A high degree of consensus among climate scientists on man-made global warming is needed to force ambitious climate policies as an urgent matter. This is corrupting the scientific debate and freedom, hindering scientific progress in the end, and it was obtained through an absurd methodology.
The “hockey stick” graph was the result of the first comprehensive attempt to show the rise in temperature in the Northern Hemisphere, from the year 1000 to the year 1980. The first part of the graph, which would represent the hokey stick’s shaft, shows the temperature from the year 1000 to the year 1900, and suggest climate was stable during this period. The blade of the hokey stick represents the quick rise of temperature starting with the year 1900. Many people think that the “blade” represents the most important part, as it coincides with the start of fossil fuel use.
For most climate scientists, though, the “shaft” is the most intriguing part, as it does not include events such as the Medieval Warm Period during which the Vikings temporarily occupied Greenland due to its warm temperatures, according to this episode’s guest of Facts Matter, Marcel Crok, a Dutch scientist. He further adds that apparently, the draft was never verified until 2003 when Professor McKitrick and his fellow Canadian engineer, Steve McIntyre, debunked the draft’s statistics.
Cork mentions how before 1850 there were no direct measurements of temperature. Proxies were used for this, such as the tree rings through which one could tell if summer was good or bad. The “hockey stick” draft was based on proxy data gathered from around the Northern Hemisphere, which McIntyre mentioned is not very accurate data for measuring temperature. Instead, regional signals should be taken into consideration. Cork gives the example of glaciers shrinking, and under the melted glaciers tree remains can be found, which can be dated again. He further emphasizes that regional signals seem to be more reliable than making an effort’s temperature for the whole globe.
Until 1850 glaciers were expanding all around the world. Since 1850 we’re experiencing warmer weather called the “modern warmer period.” This coincides with the period when we started using fossil fuels. While today the climate community supports the idea that the warming is caused by the use of fossil fuels and the rise of CO2 levels, it still remains the question of what caused the warming of the Medieval Warm Period, as it seems Greenland had higher temperatures back then than what we’re experiencing today.
The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) claims that the current warming is both unique and unprecedented. After 20 years of research, Cork considers it still debatable, as many indications show how the high Northern Hemisphere area was warmer 8000 years ago. Since then, the temperatures over there have been declining, and not in linear regression, but with ups and downs.
The Paris Agreement is driving all the climate policies going on right now, using as a reference the year 1850. According to many scientists, this was a natural cold starting point, and not the average weather of our current geological epoch, or Holocene. All these issues are not openly discussed, Cork pointed out. He continues by explaining how the CO2 was way higher in the past than it is now, and gives the example of trees evolving in a period when the CO2 concentration was a few thousand PPM, while currently is only 420 PPM, and 280 PPM before the start of the industrial revolution. The Ice Age experienced a concentration of only 180 PPM, which Cork further points out that the lower the level, the more dangerous it is for plants, as they die at a concentration under 150 PPM.