, worse, is stretching science toward a political goal. If there is a Republican War on Science, this must be the Democrats getting revenge.

If we want to actually follow the accepted machinations of scientific process, the most appropriate statement comes from NOAA:

"We recognize there is an ongoing scientific debate and will continue to support
research that might identify detectable influences of global warming in hurricane
frequency and/or intensity," the statement said.

And not from dimwits who think that changing the leadership of NOAA does anything at all to change the science: The groups demanded that Mayfield and NOAA administrator Conrad Lautenbacher step down.
"They must resign immediately," said Tidwell, in front of about 30 protesters who'd gathered for a morning rally outside NOAA headquarters in Silver Spring, Md.