Science/Technology

Harvard-Smithsonian Study Examines 20th Century Climate Trends
Harvard-Smithsonian scientists Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas examined the repeated claim that 20th century climate was unusual compared to that of the last 1000 years in the recently published study, "Reconstructing Climatic and Environmental Changes of the Past 1000 Years: A Reappraisal". The study, published in Energy & Environment, analyzed numerous climactic indicators, and specifically notes that many parts of the world showed medieval warming that exceeded the warming observed in the 20th century. Click below to download the complete study.


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Warming Up to the Truth about Climate Change
Astro-physicist Dr. Sallie Baliunas of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics takes a close look at the Earth's temperature in a Heritage Foundation lecture entitled Warming Up to the Truth: the Real Story about Climate Change. Baliunas says that the sun's rising energy output – rather than human activities – accounts for recent warming at the Earth's surface. If mankind's emissions were responsible, she argues, the change would also be reflected in the troposphere. However, precise temperature measurements recorded by satellites and balloons fail to show a significant increase.

IPCC Emissions Projections Challenged
An Australian statistician, Ian Castles, and a British economist, David Henderson believe that the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has wrongly forecast future economic growth, leading to a substantial overestimate of future carbon dioxide emissions. The IPCC's 2001 calculation of future emissions drove its projections of potential temperature increases. If Castles and Henderson are correct, the IPCC temperature projections are seriously inflated, predicting much more warming than models said will occur. The error in the IPCC's economic growth forecasts is apparent when comparing developing versus developed country growth. Castles observes that under the IPCC approach, the per capita income of the average South African is projected to be four times that of the average American in 2100 – and that the South African economy will be comparable to that of the entire world in 1990. The IPCC is studying Castles and Henderson's work.