I find it sad when honest inquiry into Global Warming, producing answers from independent sources, is regarded as a problem and should be hidden from innocents - this is the fundamental aspect of this site, free and open discussion of alternative views not easily available anywhere in the MSM. If views are fixed and not open to challenge then we have another Covid-like crisis, imo.
The answer to your question is perhaps to point out that data depends upon on the accuracy of our tools and their capacity to measure moving targets consisting of trillions of variable objects and states of being contained within our Universe. In other words certain things or events can never be measured and presented as data they can only be expressed as observations and opinions.
It appears that there are some very complicated processes involved in compiling information on global average temperatures in all of the methodologies currently being used and that these processes are being regularly revised to deal with conflicting compilations of information. So even the data compilers have different views as time goes by as to current and historic global temperatures - and since global annual average temperature changes are often measured in tenths of a degree, warming can quickly change to cooling from one year to the next.
If I did select a particular set of data convincing me of alarming global warming I have to wonder how long would it be before the compilers of that data would want to revise and erase the original data and replace it with the new and improved version.
For the moment I have to go with experts I intuitively trust e.g.:
Judith Curry:
where she says:
" The climate crisis can be summarized as:
- Its warming
- The warming is caused by us
- Warming is dangerous
- We need to urgently transition to renewable energy to stop the warming
- Once we stop burning fossil fuels, sea level rise will stop and the weather won’t be so extreme
A few weeks ago, the Intergovernmetal Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, issued its 6th Assessment report. In response, the secretary general of the UN stated that
“This is code red for humanity.”
Slide 3 what’s wrong with this narrative
In my talk today, I’m going to present you with a different perspective on the climate change problem and how we can approach solutions.
So what’s wrong with the crisis narrative? It is my assessment that
- We’ve vastly oversimplified both the problem and its solutions
- The complexity and uncertainty surrounding climate change is being kept away from the public and policy debates.
- Rapid reductions in emissions are technologically and politically infeasible on a global scale
- And it overemphasizes the role of climate change in societal problems, distracting from real solutions to them.
Slide 4 97% consensus
Even people that don’t know much about climate science have heard that 97% of climate scientists agree. But exactly what do they agree on? Not nearly as much as is portrayed in the media. Everyone agrees that:
- Surface temperatures have increased since 1880
- Humans are adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, and
- Carbon Dioxide and other greenhouse gases have a warming effect on the planet
However, there is disagreement on the most consequential issues:
- How much of the recent warming has been caused by humans
- How much the planet will warm in the 21st century
- Whether warming is ‘dangerous’
- And how we should respond to the warming, to improve human well being"
and
" In conclusion, a personal statement. I regard my job as a scientist to critically evaluate evidence and to challenge and reassess conclusions drawn from the evidence. While I regard manmade climate change as a cause for concern, I do not view this as a crisis or an apocalypse."
For the record my adult children and grandchildren have grown up with the ability to make up their own minds on subjects that they deem important but have never expressed shame over my periodic rants - although my youngest grandchild, a teenager, insists I put 20p in his jar whenever I talk politics!
cheers