When Lawrence Solomon invited me to join his blogging I thought it might be amusing and interesting. However, the appearance of Ian Plimer’s book “Heaven and Earth” opens a really useful subject of discussion.

In the cacophony of assertions and accusations about climate warming…who is guilty of junk science and who is not? One should look for decisive simplifications of complex issues, and fig.11 on page 89 of his book provides one such. It shows that the “temperature variation” of the climate of Europe from 1280 to 1340 was about 9.9 C, from 1660 to 1690 was about 8.7 C, and in 2000 is about 9.4 C. If this is right, it shows that temperatures well above what the world is now concerned about were only aberrations, and, in particular, that there was no positive feedback causing a “runaway”.

Unfortunately, and it seems to be a mental disease associated with climate change issue, Plimer, in 504 pages, gives as the source of this crucial presentation as “derived from hundreds of studies.”

Does Lawrence Solomon have enough clout with Plimer to get him to quote the actual refences in the usual scientific manner? I wish he would try – I doubt if Plimer would even answer my query.