Next decade 'may see no warming'

You shouldn't respect Pielke. Only his published work, if any. I urge you to look at the references he lists and you'll see they conclude nothing like what he is arguing. Only small, locally applicable observations that have nothing to do with global temperature.

 

(Opinions)
If we have a half-way benign future, then Pielke may be a most interesting climate scientist to study (in a harsh future we will not have that luxury). His original ojection to a pure focus on CO2 made sense when the models did a poor job with aerosols and clouds at different levels. Now with improvements in those models, he is left with less to say, and apparently responds by saying it louder.

Pielke's suggestions that we should attend to how previous extreme events have affected people and ecosystems remains as valid as ever.

 

I can just as easily point you to blogs that dispute Pielke. We can argue this ad nausium.

I certainly don't disagree that the GCMs are flawed and carry very large uncertainties, and for a number of reasons. Long term predictions of such a complex system are inherently difficult and subject to unpredictable natural events and human responses (or non-responses as the case may be).

But it's really simple when it comes right down to it, just looking that the temperature graphs from the past century. It's alarming; it's anthropogenic; it's causing mass extinctions. And we're (as a nation) doing all the wrong things in response. And throughout the next half-century, regardless of climate issues, we will be forced to switch to alternative sources of energy. Our entire infrastructure is dependent on oil. We should be using the cheap energy we have now to help transform the infrastructure, while it's still cheap. (NOT to liquid coal.) And the population continues to grow, further compounding all aspects of the problem. We are in an unsustainable condition, and it's time to stop ignoring it.

 

You know I'm generally in agreement with you but I'd recommend being more careful about blaming recent climate change for mass extinctions. I believe the majority of recent extinctions can be explained through habitat destruction, overharvest and pollution. Climate change will definately have an effect and one could say it already is but I wouldn't label it a cause for mass extinction yet. Notice I said yet.

 

Ok with me.